I Had to Have the Bird

Have you ever seen an item at a flea market or antique mall and kept passing it by, but it wouldn't get out of your mind. That is what this little metal bird was to me at Blue Suede Shoes Antique Mall. Everytime I was in there working or just looking around I would pick it up and think it needed to "fly" home with me. So last week I gave in and brought it home. Now where did I want to put her. Well it happened that the same week I had gone to some yard sales and found this little pottery bench for a quarter. Don't they look cute together on my mantle.

When I told my friend Pat (www.birdnestontheground.blogspot.com) about the bird (before I bought it) she emailed me back that she had a vision of me leaving the mall and white birds flying around my head. We thought this was so funny, but you would have to know us to know it was funny. Anyway it made me decide that the bird was meant for me. This may begin a new collection for me of bird and bird related things. Birds have always been special to me.

I hope ya'll enjoy looking at my little shabby chic bird as much as I do. Everytime I look at it, I smile.

The Rest of the Challenge

Okay this is the rest of the challenge pieces that were done by the friends in our quilt group. There have been request to see what others have done. Of course I posted mine first. Sometimes you just have to "blow your own horn", especially if you really enjoyed what you were doing and like the results.

The first one at the top is Kelley modeling the apron that Pat (http://www.birdnestontheground.blogspot.com ) did. Now Pat was really working out of her comfort zone because Kelley gave her black and white fabrics in her bag. If you go to Pat's website you can see how her colors differ, if you don't already know.

The second is a wonderful needle case that Sherry did out of some bright fabrics I gave her. She said I didn't give her enough to work with, but what she made is perfect as far as I am concerned. Sherry's is our crazy quilt maker so you know that these bright colors weren't necessarily her palette either.

The last one on the top row is a dressed doll that Jim made for Pat and as usual was done so excellently and creatively. He has more doll heads that he wants to dress. Now Jim can work with anything that you throw at him.

The Daffodil Pillow was done by our artist Bibi for Jim. She paints and that is definitely her strong point. Her dolls are so creative and she loves to experiment. Bibi made a box also out of fabric, but I did not get a picture.

This bottom one is what Kelley made for Sherry. Kelley's favorite pattern ever since she took a class from Alex Anderson is this little postage stamp and so the fabrics that Sherry packed in her sack were perfect to make this little wall hanging.

We all had so much fun with this challenge that we are planning on doing another one soon.

Thanks for looking and have fun!

Quilt Group Challenge

Our monthly quilt/beading group decided to have a challenge. Everyone was given a bag and ask to put items in it for us to trade the next month. It was an "itty bitty" bag, but we were able to put quite a bit into the bag. The trade was done randomly so no one knew who got whose bag. We were instructed to take the contents of the bag, plus we could add items to make something for that person using the contents of her bag. Okay does that make sense?

Anyway I got my friend Bibi's bag and decided to use her items to make this crazy quilt. The middle flower is copied from an old postcard onto Jacquard's Silk for Ink Jet Printing.

The top picture is the back of the crazy quilt pillow/hanger and the second picture is the front.

We all had a lot of fun with this challenge and the results were amazing from each individual. Later I will post the other challenge results.

Thanks for looking. Comments are appreciated.

Friends Make You Feel Good

This lovely heart pincushion was given to me by a very dear friend this weekend, because she knew that I was very upset and she wanted me to feel better. Well, how can you NOT feel better when someone out of the goodness of their heart gives you a handmade gift like this? Thank you dear Pat - a better friend no one can have.