Nellie"s Needles

Thursday, November 20, 2008

...and More Birds

These birds are destined to be Christmas gifts for friends.
Three of them I made last spring. Although, they've each just gotten a head dress and a perch. The pink and black bird is new. It's made from a small piece of hand-dyed damask napkin that Deb had sent as part of her Pay It Forward gift to me. Can you spot it among all those hand-dyed goodies?
This funky bird I call "Kramer" (as in the Seinfeld character) because of the wild, bold pattern in the fabric, the long gawky legs, and funky pompadour hair.
He was gifted to my friend, Darlene, today at Bee. Here you can see those long legs and the pattern on his underside.

This pretty bird was created by "Shasta". You can read about its creation on her blog.
Shasta used regular wire for the legs and managed to balance this pretty bird in a standing position. I've suggested to her that the feet be perched on a piece of wood or some other object. All the birds I make are now perched on something. It's tricky to find each of their balance points to make them stand and I don't want to frustrate my friends with this chore.

All the birds I've made and those shared with me by other people can be seen in this Picasa Web Album.

5 comments:

Teodo said...

Nellie now we see birds everywhere.......in the fruit too!
ciao ciao

Joyce said...

I love all your birds but I think the Damask one is my favorite.

Beverly said...

Lucky Darlene, Kramer is a hoot! They are all wonderful- and mine has a place of honor on our mantle. Makes me happy to see him perched up there everyday!

Kristin said...

Hi Nellie,

I just sent you a photo of a bird I made using your pattern. Actually this has been sort of done for awhile, except I used something that looked like the paper wrapped florist wire. I put it in the bird and then the poor thing couldn't stand up! Turns out it didn't have any wire in it. (The package I bought of this stuff didn't say what the product actually was, if you can believe that). Anyway, I found the florist wire and redid the legs.

I showed the bird to a small bee as well as the quilt guild I am in. So some of the inquiries you've received about the pattern could have come from these 2 sources. And 2 gals in the guild asked me for your blog address at the November meeting so they could get the pattern also.

I found your blog fairly recently, either through Melody Johnson and/or Vicki Welsh, I forget which now. I do enjoy your work - it's fabulous!

Thanks again for sharing the pattern and instructions for making the birds. They are so cute and I do plan to make more.

Kristin F. in SC

Elaine Adair said...

OMGosh - they're everywhere, everywhere! What a delightful flock of critters! 8-)) They make me happy to look a yours AND mine, who sits on my dining room table among the plants. 8-))