I pin birds on Pinterest, I have a board in fact. I have two birdbaths in my garden and one is particularly popular with migrating birds. We sit at the dining room table and watch them endlessly. Right now there's a little yellow guy taking a bath on this chilly morning.
Ann Wood's wonderful birds have inspired me for years. I think her work is so important in its simplicity and joy. I follow her blog and wonder at her dedication to creating objects of such meaning. Check her out!
I finally purchased and downloaded her pattern for a songbird. I've had it for several months, even picked out the cloth for the first bird. I just didn't get around to starting it until a week ago.
And then this happened.
I can't seem to sew anything else. They make me so happy, both while I'm sewing them and afterwards looking at them. I can't stop myself. This first one is made using Talbot tie scraps with a bit of quilting cotton and sheer organza.
This second guy...made a mere two days after the first one was complete... is made from kantha scraps, silk and a Guatemala-style woven.
And the third is from vintage kimono scraps I got in Japan years ago.
I can see where this is going. I need a flock. I need a big flock. I will make ones from other Japanese textiles I've collected, denim, various vintage blacks, the list goes on. I see no end in sight.
The body is sewn using a machine and then the rest is by hand. Sewing on the little wings (and there are many) is an exercise in giving the little guys their personality. Other personality traits show up in the beak, which is hand carved, they eyes, and the legs which you fashion from wire, floral tape and paint. Every one of these turns out completely different. One is bigger, the next is smaller, even though they are all made from the same pattern. I can't figure out why but they emerge as individuals.
I draw the line at naming them. But I'm headed to the bunkhouse to make another one right now.
Thank you Ann Wood!!!!
