This project was started just before I entered my cockatoo phase so I had to keep going with the crows. I guess they are now blackbirds because I gave them yellow beaks. I love working with wool felt and wool fabrics to do applique. I also love the cute little designs that can be made out of felt. You can get so much detail.
On Pinterest I started up my 'I love felt' board to collect lots of cool felt projects for a rainy day. It always helps to have a bit of inspiration. I recently discovered the Downeast Thunder Farm blog and lots of gorgeous felt bird patterns for free.
I was first introduced to the crazy wool pincushion by Kaaren at The Painted Quilt. And then Fiona at Bubz Rugs had a pincushion traveling swap. I was still feeling my way around blogland then :)
I still love using my international pincushion.
My latest creation has woven wool for the top and wool felt for the elements. I also used felt for the base and just cut a slit in it for turning and stuffing. I used baseball stitch to sew it up. I had a bit of rice and lavender mix in the draw so I popped in a few spoons of that then made it nice and plump with hobbyfill. I put in one of my washers to give it some weight and stitched the edges together.
If you would like to collect this pattern you can download it from google docs.
There is also a flickr photo stream with some construction steps.
I thought the kitty salt shaker should get a look in today. There is a ginger one for pepper but I don't use pepper much. I bought the pair in the Lakes District on my UK trip earlier this year.
Now I have to get busy and tweek the design and put in cockatoos instead of blackbirds and gum leaves instead of apples.
