my peeps, cheeps and chirps

         For years I have tried to find a way to combine my love of stitching with my occupation  of artist, storyteller and illustrator. It wasn't until working on my last book that I decided upon the perfect marriage of the two. Hopalong Hollow books are populated with countless fuzzy and feathered creatures and a few have already come to life via needle and thread, you've seen them here before; Mamsey Bear, Fiona Goosefeathers and Dimity Doormouse. Last week I began to create a few of the bird-folk of the Hollow. I have never sewn a bird before, but I admire the work of many fabulous artists that work in felting and mohair. I have much to learn from my best teachers, TRIAL and ERROR. I first purchased a pattern for a chick and then tossed it. The chick looked more like a flat mouse.  So I made my own pattern for a baby chick.
 Her beak is not quite correct..baby chicks have sharp pointy little beaks. I will have to work on making better beaks.
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Other than that, she was pretty simple and straightforward. 
I made a green tomato pin cushion for her to sit on. Gotta fix that beak!

  I readjusted my pattern and got a bit more courageous in my attempt to make a chickadee.
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But she looked a little odd for a chickadee, and so SHE became a He and turned into a little wren,

 in a top hat.
He is made with mohair and wool felt. He's a bit disheveled, which is why I made his top hat a bit raggedy.

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  He looks like quite a dandy little bloke and I expect to hear a cockney accent as soon as he chirps.

 

 My next Featherfoot DID look rather more like a Chickadee.
I need more stuffing in that pin cushion, though.

 I used brown wool felt fabric and white mohair .

One of my senior cats mistook her for the real thing and I had to put her way up high on  a shelf.
Next I made a little bluebird using dyed wool felt fabric.

 I think she is quite sweet and I like the downward tilt of the beak, I'm improving a bit at shaping the beaks.

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 I embellished her seams with  simple feather stitches and a blanket stitch. 

 This Featherfoot  was meant to be a Robin Red breast but she is more of a Robin Pink Breast.  I dyed the mohair to match the pink in the foxgloves of the fabric tuffet upon which she sits.

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This fabric is from my "Hopalong Jack" line with Northcott.

 Her body consists of 4 different mohairs and

I made her beak with wool felt.

She has a lovely long nose, but I should do a bit of shading on it with copic pens or acrylic paint. Any suggestions on what to use for shading mohair and felt? I am new to all this!

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She's  the biggest bird. You know, her profile looks a lot like Esther. Maybe that is why I love her best of all.

My birds are all a bit amateurish, but I will get better at this. I know I will!

You may wonder what I intend to do with ALL these pincushions? Well, I will NEED a lot of pins (and I like the company of birds as I sew)... for it is my goal to stitch EVERYONE in Hopalong Hollow.

 Next come the Rabbits...or the mice..or the chippys...

I can't decide!

What do you think? BUNS? MORE BIRDS?

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This is fun...one day later.. I decided to work on buns for Easter.

A gray rabbit will be my first... this must be Winky Fuzzyfoot..,

and the gang.