I’m sure I’m not the only person with a craft stash. This year I want to work my way through some of it. I do love a seasonal project and with Spring in the air I turned to one of the projects I didn’t make from a previous Craftpod subscription box. The box contained two projects. I made the felt pin cushion, but for some reason never started the Blackbird’s nest appliqué project. I have never done much appliqué, so I think this was one I put aside for when I had more time.

Blackbird’s nest appliqué project

Thankfully I had all the materials for this sweet Spring embroidery hoop – four pieces of linen, embroidery threads, embroidery hoop and needles. The only thing I didn’t have was the template for the appliqué parts. The people at Craftpod kindly sent me the template so I could make the project. Of course as soon as they sent me the template I found it!

I love working with linen and the colours were really pretty for Spring. The appliqué came together really well and I don’t know why I was so worried about stitching it. The instructions were good and I enjoyed watching it all come together.

I did a lot of the stitching without using the hoop because I found it easier to stitch through the layers. I enjoyed the process of adding the layers and then adding stitches to decorate the pieces. The whole piece took me a week to finish, the final step was adding some detail to the blackbird’s nest.

We’ve had more birds visiting our garden over the last week or two, especially some lovely blackbirds looking for worms. This is the perfect embroidery hoop for Spring.