Chicken -- 2nd section

Dad's new view

Yesterday, we (oldest daughter, her husband, her two daughters, my husband and I) drove about 2 1/2 hours over a mountain pass that was clear to attend my Dad's service and celebration of life. Earlier in the week, there was a lot of snow that fell! I think Dad used some of his "new" connections to keep the roads open!

We  attended the graveside service and then his celebration of life. . . We drove home in the afternoon. It was a long day; but, also a day full of many stories. His wife threw the best party. My dad would have loved it.

Finished first section

Beginning the positioning

Ready to stitch the underneath pieces

Thank you for all the encouragement and kind comments on my first chicken update post. You made me feel empowered to carry on!

Therefore, I had to share with you that I finished the first chicken section. You can't hardly tell which of the purple flowers that our dog chewed! I found that having the pieces prepared for stitching made stitching more enjoyable. I also stitched a thread a day and finished this section in less than a week.  The section is two flowers, two leaves and some stems!

Then it was on to the second section. You can see the amount of pieces that are part of a section. To make it easier for me, I stitched the flower petals together and the bud together so that I just had a flower and a bud to stitch. 

This takes a little time and working with those little pieces takes some fiddling! It is doable though.

Once I get the "under" pieces stitched, I went back and finished basting the long stem in place. It was tricky to squeeze in that flower between the chicken and the words!

I spent a little time each evening working on these pieces. I've  a hand stitching routine which is great! It wasn't long before I had completed that section too!

Second section finished

Three sections to this leaf!

Beginning of the prepped section

So, I spent some time prepping the next section. Again, I stitched some parts together so I had a larger "part" to appliqué. Some of the parts are tiny!!!

Again, I need to stitch a few parts in place and then do the basting. I'm ready for stitching another section. I think I have three more sections of about this size to complete before the appliqué is finished. I'm beginning to feel excited about finishing!

. . . .Well, it has been ten years!!! :)

For me, it is important that I have my chair set up with good light and all my tools so that when I stitch, I'm as ergonomically situated as possible.

My stitching chair

Re-upholstered chair

My sweet husband wanted to buy me a new chair for Christmas.  As I look at this photo, my chair really was in bad shape; but, it felt so great to sit in that I didn't want to give it up!

However, I agreed to shop for a chair. I sat in lots of chairs; but there wasn't one that was as nice as my old chair. So I suggested that we get it recovered. 

My sweet husband agreed and we had it recovered! Gosh, the first few times that I sat in it, I couldn't believe how firm the seat cushion was. I had sure become used to the old worn out cushion! The upholsterer told me that I won't need to recover this chair in my lifetime.

It wasn't an inexpensive process. For a couple hundred more dollars I could have had a new chair had I been able to find one!  I'm enjoying my space and even better. . .I'm making progress on the chicken!