Here's the latest 12x12 piece in my series pairing bird and flower images. This piece began as a home dec fabric sample. I've been looking for fabrics on which I can embellish in order to create a new composition. I was attracted to this lily fabric, and I found some clip art pieces to add both more flowers and a bird.
Both lilies and Stellar's Jays are prevalent in the region where I live. The Stellar's Jay is a bird common to the west. Though the Blue Jay is more well known, they're not native to the west. 
I used a drawing of a Blue Jay for the basic body shape, and then studied a friend's photos for the Stellar's Jay coloration. 
I drew the shapes on water-soluble stabilizer, and then stitched through the whole thing.
The embroidery is almost all chain stitch. I like the idea of using one stitch for the whole composition. I did add a few bullion stitches for the pistils of the flowers.
I'm looking for ideas for my next composition. It's fun to choose the bird, flower, and background fabric for the next project.
11 comments:
Oh, my, Barbara--it's lovely. I thought you had incorporated a piece of crewel work into your composition. Well, it is crewel, but yours, not someone else's. Great idea.
Wow, this is a gorgeous piece of embroidery!
We have Stellar's jays up at the cabin, but not down here in Orange County.
Jeanne
You are sure onto something here, Barbara!
The stitching must have been so soothing and wonderful to do, too...
A question: are you going to machine quilt in the background around your chain stitching if this goes into a larger quilt, or is finished as a small wallhanging? I am wondering how just a little texture back there would set off your embroidery even more.
Just wondering!!
Wow! It's amazing think that you did this all by hand. Lovely!
This is your best bird and flower piece--very cool! I like it very much! very much!
Hi Barb, what a neat piece of work! I love the whole progress concept..being with the printed on fabric, embellishing not only the idea of the background, but then the items themselves. Really lovely stitchery also...looks wonderful! Very creative, inventive and it must have felt very satifying as it emerged. Great job! Hugs, Finn
I like the design you put over the background fabric, and thanks for showing what you were thinking. It's a great portfolio piece.
Barbara, this is simply amazing! Beautiful composition.
I love blue jays! I also really like the idea of using the stablizer! You have all the details you need,and easy to see. How was it to work on the uphol. fabric? Clever idea BTW.
Oh my goodness, your embroidery is gorgeous! I love your sense of color!
The lilies and Stellar's Jay look like they were made for each other. Stellar's have the most amazing eye embellishment and are one of my favorites. Here we have Blue Jays but just a few miles into the mountains are many Stellar's. There is an ad in the new "Quilter's Newsletter" (page 9) about a gorgeous line of fabrics (Katmandu in Troy's Riverwoods Collection, designed by Mark Lipinski)which is created to be embellished. I'm having a hard time resisting it.
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