A Bird in a Blog Hop is Worth Two in the Bush! (+Giveaway!)

When Madame Samm came out with the announcement for this blog hop, I knew I had to join. I immediately started searching my stash for fabrics with bird print. It turned out I had quite a few, so I decided to use whatever I had.

The first fabric I found was an old piece from Ikea, home décor weight, with flowers and branches, and a few birds! This was perfect for a boxy pouch.

As you can see, the spring has not come very far where I live. The snow just melted off my lawn a couple of days ago. But now, the sun gives good warmth and the birds are singing!

It turned out that the pouch was big enough to contain all my un-opened thread “jewels”; aren’t they lovely?

I decided I had to make a tote with an owl fabric from my stash.  I used a tutorial from   Adrianne over at On the Windy Side, but modified the design a little bit to incorporate a recessed zipper closure. Simple quilting on this one, straight criss-crossing lines.

The last few years I have re-discovered my passion for cross stitching.  I thought that it would be perfect to incorporate cross stitched birds in my projects. I didn’t have time to stich big pieces for the hop, so I found a free pattern of a little robin that was perfect for my purpose.

The first project was a French Press Cozy. I had bought one on a Christmas market several years ago, and used that one to make my own pattern.  The cross stitched robin was put in the center, surrounded by a bird fabric from BasicGrey. 

My most time consuming project for this blog hop was the table runner. It is my original design.  

Two cross stitched robins are incorporated in Economy Blocks. The yellow/orange batik is a perfect match with the center of the Oxeye Daisies. Also in this project I used the BasicGrey fabric with “zillions” of little birds. The runner is quilted with the walking foot in a quite dense grid. 

My last project was started two days before my day in the hop. Close to where I live there is a colony of rooks, and when I am out walking I am fascinated by these birds. They are so “well dressed”, wearing a tuxedo every day; they are really beautiful!

This is my meager attempt of portraying a rook in a mini quilt, my original design. I used batiks for the background, where the yellow represent s the grain fields which the rooks often feed from.  The tuxedo is represented with a feather-like shiny black fabric from my stash. I quilted the piece with “organic wavy lines” in grey and brown.

The final picture shows all my projects together. I stumbled upon this sheer burnout fabric with birds all over, added a green solid on the back, and voila (!), I had a wonderful background for my display.  Adding a beautiful orchid and my antique gold rimmed mocca cups, the display couldn’t be any better.

Who wants to join me for a cup of coffee?

Please visit the other bloggers presenting their projects today:

Friday, March 13

It Seams To Be Sew

Life in the Scrapatch

Amy Stitches

Lakeshore Stitches

Needled Mom

Quilt in a not - Shell  <---YOU ARE HERE

Suebee's World

Here is the Full Schedule for the Blog Hop.

Thanks to Lana and Madame Samm for organizing this wonderful  blog hop.

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!   The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations Brandy!

If you have come this far, you are probably wondering where the giveaway is?! Well, you have come to the right place, it is here!

What’s up for grabs today is a zippered pouch with a couple of owls on the front. I made the pouch  using Noodlehead’s  Open Wide tutorial.

For the giveaway, answer the following question in the comment section: What is your favorite bird, and why?  If you would like to become a follower of my blog, too, I wouldn’t mind. 

I will let Mr. Random.org pick a winner on the last day of the blog hop, March 23. The winner will be announced as an edit to this blog post on March 24, as well as contacted via e-mail. Make sure you have a valid e-mail address.

I will ship the prize anywhere in the world!

PS! Look who almost photo bombed me: A magpie on the neighbor's roof!

It soon got company of another one, so who knows; maybe we will get magpie babies in our neighborhood this year?

Until next time: Happy quilting, and make sure to enjoy the spring!