Swan Stitch-a-Long, part 12

Hi everyone! Another three weeks, and -- there's progress! I was happy with the last session's results, having gotten most of the background done, and finally started stitching one swan head:

My goals for this stretch were to get the background and the necks, heads, and wings of the two swans stitched. I didn't do all of that, but I did do a lot! Much of the background is done, both heads and necks are done.

And much of the wings are done, including the longest of the longstitch sections:

I was really worried about those -- the stitch length is really long, and I didn't feel like there was enough coverage with one stitch each, but two stitches each was too bulky -- so I settled for an informal one stitch, two stitch, one stitch, two stitch "pattern" and they filled in pretty well. And I've decided that I like the slightly unkept look -- I'm choosing to see it as "texture" in the feathers.

The background is really close, but I was enjoying filling in the swans. So I've gone from this:

to this:

I'm going to wrap that up first, and then get back to the swan bodies!

Left swan needs slightly more work than right swan:

But because I finished the heads and necks and wingtips, I was able to roll the canvas in the frame -- that's almost like a mini finish, right?

Still so much to do, but despite the imminent arrival of family from across the pond, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get the blue background done, the longstitching in the wings and tail feathers, and maybe even one of the swans done? We'll see!

In the meantime, check out what my fellow stitchers have accomplished on their amazing projects -- you're sure to be inspired!

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Hayley, Megan, Catherine, Deborah, Connie, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny, Carmela, Jocelyn, and Sharon.