The Eye, Beak and Feet

I was anxious about stitching the eyes, beak and feet. I felt that done well they would give my little tree creeper character; done badly, they would completely ruin the design. I turned to Trish Burr for help. Not Trish in person but the books by her that I have and also the stitching guide for the Chinese Flower. From those I selected an eye and a beak that I thought appropriate from my feathered friend and closely followed her instructions. I was very pleased with how they came out.

© Carol-Anne Conway

© Carol-Anne Conway

Many of Trish’s birds have bullion know feet. I did not think that they were appropriate for my bird, which has long talons on each of his toes. I decided to stitch them in a similar way to the beak, using the same colours. Again, I was rather pleased with them.

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The Bird's Back

I was looking forward to stitching the bird’s back and wings even though I thought that the markings might prove challenging. I carried on working upward from the tail. The first challenge was working the distinctive bars on his wings. All of the needle painting I have done so far has focused on gradually blending from one shade to the next. These stripes required a more sudden colour change. I had to greatly reduce the staggering of the stitches and make them more like and overlapping satin stitch rather than the clear staggering used in long and short stitch. I was careful not to let the overlapping stitches become too bulky.

I did not think that this method would work so well for the speckling on his back so I first stitched all over with the darker shades of brown, blend the shades as I normally would. I then went back and overstitched with the paler shades, adding flecks and specks to give an impression of his markings rather than trying to faithfully copy every marking.

© Carol-Anne Conway

© Carol-Anne Conway

© Carol-Anne Conway

I am rather pleased with how they came out.

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The Bird's Tail

I will work from the tip of his tail to the top of his head so that the stitches lay one on top of the other as feathers do. His tail is more or less the one colour with a little shade variation to distinguish the individual tail feathers. I think they need defining more but I will wait until I have completed his back to see how things balance.

© Carol-Anne Conway

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The Bird's Breast Reworked

I did take out the breast and rework it. I used fewer and paler shades than in the first attempt but still only used white very sparingly. I also altered the angle of the stitches. In the first attempt I followed the line of the bird’s body; this time I looked closely at my source picture and aligned my stitches with the direction of his feathers. I am happier with the breast now.

© Carol-Anne Conway

My original plan was to stitch the bird before the tree but I realised that needed to at least stitch the trunk around his tail and foot before I could continue with the bird. The bark has peeled away from the trunk here to reveal the smoother, paler wood beneath it.

© Carol-Anne Conway

© Carol-Anne Conway

© Carol-Anne Conway

I found it easier to stitch this under artificial light as I did not feel I needed to do a faithful reproduction of the photograph but rather give an impression of the wood. This was quite relaxing to do, just selecting thread at random and working irregular shaped areas, blending where they met. Over the course of a few evenings I filled completed most of the exposed wood. I want to go back and add some details but I will probably do that when the bulk of the stitching is complete.

© Carol-Anne Conway

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Progress Report - March 2013

Early in February, J’s car broke down and we car shared for over 2 weeks while awaiting spares and repairs. Getting both of us to and from one in one vehicle added nearly 2 hours to my working day and made a serious dent in my stitching time. As I could not stitch most mornings I have started stitching in the evenings again. That has not been ideal for either of my current projects. Any artificial light reflects of the beads and the needle is difficult to see against the dark fabric. I mostly worked on the seeded background in the evenings and saved the more intricate beading for the weekends. Somewhat surprisingly I have made good progress, so much so I thought that I might complete side one by the end of February. Unfortunately I was unwell at the beginning of the week and did not even feel like stitching for a day or two, so I did not quite reach that mile stone.

© JEC/Carol-Anne Conway

I have also been working on Tree Creepers but not progressed this as much as I would have liked. I find it really difficult to do colour matching under artificial light, even a daylight bulb. And, I am having way too much fun with my beading, truth is whenever I get a little stitching time I gravitate towards the beading. I have just under 2 weeks left to finish this piece, I am doubtful that I can do it in time but I will do my best.

© Carol-Anne Conway

Happy Stitching