Kantha Capers

 I broke off from my C&G kantha sample in order to make two little valentines pieces.

This one doesn't show up that well - sorry - I was photographing it to try and show the background stitching, but it was at the expense of clarity of the stitched motifs!

Anyway, it's a chain stitched bird with a little back stitched heart.  The background stitching echoes the shape of the motifs

 This one suffered in the photo slightly too.  A long stitched heart, this time the background stitching is straight up and down (which is much easier and quicker than stitching around the motifs in my opinion).

Both cards need more in the way of a border, but they are a good start ahead of Valentine's day next week.

This is the bigger C&G sample piece.  Just like the smaller pieces, it is four layers of butter muslin (so an open weave) and really soft to work on and through. 

This one is printed with the basic motifs that I wanted to use, and then stitched around with lively colours.  I might go back and stitch over some of the purple ink, particularly on the ladybirds.

I need to add all the background stitching now.  Plenty to keep my hands busy this week.