I won’t lie, this bird gave me so much angst and frustration that I wanted to give up on it. But as I always say, persevere through the rough bits and the effort will pay off in the end. In this case it paid off many times over.  Oh and yes, I am in the process of giving her legs now.

I am in LOVE with how the Titmouse turned out and isn’t she so cute? I have never had to do so much ripping out and trying again with the details, but oh I am happy with the end results.

I forgot to take a before shot to show you just how plain and lifeless this bird was after just the applique was completed. However, I noticed in one of my “how-to” instruction shots, there was the unfinished bird in the background.

I hope you can get a glimpse at how basic she was before the makeup!

In this case, it was all about the thread work on the head. With many of the birds I find it is really about the head that makes the birds come to life.

The face “feather” embroidery looks difficult but if you have been following along on the blocks, you should know how to do this by now. The “feather detail” is only a bunch of random straight stitches about 1/8″ (0.3175 cm) in length radiating out from the eye.

One thing I wanted to show you is how to make a template for your embroidery lines. You can’t trace through the head from a light box, and I know it is difficult to try and free hand draw those lines.

Freezer paper, freezer paper, freezer paper. Where would I be without this?

Just like an applique template, trace and cut out on the outer dashed line (cut out eye area too), position onto the face area and iron into place. You don’t need to use an overlay for matching, it is pretty easy to figure out and place using the applique as your guide.

Now trace around the outside of the template with a marking tool of your choice. I use a .05 lead mechanical pencil with a light touch. Then without pulling off the template completely, cut along the interior dashed line and remove the inside piece. Iron loose area back down and trace.

Voila! Perfectly placed embroidery lines.

Can you see how the areas are defined?  Just fill in the areas with a bunch of random straight stitches and watch the magic happen.

I hope you are pleased with the Titmouse bird!