Bird Advent, days 23-25

I did it - just wrapped up my final 3 birds today - it's been a lot of gorgeous fun making these from the Snowbird pattern from Larissa Holland. You know, I wouldn't say that any of these stitch up very fast - I spent at least 4-6 hours hand sewing each one - but it's such a fun process that the hours really fly by.

Anyhow, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, surrounded by family and by everyone you love.

Bird Advent, day 22

Here's bird 22 - today I'll wrap up the last 3 birds of advent, and post them soon!

Bird Advent, day 21

One last lovely white snow bird for this Sunday.

Bird Advent, days 19-20

It is so odd, making these snow birds - I am so entertained by the infinite variety of little changes I can make, that I really feel like I could make these forever!

Bird Advent, days 15-18

Next to the green and pink birds, these are my favorites so far...

Bird Advent, day 14

Although photographing these is tricky, it's always fun to see the results. I'm really looking forward to snapping a big photo with all of them together...

Bird Advent, days 12-13

I wasn't ever planning to do blue and red - it kind of just happened, and I'm loving them.

Bird Advent, days 8-11

I completed these earlier this year - my favorite thing about photographing them as I finish is noticing all their little quirks and details.

Bird Advent, day 7

This all-white bird is one of my favorites so far. Maybe I'll make a few variations on this... :)

Bird Advent, days 5 and 6

I finished these two in January - my favorite part is still the black and white houndstooth felt on the back side - very cute, no?

Bird Advent, days 1-4

This year flashed by in record time for me! It's hard to believe I was making these beautiful birds 1 whole year ago, but there it is, the calendar, telling me what's what. These were made using the lovely Snow Bird pattern by Larissa Holland.

This holiday weekend I pulled out the birds, and started on these 4, half-finished and literally calling out to be sewn together. A marathon Gilmore Girls-watching later, I sewed these up and crafted another three.

Since I'm halfway there, I've decided to craft 1 a day for Advent - I can definitely crank out 25 of these beauties. Hope you enjoy them as I share them. :)

Stitching Saturday: Birds, birds, and more birds

So, I'm officially obsessed now - I spent the majority of my holiday stitching oodles of birds from the Snow Bird pattern by Larissa Holland.

When I ran out of time to stitch for Christmas, I began stitching "2014" on the backs of these, and got a jump on my holiday stitching for next year! Why I've never thought of that before, I have no idea, but now I'm all ready for homemade gift giving next Christmas. :)



I adore all of the color combinations I came up with - it's so easy to put these together - but they are time-consuming. I estimate each bird to take about 5-6 hours of stitching, so I "watched" a lot of tv - all the available seasons on Vicar of Dibley on netflix, Dr. Who, and a string of odd Christmas movies including Rare Exports (which I recommend).



And, if the quality of photos seems to have radically improved since I started making them, there is a reason - after almost a decade of using point-and-shoots, I finally got myself a "real" camera - a Canon Rebel T3i. There's just no way to compare the quality - it's out of this world when viewed side by side with my point-and-shoot, and most certainly when viewed next to my cell phone camera.

Stitching Saturday: a little embroidering

Heavens, yes, I know it's been forever. I've been crafting, mostly under the radar, just for pleasure or for FS reviews. I've also been adding to my log cabin knitted blanket, which has grown quite large. And it's cold in our pre-central-heating house, which means my hands ache after a day of crafting.

Nevertheless, I found this Snowy Bird Pattern by Larissa Holland a few days ago, and instantly had it purchased, downloaded, and ready to craft. I finished my first bird after about 5 hours of stitching, which included a hunt in my house for sequins. All I found was an iridescent green sequin ribbon which I've been patiently detaching the sequins from, bit by bit.


I liked my first bird, though it was far from perfect. Against Larissa's sage advice, I used the cheap acrylic felt I owned, because I prefer to use what I have, and because I'm too darn impatient to wait for felt. Also, it would likely be Christmas before it arrived at my house. :) I'm an old hand at crafting with cheap acrylic felt - I kne exactly what would be frustrating, and have formed my own workarounds over the years, so it went fine.

I've never, ever crafted with sequins before, and had you asked me my preference, I would have previously classed them in the same taste category as bedazzlers and puffy paint - not exactly my cup of tea. But there's something about the way Larissa incorporates them into her design that is so elegant. And they're so sparkly and dazzling.

In no time, I had the makings of 10 more birds all cut out and ready to stitch. I admit, I went a bit bonkers, but there is something so addicting about this pattern, I can truly say that almost every color combination I put together looked great. Also, there's something a little Charley Harper about the geometric unstitched bird shapes... these would look great as papercuts, too.



I've been using every day at lunchtime to sit down with needle, thread, sequins, and beads. When I first stitched these with a drink at Starbucks, one of the baristas came up to look at them at chat with me. I have to say this is one of my favorite things about crafting - the delicious inner calm and perfect silence you experience, only when creating, drawing, stitching, whatever. And the innate curiosity just about every human being has about crafting - I like how it breaks down walls and can bring the shyest of people together for a conversation.



I tried to snap a picture of each step in the embellishment process so I could come back and see what I might change around and improve on in my choice of materials...