Stuffed, stitched, and eyed

Now that school is finished, I have much more time to finish all the little projects I've had tucked away!

The photo above shows the assortment of felt I found in my things, leftover from various projects. I made the bird and wing stencil, all the other pieces I just cut as needed.

These are all the felt bits needed for a bird- two sides to the body, two wings, a beak, and six tail feathers, three per side. I also used stuffing to make the birds dimensional, two small buttons for eyes, and string with a button on the end. The button went inside the bird as I stitched it up so the string wouldn't come out.

These were the assembled, pre-stitched, eyeless unstuffed birds. Basically, the layout.

Birds, stuffed, stitched, and eyed.

The mobile- not the best photo. Five birds, four shapes, hanging from two wooden clothes hangers screwed together. Happy birds!

Heather's How-To

Let's call this project "Things to do with leftover fabric." Click on the photos to see a larger picture.

1. Cut into strips of equal width and length. Lay out in pretty pattern.

2. Sew right sides of strips together. Notice I didn't pin them together or anything... I was lazy!

3. Ta da!

4. Cut into strips the width of your original strips. (Yes, you do have to remember the original width!)

5. Sew right sides of strips together. Turn every second strip around to vary the pattern.

6. Once again, no pins. I used the guides on the sewing machine to keep things even-ish.

7. Make something with your fabric. I made a pillow.

I am content that the squares aren't even and the corners don't line up- I wasn't trying to make it absolutely perfect! That would have required pins, and effort!

Time spent: About 3 hours. My fabric was already in strips. It would have taken less time if I didn't keep sewing a right side to a wrong side and then had to unpick it all. Or if I hadn't put the bobbin in the wrong way around.

Evaluation: Fun! I wanted something quick and easy- I don't have the patience for long, exacting projects right now. I have enough leftover fabric (in strips, sewn together, like #3) to make another pillow... but a stripey one.

Photos

Here are two photos- we don't have many on our camera of the two of us! The first is at the lighthouse in Exmouth, the second at AQWA with Mom.
 
Have a good day!
 
Heather

Zebras in trees, and babies with brains

We have a lively flock of zebra finches around the house. They are tiny- the length of the palm of my hand- but super-quick and very curious! They enjoyed sitting on top of the bird netting over the veggies and watching us watch them.


The male zebra finch has orange cheeks.

This weeks random conversation with the class involved them overhearing me use the phrase 'baby brain." One of the girls said that "Baby doesn't have a brain yet." And I said, "It does, its just like a real baby, only littler." So they wanted to know how big the baby was, and I showed them with my hands. Then they wanted to know what baby did all day, and I said it mostly slept. I asked them what they thought the baby did when it wasn't asleep, and the suggestions included looking at my ribs, heart, and guts!

30 weeks down, 10 to go!

For your amusement... The first photo is at 29 weeks...

This next one is me at 30 weeks!

Okay, not really. This is me at 30 weeks:


Baby...

• is about 30 cm long, or nearly 16 inches from head to toes.
• is weighing in at 3 lbs (1.35 kilos) and is having a weight-growth spurt from now until birth
• is not laying across my stomach anymore, but seems to be at an angle (we'll have an ultrasound on Monday)
• seems to enjoy head-butting my bellybutton (I have no concept of what baby actually does in there)

and I...

• am tempted to scratch my belly like a monkey
• lose my ankles each afternoon I work (but then regain them when I get home)
• think the zebra print dress makes me look short
• just realized this week that we I'll be leaving for Carnarvon in 7-8 weeks to wait for the baby. In between then and now is 4 more weeks of work, travelling to Perth, Christmas, and a visit from Dave's sister and brother-in-law and their baby. Time suddenly feels short!
  

Dave...

• is training two new staff at work
• has been reading a book for Dads-to-be about what to expect the first weeks and months of the baby's life and is a source of really interesting facts
• gets to assemble a rocking chair soon
• gets kicked in the head a lot by baby while he's talking to the baby belly!