Sue Coleman's Dogwood & Hummingbird (**Updated**)

[amber555]

*Update*

I got this design stretched and framed in time for Christmas and just wanted to share a couple pictures of the completed project. My other half payed for the framing and this was our gift to his mom for Christmas. She was so touched by it that she actually cried when she saw it, (and here I'd been spending the last couple weeks nervous that she wouldn't like it.) So glad she was happy to receive it. 





Excuse the shadow on the right side of the picture, there's nothing wrong with the fabric, just a shadow of the cameraman. 





Thanks again for looking everyone,
amber555

*Update*

Once I get this stretched and framed, it is going to be my mother-in-law's Christmas gift. Right now it is just completed, fresh out of the loom, and still quite wrinkled.

The picture is Sue Coleman's Dogwood & Hummingbird, and it's stitched on a 32 count Antique White linen. Coleman is an artist from British Columbia, Canada and she makes lots of pictures similar to this one, where she incorporates the natural images of animals along with their native symbol. We also live in British Columbia and the provincial flower here is the Dogwood, so it seemed a fitting choice. My mother-in-law is someone who will really appreciate not only the picture, but the fact that it's a local designer/artist.



I noticed after uploading the photos that the piece looks a little yellow in the bottom corner. In real life the fabric is actually quite white, I just made the mistake of setting it on a yellow throw pillow when I photographed it.



The background took a long time to do, but it's an interesting technique. It's created by making 1/2 stitches with a variegated DMC thread (4010), rather than doing multiple colour changes to create the shifting colours of the sky. I tried to work bits of the background as I went because I knew that if I left it all to stitch at the very end, I would quickly become bored with all that repetitive work. I think it was the right method to use, as I only had a very small amount of the background to complete after all my cross stitching was done.

Once it's framed (probably a couple months from now) I'll try to update this post with a new picture. I always find it's the framing that really brings these big cross stitches to life.

Thanks for looking everyone!
amber555

[cathytg]

That is lovely! From the photos, I had assumed that you had stitched it on overdyed fabric -- stitching that background would have driven me nuts.

[SailorMaat]

You did an amazing job on a beautiful painting.
I know your mother-in-law will love it.
I have a copy of this exact print. My mom bought me it like 9 years ago. When we were shopping in Ottawa. It was a gift for going back to college. I hags proudly in my new house.

[Puppy_girl]

wow.  that is gorgeous!

[kittykill]

That is beautiful!

[amber555]

Thanks for the compliments everyone! I've updated the original post and included some pictures of the now framed picture.