little birds handmade

what a hoot.

another stump (a mini) and another bird

Tomorrow...something new(er).

I just want to take a moment to extend my most heartfelt thanks for all your incredible comments and emails...I do intend to respond to them...but probably not until this increasingly-hectic month of April is over...back to my needle and thread now.

stumped

!!

happy easter/passover/springtime to everyone!

still with the yellow

mommy's bird

A message in the sand from Mia.

A self-portrait on paper. She is, and will forever be, my little bird (hence the name here). She's seven. She's not the seven-going-on-seventeen type, but she is growing up lightening-fast. She's a happy kid. Often times it feels as though she is too bright for me to possibly keep up with her. She might eclipse me at any moment. I have felt this way all her life. I do my best.

And here, for scale, she is with my biggest softie yet (and quite a challenge for me), a fawn sewn out of linen and wool boucle.

* * * * *

We are having our roof torn off (all 100 years worth of layers) and a new one put on, and it is incredibly  loud and messy. I am, however, completely amazed by how hard the guys doing it are laboring and for such long hours. It is truly humbling.

Also humbling are all your supportive and kind comments. Thank you.

the long goodbye

Spring break was nice. A little camping. A little celebrating of my 37th birthday. A little dying of eggs. A little round of sickness around the house. A little break from my email inbox. A little bit of thinking.

The result of the thinking is that I have decided to retire from craft blogging. I've been doing this, in one form or another, for two and a half years, and the short story is...I'm just ready to move on. I will be continuing with 3191 and maybe some other projects as well. I hope to set up a web page soon where you can get news about what I'm working on and how/where to purchase things I make.

I will, however, be posting here through the end of April...part last hurrah, part long goodbye. I'm excited to share the things that I'm making for the show with my sister at Doe and will be aiming to post something new every week day.

* * * * a huge thank you to everyone who reads little birds handmade. i will miss you all very much. * * *

made in the shade

So excited about my new Simple Sewing book by Lotta Jansdotter. I buy very few craft books because I am very cheap frugal and there are not many that speak to my own aesthetic other than the Japanese ones (of which I can not read the instructions), but I just had to order this one, sight unseen, and I'm very glad I did. Beautiful styling and photography, lots of inspiration for my own designs, and many projects that I'd like to give a go. I tried the sun hat first (you can see the book image here at the photographer's web site) because I was up for something new. Mine is linen with a golden apple lining fabric from Superbuzzy. I made a mistake somewhere along the way (seam allowances, maybe?) and everything wasn't fitting together correctly, but, with a little seam ripping and altering, alls well that ends well.

Now that I'm dressed for it, I'm going off on a little blog spring break. I'll be back in April with finished hedgehogs and maybe some other critters. Take care.

hedging my bets

When I make a new animal, it usually takes 3-4 tries before I get it right (or good enough). This is try #2 on the hedgehog, and I'm hoping the third time's a charm.

I read a really inspirational article this morning in the house and home section of the New York Times about a family that was trying to live a year without making an impact on the environment. You can also read about it on their blog No Impact Man.