Week 1 - "Put a bird on it"

This past fall my friend who does pottery started working with porcelain, she took some of her pieces on the pottery studios raku trip and they turned out beautifully. I just had to buy a pair of these wall hanging vases for my mom.
But when Christmas came around, I felt that I needed to add a little something to the gift. Since my mother loves needle work I decided to work off of a website that gave me some inspiration http://lanared.blogspot.nl/2012/11/tea-towel-diy.html

While the blog gives a nice tutorial on how to make a designed tea towel, I worked off what I had and what I'm able to do.

This is what I created.
I used
muslin fabric
black fabric paint
a self made bird outline
paint brushes
thread
needle
I didn't have a grid measuring mat (got one for Christmas!!) so I improvised and used my boyfriends kitchen counter that was a nice rectangle. Hemmed the fabric and painted on the bird.

While I was working on embroidering around the bird at a coffee shop a man came up to me and asked if I was "putting a bird on it" now I was confused because OBVIOUSLY there was a bird on the fabric. But he was referencing Portlandia's skit "Put a Bird on it" http://youtu.be/0XM3vWJmpfo its hilarious.

The embroidery was a nice touch, and I do think I will do this again. The important thing is my mom loved it :)