I'd Hop Up & Down - If I Could!...

On this date - October 22, 2025 - I hereby celebrate completing the main embroidery for the third in my Songbird Seasons series. My next step will be to measure and square up the fabric to prepare it for sewing into my wall hanging fabrics (yet to be chosen).

I'm also sharing a close up of the male bluebird because I added legs and "lunch" to complete him. While my sister, Diana and I were chatting on the phone yesterday, I told her what I had in mind for the male to be feeding the babies. She found an image of a male with a flying bug in its mouth. I'm quite sure the image was a female mayfly. I loved it, but when I said "I'm not sure how I'd do that.". Her reply was "You took classes with the Royal School of Needlework! You can figure this out!" Well, that was all the motivation I needed. Challenge accepted.

I wanted this element to be dimensional, too, so I stitched one wing to the ground fabric. I made the tail (actually the ovipositor) coming out the front of the bluebird's mouth. Then I created the other wing on a stiff base and stitched the wing details onto it. I attached that separately after I completed the needlework, and now it stands off the fabric. I finished my bug meal with a French knot for a head, and declared my piece finished!

Once I assemble the pieced top with the bluebirds as my central block, I will need to embroider a small motif into each corner. I did red berries on the cardinal wall hanging, and leaves on the robins. I'm leaning toward small bluebird feathers for the corners of this one. Do you have any different suggestion? I'll certainly consider them.

I'll be cleaning up my studio, repairing a couple garments for a friend (something I almost never do!), and then pulling fabrics to preview for the quilted part of my wall hanging. I'll show you a couple of contenters, and probably have made a final choice by the time I share them with you. We'll see.

Happy Thursday!