Sit & Sew

Today is the first weekday session of Sit & Sew at Can Do Books.  I was going to take a blouse that I had cut out to work on, but have changed my mind.  I think I will take some hand-sewing, but then again I might change my mind again.

Spotted Neck Turtle Dove

  

  



We have lots of these birds in our backyard.  One in particular, that we call 'The Pigeon Who Likes To Hang About', is in the yard all the time and isn't too scared of us.  It will walk to the other side of the garden when we are there, or will stay on the fence when we walk passed.

Older Little Birds

  

  

These little birds are from 2009 when my friend Jo and I taught a lunch time craft club at our kid's primary school.  One week school camp was on so we only had four girls in the group.  So we thought we would teach them a little bit of sewing.  The girls did really well and these are their birds. They sewed around the shapes, a button for the eye, and then stitched legs.  Then Jo and I sewed the calico up into library bags.

Little Budgie

  

  



Piers bought a pair of socks with budgies on them and asked if I could make a little budgerigar in the little birds, so I did.  As you cans see, the same size as the robin and magpie.

Another Birdie

Started knitting another little bird.

Houses on a Wrapped Ball

  

  

  

Done.  And the instructions have been edited and updated.

Houses on a Wrapped Ball

In the big tidy up around here I found two kits for Houses on a Wrapped Ball.  The instructions are dated 2013 when I taught a little workshop with my friends Jo, Judy and a couple of others.  One of the balls had already been started, probably the one I used to teach.  I thought I should finish them because I don't have any of these for our own Christmas tree.

Little Magpie

  

  

A magpie flew into the yard yesterday and I thought I should make one in the little birds, so I did.  I knitted a black bird first then embroidered the white.  The little magpie is about 6cm tall, the same as the little robin.

Little Robin

  

  

I knitted the little bird in brown and then embroidered the red, cream and grey feathers.

Thinking About Birds

  

  

Since I have been making birds a lot lately, I remembered these two needle felted sweeties from December 2016.  They were made for Can Do Books' window to promote the book by Fi Oberon that they were in.

Door Painting

No crafting yesterday, but did start painting the back door.  Started a bit late so only managed to paint the outside and the edges.  But that means I can paint the inside of the door while it is hanging..  If you don't know about Paint & Peel, the window parts come covered in plastic, after painting you run knife around the edges of the windows and the plastic peels off.

When What is in Your Head Doesn't Com Out

  

This was going to be a sweet little bird using antique lace, well that was what it was like in my head.  But what came out is not.  I won't abandon the antique lace idea altogether just yet, but it definitely needs reworking.

Dyeing with Plane Tree Bark

  

After the initial dye pot had little colour I threw some things in to see what would happen.  I put in bicarb of soda and salt, a couple of handfuls of each, then boiled the bark again.  And it worked, the colour of the dye pot was quite a rich brown.  I put in yarn, piece of linen and some ric rac.  The ric rac didn't take on much colour, but the rest did, a nice warm brown with a hint of pink.  The yarn wrapped around the microwave tub was a ball I didn't unwind and just put in the pot.  It did come out slightly lighter in the centre than the outside in colour.  I wound it onto the pot to help dry it.

And A Felt One

  

  



This pattern needs a bit more work, little more shape and roundness, and the wings are either a bit big or just the wrong shape.  He, or she has a little knitted messenger bag.  The little birds are all in grey at the moment so I can concentrate on shape and size.

And Another Little Birdie

  

This one has a very jaunty blue scarf. It is also crocheted, I have adjusted the pattern so crocheted little birdies come out around the same size as knitted ones.

Another Little Birdie

This one is crocheted using the same yarn and a 2mm hook.  I used the knitting pattern for the other bird as a guide for stitch number and rows, but as is the nature of crochet, it came out larger than the knitted version.  So I will tweak the pattern to get the approximately the same size.

Little Grey Birdie

  

  



This little bird is knitted on 2mm needles with 4ply yarn, Fibresmith yarn.  The size is what I was aiming for a couple of weeks when I made the little brown bird.  As you can see from the last photo, it is quite a bit smaller, and again knitted on a circular needle.