Little birds for a baby

The long anticipated baby has arrived - and it's a boy - James Arthur, brother to 3 beautiful girls!

So there will be a quilt for him - but I really must finish the quilts for two of his sisters and one of his cousins before I start his ( the good news is that all 3 tops are made - I just need to layer them up and quilt them!!)

So a quick gift is what I need - so here it is -

a little string of birds that can fix across his pram - I did think of adding some little bells to this but know that my daughter, Naomi, wouldn't appreciate it.

I used Bigz die 657685 http://www.sizzix.co.uk/product/657685/sizzix-bigz-die-birds-3 and the Big Shot http://www.sizzix.co.uk/product/660200/sizzix-big-shot-machine-only-white-gray  to cut the birds in felt - I chose grey and aqua - cutting 4 birds, 2 wings and 2 eyes in grey, and 2 birds, 4 wings and 4 eyes in aqua.

I started by stitching the eyes and wings in place, using a small running stitch, but this can also be stitched on a machine. ( remember to make pairs of birds)

Then I stitched 2 grey birds together, with a length of grey ric rac running through the middle, and adding a little toy stuffing before completing the stitching -

it just remained to complete the other 2 birds in the same way.

I now have a little gift to take when I visit again tomorrow.

An alternative would be to make the birds into a mobile - hanging the birds from ribbon attached to the back.

I could also make a little quilt to match - or even add a bird to a tiny t-shirt - I'm sure my granddaughters will help me decide on the next thing to make for him.

So that's all for this week, have fun sewing.

Angela