Beginner's Luck!

I am so excited! I won a giveaway!!

And it was actually the first one I have got around to actually entering. Thanks so much to Margueritte from Adventures in Quilting and Sailing who tipped me off to this amazing giveaway on a Flickr group called Fresh Modern Quilts. They were celebrating their 2000 member, and as I am also a member (it has some of the best quilts on Flickr!) and was in front of the computer at the time I managed to enter. I usually get to these things too late. There were 29 amazing prizes, gorgeous fabrics and quilting books and patterns. I got chosen 11th!
I have given the organiser (r0ssie, who has a fabulous blog here) my first and second choices as she was still waiting to hear from somebody above me. Both my choices are fabric packs and both look gorgeous so I will have a fabulous prize coming my way very soon!

Meanwhile I have been busy with a new mini project.
Little Patchwork Fishes! There are a lot of fishes around at the moment as a nautical theme is very big in both fashion and home decor. I started making these on Easter Monday and then a delivery arrived at the shop on Tuesday from Parlane with these strings of fishes in wood and metal. I am obviously very 'on trend' these days!
Here is a big pile of them waiting for their tails and eyes to be attached.

I am calling them Patchwork Fishes as they have a different front and back (why use just one fabric when you can use two!). They are 12cm long. I machine sew the body leaving the tail end open. The hardest bit is stuffing them, because of the narrow gap, it takes ages! I have been using a pencil and sometimes the wrong end of a paintbrush to push the stuffing down. I then hand sew the little felt tails with 2 layers of quilt wadding inside and then sew these to the body, turning the edges under.
I think the bead eyes work well and are appropriately fishy!
They are then' strung' with glace wool and the wool attached to a wooden button. If I had some nice 'pebbles with holes in' this would work even better but I will have to go beachcombing for those!
Not sure they are much use for anything but they are so pretty and a great way to use up very small scraps of your favourite fabrics!
My next post will be my 50th and I am planning a big giveaway! I know this is usually done on a 100th post but I am so slow (and yet impatient!) that I am just going to do it for 50.
I was so happy to win that givaway yesterday that I really want to spread the joy around. So keep your eye out for my next post and maybe you could be celebrating your own win soon!