The whole school of fish!

Remember when I was lamenting that I didn't have any super adorable goldfish in bags?

When I published that post back in July, I was mostly hoping someone would take pity on me and send me one teeny tiny goldfish.

However, I got much more than I expected!

When my blog friend Amy and I agreed to do a fun one-on-one swap, she said she wanted to make something for me based on one of my previous posts.

Just look at this amazing mini quilt she made for me!

I can't even tell you how much I adore this little quilt.  I just love Amy's version of the goldfish in bags!  The bags are linocut prints that Amy hand-carves on linoleum blocks from her own original designs.  The fish are hand painted with freezer paper stencils.  (If you'd like some of Amy's original goldfish in bags, she has some of her prints for sale in her shop.  And if you're curious about the linocut process, Amy did a great post about it here.)

I also adore the colors on this mini, all the great Make Life prints (one of my very favorite fabric lines!) and the great mix of hand quilting and machine quilting.  This mini is hanging in my sewing room and I love looking at it every time I go in there!

Amy also sent me this great handmade card, also with a linocut print.  This one is just perfect for a beach girl like myself!

(I haven't finished my end of the swap yet . . . but I'll be done by the end of the month!)

My goldfish luck didn't end there . . . almost as if they had coordinated it, I got this package in the mail on the very same day - a surprise from Mr. Pin.Sew.Press!

We have a policy of not getting each other birthday or Christmas presents.  Instead we like to give each other little surprises throughout the year.

Let me tell you, this was a huge surprise!  I had actually made peace with the fact that I'd never own these little guys, and I can't believe my husband went to the trouble of tracking these down! 

I'm happy to report that all my new fish are getting along nicely.

Thank you so much Amy and Mr. Pin.Sew.Press. for making my day!  I promise to take good care of my new pets :-)

Happy sewing,

Mary

P.S. - I think Blogger hates me . . . I can't get rid of all those extra spaces in the middle!  What's the deal?