Cedric the Badger

Meet my new woodland friend, Cedric the Badger. Cedric's had a difficult birth but he's here now and ready to be stitched. Yes I have a pattern all ready for sale on our website!

This was the sneek-peak preview you got a few weeks back when I did a tutorial for the Raised Rose Stitch.
I made Cedric as a birthday present for my Mother-in-law, who lives at a house called Badger's Drift, and I was waiting for her to receive it and for my IT consultant (ahem) to sort out the PDF pattern before I showed him to you.

Badgers are really hard  to draw. I tried to do a badger as one of the mini woodland portraits I made for the FQ Retreat Sample Swap, but he just kept turning out either evil or very sad so I gave up and did an owl instead!
But, undettered, I had another go. I thought you might find my early sketches entertaining!

For a while he kept veering between a corgi and a pig! One of the things that makes them difficult is that they have black eyes in a black face and the other is that they are always very low to the ground, more like furry slugs really.
I kept at it and eventually got a badger who looked like a badger and, hopefully, won't scare any children!

If anybody buys this pattern don't worry if the face on the pattern looks a little weird. Because the face is made from mainly black and the pattern is white it has the quality of a photo negative (remember them?!). I hope that makes sense. Just go with it and he will get more badger-like the more black you use.

I have used split stitch for the badger stripe and nose, this is the first time I have used this stitch and it is an excellent filler. It is basically like a backstitch but you stick your needle through the middle of the previous stitch to 'split' it. It takes a while but I think the results are worth it.

I am enjoying using variegated perles at the moment. I like the way these look on the ivy and the tree trunk. And I've used a variegated orange mixed with yellow on my rose bush. I just love doing those roses now!

So, a new character to add to my woodland gang. If you would like to buy the pdf pattern click here .
I have to thank my sister, Jane, for coming up with his name. I think Cedric suits him perfectly, he seems to me a slightly cautious, polite and proper badger. He is slso clearly watching something or someone from behind that tree. I wonder what it is?