Saturday, January 9, 2016

Black Bird, Black Bird

I really like this almost all black and white bird. I found the beak fabric in one of my little scrap bins.

This suave and sophisticated black and gold bird is ready for an evening at the Opera.




This is post number 1800.  Wow. I've been blogging since 2008. 

11 comments:

starsthatblaze said...

That is a lot of posts! What a great record of your quilting and life in general. Do you think you would continue to post even if your readership suddenly dropped? Thank you for sharing your process with us.

Starr Brown

Quiltdivajulie said...

1800 is a very good number . . . and on top of that, you've developed some awesome secondary pages on this blog. SO much inspiration here - WOOT WOOT WOOT for you!!

Quiltdivajulie said...

p.s. The opera bird is quite dramatic and elegant. The first bird reminds me of a flamboyant female architect who wears colorful accents to brighten up her mostly-male office environment.

Sandi said...

What a milestone! I started in 2007 and have only done 490 postsS.

Love these two elegant black birds, love the first ones beak! Great choice.

Mary Ellen said...

Love blackbirds, especially your renditions in fabric. The black and white print in the first photo is a favorite of mine, too.

Anonymous said...

With the "confetti" on the breast, I think this is how this bird dressed for New Year's eve as well.

Jackie said...

I'm loving your birds.

Ellen in Oregon said...

Gotta love your Opera Bird. That is the most perfect fabric for her wing. Is the entire flock going to be used in one quilt or do you even have a project planned for your bird blocks? Are all the bird made from scraps or are you fussy cutting from larger pieces of fabric?

Megan said...

Oh - it seems that Quiltdivajulie also knows Imelda!

Imelda is a graduate of the College of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma, although after graduating she relocated to Idaho, where she is now employed in a mid-size firm that focuses on designing stunning homes for woodland settings.

Imelda is an only child: her mother is a landscape architect and her father a dentist. She was raised in a loving, but quiet, ordered home. She is fairly reserved - always has been. She was studious and well-behaved even as a teenager: always kept her bedroom neat and tidy and came home before curfew. She is happy to fit in with others - she doesn't push herself or her opinions forward in social settings, and in work/study contexts, is an excellent team player.

At university and since graduating she has had several long-term relationships with men. Her current beau is a professional athlete - well, he's a full-time table tennis player who works part-time in IT support to pay the bills, as table tennis doesn't attract much money in the USA.

Apart from designing beautiful, inspiring and very functional living spaces - which seems to come almost naturally to her and at which she is simply outstanding - Imelda is passionate about protection for the greater sage-grouse, which is an endangered species in Idaho. Actually, it's not officially recognised as an endangered species, but Imelda has been a driving force behind efforts to have the US Fish and Wildlife service to acknowledge it as such. This lobbying effort has consumed an enormous amount of her non-work time during the past five years and included trips to Washington to meet with senators about the Sage-Grouse and Endangered Species Conservation and Protection Act.

As a symbol of the fight, Imelda has vowed to limit her wardrobe to the colours of the sage-grouse until such time as it is formally designated as endangered. Her clothing, therefore, is predominantly grey, brown, black and white. Her natural design flair, however, breaks through when it comes to applying make-up to her beak. The photo of her here is fairly typical: an intricate pattern of shapes and bright colours. Would you be horrified or think less of Imelda if I told you that it took her two hours to apply it? It means that she needs to get out of bed at 4 in the morning if she's to give herself sufficient time to get ready before heading out to work. Each day is a different design, and applying the make-up each morning has become almost like a meditation for Imelda.

Megan
Sydney, Australia


Quiltdivajulie said...

Oh, Megan - you simply outdid yourself on the description for Imelda!

Millie said...

Well Megan you sure knocked that one out of the park!!