Finishing UFO's II

Another UFO ( UnFinished Object) has now turned into a WIP (Work in Progress). I made this lap quilt/wall hanging in the 1990's based on the Guinea fowl at Kew ( they're such characters , resembling rather manic city gents that I called them 'The Chaps') The background is made of hand dyed silks and cottons ( that dates it to pre 1998 when my kitchen was refurbished and I could no longer make a mess dyeing in buckets ). The chaps themselves are hand appliqued in different grey fabrics which were also used in the borders and on the back ( below)

I started out hand quilting but ended up 'echo' machine quilting around the shapes of the guinea fowl and made a freezer paper quilting pattern of smaller guinea fowl around the border.

All that was left to do was to stitch feather patterns on the guinea fowl themselves - I did a couple then abandoned it - it's quite tough going as they were appliqued using vilene so there's 5 layers to stitch through!

I've been inspired to finally finish it as a birthday present for our nephew who loves birds and birdwatching and might appreciate it rather than being stuffed in a drawer. A few wonky stitches until I found the notes and diagram I'd made several years ago for teaching 'crows foot' Very satisfying - I can see me using this stitch more now I've rediscovered it.

8 down , 4 to go. If I have sufficient time I might machine stitch their feet and crests - I'm not convinced how permanent the red fabric marker pen is.