The Five Hundredth

 OH BOY!

Somebody asked to see the 500th bird. I haven't even made it yet. That got me to thinking... OMG! I've made 499 birds.

I've made birds based on my family members...

bouquets of flowers,

buildings (barns),

the landscape around me,

food I've eaten,

birthday cards I have received,

cats,

the sky,

flowers, (oh yeah, I said that)

and even birds based on me.

I've made yellow birds,

and purple birds,

blue birds,

and black and white birds,

and pink birds.

I've made really big birds,

and really little birds. (The big pink bird is the same size as the blue bird in the picture with the two giant birds).

I've made birds of every color, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, gray and black. 

I've made birds based on every thing, people, friends, landscapes, plants, buildings, cats, dogs, butterflies, mountains, roads, cars, barns, skies, port-a-potties, airstream trailers, signs, you name it. 

I've made really big birds, and I've made tiny ones.

The idea of making ONE BIRD to commemorate the first 499 is more than a bit daunting. It's impossible.

So the next bird I make, the 500th, will be based on whatever happens to inspire me when I go into the studio the next time. It'll just be one in a long line of wonderful birds that each have their own story.

And it won't stop there.

Yes, you can make birds. You can get the tutorial here. And if you think I'm nuts for making 499, well, check this out: One customer wrote this review: "I got the tutorial, planning to make a bird quilt as a gift. I made one bird to test it out. The next thing I knew I had thirty-six."

 

Barns on Saturday

I'll be teaching a free-pieced barns class on Saturday, at Quilted Threads, based on Julie Sefton's book Build-a-Barn. You can see pictures and get the book here. The class is full and we are going to have a good day.

This is the barn I made for the Colorado Quilt, and it is based on this barn that my brother built.

Where the Box Lives

When my brother first proposed doing a swap for one of his boxes, my first thought was, where am I going to put it? Horizontal space is limited at my house.  But I had this table in my bedroom that partly covered a full length mirror I hated. Yes, Julie, that is one of your quilts.

 So the box lives there.

As soon as I saw the box in Colorado this past summer, I knew what I'd put in it.

Jewelry.  What else? I put some of my most favorite pieces in it. I covered the bottom of the box with a silk scarf so the interior wouldn't get scratched.

The top lift out tray has my high school class ring, an engraved silver thimble that belonged to my grandmother, some vintage pins from the 50's and 60's that were my Mom's, a much older vintage pin that belonged to my grandmother, a locket containing my goddaughter Violette's photo, some of my favorite one-of-a-kind pins, and yes, there's a five dollar bill in there too. For some reason I think a jewelry box always has to have some money in it.

My Colorado brother came over for dinner last night with my Mom and had to check it out. Here he is sniffing it to see if he can still smell the scent of the California Nutmeg that makes the box's bottom.

"It's funny," he said, "I've never seen it with anything in it."