The progress on the flower basket pillowcase with a blue ribbon has been gradual. In my last post about this guy, we had just finished with the majority of the satin stitching on the blossoms. The basket line work and the blue ribbon were also complete. Beginning with the right side and working to the left, the vines and leaves had only just begun.
Satin Stitch
You can see up close, how the satin stitching is beginning to work together. If you have problems with your hand satin stitching check this site out. It is kind of exciting to see how the satin stitch works, isn’t it? Sometimes, I haven’t done a stitch for a while and I get lost. When that happens, I just look it up on the world-wide-web. It is amazing how many high-quality little lessons are available to learn better techniques.
Details
Progress is made on this as more detailed work gets done. Gradually, it becomes easier to see flowers as they come to life. The Flower stamens, then outlining begins on the flower petals. I am actually using some really different outlines to see what it would look like. For example, see the maroon blossoms outlined with pale yellow. Hmmm.
In all honesty, there are so many shapes in this pattern that it is a little confusing at times. Am I stitching on a leaf or a vine?
Now, you can see that as more and more of the objects are filled with color it then gets easier to differentiate between a leaf and a vine. 
My plan of attack from here will be to complete the work on outlining and details. Little touches here and there will get it to look exactly the way I want it to. Zing! a pillow full of love, to lay your head on and sleep.
A Hummingbird Pillowcase with embroidery halfway done. This is a handmade dark blue pillowcase that is sewn from sheets purchased when they are on sale. I first draw out an outline to follow for embroidering the hummingbird as it flies over some small flowers which I decide to make with yellow satin stitches with an orange outline. The leaves and stems are light green. After getting this portion done, I feel like it is not enough.
So, I use my iron-away pens to draw another set of pink flowers for the hummingbird to be going after. Here it is completed with the hummingbird and flowers on bothe sides. I love drawing these little guys and then stitching them into life with my embroidery thread in the evenings. This one is being given to a very special lady for her birthday.