At last I’ve managed to stitch together the squares of the painted fabric aviary birds to make a panel. I posted a picture of the unpainted and unstitched panel some time ago but here it is again
The aviary panel in an unpainted, unstitched state
Those were the embroidered birds straight off the embroidery machine, with no additions at all. Since then I've added painted details and stitched the whole thing together
The finished panel, just in need of a little final topstitching
I still have to add the final smooth zig-zag stitching between the squares, but the appearance of the panel will be much the same as it is now
Some of the birds are better than others, but on the whole it’s worked pretty well. I do like the effect of the painted embroidery – it gives a little vitality to the birds and adds some interesting details which it would be unrealistic to get simply through embroidery. Looking at the finished panel, though, I really should have tried adding a few details to the backgrounds. However it isn't too late for that, as I can easily paint the fabric even when the birds are stitched together.
I'll keep on trying the fabric painting on some of my future projects. The only problem is that painting can really only be used on things that aren't going to be washed. I've tried washing painted fabric, and even though many paints are advertised as being colour-fast and "washable", I've yet to find one that really is