Matryoska Embroidery

If you've been following my From my sketchbook posts, you'll know that I am just starting to get into embroidery. I love it, but it's definitely challenging. I thought it would be neat to sort of track my skill level by embroidering the same basic object over and over again. I really like Matryoshka dolls for some reason, so I chose that as my subject.

This is my first try. My goal was to make it recognizable, which I guess it is. But.... yeah.

On my next try I used this sketch I did as a base. I think I came fairly close, and I'm soooooo much more happy with my second try.

My skill level is still really... simple? That sounds like a nice word to use. But I'm definitely pleased with my progress as I haven't used any kind of patterns for these or anything - just my little sketches! I'm probably going to try a few more of these dolls before I move onto other things. Do you have any new skills you're trying out?