12 Months of Christmas: French Hen

It's a wrap on the French Hen! Let me take you back two weeks previous, when I first began...

This messy progress shot gives a good idea of just how many threads and bits and needles are in play at any given moment...

I started off with the flower shape on the wing in another color, then changed my mind to this darker felt.

I sewed it on using 1 strand of metallic silver thread, which let me say can at times be disastrous, as you can see in the next photo...

Use short lengths of metallic thread, work slowly and carefully, and realize you can still have a mess! Deep breaths, the side not seen is not so important. Just wanted to show you my back, so you don't get frustrated when this happens to you. :)

This photo reflects a full day of stitching, along with a few of the threads I used in the little teacup. I tend to find recurring colors around me as an unconscious source of inspiration in my stitching.

So, if you're uninspired in color selection, surround yourself with a few beautiful things you find inspiring, you'll never know what can happen!

This morning I was just about finished. All that was left was to add the gold pearl cotton to hang the hen, and stuff the shape and close it up...

I am glad I remembered to add the hanging thread before I sewed her up - I almost didn't, and that would have made things much trickier!

Although the French hen wasn't particularly hard to put together, I did find myself wondering at times if I was doing it right. With the wattle, comb, and little pantaloon-looking shapes above the feet, there are a lot more little pieces in play to sew and sandwich together.

Larissa's tip to use glue to hold the pieces together is perfect, but I'm too impatient to wait for glue to dry, so I haven't done that yet. I'm also messy, and could easily picture myself making a gunky mess of my sewing. :)

I'm also fairly sure I botched the feet a bit, but I chose not to dwell on that tiny part of the process, instead enjoying the overall project. It's really fun to stitch these once a month, as it gives me time to really think about the colors and not get too frustrated working towards a deadline...

Here they all are together - I'm really enjoying how the colors are all coming together - I'm using the same shades of felt and threads on each piece, for the most part, for a few more details on the metallic threads I'm using, check out my previous post!

Join the 12 Months of Christmas Stitchalong!

Are you inspired yet? Would you like to join in? Remember, joining this stitchalong is easy, and no-pressure! To join, visit Larissa's shop to purchase the Twelve Days pattern of your choice. Tag your pictures with the hashtag #twelvedaysornaments and #12monthsofChristmas on Instagram so we can find them.

Leave a comment here with a link to your blog, or any space on the internet where you are tracking your progress. Don't miss the page Larissa has set up with lots of tips for stitching this series: http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/p/twelve-days.html. Next month is Colly Bird! Let's stitch!