Work in Progress - and some questions...

A work in progress: A little while ago my youngest daughter did this drawing. It makes me happy whenever I look at it!  I think it's pretty good for a six year old (before I had children I used to think parents were showing off their children's achievements - now I know that you are just sharing your amazement and not actually taking any credit for it...)

        
This afternoon I sat down on the spur of the moment and hand- and machine-embroidered this:

It's not finished yet, but I have a question which I'm throwing out here in case anyone can help... When I embroidered the hair, the face puckered - is this a thread tension thing, or because I didn't stabilise the fabric?  It's puckered in such a way that I could actually pad the face out, so that the picture is slightly raised, but I wondered if I could "block" it flat?  Any ideas?!  I am a total novice.

On the Let's Get Acquainted blog hop today

Marta from From Marta with Love
Marion from My Quilt Diet

Marta has a neat tip for efficiently marking up several half-square triangles and Marion has some of her own for getting an awe-inspiring amount of quilting done while running a household of six kids.

Also at Plum and June, there is a lovely giveaway - a half-yard bundle of Riley Blake's Apple of My Eye.

And at Life's Rich Pattern, Annabella is offering a beautiful bundle of Kona solids.

Check them out!