The birds, butterflies, and black background designs are embroidered No hand coloring. I started with plain white cotton fabric cut in squares and rectangle. Used a 7" x 12" hoop. All blocks are stippled with white thread. Next step embroidered black design. Then embroidered birds and butterflies in various colors. I looked at images of hummingbirds and butterflies on the internet to get color ideas. Thanks for all the nice comments.