Tan Colored Hotpads and Bowl Cozies

This week I made a couple of hot pads and bowl cozies for a friend.  I didn't know her kitchen colors so I made them using tans, which I thought was a neutral color. I cut my tans into strips, about 1.75 to 2" wide and then sewed them down onto a piece of heat-resistant batting.  I really like how they came out. I need to make some of these for myself!  

I like to free-motion quilt my bowl cozies - it mades them look more finished.  It takes a little bit longer, but I like the quilted style.  You can use them for hot dishes or cold dishes, like ice cream.  :)

Of course, no gift from me would be complete without the addition of a couple of little birds.  I added some crocheted flowers and buttons to them for their wings.  You can put them on a shelf or in a bowl as decor.  As always, I had fun making them.  
 

Bird Decor Pillows

While I was cleaning up my sewing room, I found some cute panels to play around with.  I thought these little birds were so cute!  I stitched them up into little decor pillows and love how they came out.  

The colors are so beautiful and they would look great on a shelf or in a basket or bowl with some other bird items.  They are small panels, about 5" square from the Morris Creative Group for QT Fabrics.  

I love crafts with little birds on them and I plan to put some of these panels into a baby quilt that I will be making soon.  I won't be using all of the panels, so there will still be more to work with.  

Don't they look so cute in the basket filled with lace?  

 

Birdie Apron

I love making aprons for both myself and to give as gifts.  For Christmas this year, I made this "bitdie" apron for one of my friends who loves birds.  I purchased the bird fabric at JoAnn's a few years ago and remembered that I had it in my stash.  It has light green vines in it and some rust colored flowers.  So I lined the apron with a light green, making it reversible and added some rust fabric for the pockets and ties.

I had a cute bird stamp that I wanted to use to make a card to match the gift, but after stamping it in a lot of different colors, it just didn't have the look I was after.  So I made the card from a piece of the bird fabric! I ironed on some fusible interfacing and then ran it through the Big Shot with a stitched circle die.  I like how it turned out.  Now it matches the apron.

I sewed some little birds to match the apron and added some buttons for embellishments.  The birds can be either hung or placed in a display.  Then I made a little pincushion that also has the robin on it.  I added some lace and buttons to that.  I love how it all came together.  :)

 

Birds on a Wire Wall Hanging

Last week I was looking through some of my Debbie Mumm quilting books for inspiration and I came across the pattern for this cute wall hanging.  I remembered that I had wanted to make him for my home.  It certainly looked easy enough and quick to finish, so I started working on it.

I chose some greens and browns that match my decor and added bits of turquoise and yellow for some extra color.  I wanted to make one of the birds in a floral or patterned fabric and love how he came out.  Then I added just a pop of orange for one of the beaks and tail feathers to finish it up.

I did some simple background quilting in two of the panels with straight and diagonal lines.  It's hard to see in the photos, but I think it has just the right amount of quilting. 








Here you can see some of the lines in the bottom panel.  I edged the "wires" and the borders with some topstitching close to the seams. 

When it was done I added black buttons for the eyes and some vintage buttons to embellish the wings.  I gave the center bird two eyes to give the wall hanging a bit of a quirky feel.  What do you think?






Finally, here's a photo of the birdies hanging in my sitting area off of the kitchen.

 I can almost hear them singing.