Crazy Bird Legs!

I've had a hankerin' to do some embroidery lately, so when I got together with a group of artgirl friends last Sunday, I gave it a whirl. I used a piece of nice, soft cotton left over from an old table runner I had cut up previously. I grabbed my big bag of color-sorted embroidery threads and dove in. I had a vague notion of making a bird sitting on a tree branch, surrounded by flowery vines.

Patterns? We don't need no stinkin' patterns! I could do this freestyle.

Well....turns out it's very helpful to have more of a pattern than the random thoughts floating about in my head.

I actually really like the hanging vines and the branch, but the bird and especially its poor scrawny legs need some work. It looks like someone with really, really skinny legs is carrying a huge bird-shaped poster. One of my friends noted that's because BOTH legs appear to be BEHIND the body. I think that's part of the problem, but additional suggestions would be very welcome!