Nicola Jarvis Bluebird: at last!

I have had the kit for this since it appeared in Înspirations Magazine Issue 82. In January I decided to take it on holidays with me and try to finish it.

It was a lot of fun - and interesting - to stitch.


For the purposes of stitching the bird is divided into sections - not surprising, really, but there were more sections than I had imagined, and I was surprised at how manageable it made it.


The tracing needed to be precise. Mine wasn't and I needed to correct it a couple of times.







I really enjoyed the simplicity of the shades of blue - and the effect one could achieve with them.






I found I worked best with five needles threaded up with the five different shades.

I can see these might become addictive - it's the texture, I think, that is so intriguing.





There is just a touch of bling - in the eye and a metallic thread.

I wanted to start another one as soon as I finished!













I had originally intended to make this into a bag. To this end I positioned it in one corner of the cotton. The original was suggested as a tray cloth, which I didn't need. When I had finished the embroidery, however, a bag of cream cotton with a single blue bird seemed a bit tame.














I decided to appliqué it to a denim shirt.





I tend to wear this shirt as a light jacket. I was a bit nervous cutting out the bird, but it worked well and fairly easily.


















I like it so much I am considering purchasing more of Nicola's birds and appliquéing them all around the bottom of the shirt! Trouble is, they are not easily available in cotton thread on cotton.

Perhaps I'm just a glutton for punishment! It's not as if I have nothing else to stitch - I am currently focused on Nicola's Wordsworth Sampler from the Crewel Work Company Spring Retreat. Not to mention my knitting and zenbroidery....

Crewel Bluebird of Happiness

This is a longer post than normal. Normally I'd have broken this post into several stages - but got carried away with the stitching!

I bought a kit for Elsa William's Bluebird of Happiness crewel work cushion a year or so ago. After the petit point work of the Toy Chest Etui, I was looking for a complete change of focus, so got out the Bluebird.


First I set it up in a  roller frame and attached it to my floor stand. to get it to work with the stand I mounted it in a portrait, rather than landscape direction.

It wasn't long before I decided this wasn't comfortable to work with, so I remounted it in my sitting frame and a hoop.

This worked a lot better, even though I could only see about a quarter of the canvas at a time.

It has been a really enjoyable project. The colours are varied and beautiful with harmonious blending as well as some contrast.



There was enough stitch variation to keep me interested. The bulk of the stitching is satin or long and short stitch, but the shapes are quite varied. I found myself frequently switching to split stitch - it gives a better texture, especially in the feathery bits of the bluebird.The wool was great to work with.




Each quadrant had its challenges. I like the inclusion of lattice and buttonhole stitch.


It has taken me a few weeks to work this piece, and I have enjoyed it greatly. I spent yesterday tidying up the little bits I had left undone. When I ran out a colour just before finishing a section, rather than begin a new thread for a small area, I moved on to a new colour, then came back and finished off.

I love the shapes and colours -  the trunk and roots of the tree become an elegant feature of an otherwise colourful piece.








It was only when I took it out of the hoop to do the final finishing that I realised the effect of the black space around the circular component - a really lovely design touch.








The construction was quick - the kit came with backing and cord. I stitched it on three sides, inserted the fill and stitched the fourth side by hand.

I'm very pleased with the result.