Apparently crewel embroidery develops quickly on the canvas. I have to disagree! After a full day of stitching, unpicking and re-stitching, I surveyed the results of my labour – and was slightly disappointed in the lack of progress that I have made. The wools used fray and fluff up very quickly which means lots of casting on and off. Unpicking stitches scuffs the twill fabric beneath, so it is not advisable to do this too often. Anyway, with all that said here is a picture of my progress so far.
Looking closely, the button hole stitching on the right hand wing is quite random, which I like, but am not sure it is RSN standard. So far I have used button hole stitch on the wings, laid work throughout the body, satin stitch for the legs and have started chain stitch along the main branch. Next job is to complete the chain stitching – but I think I will need a whole weekend for this!