Stitching Fishes

I’ve started again with the stitching on Swimming With the Stingrays. It is good to finally be back with the simple stitching again. I have ripped out the offending parts of the fish in my last post. He hasn’t been reworked yet; I’ve been finishing a couple of other fish. I want to see what looks good on other fish and get something I do like accomplished first. Actually, one is a fish and the other is a lobster. There is another fish half-way done not included here. He will get his photo shoot later when he is complete.

This fish has a lovely row of orange dots down his back. Isn’t it nice how that worked out? Makes me wonder if I did that on purpose. I don’t really remember. I stitched a row of fly stitch in green to connect the dots and created a spine accent. The fish also has a row of fly stitch on the top edge creating a long dorsal fin. They are touching side by side instead of end to end. Buttonhole stitch in two sizes encase the other edges. The eye is a tiny black button, topped with a green bead and a tiny yellow bead stitched in black thread.

Lobsters are pretty common sights when snorkeling in the Caribbean, but you have to look hard to see them. This one has antennae done up in Spanish knotted feather stitch. It’s not a stitch that I’ll use often. In fact, this is the first time I’ve ever used it. It’s kind of fun to try new stitches and this one is OK. I’m sure I’ll have to refer back to my book if I ever use it again. It makes a dense, wide line that is conveniently narrow at the start. It could be useful in other places as well.

His eyes are faceted black beads. Beads seem to be working out well for the eyes. Perhaps that is what my other fish could use too. When I get back to him, I’ll experiment with different bead eyes.