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.

Flamingo sandals, finished (in my mind)!

It finally occurred to me that the mosaic stitch was a slooooow way to go for background.  So when I managed to complete the background on the first sandal panel, I rethought things and decided to do the second panel's background in my new go-to stitch, Diagonal Triple Parisian.  Yes!  It went like a dream, with only a few areas where I fudged and did continental.  

Then on to do some clean-up stitching.  I finished the French knots on the criss-cross Hungarian on both panels in no time.  Now to tackle the Hungarian Ground on the 2nd panel.  The first was a snap since it was a solid wing, but this remaining area had another flamingo in front and it was hard to establish the pattern.  I'm only slightly dense and persistent and finally it sank in that if I have trouble figuring out how to establish a stitch, what do I think my students will be able to do?  So, frogging commenced while thinking about an alternative.  Finally, I decided to do the giant diagonal mosaic (over 3, over 2, over 3, over 2, etc.).  And it is working!!  I didn't get it totally finished, but tonight it will become a done deal.  Now all I have to do is select the fabric and/or trims for the pillows.  I'll show the final product when they return from the finisher in a few months.  It's a good feeling to have a project finished--mainly because I'm already thinking about what I'm going to stitch next!