Swimming with the fishes

First, I want to show a few of the Strictly Christmas stockings I received today.  

These angels are, well, angelic-looking and offer lots of opportunities to use different stitches with different fibers.  

This is a great "adult" stocking,  Not everyone wants Santa on the mantle.  However, for those who do, I have these two examples.

As usual, blogger refuses to put them side-by-side, but you get the idea.  Karen really does a superb job on conveying the spirit of Christmas in her designs.

My new stitching project is another great idea that didn't succeed commercially.  Trubey designed these fish for a 2-sided tote on 13-mesh canvas.  The cost of finishing purses is a huge factor in the success or failure of canvases expressly designed as purses.  However, my fish will look just as good as a pillow, says Mary Agnes optimistically.

This is the canvas as painted and below, you can see the progress I have made this week.  I'm stitching the canvas in a combination of silk 'n ivory and DMC perle cotton.  The background is done in the Giant diagonal mosaic.  The fish are all going to be done in the same stitches, with continental for the fins, basketweave for the "faces" and satin stitch for the scales.  I'm still pondering what stitch I will use for the seaweed.  Maybe I'll have decided by next Wednesday.