Here, fishy, fishy!

Thank goodness I finished "the ladies" last week, because since Friday my stitching moments have been minimal.  I woke up Friday morning with, of all things, an earache.  The last one I remember was the double one I experienced when I was a doctoral student in Madison, Wisconsin, centuries ago.  Only 5-year-olds have earaches, she says crankily.  And naturally my doctor doesn't answer his office phone on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and before noon on Monday.  No fool he.  I feel fortunate that I managed to see him at 4:15 Monday afternoon to start treatment with eardrops (that always manage to slither down your cheek no matter how long you have kept that ear level) and a Z-pack of antibiotics.  Two and a half days later, I can carry on a civil conversation.  All weekend (through Tuesday says truth in advertising) I reclined on my satin cushion snoozing and reading with nary a needlepoint stitch in sight.  AS ALWAYS, JULIA, a collection of letters from Julia Child to Avis DeVoto that encompass among other things, the testing of the recipes for MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING has been my reading companion.  It has been a wonderful window into the development of a lasting friendship, but also provides commentary on the political happenings of that period of time in American history with McCarthy and his reign of terror. 

But this is a needlepoint blog.  Reading blogs this past week reminded me of how tried and true designs are still relevant and are themes that repeat with success.   The Studio Midwest with Joanie Sherman does a series of relatively inexpensive needlepoint kits of various fish species and a similar variety of birds.  Today we're talking about the fish, but the blog that triggered my memory related to clip-on bird canvases (Ridgewood, NJ?).

The kits include Paternayan Persian yarn with a hand-painted canvas (notice the fin to be stitched and then attached).These can be finished as Christmas ornaments  or finished and then attached to a wreath as we have done in our shop model.  These are a few of our stitched models:

Well, I couldn't get any of them to go where I wanted them to go to produce an artistic arrangement, but I'm glad the wreath managed to not be by itself.  The foundation for this display is an inexpensive wreath that I found at Crafts 'n Stuff, a chain.  It does actually look quite realistic and provides a perfect setting for the fish "ornaments".  We used a few decorative stitches like the mosaic and the Scotch, but nothing too large, primarily because of the size of the fish.  On another day I'll show you the birds that Joanie has done.