Progress on my Zecca Purse

I've been working on the front of a purse from Zecca for the past few weeks. It's a huge needlepoint design - big enough for what I'd call a carpet bag. The front features a very stylized purple bird and I think it was the bird and combination of the colors that appealed to me. I'm working the background in a Byzantine stitch with 2 strands of Baroque Silk. I stitch sewing motion so it goes quickly but it's why the canvas appears so distorted. The body of the bird is stitched with 1 strand of Baroque Silk in a V stitch. This is done by working the stitch in a column (angled in this case) and the next column angles the opposite direction. When I get the body done I'll do the wing in the same stitch, but on a different angle.

I'm doing somewhat smaller stitches so that they will wear well when it's used as a bag. The lime green is tent stitch but I've not yet decided on the stitches for the circles or the leaves. That will be a decision for another day...