Spot The (Paisley) Birdie!

In my quest to catch up with myself and my quarter three finishes, I'm now pretending it's the end of August...

Another repeat visitor to my Q3 FAL list (although it's only been on since the start of this year, unlike many others on the list) was this panel which I started at an embroidery workshop based around the paisley shape and traditional patterns and which was designed on the go by yours truly:

The embroidery was done on Irish linen with a fine lawn fusible interfacing on the back to provide some stability, and stitches used include split stitch, back stitch, chain stitch, French knots, trellis stitch, lazy daisy, long stitch, Turkey knots, and fly stitch - my embroidery stitches book came in very handy!  In addition, there are four (decreasing) layers of wadding behind the wings to create a slightly padded effect.

The first decision was the zip colour:

I went with purple in the end

and then the lining fabric was chosen (I even remembered to cut it the right way up!) and all the pieces were cut, after some simple calculations because the embroidered panel wasn't the right side to cut the large size in the pattern.  I didn't have enough interfacing to do both the lining pieces, so decided to interface (before fusing the wadding) the outer pieces instead (the front was already done) and I had two pieces which, when put together, would cover the back piece of the pouch, with a slight (1/4") overlap.

I then spent a few minutes at the ironing board getting everything fused (and pressing out the worst wrinkles on the linen!) and decided that the back was a bit too plain so added some quilting in an orange (1154) Aurifil 12wt which I happened to have in my thread box (I need more of this weight of thread - must put some on my Christmas list!).  This had the added bonus of securing that overlap on the interfacing, just in case!  I marked one horizontal and one vertical line (using a hera marker) and then used the marks on my walking foot to position the other lines, mirroring either side of the first line.  I've got to say that I'm rather pleased with how it worked out!  I used the glue trick on the zip tab again, and then top stitched in the same orange Aurifil.

I also used the linen for the binding and because it's thicker than quilting cotton, I cut it 1/8" wider than usual (which is already 1/8" wider than the pattern) to take that into account.  And also because it's linen and quite bouncy, I used Clover clips to keep it in place before I started hand stitching the binding down to make it easier on my hands.  (It worked - by the time I was stitching the binding that night, it had stopped bouncing up each time I removed a clip!)

Then I stitched down the binding - first with Aurifil 50wt in a beige (5011) (doing this made it easier to get the linen binding even and then I could concentrate on getting the decorative stitching straight and even) and then added running stitch in some of the threads used in the birds.  I started with the bright blue:

Then debated which other colours to use:

and settled on the yellow and then the paler blue:

And then it was finished!!  The next morning, I went out to take photos:

The back - I love that quilting!  

A close up of the bird on the right

The front

In other news, Mini Archie is definitely finding his feet:

It may be Sunday, and we may be having breakfast in bed, but I'm sure I'm still supposed to get first dibs on the food.  I'm going to give him a nudge and tip him in if he doesn't pack it in...

Thanks for popping in!  Don't forget to link up your finishes before the link closes on Saturday (but in the very early hours so it's best to think that the deadline is Friday night!) or you'll miss out on a chance to win a prize!  Shout if you have trouble linking up and I'll do my best to help.