I’ve added two petals and two leaves to the Castelo Branco bird embroidery.
There’s a long way to go, but I’m starting to get the hang of working with the Portuguese art silks. I have to be very careful about the tails, because they really show through if they overlap blank areas. Next up: fill in the flower center and work the stem for this branch. I’m doing this project by completely working blocks of the design so I don’t run out of thread halfway through a motif.
Previous posts for this project are listed on the Projects page.
embroidery for ducks 
You need to make quite sure that you weave threads thoroughly into the blocks they come from. It sounds fussy to say that threads shouldn’t be run across the back from area to area, but you are discovering why that is the case!
Well, with a thick enough fabric it doesn’t matter, but on this absolutely everything shows.
I have just found your blog and I love it, I’m going to subscribe. I am putting together a resource page on my blog for people wanting to know more about and try various crafts including lots of needlework techniques, I’ve linked to you – I hope this is OK?
http://thecraftersapprentice.blogspot.com/p/challenges-for-2011.html
thanks so much! I really appreciate the link!