A New Take On An Old Favourite

Ever since Spool created their free bird mobile pattern, everyone with a needle and a baby has been sewing birdie upon birdie from fabric scraps. 

The original Spool mobile:

I started making a mobile for Tilly last winter using their pattern, and yesterday, it finally hung above her bed. Now, I made a few changes to the design, for a few reasons. Firstly, because I got sick and tired of sewing birds. Yes, it's a simple pattern, but hand-stitching fiddly, fraying, curved-pieces of cotton is not my cup of tea. Give me felt any day. So, sewing four birds is all I could bear. And secondly, because I do not trust my branch-balancing skills enough to put sharp pointy wooden "spears" above Tilly's bed. Forget SIDS, I'd be worried about SIKS (Sudden Infant Kebab Syndrome).

So, my birdies perch comfortably on embroidery hoops, each swinging at his own pace. I don't think anyone has ever had an organ pierced by an embroidery hoop.

Tilly is fascinated by her new birdie friends... perhaps too much so. When she woke me up this morning, it was because she was tired. I have a feeling she'd been up for an hour or so already, just happily staring at her birds!

When I Grow Up...

I often have to remind myself that being creative is too important to leave for another day. It's so easy for work and chores and spending time with the husband to take up a whole day, and then a whole week, and the crafting be shoved aside.

So, here are a few lovely things that remind me to make time for creating:

This one always makes me think of birthdays, with the party hat, apron for cake baking, and the string of red hearts ready to be hung. Birthdays were always such a special day when I was growing up, and I love to be a bit over the top about them still!

And this one makes me think back to our wedding, with the Chinese-style paper cut (we got married in Beijing), and the mixture of red and pink (our wedding colours). That was definitely the most beautiful day of my life (thanks mostly to my Mum!) and I try to bring a bit of that into our every day lives.

And Mrs. Birdie with her two chicks reminds me of all the wonderful ways I can pass the creativity onto the new baby. Red gingham, just like the little chicks' scarves, will definitely be a feature of baby's wardrobe!

Hope you're having a lovely weekend!

Hope Is the Thing

Another inspiration...

Hope Is the Thing

I'm thinking about using the lyrics to a song Justin always sings, "the stars at night, are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas", in place of this Emily Dickinson poem. I just love the one letter per square layout.

Too many ideas! :)

First fabric for baby

Thank you, Joanns, for this wonderfully cute fabric! I can't wait for my Simple Sewing for Baby book to arrive so I can put it to good use!

I think it would be cute as a quilt, with gingham binding, or as a little bib, or anything really!

Oh, and if we find out we're having a boy, I guess there's one lucky friend in Georgia who'll be finding these birdies in her mail box in a few months!