Bird & Birdhouse Die with AccuQuilt

A few months ago my liaison at AccuQuilt showed me one of their upcoming dies – it was a little birdhouse with a bird on it. I am a huge fan of wild birds. I love to watch them come to my feeders in my yard. Watching them hop around the trees, and hearing the woodpeckers bash away at the trees around my home brings me joy. They make me happy, and in return, I try to make my yard hospitable. I asked for a prototype of the die and designed a fun table runner to celebrate springtime and the return of birds to my yard. They invited me to join the launch party for the Bird & Birdhouse die!

The table runner pattern will be releasing on the AccuQuilt website on 5/10 as a free download. It’s adorable, but I can’t show it to you until then. Sorry. You can register in advance for the weekly AccuQuilt livestream here. I’ll be making an appearance and chatting with Pam & Erica about my projects. They usually have great giveaways, too.

Luckily, I’ve made more than one project with the adorable die, and I can share my second piece as much as I want! You may have heard that I’ve been into wool appliqué and embroidery lately. Hand embroidery, not the machine stuff. I combined the bird and birdhouse die with the fall medley die and made a little vignette to celebrate springtime.

Here is my current project, which I started by combining the Bird & Birdhouse die with the oak leaves from the Fall Medley die. I began with a 12 1/2″ square of Essex Linen, and an assortment of wool scraps. I have this awesome donut of appliqué thread, which makes it easier to keep my stitches invisible.

Making this piece was super easy. I cut out the felt, pinned it in place with appliqué pins, then stitched it down. All of the fun of hand appliqué with almost zero prep work. No fusible, no turned edges. It did sit around waiting for the embroidery to start, but once it started I had a hard time putting it down.

The wools I am using come from a few places. Most of the greens are from my friend Jackie, who recycles thrift store woolens into felt and makes things. I asked if she had any scraps to share, and she gave me a huge bag of odd shapes. They are so much fun to play with. The leaves are all different shades of green, with a wide array of textures. I love the ones where you can still see the cable knit.

My primary source for felted wool is Sue Spargo’s website. She has a great variety of colors, and some cool patterns, too. She also has an incredible assortment of threads. Avoid the thread section, my friends. I’m in too deep on thread already, and it’s been like 6 months.

I’ve been happy to add wool appliqué and hand embroidery to my range of on-the-go projects. It is so easy to keep a little project in a bag and take it with me. This photo shows how I do my stitching in the car. I have a few different bags packed with different projects, and I just always have one with me when I leave the house.

I’m still adding more embroidery to this piece. I’m in no hurry to finish it. It has no agenda, no purpose, other than keeping my hands busy. It might end up on my wall, or it might end up in my Etsy shop. For now, it is showing off the stitches we are using this month in my Creative Hand Stitching Journey at Gotham Quilts.

I’ve got bullion knots in the oak leave on the upper left. (Some of them have too many wraps, which is why they are not straight). Bullion loops surround the opening of the birdhouse. Above the opening I tried the double cast on stitch. The bird is bringing home a little earthworm, made from a drizzle stitch with a bead on the end. The bird’s eye is made from a french knot, as are the little orange knots on the perch. And finally, my fancy bird has pistil stitches on her head. I like my birds fancy.

I’m planning on different stitches for the veins on the leaves, some texture on the birdhouse, and some more work on the bird. Because she is small, I’ll switch to a lighter weight thread for that work. I also want to add a ladybug and a bee somewhere. The best part of this piece is that it is only limited by my imagination. I might add another section of double cast on stitches around the yellow cross at the top, to make it look more like a flower than a cross. And maybe some more details on the leaf edges. I do need to make a dent in this thread collection.

I have absolutely dropped the box since sorting the colors out, so now it looks more like my usual “mess in a box”. But at least they are all in one place.

I hope you can join us on Monday! I’m so excited about being on the live show with Pam & Erica again. What would you make with the Bird & Birdhouse die?