Covered Bridge Embroidery

I really enjoyed stitching this design, but then I always do love these vintage embroidered scenes.  All of the threads used are overdyed or multi-colored.  One of the reasons I like to use these types of threads is I feel that they help me get away with not doing shading.  Why don't I use shading in my embroidery?  Because I just don't have the artistic talent to figure it out.  In this picture the inside of the covered bridge is darker than the rest of the building, I guess I was capable of realizing that simple logic, but that is the extent of my shading abilities!  The other reason I like to use these threads is they are so much fun!  The lazy daisy leaves on the large tree were done with Cosmos Seasons 8024 which is just about my favorite green.  It seems to have about a dozen shades of blue and yellow greens, I love it!

The tree trunk and the red on the building were made with rows and rows of split stitch, a very easy but time consuming stitch, but one of my favorite ways to fill in large areas.  This pattern is available on the Flickr group, "Hoop Love Vintage Transfers," or just Google "Covered Bridge Embroidery Pattern" and you should be able to find it easily if you want it.  I mostly stuck to the pattern but added a few of my own embellishments such as the sunflower and peach colored flowers and the weeds around the small tree.  I wish I knew a better way to do the river water, though, does anyone have a suggestion? 

Here's a couple of pictures of Pepper, one of the two newest additions to our kitty family.  She and her mother Sarah are fitting in very well with the others cats, they no longer need to stay in a separate room.  Harley and Maggie were somewhat stubborn in accepting them, maybe because they were previously the newest kitties before Sarah and Pepper came along.  

Pepper is growing like a weed and she definitely has a mind of her own, she is so independent for such a little one!  As you can imagine, she has us wrapped around her little paw!

Here she is snuggled up with Tigger.  They look so much alike, doesn't it look like Tigger could be her baby Daddy?  One last picture before I end this post, several weeks ago we kept noticing that some robins were hanging around my truck where it parks in the driveway.  We didn't think much about it until I took the truck in for an oil change.  While I was waiting at the service station, Bill, the owner said, "You have to come and look at your engine."  Here's what was under the hood:

A robin's nest with eggs!  I'm not sure how many trips to town were taken with the nest in place, the robin parents must have wondered why the place where their nest was built kept disappearing.  I tried to save the nest for them by placing it in our large lilac bush, but it didn't work, they never came back it use it again.  I think the eggs were probably cooked from the engine heat so they probably wouldn't have hatched anyway.  I felt sorry for the poor birds whose time and hard work were wasted!  Thanks in advance for any comments you might leave, I recently discovered the blog setting that sends your comments to my email making it very easy for me to reply to you, so I have decided I would like to answer each one from now on.  One of the nicest things about having a blog is reading the messages that you write, I really appreciate it!  But even if you don't have time for a comment, that's ok, too, your visit is still appreciated, thank you!