Embroidered Dove

Autumn is upon us, the leaves are changing, the temperature is (sort of) dropping and for the world of embroidery magazines...it's Christmas already.
I now seem to be working on three pretty big stitching projects simultaneously but I found time to stitch this cute Yuletide dove in the spare moments between them.
It's nice to break up big projects with a little something you can do in a day sometimes.
I liked the colours and the fact it's stitched on linen, rather than aida, as it gives me more of a challenge. Linen and evenweave are materials I'd like to become more familiar with as they can create a better finish than aida with some designs.



  

Pretty Polly

Having just had some time off work, I've taken the chance to catch up on some reading but have also, inevitably, amassed a new selection of 'waiting to be read,' books.
Among them, a couple of Tolkien bio's, the wonderful 'Book of Barely Imagined Beings' and Kate Forsyth's 'Wild Girl.'

But first I must finish 'Jane Eyre' which I've been reading at the same time as 'Anno Dracula,' as my copy of 'Jane Eyre,' is too big to carry around easily. (I know Kindle's are easy to carry but I just don't like them. Give me a physical copy any day, especially if it's illustrated.)

Anyway, having two books on the go meant I needed a second bookmark so I decided to stitch this parrot kit I had lying around.

It was also nice to be stitching something I could finish in a day or so as I've got two big projects on the frames right now. They will be beautiful when complete but progress always feels maddeningly slow with the larger projects.

I was rather pleased with myself for managing to painlessly stitch the six French knots for the parrots eyes. In the past they've been something of a nemesis of mine, sometimes turning out perfectly and other times, becoming a complete mess, for no obvious reason.

But today they were a dream to stitch, here's hoping that's the case for my future knots!