First of all, my apologies to those who received some accidentally mis-labelled freebie files last week. The file labelled “Luna” was in fact the swallowtail butterfly, and the file labelled “Swallowtail” was the Luna moth. But I’m sure people managed to work that out!
Several months ago, on the general theme of “little birds on the hill”, I did a quick sketch of ptarmigans and eventually it became a flock of embroidered birds (see it on the posting of 30 July this year). However I wasn’t all that happy with them, so I re-thought the same theme and it became a flock of little grouse…or do I mean little quail? Well, they started out as grouse and turned into quail. (These would be European quail, by the way, and not the cockaded California sort)
Mystery birds…
This is a big panel, 16 x 12 inches (41 x 30 cm) – way too big to be able to stitch all the birds together in a single hooping. So each quail was digitised separately, and then the group was assembled on the painted background fabric – that is, each bird was stitched separately and the fabric re-hooped between each stitching. It’s one of those techniques that the video camera on the machine is so useful for
It’s nice enough but it still isn’t quite what I wanted. I think I’ll re-do it once again, this time making it a group of three birds sitting in a field of wild flowers
By the way, for the digitisers out there – look closely at the breasts of the birds. They have an interesting striped effect, which is very effective in catching the light and makes the birds look quite unusual. This is not an ordinary fill stitch, but the piping stitch used over quite a large area of appliquéd fabric. I can recommend the piping stitch highly – if you're not used to using it, do give it a try. You will probably have to adjust the density and other such things, but it's worth the effort
Finally, for those people interested in using embroidered designs on quilts and wall hangings, have a look at Cherri's blog to see some wonderful work
http://www.thecherritree.blogspot.com
In her work she’s included a big flock of birds that I did some time ago, and also one of my dragons
I actually like your mystery birds. Adding flowers would probably brighten up the piece, give it more energy, but there is a mood to it now that I like. It reminds me of the coming autumn. A “between” kind of mood, where summer is fading to a quieter time, but autumn and harvest haven’t yet come.
I guess I’d say it is peaceful, with a hint of tired.
Or maybe I’m just blathering.
🙂
You are your own worst critic. The birds are very realistic looking. The birds looks like they are searching for seeds. Love your use of applique with stitches on top. You are really the only one I know that does the technique where it adds to the designs. Keep it up. I love seeing your work. It is very inspiring.
I would love to have the beautiful Grouse designs. Thank you for all your hard work.
Love the effect you get when using different stitches over applique fabric. I like the way you positioned and stitched the birds on your canvas. Cheri’s quilts are awesome!
Mia, great texture with the mix of stitches on your quail, it makes them look very real. You have such an eye for fabric painting. I agree with the other post of looking like that in between season of summer and fall where the birds are gathering seeds and fattening up for winter. Thank you for sharing your artistic talents with us and for sharing Cherri’s blog page. She has done some beautiful pieces with your designs. I love the owls and all the detailing.
Love the textures here, especially the breasts!
The legs here are spot-on, and the different tail lengths really add to the piece.
Excellent work on the quail!