Thread painting in the works

I gave a hint that I was working on a cardinal....OK, more than a hint.  I did the sketch a few months ago, and I have been waiting to get it thread painted.  It finally is coming together. 
A Christmas card from my uncle came in the mail  a few  days ago, and it featured a cardinal  sitting on a pine bough.  Perfect inspiration!  So I added some pine needle clusters. 
I  used  2 layers of solvy sandwiched between a layer a tulle for my foundation/base.  I used  3 shades  of red for the body, and a coral for the highlights, and a deep wine color for the shading on the wings.  The stitch is a narrow zig-zag stitch.  The cardinal took about 2 hours to do.
Next step is to cut out the thread painting close to the stitching, rinse out the solvy and let it all dry.

This is what I have in mind to do.  The branch end will  be in the seam when the border is added to the watercolor piece, and the extra pine needle clusters will extent out into the border.  Or that is the plan right now.  Once I get the border added, I will figure out the final placement.