Think Pink

Once upon a time pink was not one of my favored colors.  That is until I thoroughly explored its many shades, tints, and hues during my years of intensive color studies.  Since then, I've grown quite fond of it and have been thinking pink for several recent projects.

Nellie's Purse #5

I fell in love with that shiny pink background fabric.  There's a lot of strength to it and is the perfect foil to this classic evening bag made with neutral brocade and velvet fabrics trimmed with jet beads and button. 

While I'm on the subject of this purse project, here's Alicia's purse #5.  Go here to see the previous four each of us have created.

All these shades of pink in this bird appeal to me. You may recall seeing

her before.  She's been gussied up with jewels to become a show bird. 

I like pink and shades of orange together.  The bird in the photo below  has is building her nest of yarn and fabric scraps in her new home. 

 How do you feel about pink?

PS: Arrgh! Blogger has made a mess of this post.  Seventeen hours after it was posted I noticed that all I had written was not published.  Now Blogger won't allow me to format it the way I like it.  I hope Blogger's new and improved format changes are worth the effort.  I was happy with the way it was.

Birds - Real & Sculptured

We had been watching a male robin and this nest being built in the tree that's growing in our inner courtyard.  It's reported that it's the female who constructs the nest, but we only saw Mr. Robin flitting around while it was taking shape.

The canopy of that Maple tree is right off our upper deck which is home to many metal sculptured birds. These may look familiar, but different from ones you've seen for sale.  We've had them for quite a few years and they've been repainted a couple of times.

Finally we saw Mrs. Robin.  She has been sitting on the nest for a bit more than a week.  It will be interesting to watch the fledglings when they hatch.

There's been a lot of activity on my bird pattern site, as well.

Carmen from the Netherlands crafted this bird pincushion.  I love that nest ... or are those eggs.  It's not only functional, but a wonderful solution if someone doesn't have suitable wire for the bird's legs.

While I had my camera out on the deck I took a photo of the bright red new growth at the ends of the branches on the Maple tree.

Growing Flock

Birds!  There's evidence of a growing flock out there in the world.  In the last month about 200 people from all over found their way to my blog because of their interest in fabric birds.  On the Scribd site where my bird pattern can be downloaded there have been 21,290 visits and 1,783 downloads since it was posted at the end of April in 2008.  If everyone who has printed the pattern made just one bird that would be a huge flock.

As most everyone who makes one bird quickly finds out, there is little chance of just making one.  Ideas for the next bird hit quickly.  Besides, all the tools and materials are already out.

A number of birds have been blogged about and shared with me.
Judy created this one.

I cannot recall who created this wild, wired and beaded beauty.

How about this combination of fabrics?  I love placement for the eye.

The rest of the photos are of birds made by ladies of the Ramsey Methodist Chapel Craft Group in the UK.  Note the fancy fabric tail on the one.

PS:  Below is an email from the person who contacted me about permission to use the bird pattern for the church group.

Nellie thank you so much, even my bird with it's wobbly legs. And yes we did have enormous fun making them. Further you are right, there are more being made.

Thank you again for giving us permission to use them.

Marjorie

Lots of Birds Out There

Judging by the number of people who have downloaded my pattern from the Scribd site, there should be a lot of birds out there.

1,591 Downloads
and
18,148 Reads

I've been asked a number of times why there's no charge for the pattern and instructions. There are a number of factors to the answer. First, the inspiration came from Terry Grant's birds that I saw on her blog (type "birds" in the google search bar at the top of her blog to see her delightful sculptures). Our interpretations are quite different, but still I wouldn't have thought of making that first bird if I hadn't seen hers. Second, I like to share ... I like for others to join in on the fun I'm having. And lastly, I don't like to have to take care of collecting and accounts. Creating, playing, and sharing are primary to me.

Here are photos of a few of those many birds.
Two of quite a few made by Shelley at Mermaids Purse. Here are individual photos of that pair above.
I love her wire feathers and their wrapped legs and feet.
Debbie of South Milwaukee sent the photo of this one.
I cannot recall, nor find, who sent photos of these two delightful birds. If they're yours, please let me know.
All the birds I've made and those that I've seen made by other people each have their own personality. The fabric choices are a major factor for the differences. However, the placement of the eyes, the amount of stuffing, the length and type of legs and feet, as well the positioning of the body all contribute to each birds unique personality. Check out all the photos that I have of my birds as well as those sent to me. They all make me smile.

More Birds Here and There

Over at Timber Hill Threads two quilters are having fun making "Nellie Birds".
A motherly looking bird posted on a group site, Abuela Creativa

Basil the Crow

... arrived in MacCowCowa today from Portland, Oregon. I cannot believe how quickly he got here. Terry must have a bit of magic she included in his creation.
He's already found his perch here in Studio North.

Another Bird

Isn't she a hoot? Being slightly under stuffed, her looks bring to mind an aging beauty whose overdone it with the "feather weaves" and is wobbling around on spindly legs. This full of personality bird is put together by Joyce making it the second Canada Bird in the album. The other one being a farout funky bird created by Arlee.

Again, I want to thank Terry Grant for the inspiration behind my bird pattern. I had seen her first fabulous two birds on her blog and needed a project with which to play when my friend, Alicia, came to visit for ten days. Looking at the photos of Terry's birds I drafted the one that I've been using and sharing. It's amazing how each bird made from this same pattern ends up with a unique personality. Wondering what the next one will "be" is why I ended up making so many. When there's the factor of each maker's creative choices and skill level involved in the mix, the results are amazing.

Terry's marvelous birds are not only the "originals", but reflect traits of actual species. She is now selling them on Etsy. Go here to see them and read the post announcing their introduction to the world. If you're familiar with Terry's art, you know of her wonderfully unique creativeness and highly developed skill level. These most likely won't be in her Etsy store for long and I predict that she's going be awfully busy creating birds to keep them in stock.

PS: I just purchased Basil the blackbird from Terry's Etsy store. I'm thrilled that it will be another mascot in my studio. I like to think he will radiate a bit of Terry's creativeness. The bird's name is the same as our sixteen year old Sheltie who died last fall, so there is an extra personal connection for me to this bird.

PPS: The wired beauty of a bird two posts back is created by Shelley at Mermaid's Purse. Checking out her link for this post I see that she's made another ... and his name is Homer.

This one called Flitty was created by Shelley back in March. Go here to read about him ... her?
All these birds have been added to the Bird Album at Picasa.

Birds, More Birds!

I've been saving photos of or links to birds that have been created by talented people in blogland. I've just spent an hour trying to find the email or notification or blog for this beauty that features wire head and tail decorations ... to no avail. If you made this bird, please leave a comment to claim the glory.

This more subtle bird with "knees" is in Bonita's Flickr album.

Jovita's bird

There was a bird making party in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin recently. It sure looks as though they had fun time. I like the small feathers they've all used for headdress and tail decoration.

This is the one made by Patti who got the party going.

This one is made by one of Patti's friends who wasn't at the party.

On a different subject, I've had a week of computer wackiness that's driven me nuts. First, my grandson shook beach sand from his hair INTO my keyboard while he was playing games. My cursor went nuts and it was nearly impossible to write anything without a great deal of attention and care as to the location of that cursor. Then photos on my blog and others that I read regularly began disappearing from posts. Whaaaaaaaaa! Their html codes were there, but no pics.

Well, the sand in my keyboard was cleaned out by my son and that computer is now working fine. However, it's no longer mine. He purchased a new MacBook Pro and presented it as a gift to his Pop on Father's Day ... the real gift being a happy wife/mother with a new computer. Now to figure out all the clicks and scrolling patterns that come with it.

It just happened that Firefox went crazy and played havoc with blogs at the same time. They're still whacko, and I've switched to Safari for reading and composing. I find it more difficult to do this in Safari, but am glad to have something that works. Has anyone else had problems with blogging and servers?

The Last Bird

This is the last bird I'll be making for a while. There's a huge project that will be/is taking up my time that will be revealed soon.
I can hardly comprehend the number of people from all over the world who have shown interest:

10,857 have gone to the pattern site
1,132 have downloaded the pattern

If anyone has made birds from my pattern and would like to share them through this blog, please send me photos or a link. I find it interesting that even though all the birds I have seen start out from the same pattern, each one ends up being unique to its creator.

There are a number of birds that I've created and are for sale at three galleries:

Good Goods in Saugatuck, Michigan
Cliff Dweller's in Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Morris Gallery in Sweet Water, Tennessee

Birds in the U.K.

"Flitty" flits about in the United Kingdom. Go here to read more about him. I like his fancy headdress and tail feathers.
There are wonderful "tweets", birds made of wool fabric with fancy fabric wings, made by Jackie in the United Kingdom as well.
Make a trip to her blog, Dog Daisy, to check out more of them. They are real characters!

Blue Bird

The Blue Bird's here in Tennessee are scoping out nesting sites. Watching them flit around in our yard inspired me to create my own version.
A few months ago I granted permission to McCalls magazine to feature a project based on my bird pattern. Their online magazine, "Quick Quilts" published it today..
These made by Kerry Joho look like sweet country cousins to my long-legged birds. Evidently kits for making them with RJR fabrics can be ordered through the magazine site. To make them from scratch, my pattern and instructions are free. Click on the links in my sidebar for access to download them to your computer for printing. To see many interpretations of my bird by me and my friends click on the Picasa "Birds" album that is also located in my sidebar.

More Feathered Birds

You've seen this bird previously here. He's gained a headdress and a tail feather. I could not resist using this one duck feather with the same stripe pattern as those on the birds head.

Then I discovered some pheasant feathers that had the same color and pattern as his tail feather.
Then I found these yellow pheasant feathers that reflected the burst pattern on this birds back. Serindipity at work?Here's another view to show off the rest of his body.I take my cue from mother nature and consider the birds with bold showy patterns to be male, while those with quiet subtle ones to be female.

One World, One Heart Gift Drawing Announced

At 12:00 noon EST the drawing from 287 comments left by those who desired this gift was made.

I'm amazed at the number of people from around the world who visited my blog and by how many stuck around to check out other postings. Even more amazing is that 23 added themselves as "Followers" of my blog. I thank all who visited me for their interest and participation in this world-wide gifting. Thank you, Lisa Swifka of A Whimsical Bohemian for including me on your caravan of 911 gift giving bloggers. If there was a link to a blog in the comment, I visited in return and discovered blogs that I now visit regularly ... blogs that I would never have known about without this event.

I enlisted help from my husband by asking him to choose three numbers ... three times:

• first set from 0-2
• second set from 0-9
• third set from 0-9

... and the WINNING NUMBER is comment 143

belonging to Pat Winter

For those of you who really, really, really wanted to win this bird here are two options for you:

• Make one. My pattern and instructions are posted as PDF files online. Just click on the red lettered words to download them to your computer to print out.
• Buy one. They are sold at two galleries for $60 plus postage:

Good Goods Gallery
106 Mason Street
Saugatuck, Michigan 49453

Morris Galleries
111 N. Main
Sweetwater, Tennessee 37874

Two More Birds Join the Flock

Another black bird is added to the flock. I'm so glad to have discovered those Luminatre H2o paints.
I applied one coat of "Scarab Beetle", which has luminescent flecks of all the colors in a dark base. On the previous black birds I painted layers and streaks of various colors ... "Black Cherry", "Bougainvillea", "Blue Grass", and "Ocean Wave". Each method gives different, but equally good effects. I recommend the one coat of "S B" on a print fabric and streaks of multiple colors on plain black.

This bird flew in on breath of spring-like air. He reminds me of an Easter egg. He required no added paint.
My fabric birds inspired my friend, Judy, to draw some fanciful birds in her sketchbook. She even named each one.
PS: To see a beautiful sunny day on an icy Lake Michigan go here. That site features a new photo every 30 seconds, 24 hours a day taken by a camera that is hooked up to the web. There's a permanent link to this site in my sidebar for your viewing pleasure any time. At night you'll only see the lights at the ends of the piers ... that is unless there's a ship entering or leaving the channel.