nursery update

So, remember those birds? And all that frustration? Yeah, it never really ended. I made all the felt birds, but then started to assemble the branches into a mobile and it ended up just looking lame. Also, it was really hard to screw the little screws into the branches, so I could do one, maybe two at a time before I had sore fingers and gave up for the day.
Several times throughout the process I said "This looks stupid. I'm not wasting any more time on it." But then I'd always think "Nah, it probably only looks stupid compared to the platonic ideal I have created in my head. The one that doesn't actually exist, that I can't even envision, but is far superior to the one that does exist here in the workshop."
So yeah, several times I gave up on the project. Which is why it's just now (sort of) finished. I say sort of because I think it needs more birds. Maybe just one more bird. And maybe more flowers. I like the flowers, which is surprising because I thought maybe they'd look stupid but I had them laying around and thought I'd see how it worked out. Anyway, it's hard to photograph, but I think you can get the idea.
I made the flowers on the wall, too. I might make another post showing the process of creating that... I'm proud of the way it came out, and it was way less frustrating than these silly birds.

three little birds

I have a song running through my head. It might go away, but then I start back up on sewing my little birds, and the darn thing is back again. That's okay, it's not a bad song. The bad part is really that I only know one line of it, and I'd just have that one line running through my head all day. So ... I looked it up. And I'll pass the gift along to you. It can run through your head all day too. :) You can thank me later.
In any case, in a previous post I mentioned the mobile I wanted to make for above Emily's crib (oh yeah, she has a name now, in case that wasn't mentioned before... that project is moving forward too). I found a site that had a pattern, so I diligently tried to copy the pattern (without a printer, I just eyeballed it) and numerous adjustments later, I still had only these stupid, retarded looking birds. More like jacked up seahorses than anything.

Embarrassing. I kept with it for longer than a person should admit to, so I won't tell. In any case, I discarded the "official" pattern found online and made up my own. These were significantly cuter, but I really struggled with them. Each one has flaws due to my inability to sew with precision in small tight spaces. These are little birds, you see. Sewing with the machine meant corners got all bunched up, thread got all tangled, fabric unraveled. I can't decide if it's my machine, or me. Regardless, sewing in small places inevitably leads to a jumble of threads knotted up with fabric all jammed into the machine's innards requiring scissors and patience to extract. I started sewing them by hand, which was much less frustrating.

But then I had a revelation. More like I saw some other cute birds online that were made of felt. Felt! That would solve all my problems! So here they are ... little birds.v3. I think these may very well be the final version. Using a whole www worth of inspiration, but maybe, finally, MINE. We'll see how the next step of the project comes together ... mounting them onto twigs. It could very well be just as irritating and drawn out as this has been.

Put a bird on it.

I know the bird thing is overplayed maybe, but I don't care. It's not overplayed in my house. And so anyway I had this idea to make a mobile for over the baby's crib, and it was originally spawned from something I saw in one of those freebie magazines I got from the first OB/GYN visit ... it was just a tree branch (no leaves) that was spray painted silver and had crystals dangling from it. I thought that was totally awesome. I love the DIY-ness of it, the fact that it's not some Disney character training my child to be a consumer before she can even focus her eyes properly. But the crystals thing? Smacked of princess-hood to me. Too girly. Too pretty-pretty. And then I thought that I'd make a bunch of tiny stuffed animals out of fabric scraps and hang them from the tree branch. All the different colored fabrics would be good for little eyes to examine!
And then I saw this and now I know exactly what I'm going to make. OH. MY. GOSH. Love it. I am drawing patterns as I type. :)