Be Patient. The fish will tell you what kind of eyeball it wants.

This friendly fish is my first attempt at beading. I used my go-to split stitch and stitched one bead at a time. I am going to learn some other beading techniques, but I will use the split stitch method again.  

This was also my first attempt at using fabric markers in addition to my chalk pencils. I am definitely never going back to chalk pencils. The fabric markers are easier to use, never need to be sharpened, and stay on the fabric the entire time I'm stitching. I've been so nervous about using something permanent, but that's why I have piles and piles of fabric, right?

The flower design in the fish was inspired by the endpapers of an Indian cookbook I read. I usually sketch my designs a few times on paper before stitching, but occasionally I get too impatient excited and skip the sketching part. This fish was one of those times. Because it's the first time I drew those designs they look a bit different from the endpapers, but I still like them. I will definitely be playing with those endpaper designs a bit more in other projects.

In this progress picture you can see both the chalk and marker if you're not completely distracted by the terrible eyeball. I'll probably go back to my method of not using any kind of marker or chalk to draw the eye and freehand it once I feel like I'm getting close to finishing and the spirit of the animal is coming through. Eyeballs are so tricky!