Embroidered Birds and their Habitats explores the author's fascination with birds and the ways they interact with their surroundings. The book is divided into three parts: Part 1 covers the basic requirements of what the reader needs, including design requirements, embroidery materials and additional equipment. It also includes a section on research and choosing a suitable bird and its habitat, and information on drawing up a design related to the bird and its placement in the wider landscape. Part 2 explores processes and techniques used in designing and working more complicated elements through two projects. These guide the reader through the entire process, from inspiration through to working design. The reader learns techniques for layering the background and stitching; picking up all the skills and techniques needed to complete a hand-stitched, low-relief panel. This includes elements embroidered both on- and off-frame. Part 3 includes further examples of the author's embroideries, and drawn designs that could be used in future works. This section also includes information on finishing the work (mounting and framing), a stitch glossary, reference section and acknowledgements.

This book is about the processes and techniques of designing, stitching and completing realistic interpretations of Landscapes. The processes described in this book will enable any embroiderer from any country in the world to adapt and produce hand-embroidered landscapes portraying their own regions. The techniques are the combination and adaption of different art genre, textiles, traditional stitch's and hand embroidery techniques. It is the result of over 25 years of experiment, refinement and tutoring by author, Judy Wilford. The book is divided into 2 parts. Part 1 covers the materials and equipment needed to design and embroider a landscape: a simple landscape is adapted, designed, drawn up and used throughout demonstrating the layering techniques used for the background. Surface stitchery completes the foreground and covers the stitches used and adapted for the work required to produce surface elements such as grass, tress and flora that combine to make up the landscape. Part 1 contains the Project "Of the Tablelands", this project can result in 2 completed works, - one depicting grasses as the main foreground feature and the other depicting the verge side flora of the region. Part 2 contains projects based on different land forms -The coastlines, The Escarpments, The Plains and The Deserts, each further develop and extend techniques. They describe the landscape types and elements and the use of fabric and stitch to achieve specific effects. These effects could be sand patterns on beaches, the water ways of lakes and dams, vertical tree trunks and their textures, the wide expanse of deserts flowering or the crops and grasses of the plains and the closed secret canopies of the forests. As in Part 1, each of the land forms will have stitch samplers of specific elements and the flora of the region giving a total of 8 projects.