Tada! "When The Boat Comes In" Cushions

I love Seasalt clothes, but am too poor to buy them straight from Seasalt.  Which means I spend quite a bit of time on ebay looking at Seasalt clothes which have been purchased from the shop, but which haven't been worn and have been hanging up in people's wardrobes.   This goes some way to explaining why I'm always at least a season behind!

One day while doing my usual ebay search, the strangest photo came up of a stuffed fish cushion.   When you do an ebay search, some of the results are fairly tenuous. But the woman selling the fish cushion was good enough to give an explanation in her sales description.  Apparently she had walked past a Seasalt store and seen their stuffed fish hanging in the window, made up of typical Seasalt fabric, and had loved them so much she'd gone in and asked if they were for sale.  They weren't.   So she had simply made up her own pattern and started making them herself.  

What else was there left for me to do, but purchase the PDF pattern and start making them myself too?   The beauty of these is that I can use all my scraps on them - when I haven't quite got enough fabric to make a substantial difference to a patchwork quilt, then a fish cushion is the ideal solution.

My first attempt - for Shiriin - was terrible - I just couldn't work out what to do with it.   So the finished article which was sent to Nepal wasn't the best - and I have it on my list to make a much more proficient version to send.   Mortifying.  In fact, so mortifying, that I didn't even take a photo.  I'm very glad to say that they have been improving since though.  What's lovely is the fab comments I've had from the recipients and what's really funny is that some of them have been given names too!

This is Billy, who took up station under Bev's neck while she was poorly and laying on the sofa over Christmas.

 And this little chap now lives with Caroline.  

And here they are together!   I tried to match the fabric to the person as much as I could - so Bev gets greens and Caroline gets browns.  The fins on all of them are made from the blue fabric which I used for Shiriin's scrubs back in the summer, and the peach faces were made from fabric kindly donated by Judith at work.

This is Fsh who now lives with Mary and Jim. (Fsh because he has no eyes!)

And this is his twin, Mac, who lives with Amanda.  (Mac, apparently because he is very obviously Scottish and looks like a mackerel!)

I know I'm not supposed to have favourites, but this is pretty much up there.   This beautiful creature is living with Rachel now and apparently has spent some time in each room in her house to make sure he finds the most comfortable!   I chose this fabric for Rachel as it was the nearest I could find in my stash to Cath Kidston.  Sort of.

This bruiser lives in the Caravan of Love with Andy and matches his pillow case and pyjamas!

I love these fish and am planning on making lots to put on our Folksy site.   They've been so well received - and I know that my lovely friends and family are biased in my favour - but I'm going to try them on the general public soon!