Pretty Red Bird

The red bird is finished. What I had in mind when I started totally changed and this sassy little guy has appeared. From the time I cut out the body and began to make the wings, then the feet, and embroider on the body, he took on a life of his own.

 

I am in awe of Salley Mavor’s work. If you have never seen her fabric reliefs or her children’s books then you are in for a treat, especially if you like stitching and embroidery! I have several of her books and love looking at them and reading her tutorials. You can check out her blog/work with this link www.weefolkstudio.com  She does not work in three dimension like I do but, I wanted to see if some of her techniques could be adapted to my work. The red bird was great to try those on.

Some of those techniques included wrapping wire to create his feet, stitching wire into his tail to give stability and posing, stitching over the body and making his beak by whipping thread over a piece of stuffed wool.

Wrapped wire

My hand-dyed wool fabric helped to give the bird different shades of red along with the embroidery. 

I only meant to make a simple Cardinal for my bird Christmas tree but I’m very pleased about where this little bird is leading me. The nest was not needed after all, and the wreath is removable, so I can leave him out all year.

I think my brain has gone to the birds.

Lately I have had dreams of crows and owls!

Scraps

I love to find scraps of either fabric, old quilts or coverlet/woven pieces. I like the variety, and sometimes it is just what is needed in a doll or quilt. I found a lady in Missouri who salvages and sells scraps of quilts and coverlets on Ebay. 

They are always clean, smell good and she packs the box full.

Nice star block with blue calico.

This box came this week containing old quilt scraps. I don’t condone cutting up good quilts or coverlets to use; but when they are full of holes or too worn to use completely, then I like to salvage what can be made into pillows, pin cushions or used in my dolls.

Crazy Quilt Stitching

Looks like this could be a collar for a bear?

Some of these are just OK… nothing special but there were a few that I love for the color or the stitches. 

This was my favorite.

I always wonder about the makers of these old pieces. Was she making a quilt to keep her children warm? Was she happy, sad, lonely or grieving for a lost love one while stitching the pieces together?  All of the stitches hold someones thoughts, dreams and memories.

Rainy Days

What to do on rainy days?

Weave a rug, quilt or sew?

I love rainy days! There is always so much to do that sometimes I don’t know what to work on first. The last few days have been gloomy and rainy, but I love to be in the studio on days like those. I’ve been working on my last two little quilts piecing and getting them ready to quilt.

Rainy days also make me want to bake!

Old fashioned Hershey Chocolate cake just like my Mom used to make!

Yum Yum!

T Shirt Quilt

My daughter was commissioned to make a T-Shirt quilt for a lady who had saved all of her son’s sport tees. This was her first time making a quilt of this type. I’m not bragging because she is my daughter, but she did a really nice job on this quilt! 

Seams and quilting were almost perfect. 

The son received the quilt for Christmas and loved it. 

Wasn’t that a great present from a Mom!?

Makes me wish now that I had saved all of my kids’ sport and 4-H tee’s.

Colds

Cough, cough, blow and sneeze. I hate colds. Pog and I both at the same time, that was even worse. Each of us thought we were sicker than the other one and neither of us felt like doing anything. We are improving. Thank goodness!

I did manage to finish up one of my little quilts that I should have done last year. I only did three little hexies but it made a nice small quilted piece. For now it is on my grandmothers dresser. 

Only two more projects to go then I will have finished Kathleen at Sentimental Quilter's little quilt challenge.

I also got started on my cardinal for the treetop. 

Just a hint...

Totally changed my mind when I sat down to draw out what I wanted. That is the way it always goes when making dolls and animals. They seem to have a mind of their own!

Sir Seamus O’Hare has returned from the TRAC exhibition only to find in his absence that

 Mr. Needmore Snow has moved to a new home! 

Needmore went to live in Charlotte where he will still not have enough snow!

Seamus didn’t even get to say goodbye, but he is not to worry, other critters will be coming to live here soon. Soon as I get over this cold that is! LOL

Thanks to everyone for the comments recently. I am thrilled when I have a comment and each one means a lot to me!

Happy Monday!!

Louise

A New Year Begins

 

The New Year is a chance to do good deeds, a chance to forgive and move on, make new friends, and make new memories.

It is time to start with a clean slate, a fresh sheet of paper, new dreams, new hopes and new creations.

Nice to think we can just start over but also sad to see time go so fast. The tree is down and the decorations are all put away. Every room in this house needs tidying up and maybe some rearranging for a fresh look. I will do it gradually because I need to think about how I want to change things around.

My first project for my 12 months of Christmas goal I set for myself will be a cardinal for the top of my bird and basket alpine tree. I keep this tree up all year round, decorating for each season. Sometimes I get tired of it but Pog enjoys the lights.

This was the first time I thought of putting all my bird ornaments on the tree and liked adding what little baskets I have too. 

The treetop went naked this time. So my first project will remedy that. I have a few ideas, one of which is to take my Angel tree topper I make and change the angel head into a cardinal.

Angel Tree Toppers

 

 I will show you at the end of the month what I come up with.

Before Christmas I started cleaning my three small looms. A couple of them need new aprons, some tightening of bolts/screws and polishing with Howards Feed and Wax. Looms are machines and they do need regular upkeep, which I have not done for a while. When I am done it will be time to warp all the looms with new projects. I have mug rugs, dish towels and new table runners planned.

 It was nice to have a little time off even if I did use most of it cleaning closets but I did get to read some, work a couple of jigsaw puzzles and stitch on my quilt.  Sounds like this New Year is now in full swing and I better get busy!

Hope you are having a good first week of January 2013!