Love bird family

I forgot to show you my Valentine's products for this year!
How utterly useless am I?!

I have made some more love birds in delicious new fabrics: this idea is nothing new, merely something I change eversoslightly now and then...

...but, whilst in the middle of making a batch of birds, I thought how lovely they all looked together - and how it would be great to have more than 2 birds on the perch...

...and then it hit me! A love bird family!

And here is the first one: two proud parents with their baby!

You could even add an older sibling or two!
Anyway, I thought it would be a lovely idea for a newborn gift - or even an alternative Valentine's idea.
I braved the cold and wet at the weekend (no snow here in Cornwall - boo!) as I had an order for some driftwood cottages.

You can see here the different blocks I used

And from this view, you may be able to tell what I used for the roofs? It is the corner pieces you find in fruit crates (we find a lot of those on the beach for some reason).
Perfect! Nothing goes to waste in this household!

I hope you are all managing to keep safe and warm - another chilly one tonight!
See you soon!

Royal Cornwall Show

Happy Monday everyone! The Royal Cornwall Show is only a few weeks away, and I'm desperately trying to make loads to sell on my stall there! This is the biggest fair I've ever been a part of: it's a 3-day event, and I have no idea how much stock I'll need! What if I sell out of everything on the first day? Or even worse, don't sell anything at all?!
I'll be offering a range of goodies: some driftwood boats and cottages, my collages (hopefully in card/print form as well as the framed originals) and some textile pieces too - might as well try and appeal to as many customers as possible!

So I've been busy making love birds...

in some new colours...
No two will be the same!

Which is your favourite pair?

I've also been experimenting with a bit of freestyle stitching...

Thought that subject matter like this may go down well!

They will be framed and displayed with similar stitched pieces.

This is my favourite so far.
Gotta go and make some more! Have a fab week y'all!

Valentine Birds

Hey guys, well would you believe it's Friday again?! I've had a lovely week again, there are a few orders trickling through, but I've had plenty of time to work on new ideas (the best thing about January I reckon!) I suppose I should have been thinking about Valentines Day about 6 months ago, but, true to form, I've left it almost to the last minute before listing anything!
This is what I've come up with....

Valentine love-birds made from bright felt and gorgeous vivid fabric from Seamstar.

The stitched envelope is draped around the birds neck so it can be removed - and the recipient can get to enjoy it all year round!

It's been a while since I did freestyle stitching like this!

In a choice of 2 colours - can you see that the wings are heart-shaped?

These two are hanging over my bed at the moment - I think a flock in lots of different colours would look nice! Available from Folksy now!

Happy Weekend Folks!

Love birds

So as soon as Christmas has come and gone, all the Valentines stuff appears - I hate it too, but that's just the way it is, I suppose. Anyway, I've been playing around with several ideas, and here is my first offering...'Love Birds'. Originally the birdcage (made essentially using gardening wire and an embroidery hoop) was covered with papier mache with a poem printed around the bottom, but I couldn't get it right and using fabric seemed softer somehow. I don't think I'll be making many of these as it was very time-consuming, although I would like to trial one using darker fabrics. I'm finding it really hard putting a price on it - it did take me ages, but you have to be realistic about how much someone would be willing to pay...a common dilemma for artists everywhere I guess (unless your name is Damien Hirst or something!)
Anyway, your comments are always most welcome. Hope you're having a good week! (It's snowing again here!)

PS Spotty and floral linen fabric by the very lovely Sarah Hardaker