A bird in the hand.....

I can't stop with these birds! This one started off as an attempt to make a starling. We have lots of them around here, and when they flock before they roost, they make 'smoke' patterns in the sky. They look especially spectacular against the sea and sky when they flock over the pier.


(click on photo for bigger image)

To get the iridescent spotted effect that these birds have, I used sequinned dark blue jersey for his back and glitter printed fine jersey fabric for his chest and underside. His wings are brown ultrasuede backed with felt, lightly machine quilted with a pattern of feathers. His beak is orange felt and his eyes are sparkly black beads. His legs are gardening wire threaded through plastic tubing.


(click on photo for bigger image)

Of course, that wasn't enough! I buttonholed around the edges of his wings with variegated perle cotton. A few fly stitches and black bugle beads gave a suggestion of feathers and I fastened them on with star shaped blue shell buttons.



Oh dear! Still too plain for me! I needled on some stripes of silk knitting yarn and embellished the stripes with cretan stitch in variegated embroidery floss. One starling in his Sunday best waistcoat!



Nellie made the pattern available for anyone to use - with a request to send a picture or a link when a bird was made. To see all of Nellie's birds, and others made from her pattern, go to her blog and click on the 'bird' label in the sidebar.