By my standards, "Stella's Birds", once I got a design I was happy with, didn't change too much. The only majoy alteration is the raised section of Stabby's wing, which changed from a solid "shoulder" to the leading edges I used for the other birds.

Making sure that variegated thread appeared in all the birds helps to tie them together, as the the quietness of using the same stitch for all three leaves, and a simple stitch for the tendrils.

I'm actually very pleased. I'm not sure it quite gets to be the Grinling Gibbons style of carving I had in the back of my mind, but I'm absolutely sure that Elizabeth Goudge, who wrote "Gentian Hill", never expected anyone to bounce inspiration out of it in the world of needlework!

#StellasBirds #HandEmbroidery #MountmellickEmbroider

Shouty Bird, singing her heart out, luxuriant tail hanging behind and wings a-flap with enthursiasm, nevertheless gave me a few difficult moments. But with the guidance I developed as I found what worked, the raised leading edges of the wings, the same variegated thread on the bodies, dark legs and beaks, all gradually helped it come together.

#StellasBirds #HandEmbroidery

Stabby bird ended up more compressed in the body and spindly in the leg when I embroidered her. But she has lovely Floral Feather Stitch wing markings and raised needleweavings for a crest, so she was a lot of fun to stitch.

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Since I chose to use Mountmellick embroidery and medieval imagery as my inspiration, I got the opportunity to play with textural stitches and some quite strongly raised effects, including two of my favourites, Hungarian Braided Chain and Mountmellick Thorn.

For my #BigMathsJam friends - I was stitching Bitey during the gathering in 2025, and got him finished literally two talks before the end!

#StellasBirds #HandEmbroidery

One of the things I really love about embroidery is the textural effects available, from thread choice or stitch choice.

The three bunches of grapes are all in stranded cotton, so the stitch effects come to the fore, becoming more raised as they go to the bottom of the piece where the story begins.

#StellasBirds #HandEmbroidery

Since my blog is catching up with my stitching, I thought I would revisit Stella's Birds..

The inspirations are Elizabeth Goudge's book, "Gentian Hill", medieval imagery and Mountmellick embroidery.

That's quite a lot to juggle, isn't it!

#HandEmbroidery #StellasBirds #MountmellickEmbroidery