I’ve been a bit lax with my posting recently, mainly because I’m having major computer problems due to it running out of storage, so it’s getting very slow, not helped by my phone also being overfull with photos! Anyway, I will try and get up to date this coming week.

Last time I shared this project I had three letters left to stitch, well they are finished! I think the first one is a stonechat, the second one is possibly a red backed shrike and the last one I’m putting down as a serin. As you can see they are all edged with the back-stitch I use to stitch them together.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been stitching the letters together to make the individual pages of the book. I applied some interfacing to the back which not only helps to give the pages a bit of body, they also help prevent the embroidery below showing through. I trimmed the edges to about 1cm, pressed the edges over and then whip-stitched the back-stitches on the sides together.

I needed both a frontispiece and a back page. The pattern for the alphabet is French, from Les Brodeuses Parisienne, I decided to keep the French title though I shortened it slightly to ‘Alphabet d’Oiseaux’ It needed a little extra, so I used the pattern for swallows, I stitched one large swallow and three smaller ones, reversing one of the birds. I’m pleased how this has worked out. For the back page I just kept it simple with my name and where I had stitched it.

I’ve been mulling over how to stitch the pages together. They all need a good press, I’ll probably use my clapper board on the corners as despite trimming them they are still noticeably more bulky. That is the disadvantage of just using linen for the pages rather than using cotton fabric to surround the design. I don’t think I’ll get them totally even so if I just stitch the pages together it will end up misshapen. At the moment I’m thinking of either stitching across the pages with a tighter stitch in the corners, or put a spacer between, such as a line of little beads, in between the corners down the spine. That could also look quite pretty as you turn the pages…decisions!