Male Wren Done

Figured out what the turkey work is supposed to be for the wren. This is what the feather looks like:

Instead of doing turkey work - which I can't do well, especially that close to other stitches - I used wool, frayed it, and used a dab of JE glue at the back. I don't know if there's anything special about this glue; since it is used for JE it must be ok. Then I have to pick out all the black fuzz that ended up on the fabric. The male wren is done.

Starting on the female wren.

Male Wren

Today's progress - not sure if I want to call it done yet. The instructions call for some cut Ghiordes knots at the bottom of the tail. When I looked at the picture initially, I thought it was a mistake - loose threads having worked their way to the front. On googling I found that Ghiordes knots are turkey work - it just wasn't frayed well enough. So I'm going to sit on that...

Male Wren Body

The body is done. I found some blue couching silk that I used on top of the floss for the chest; and added some ecru flat silk for the tummy. I am thinking that the vertical tail is too close to the head; may want to move it back.

Male Fairy Wren

Decided that I can't be livid for four years, and working on the piece helped to calm me down a bit.

I thought I had a good stash of blue silk threads, however these tend to be on the purplish side - due to the Japanese embroidery preference, or maybe the pieces I've done tend not to be of this shade of blue. So I'm doing it in cotton floss instead. Here's the little guy so far -

Nestlings Branches and Padding

Today's progress:
Branches are done. They look very nice for such simple stitches. The birds are padded.

The padding has been marked, and the eyes are done.

Decision time: silk or cotton floss?