Goldwork Bird a little progress...

I was back at embroidery class yesterday afternoon after the half term break. I am still working on my goldwork bird, I really like this design, but embroidery is a very slow process which can be frustrating at times! I have decided that it doesn't matter if I don't finish this by the end of this term, I can continue to work on it at home; it is important to me that I enjoy stitching it, learn some new skills, and I will actually finish at some point!

I have finished one side of the first pomegranate and plunged the gold passing threads to the back, I do find this part of the process difficult :(

I appliquéd some felt on to the suede body of the bird as a base for the Goldwork collar she will have; I have decided it must be a female bird with those eyelashes!

I started work on the tail feathers, a mixture of stem stitch in silk; couched gold rococco thread and my favourite - silk wrapped over stretched purl, couched in place

I also learned another new technique - block shading, similar to silk shading/thread painting but you deliberately work in blocks of colour without blending; I did find this quite hard as it was difficult for me to get a nice smooth edge, another technique that I need to work on!

I think one of the reasons that this is such a slow project, is that most of the stitches/techniques I have included are new to me, and so I have to be shown how and then practice before I can work on this piece. If nothing else, I should have learned something by the end of it!