HUMMERS!!!

Finally, I got the little bugger done!

I almost gave up on the metallic thread because it would break and be nearly impossible to attach a new thread to without a big knot. I did have to attach a new thread once, in the wing picots. I learned to go very very slowly. So there it is, attached to a cord with flower at the end, to make a bookmark. I have it in the envelope and after a short note, it will go to a friend whose hummingbirds enchanted me.

This is an adaptation of Sherry Matthews' hummer, which I linked to before. The thread is Sulky metallic #142-7027. I also used it as a blending filament with the black (DMC size 80 tatting thread) to make the flower and cord. It behaved very nicely while it was with the black. The changes I made in Sherry's design were where the chains began in the wings. I made the first chain as the directions say but after that I completed the row with 4 ds, p, 4 ds, j below. Then coming back, I ch 5 ds, p, 5 ds, j below. The last ch was something like ch 7 and attached to the last p. The next row of chains was something like ch 1, long p, ch 1 for a total of 4 long p, then attach to the row below. I used a picot gauge to graduate the size of the picots, going from largest at the tip of the wing to smallest near the body. I ended up just making chains to go from ring to ring in the lower body after the wings. In some birds, I made some big picots at the tail end and some I didn't It does give the impression of tail feathers a bit though.

Now what am I going to do with all these practice hummers?????