Ladybird or ladybug

This was totally unplanned and not on my to-do list at all. I had dedicated this week to making nothing but bags - I have 5 more to make. But you know you can't make bags all day long. It gets boring. Lately I've found it's really nice to make small little embroideries which don't take up a lot of time. It's really relaxing and a great de-stressor.

It started out like this, with an embroidery hoop, some felt and embroidery thread.

Here it is, all finished. It's a ladybird. Or is it a ladybug? What's the difference?

It's mostly satin stitch which I absolutely dislike. I'm not very neat in my stitching either. I used sashiko red thread for the wings but I realise that sashiko thread isn't really good for this kind of stitching. Next time I would use perle or just embroidery floss.

Oh, I did clean up my Ikea sten shelves after all. Just one shelf. The lighting is so much better on the left side of my balcony but it is occupied by these giant sten shelves. You know the monstrous tree outside my window? It survived the recent dry spell and blocks sunlight to my balcony. But it's growing taller and I hope it will continue to grow taller so I get more light.

As I often do with all my small embroideries - I turned the ladybird into a brooch. Melly is just barely tolerating the ladybird...

Ladybird checking out the classifieds. I wonder what job would suit a ladybird?

I couldn't get the words on the newspaper to come out clear - maybe next time I should try using a higher aperture number.

Yesterday I attended the last lesson of a product photography course I was taking at Nikon school. Yes, I did learn a few things - mostly on the first lesson. In product photography, you're supposed to use special lights. But I use sunlight so there's some struggle I have each time I take photos. Still, I'm trying to use some of what I've learnt in my blog photos. Do you notice any tiny bit of improvement in my photos? (All photos on this post taken with my Nikon D3200 except for the first iPhone photo)

Later, friends.