Calico Heart Garland

The idea came from Sarana Ave's Heart Strings.  I made mine longer and with more hearts, using my pile of new and vintage calicos.  It's all hand-stitched, too.  I used tan wool and a running stitch to sew the fronts and backs together, leaving a gap for stuffing:

Once I stuffed them, I sewed up the last bits and strung them onto hemp cord with a large, dull needle.

For the moment I have them with my birdies:

(I'm still working on the best way to display the birdies.)

It's Curtains for the Birds!

I decided I needed a new way to display my birds, and I got the idea of attaching a white panel surrounded by a colorful border, and using that as a curtain for a pair of bare windows in my living room.

(Despite the fact that the windows are on the north side, they still get enough light that I could only photograph the curtain at night.)

The white center was easy -- I had some nice fabric left over from simple white curtains I made for my bedroom.  It wasn't wide enough to cover both windows, but that would be fixed with a border.  Rooting through my fabric stash I found a collection of half yard and fat quarter cuts of bright Guatemalan-inspired fabric, which would be perfect.  I chose for the first border a half-yard of a bargello-like print in a rainbow of colors, which yielded a three inch border.  That wasn't enough, so I added a second border of five inch squares and five by ten inch rectangles cut from an assortment of wovens shot through with contrasting threads.  Satisfied, I held it up to the windows, and it still wasn't wide enough.  I was running out of fabric, but I took the two black fat quarters, cut them up into two and a half inch strips and had enough to border the whole thing.  But now the height of the curtain was way too long, and interfered with the air conditioner -- too bad I didn't pay attention to that dimension when I was sewing.  Off came the black borders on the top and bottom, along with an inch of the second border.  I finished the curtain by lining it with a spare white bed sheet, and I was done.

I don't keep my birds up all year, so I think I will use the curtain as a display for other things, too.  Like all my brightly colored, handmade ornaments -- I've finally reached the point where I have too many to decorate a medium-size tree, and I no longer display extras on the mantle (having become thoroughly enamored of my Three Kings display).  Maybe I'll put my Day of the Dead doohickies there, too.

Flora the Spring Bird

The pattern is by Wendi Gratz of Shiny Happy World, by way of Sew Mama Sew.  Wendi's tip for transfering the embroidery design onto felt was to use Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy; I didn't have that, but I did have a Sulky water-soluble stabilizer, which I figured would work just as well once I realized I could mark it with a regular pen.  (The instructions say it is for machine embroidery, but why limit oneself?)

It worked beautifully.  No worries about precision tracing, I could correct any errors as I stitched without having to make sure my stitches covered the marks.  No worries about removing marks, either, and the film dissolved perfectly in a 15 minute warm water bath.  I will be using this for all my felt-embroidery needs.

Back to Crafting

Now that Beadboy3 is settling in nicely, I've started picking up a needle again.  First up was the Maltese Cross Ornament, by Needlecrafts Unlimited Co. and from the 2002 Just Cross Stitch Ornaments issue.  Two, actually, one of which I gave to my mom:

Rather than the pearl cotton called for, I used the Caron Collection's Wildflowers thread in Pomegranate and Blue Spruce, because pretty.

All of the Caron threads are pretty; I love playing with my stash.

Anyway, this ornament was an interesting finish; the main design is on point in a larger square marked out by a line of backstitch.  To close it up, the instructions have one folding back the four corners and stitching the sides along each point together, weaving in and out of the backstitch.

Next up was another Partridge/Pear Tree ornament, one of my own design (sort of).  Indygo Junction's Folk Art Jingle ornament pattern has one ornament that they call a teardrop shape but that looked like a pear to me.  Instead of using the floral motif on the pattern, I came up with my own -- a little partridge with embroidery and applique for embellishment.  Two embroidered felt leaves complete the effect:

I'm quite pleased with how it came out.

Crafty Round-Up

A couple of finishes, first:

This garland I started years ago, by gluing pairs of felt circles onto a length of lace trim.  I spent the next few years whip-stitching the circles closed, a few at a time and even while it was on display, when it occurred to me.

I finished this heart sampler by doing a modified nun's stitch around the edge:

Inspired by the adorable embroidery designs in Aneela Hoey's Little Stitches and a patchwork and embroidery quilt in Alicia Paulson's Embroidery Companion, I embroidered this little kitty:

and these little birds:

Christmas Whites

I spent an enjoyable weekend making felt ornaments.  The first batch are from Indygo Junction's "Winter White" leaflet.  I've used the pattern before; a few years ago I made this stocking for myself:

And this ornament for my mom:

I also made a star for my aunt.

This time around, I made another star, a bird (to join my flock), and a cross, embellished with buttons, beaded applique, lace, embroidery, and seed beads:

These guys are staying with me.

A birdie and a teeny birdie

I finished the second bird from Fa La La La Felt yesterday:
It took so long because I did more embroidery for the wing than the pattern called for. I was going for a paisley look, but it turned into a spiral, and then I got tired of stitching. I attached it per instructions to the clothespin, but it is a bit wobbly so I may have to fix that. My flock of birds is complete, for now.

After making all those birds, it seemed fitting that the next square on my 36 Squares should be a tiny little bird:
I used a small scrap of yellow calico that came long ago from my mother's stash, and tacked it in place with small stitches. Detached chain stitches for the tail and wing, a french knot for the eye, and straight stitches for the beak, and the bird was done.

A Flock of Birdies

Now that we seem to have recovered from the plague that befell our house, I have the energy to write about my current project.

I think last season was the season of the bird -- every publication, it seemed, had at least one bird ornament to make. Because of my aforementioned craft obligations I was not able to make any, but now that Christmas is over I'm ready for some pretty little birds to get me through dreary January and February. Besides, birds are appropriate year-round.

I already had a few birdies in my collection:
The one on the upper left is felt, and was a gift last year from my Aunt. The bottom, patchwork bird was made by my mom when I was a little girl; there is a matching heart, too. The one on the upper right I made, also from felt. It's funny, the memories that get attached to things. I bought the pattern in November 2005; I remember, because it was right after my father died. My brother and I were staying with my mom, and after we had taken care of the business of the funeral and other matters, we needed to get out of the house. I had heard of a quilt store an hour away, and we thought a little drive would do us good. But it was a grey, miserable day, and we could not shake the sadness of why we were there in the first place.

The first new addition:
This pattern was in the 2010 Better Homes and Garden's Christmas mag (I forget the exact title). The pattern called for needlefelting the wing onto the body, using a bit of felted striped sweater, and then using the back of the needlefelting for the outside of the ornament to give a fuzzier, softer look to the wing. It seemed like a great idea, and I had a brightly-colored fair isle sweater I never wore, so I felted the sweater and cut it up. Unfortunately, the reason why I never wore it (too thick and bulky) meant disaster when I tried needlefelting -- literally within seconds I broke all five needles on my needlefelting tool. Refusing to give up I tried felting it with just one needle, but that needle bent almost immediately. Defeated, I appliqued the stupid wing on and left it like that.

Felt and Calico birdies:
I've seen birds all over made from scraps of felt and calico, and I love love love the look. But then, I have a great fondness for old-fashioned calicoes, and I can't wait for them to come back in style. These birds were particularly inspired by ornaments I saw a long time ago in a catalog. I cut the bodies out of fabric and sandwiched in the felt tails and beaks. Rather than leave a gap in the sewing to turn them, I sewed all the way around, then cut a slit in the fabric about where the wing would be to turn them right-side-out. I then stuffed the birdies and appliqued felt wings on, covering the hole. I need to remember to stuff in more filling than I think -- these sorts of things look better firmly stuffed.

Paper cloth birdies (color is off; should have waited for daylight):
Simple -- I cut bird shapes out of the paper cloth, and used scraps for the beaks and wings. I sewed the wings on each side and then sewed the two bird sides together, attaching the beaks at the same time. At the last minute I stuck in a loop of thread for a hanger.

Golden partridge:
This is from Fa La La La Felt, a wicked awesome book I picked up in the fall with dozens and dozens of easy felt ornaments and decorations. I want to make every item in that book, and this is a start. The idea of attaching a clothespin to clip the bird onto a tree branch is nifty, and from another felt bird from this book I'm working on. Still have to finish the embroidery, but I have a good-sized flock now.