Stella’s Birds – Starting the Embroidery..

You have to start somewhere, don’t you!

Once I had finally become happy with the design for Stella’s Birds, I thought it was Time To Start.

And you may remember that I mentioned when I was working on the Jacket of Many Flowers that I have learnt, over the years, that when I’m working something like a spray or branch of flowers, leaves, and fruit, I need to start with the branches. In the past when I have started with leaves and flowers, the whole design has remained “spotty” and unconnected, and I don’t feel that I’m making progress.

That’s so dispiriting that these days, I do the branches first.

I’ve used soft cotton in a warm pinky-brown, and chose one of my favourite stitches, Portuguese Knotted Stem Stitch (link to the RSN stitch bank entry). It leaps forward very satisfyingly, so it didn’t take me long, once I got a chance to settle down to it, to get the branches done.

However…

I wasn’t entirely paying attention.

I remembered to leave a gap for one of the bird’s tails, but not the other. And as I look at my other choices of thread, this pinky brown has no other friends. So I may decide, at a later date, to remove part of the branch stitching to allow for tails and feet.

I have a slight fear that I may even have to remove all of it. I love Portuguese Knotted Stem Stitch, but it is full of personality, and if I don’t get the balance right in the rest of the stitching it might unbalance the whole thing!