I have started a new bird picture today and am hoping to show some of the steps in my process. of course, I only thought about the pictures after I had been working a bit on it already.

the background is actually a paper copy of an old deed I have that is written in the most amazing script onto some sort of parchment from the 1800’s

I think it is a land deed

I machine stitched that onto an old piece of white cotton (an old sheet, actually)

I am taking the easy way out and using a copy of a photo of a bird - normally, I draw just the outline.....but am cheating a little bit by using the whole picture - altho I will be stitching over it and tearing off the outer bits so you won’t actually see the photocopy

anyway......here is me using a plain embroidery stitch to outline the bird before I start filling it in with free-machine stitching, which I will be doing tomorrow -

not exactly sure what will be happening next......so tune in to find out!

I made this a while ago for my mother in law, but thought I would share it with you as I think I might have caught a glimpse of Spring today!

Hope everyone is having a sunny, productive week. (well, ok, sunny might be asking too much)

Thank you for dropping by - and I also want to thank everyone for their comments