Mike the Headless Chicken, part two

I finished the stitching around the chicken figure with some buttonhole stitch around the neck and wings, and tried out a new-to-me cable chain stitch around the body. Having thought that I had made this block quite a bit larger than it would need to be so that I could trim it down when finished, I was a bit surprised to find that it was actually about 1/2" too small. After a few unpleasant words, I opted to add a border, which it turns out I like. So let's pretend I did it on purpose, shall we?

I wanted my Mike to be walking in a field of spring flowers. The blue ribbon is some that I dyed for myself.

One thing that I find very helpful sometimes in designing a block is to take a photo of it and post it on the computer. Something about taking a block that I've been looking at for so long and putting it in a different form will often help me see something that needs my attention. For instance, that weird blue bud on the left. It had to go. I think I originally intended for it to have its own stem coming up from the main full flower, but that's not what happened.

So here's the finished product, ready to go to Fruita!