Hummingbird gift

My sister Vicky recently did a illustration project on Hummingbirds, she has now become quite obsessed with the curious little things, delving through odd facts and sketching from cabinets of taxidermy at The National History Musuem.  According to my own brief research on the birds, they have no sense of smell, are the smallest bird, and their twig like feet are quite ornamental; mainly used for delicate perching on branches. I decided to turn my embroidered bird into a festive decoration for her. I first had stitched it on a vintage offcut when left alone and bored with toppling suitcases and camping bags at a train station in Ipswich last summer. I used ribbon rosette stitch for the flowers and running stitch for the outline, the beak is plumply filled with an orange fill in stitch.
Victoria's presents were mostly hummingbird bird related; an old Ladybird book with a child's pencil sketches on the back pages, the hummingbird bakery cookbook, a hummingbird decoration, minature kitsch diary and dolly print cupcake cases all wrapped in liberty fabric and fastened with lace that I found on a piano. I hope we can make some of the delicious cakes in the Hummingbird bakery cookbook soon, veganising them of course.