It's so good to back in the craft saddle! I'll say it again.. I MISSED YOU GUYS! I am still taking antibiotics and still feeling about 98.4% but that's better than the 2.35% I was feeling last week!
I decided Friday night that if I got nothing else done this weekend - that I would sure fire get that applique bird appliqued to my quilt block for my Virtual Quilting Bee.. so did I?? Did I? Did I? Did I? Oh heck no. All I have to do is the legs (which is really not too bad all things considered). I know I should be sewing on legs and not writing this post... but this is WAY MORE FUN! The legs can wait till tomorrow (sorry legs)! I had to share my adventures/frustrations with everyone!
I had one of those my-mind-is-a-desert-void-of-all-things-crafty happen to me Friday night and pretty much all of Saturday! I think I started about 14 different ways to do that bird. I had a branch with a cute little bird and then decided that maybe it was not such a bright idea to do a skinny potatoes branch for the first ever applique project of my life. Thank goodness I listened to my inner craft project voice (do you guys have that same voice...?). It was telling me.. "Don't do it. Don't do it Lolly. GO eat some cheese instead." So does your inner craft project voice tell you to eat cheese too - or is that just me?
As I was happily munching on some cheese and carrot sticks (my inner craft voice threw in the carrot stick suggestion as I was getting the cheese from the fridge).. I thought it might be better to just use my tried and true LollyChops bird (pretty much my first every hand drawn in Adobe Illustrator bird ever).
I should have stuck with the cheese and carrot sticks... using that bird was not one of my brighter moves of the weekend (but far better than going for the skinny twig).
That little bird has this little scallop divider down her middle. Blasted scallops. Scallops are sure good fried but terrible to sew. They pretty much got lost in the project. I really tried to get them to show up but I think it was my lack of experience and possibly the fact that I put the bird body on upside down that might have caused a few crafty snags.
I want to thank everyone who gave me loads of tips, links AND even a tutorial (made just for me - THANKS AMY!!!) on how to do applique. I would never have made it as far as I did if it were not for the help from all of you guys!
Speaking of that fabulous applique tutorial.. I'll be sharing it with you in MUCH greater detail tomorrow! I can hardly wait for you to see it!
Sew.. I followed the directions (I could not get the freezer paper pieces out from behind the fabric without the whole thing falling apart - so it's still in there). I remember several folks telling me it was ok to leave it in... I sure hope it is cause it's in there for ever and ever.
I did a pretty simple stitch around the edges to get it nailed down and then I busted out my new embroidery book and did some pretty nifty (but fairly simple) stitches around the edges to decorate it up some! I have to say.. that I LOVE embroidery! I kept jumping up to show RonChops my progress I was so excited (that was a good thing - I had to work off all that cheese!!).
Once I got the basic bird body done I started embellishing it (which again was so much fun and so exciting that I was just completely beside myself!)!!!
I added a bead for an eye (with a french knot) and some eco-spun felt from Felt-O-Rama! It will not shrink or anything (oh and I used cotton thread for all of the embroidery as I did not want the whole thing to shrink when it gets washed)!
So I added a fancy beak and a tail and tacked down the wing.. but I could not get to the legs. I started on them and accidentally put them on... ummm well. How do I put this... sideways. So I had to cut them off and start over... by this time I was out of daylight , energy (the cheese was long gone at this point) and just time in general (I had to write this post you know!!)!
Sew I have a question for the experts out there... can I cut out the initial stitching I did to sew my pieces down? It's showing through all over the place and it looks pretty tacky. Since I have it sewn down with the cotton embroidery thread.. is that good enough to keep things in place??? Please HELP!
I'll be back tomorrow with several things. 1) applique tutorial. 2) pics of the finished project. 3) a download and print PDF of the bird with the twig AND the bird I ended up using for this project and lastly 4) some new resource links.
I have loads planned for this week so bear with me while I get it all organized and put together!
HUGS you guys!
P.S. The little pic up there of the sweet little baby dog squeezed into the cat bed is from Val over at Yarni Gras! I saw it on her blog a few weeks ago and asked her if I could post it on my blog. I pretty much smile even thinking about that pic. It totally and completely made my entire YEAR! Head on over to her blog as she's got a little Valentines giveaway going on right now!
O.M.T. Are you guys interested in any embroidery tutorials with free patterns? I was thinking it would be fun to do some little projects together (nothing major).. just some fun little stuff you can do with me! I'll give you the pattern and share a few ideas of how and what you can do with them (I was talking to Fuji Mama today and she helped me to come up with some great ideas!!). Let me know what you guys think ok! xoxo
