On and on with the owl.

I've been stitching a fancy yarn to the back of the owl -  more or less following the grooves in the fabric. I found some fancy yarn that's just a bit lighter than the one I used for the front.

I've embellished some of my dark brown wool over the threads (with what's left of my broken needles), trying to get it to look much the same as the front, colour wise.

The back of the owl has been machine stitched to the front now and it's waiting for stuffing.

He looks a bit forlorn!

I'm putting him away for a while now.
When I come back to him he'll need eyes and ears, beak, claws and wings, but I'm pleased that I've got this far.

I came in the other day and found my blue tit standing on his head!

On with the owl.

I started working on the owl here and a few weeks have gone by since then.

I've been stitching on some wool and fancy threads by hand and going over them with the embellisher.
Yes, the embellisher.. I'm really disappointed with my Pfaff embellisher. I haven't used it all that much and maybe it's just me.
I'm pretty careful using it as I know how easy it is to break the needles and I'm now down to 2 which is no use at all. So there's nothing else for it but to send away for another set.

This is the front of the owl and I'm making it up as I go along. Not sure what I'll do with the back yet as I've used up all my bits of wool.

*

So while I'm waiting for needles and searching for threads I'll be doing a bit of collage in this notebook and keeping an eye on the Tele.

Yes, I'll be watching you Andy!

60 Glorious Years.

Yes folks, a couple of weeks ago I was 60.

A standing joke in our family is that my husband generally gives me the present that he really wants!

It wasn't the tin of shortbread.

I'm joking. This time I really wanted a new camera. 

One that could do more than my little Canon 'point-and-shoot'.

I was given a Fujiflm X20, a full-featured compact camera.

Of course, I don't think I'll ever understand it all because, now I'm  60, my memory is so bad!

I can't remember what I'm shown 10 seconds ago. 

At the moment we're out practising with my (our) camera. I see the photos and he takes them!

So out last night I saw this tree and the children silhouetted in the shadow underneath.

We tried out some of the different features of the camera. Don't ask me what!

Then all the family, with their two dogs, were under the tree.

 Some friends came along and we started chatting - the photographic moment was lost and the family were gone.

Sometimes I look at this blog from a girl living in Nashville.

 I love the style of her photos (she can write nice words too).

I think it's the blurry backgrounds that I like.

So it was this effect below that I liked the best. 

My husband would find all sorts of technical things wrong with it.  "Not Sharp - Not This - Not That."

                 But I like it....and I'm going to try and learn to use my camera, even if age is against me!

Fabric Book.

We had our AGM last Thursday and it was announced that my fabric book, 'If I Were A Butterfly,' has won the 'Visitors' Choice' at my craft group exhibition this year.

 My little Blue Tit came in 2nd.

We're quite pleased with ourselves!

Fabric Horned Owl.

I was getting itchy fingers after a bit of a stitching break while our craft group exhibition was on and I've been wondering what to make next.
I've had this pattern for a horned owl, designed and made by my friend Sharon, for a while now so I decided it was about time I had a go at making one.


The body is cut from one of those upholstery fabric samples.

 I picked out some tweeds for his tummy and wings.

Then thought I would look at a picture of a Horned Owl as wasn't sure how a real one looked.

Something was telling me to get the Embellisher out.

I like my Embellisher but it's a bit of a pain because the needles break so easily and they're fiddly to replace, not to mention the cost of them!  I am on my only set of needles now.

I chose this hairy piece of polyester for his tummy.

Then I added some wools. The brown wool came straight from a sheep - one of our craft group members brought it in one time, washed and ready for us to do the rest.

            As usual, I think the wrong side works better.

I've had this Variety Bag a long time, it's a mix of mostly dark threads and knitting yarns.

            I'm stitching this yarn on and then I'll use the embellisher.

Then once I've done the tummy I think I'll embellish some wool on to the body. I'm just doing what feels right and hope it works.

On the subject of birds, I saw this at the Garden Centre yesterday.

A nest of baby thrushes in amongst the plants.

How lovely!