Saturday, May 15, 2010

Shirley




HIDDEN TREASURES

The first day, after the subject was chosen I decided to do baby hummingbirds, hidden in the leaves.

I remember as a child watching a humming bird's nest, and then the tiny tiny little birds arrived. The nest was the size of the an egg. I watched the parents feed their little ones - the Mother was so busy -- back and forth all day- such a busy little lady bird.



The idea wouldn't go away and I decided to go for it.

I tried different fabrics for the tree trunk but kept coming back to the brown. I cut out many many leaves and put them away to 'wait' for the babies. I drew the little nest with the babies' heads peeking out of the nest. I cut it out in grey, and placed it on timtex. Added some rope, little pieces of
yarn a bit of eyelash yarn for the nest. I then thread painted the birds and placed the whole nest on the branch of the tree. I then added many many leaves. (I fused dark green fabric with lighter green fabric for the leaves and cut them out. I also used some leaves I had bought a few years ago to give it a bit of life.

I decided to paint the hummingbird mother -- and fused it to some timtex to give it a 3 d
look. I had thread painted a hummingbird but I liked the effect better with the painted
bird.

I edged it with satin stitch, and will add some beading to the piece this week. This was fun for me. I also worked on a manipulated piece but couldn't figure out how to quilt it . I will put a picture in later. The second picture of my reveal gives you a close up of the nest and babies.

I am looking forward to our next challenge -- I have been fooling around with photo shop and have done some interesting manipulations. So, even though my first reveal was n't a huge reach, I did try some new things. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the reveals.

I am so glad we started this group! It is something to look forward to and I am now wondering which challenge will be chosen for #2. Shirley


10 comments:

  1. I forgot to put the size in -- it is l2" x 13" Shirley

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  2. Just look at those little heads peaking out, they are precious! Awesome work!

    Sharon M

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  3. The hummingbirds are so neat, and what a great treasure they are. The babies hiding in the trees look real. Wonderful job Shirley!

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  4. Shirley, once again you have created a lovely treasure.
    The leaves give it good depth. I like it a lot.

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  5. I love the hummingbirds. I never thought about how small the babies and nest would be. Love it.

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  6. I didn't notice the nest at first, a real hidden treasure. Good job Shirley, thanks for starting the group.

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  7. This is a great subject (I love hummers). Your threadwork is amazing. Those nests are so tiny...truly hidden treasures!

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  8. Shirley what a lovely hidden treasure. Little baby birds. I also did not notice them at first.
    Very nice piece of work.
    Delia

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  9. I really didn't see the babies when I first looked at this piece. How wonderful. My daughter lives in BC and has hummingbirds come to visit quite often - one even refused to stay outside.

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