Yesterday afternoon I pieced together this sweet little chickadee. I love chickadees and watching them on my birdfeeders. They are sweet little birds and seeing them, reminds me of my dad. He loved watching and feeding the birds. I find working with wool to be both relaxing and challenging. Since I don't work with wool often, it's a fun challenge. I like the feel and weight of the wool fabric in my hands. Making this design, I pondered stitching little snowflakes but decided against it and stitched more pine boughs and add a more decorative border to the design. The finished size is 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" and is a perfect companion to the Woodland Deer ornament. I've got a few more to do to make a nice ornament set! These are also a great size for a coaster or just a little something to decorate with. This is just a perfect size to tuck in a Christmas Card to give to your friends and neighbors. Let me show you how I put this together...
I am using a larger eyed machine needle... I'm using a 35 weight variegated cotton thread from Valdani. |
Here you can see my stitching by machine, I used a brown thread to go around the branch and pinecone, and a dark variegated thread to go around the gray pieces. |
Using a dark gray Perle cotton, I stitch details onto the bird's wing and tail using a backstitch. I stitch the bird's eye using a French knot. |
With your fusible circle you cut out earlier, iron that onto the back of your blue stitched ornament piece. |
Peel off the paper and then fuse onto the green scalloped piece. I did most of my pressing from the backside of the ornament. |
~ Woodland Chickadee Ornament ~ |
I'm just tickled with how the ornament turned out. I'm looking forward to making some more! Working with wool was very satisfying, a delight to work with. Even though I did most of ornament with machine stitching, these would be beautiful handstitched too. You can use a blanket stitch or a whip stitch to stitch the edges. The finished size is 5 1/2" x 5 1/2". I'm hanging mine as ornaments, but the size is perfect for a coaster!
The pattern is available as a PDF download or as a packaged pattern. Both versions can be found in the Etsy shop or in the Quilt Doodle Designs website.
We sure had a healthy dump of snow; we've been staying close to home and hibernating. The snow is very pretty, it looks like a Christmas card outside. Very pretty... great weather for watching TV and stitching. Josephine is not a fan of the wet damp snow, she hates getting her feet wet! She's also hibernating.
Happy stitching!
Cindy and Josephine
Can't say I blame Josephine. I'm not a fan of cold wet feet, either! The chickadee is as cute as the deer!
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