Stitching the wool birds

I've been stitching away  at my wool birds from Sue Spargo's "Bird Dance" book. I don't always follow her stitch suggestions because I want to throw in some of my own favorites, like the chain stitch (below) and blanket stitch. But other times I learn new stitches from her books, like the blue drizzle stitch above.

My birds are also different from hers because she uses a lot of cotton prints (often inside the wings and on the neck) that are needle-turn appliqued down, whereas I'm using all felt with a whip stitch applique. I love her lively prints, but I don't like to do needle-turn applique.

The gold stitch above is the rosette chain stitch, which I just learned today from her "Creative Stitching" book. In "Bird Dance," she tells you which pages in the stitch book you can find directions for the various embroidery stitches.

I'm saving all the thread tails because I like the colors. I may do something creative with them once I get a bag full.

 Have a colorful day