He's so Foxy

My friend Natalie from Sew By Hand is teaching Becky Hogg's Owl in Montreal and had asked if she could borrow Foxy to show the class. I was supposed to bring him over on Friday but because of work I had to reschedule to Sunday.

I was kind of disappointed that I had to cancel as she's just come back from a trip to the UK and had loads of stitchy things to share. When I came home I figured it would give me more time to finish the cutwork on the tail.

Not only did the afternoon speed by, but the stitching did as well. I definitely have a handle on the cutwork now. I finished the tail in no time. I'm so happy with the curve. I think I can come to enjoy cutwork as much as I do chipping one day.

I still had plenty of time so I decided to keep stitching and before I knew it the ears were done and eyes were stitched in.

I had some fun taking pictures at different angles.

And here's the back. Not bad, I didn't have any stray threads this time. I'm doing better with the length of threads I'm cutting. I don't get as many tangles anymore.

Saturday morning, I busied myself in finishing him. I decided that I wanted to use the hoop that came with the kit.

Fabric is cut all around the hoop...

 ...and then gathered. The fabric bulges a little at the back but it doesn't really bother me that much.

 Here he is all finished.

 I've already picked out where he will hang. I have the perfect spot on my cork-board.

It's great to see more color on the board. I will have to look for more small projects to fill in the empty spaces.

Just to give you an idea of what's leftover from the kit. I still have plenty of metal threads to play with. If you're a beginner worried about not having enough in case you have to cutout and redo, don't be. There is plenty to finish it.

So what's next? I'm looking at my list of WIPs and the priority right now is:

• Giuliana Ricama runner 
• Hedebo Enchantment
• Japanese bead embroidery phase 1

I'm going to try very hard not to start any new projects from now till the fall as I have many projects that will be starting then. I do have plans to start another goldwork project (I have two planned to start and finish before seminar next year). I'm aiming for September 22 to start the first one.