Goldfinch progress report

Here they are as they are after quite a lot of work on them over the past couple of days. I finished the actual cross stitching on 31st, I think, then spent several hours listening to audio dramas and doing much of the background half stitching. There's just the left hand area, a bit to the left of the top bird's head and a layer over the top from the right hand side of the top bird over the back of the right hand one. It's hard to tell the 2 blue shades apart, but the one I'm doing now is slightly lighter than what's in place in the top and right areas. Should be finished with it very soon as there isn't much backstitching to do beyond facial features and then there are the thistle bits that look a bit like shuttlecocks to do!!! What's the proper name, someone?

Nothing else to show or report. Haven't touched my C&G work, or wanted to. I'm wondering if the fact that I'm rather conscientiously avoiding it is contributing to the horribly unsettled feeling I have at the mo...=( Oh well, C&G's loss is the goldfinches' gain!!!