Birds

Last winter I decided that I absolutely had to do something about my quilting fabric stash. It was in a terrible state of chaos that made it nearly impossible to start any new projects. So I hauled all of the wire drawers out to my living room, upended them on the carpet and began sorting and folding and organizing. It took three long days, but by the end of the process my fabric looked so pretty and organized that I dragged anyone who entered my house back to the sewing room to show it off. One of the best parts of the organization was rediscovering some of my favorite fabrics. I decided that I wanted to make a quick little project out of some of my favorite batiks and after some thought, settled on sewing up some little birds. Well, as some of you may know, when I really get into a project, I never end up making just a few of anything. The baskets of felted hearts, the crocheted acorns and the flock of felted sheep are all evidence of my ability to become just a tad obsessive with my craftery. This typically happens just with the small projects. I can't help it, I am enchanted by tiny, palm sized things... little dolls with littler clothes, tiny pebbles and sea shells, wee hand bound books, petite mobiles hanging from the door jams, small woven baskets. If you were to come to my house, you would discover a lot of tiny things. Anyway, getting back to the birds...before I knew it I had made a flock of them. I am pretty sure that there were over 30 of them. I thought to string them together with beads at some point, but for the time being they sat in my living room clustered in a basket. This fall about half of the flock got turned into ornaments and went up for sale at a holiday art show that I participate in. I also gave away some as gifts for Christmas. My flock had dwindled down to ten so I decided it was time string them together with beads in between. So I gathered up some beads and thread and got to work. I really love how it turned out. It hangs from the wooden archway between my living and dining room. Every time the heat turns on or someone walks past it, the birds twirl in the breeze. I love being reminded of the projects that I made with some of the fabrics. A summer shirt, a quilted handbag, a hand bound journal, a turtle quilt...Some of the fabrics have yet to be used for anything other than the birds. It's fun to think about what I might make with them in the future.