The bird that's not gonna fly

It's been a mixed kind of day, from a crafty perspective. I'd seen on Instagram the collages of Clare Youngs. Including a length of bunting, several paper birds strung together, all vivid colours and eye catching shapes. I'll have a go at that, I thought, but in fabric rather than paper and card. Hmmm, didn't quite work. I cut out my simplified bird, trying to get it as close to the original design as I could. Added applique details for the wings, beak and eyes, and backed with green felt. But it didn't look right. I've not got the overall shape right after all. The whole thing doesn't 'read' as a bird in flight.

Oh well, you try these things and some succeed, some fail. Never mind, it's only fabric and sewing thread after all.

Having put aside my avian misfortune, I finished off a smaller version of the dragonfly slow stitching piece I made recently. Here are the two for a comparison in size.

I was thinking of attaching the smaller one to the front of a piece of folded card, so it could be used as a greetings card for a birthday or other occasion. By the way, I found the perfect way to hang the larger textile piece, using a glass straw looped between two fabric tabs. You can't really see from this photo, but the glass has a pink tinge to it, which is ideal.

The other things I've made lately were - forgive me for mentioning Christmas so early in the year - a couple of fabric gift tags, and a bee. Why a bee? Well - uhmm - because - oh, I don't know! I just fancied making a bee.

Honestly, hand on heart, can you say you've never had the urge to make a bee? Oh, come on!

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Threads of Freedom and charity shop bargains

It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to. Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate. Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden. I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday. I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different. There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city. It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery. There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery. My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...

Sari scraps, PVA, a couple of books and a necklace

I'm typing this as snow's falling, and has been steadily all day. It's not settling to any great extent, though I bet by tomorrow morning the paths will be slippery with ice. Which always makes me paranoid about falling over and at the very least looking undignified, but at worst breaking a bone or twisting an ankle. Oh well, it's ideal weather to stay inside and craft, isn't it? I finally got around to listing packs of sari scraps on Etsy this morning. I only made up six bundles as I've no clue whether they'll sell or if I've set a reasonable enough price point. Time will tell. This is a link to the listing, if you're interested. This vaguely pink fabric isn't from one of my Etsy packs. It's from a bit of experimenting I was doing yesterday. I'd seen a post on Instagram showing how a DIY version of batik could be done without using hot wax. The Instagrammer used PVA instead, and I wanted to try this out....

In praise of wool

Just a quick post today. I'm offering you a short but peaceful break from the overwhelmingness (is that a word?) of Christmas. By now you've probably eaten your bodyweight in sweets//roast potatoes/pigs in blankets/cake/After Eights ... whatever your festive indulgences are. You're under-exericsed, over-stimulated, feeling broke and possibly guilty about an argument with a relative or friend you've never entirely got on with. So, here's something to take your mind off all that. I've two videos to refresh and revive, and they both concern wool. Interesting fact. Well, I found it interesting. About 1% - yup, one per cent - of the world's textiles are made of wool. Out of curiosity, I also googled how much is made of cotton. That's higher, but it's only about 24% and that's heading downward instead of up. Synthetic fibres are the bulk of all textile manufacture. Anyway, back to woolly wonders. My firs...

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