Furry Nice Embroidery Class--Week 4

I mentioned in a previous post that I had signed up for Follow the White Bunny's Furry Nice Embroidery Class.  The first three weeks of the class were easy, giving people time to find the supplies and transfer the fabric onto the pattern.

Week 4 coincided with the end of the school year.  I was finishing up class work for a certificate at the local university, dealing with an uptick in activity at my student organization-based job, and then my husband and I went on vacation.  My online class stitching slipped through the cracks.  Oops.

Luckily, there is some leeway with pacing for the online class, and I am finally able to do some furry stitching.  Here is how my little polar bear looks at the end of Week 4.

Eventually, he is going to get all of his fur filled in, a colorful new scarf, and flowers.

This project is a lot more delicate than what I am used to doing.  I am working with one strand of DMC cotton floss at a time.  I can't pull the thread very tight, otherwise it creates holes in the fabric.

The pattern deliberately leaves the polar bear's face and body free of any lines in order to allow for free-form stitching.  We have guidelines on what directions the stitches should be in so that the bear can have a life-like appearance, but there is no "wrong" place to put a stitch.  This is a big leap of faith on my part.  I had to keep assuring myself that this would be a polar bear in my style, and it didn't need to look exactly like the original.  So far, my crafty friends are impressed.  My friend Angela said that it has the feeling of a sketched drawing.  Cassie said that if I didn't enter it in the State Fair, she would cry.

The polar bear still has a long way to go before it is done, but I am learning a lot about texture and shading.  Stepping out of my comfort zone will give me more tools to use in the future, and that can only make my work better.