Recently I moved from the city to a much more rural area. It wasn’t the glorious city life of TV shows but it’s very different here: not having a grocery store, gas station, or highway closer than a 10-minute walk.
That being said I really love having a backyard now and even though it’s full of melting snow it’s lovely to sit and watch the birds. The boyfriend knows a lot about birds and it’s been fascinating watching and learning about them.
Here are some pictures I’ve taken of the ones we’ve spotted back there!
That’s what made the bird tree blog hop seem so timely for me! When I saw the panel of birds in Tracy Lizotte‘s collection for Elizabeth’s Studio I knew these were panels I could work with.
But what to make? Well, after some brainstorming I ended up deciding to make (*drum roll please*) blocks!
Totally random, I know, but I wanted to make something new and challenge myself with a different set of skills than I usually use. Not to mention a little inspired by the 6 weeks of softies posts over at Sew Mama Sew and the perfect size of these panels for this project.
This is not the first time I’ve made a fabric block but I got to do my favorite thing while making these blocks: I failed.
My take on failure:
Failure is one of the most important parts of the creative process; it happens when you take risks. And if you learn something from it then it’s not a failure; it’s a learning experience!
So this failure block, how was it a failure? It didn’t hold its shape very well so even though I used interfacing the stuffing (standard polyfill) wasn’t the right material to use. This fluffy squarish pillow wasn’t my vision; I really wanted crisp edges on this block. So after the sample block, I did some Googling and found this amazing tutorial on using foam to create fabric blocks at hello, wonderful.
Bingo; that’s what I was looking for. Crisp edges curtsey of craft foam, and measuring. Blame it on not researching enough or chalk it up to trial and error. Doesn’t matter; the process got me to my goal!
I just love how they came out.
Gosh I just love how those cute gold finches look on the tree house almost as much as I like how they look on the bird feeder outside my sewing room window. I’m told they’ll be much brighter come spring (right around the time we have to take the feeders down cause of bears!)
Don’t forget to visit all the other bird tree blog hoppers today & thanks to Lana & Samm for organizing this hop!
Linking up with…
Love the blocks, such a unique idea! Thank you for sharing.
OH MY GOODNESS!!! I LOVE THIS!!! I can see these just randomly placed around my house!!! I AM SO INSPIRED!!!! I hope my failures all turn out as GREAT as these did!!!! YOU ROCKED IT!
Terri, while creating nothing is ever, Ever, EVER is a failure. You just learn one way of not to do something so the lesson is a success. Your blocks are unique and project quite original so kudos to you. Like the looks of them too after using that foam with measurements. Thanks for sharing.
Your blocks turned out great in the end! I wouldn’t mind having those around my house!
Thanks for sharing.
What a great idea the blocks are – I like the thought of them around the house showing off the lovely bird prints.
Such a fun idea! With so many different panel prints out there, you could change things out for each season. Love love love it.
I love the soft blocks! They will have many uses around the house! You could also put bricks inside and use them as bookends!
Hi Terri Ann, I’m happy to see you joined this hop. You’re blocks do look perfect and fun and so are your bird photos ! Girl if you have bears I wouldn’t want to walk 10 minutes anywhere !
your photos are lovely, your blocks very sweet….such a nice visit. t.y.
Love the blocks! Good for you for finding a way to fix them as you wanted them to be crisp. You did great. And really? Bears? At bird feeders?vHow scary.
What a unique idea. I love the way the blocks may be tucked sweetly in so many places. Cute project.
What a great idea for those panels! Thanks for sharing their development with us.
These are just too cute!! I love what you did with this fabric.
How very cute! What clever idea. You did a great job on them.
We surely don’t fail when we persevere and learn from the mistakes. Your blocks are just a cute as can be…. even the more puffy one. Thanks for sharing the process with us today.
Your blocks are a great use of this fabric! How beautiful!
Clever you to make blocks – they’re beautiful!
Very interesting idea. Looking forward to the tutorial. I can see making a few for holiday decorations just sitting in various spots around the house. Thanks for ironing out the kinks.
Terri Ann these are just the cutest things! I’ve got to try this! blessings, marlene
I have lots of those “failures” that sounded so good in my head, but then didn’t quite look like what I imagined. I love how you recreated it with a sturdier material and ended up with those adorable blocks. My grandsons would love those to play with!
What a neat way to use those beautiful fabrics! Thanks for sharing!
The block idea is wonderful. I can see where the foam really does make a crisper block. Your birds are all so pretty.
OH I love this idea! The treehouse blocks turned out great!!
Your birdie blocks are oh-so cute. What a clever idea. 😀
I love your bird fabric blocks. Thanks for taking the mystery out of how to make these fabric blocks. I enjoyed all the links, too. Wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing in the hop … 🙂 Pat
Terris Ann there no such thing as failure… just a understanding that instead that with every wrong attempt is a step forward to par apharse Thomas Edison. I look forward to the see the tutorial once it all comes together for you. I think I see many people making your blocks in the future so carry on dear. And thank you for sharing the blocks with all of us.
Toodles,
Tricia
Love the blocks and your “failure” philosophy — thanks for saving all the rest of us from “failure”!!
Love the blocks and your “failure” philosophy — thanks for saving all the rest of us from “failure”!!
They turned out well in the end. They would make great toys for young children.
What a great idea. They would be so easy to display anywhere, no hanging, no easels, just plop and go! I love them. Thank you so much for sharing.
Failure belongs to live, and as long as one can make something better due to failure, then it was a Chance, isn’t it? Love your Projects, nice, crisp and ready for spring!
Your blocks turned out great! I absolutely love your take on failure.
Love those blocks. Perfect use of the fabric. And your nice, crisp corners turned out beautifully. I especially love the pics of the birds and feeders. Thanks for sharing everything today.
You have such pretty bird pictures…well all of them are just gorgeous. These little shelf sitters you have created are so unique. What a cool addition to a shelf, and the fabric, well it is so pretty on it’s own that this project just works!
Your Tree Bird blocks are wonderful and quite the fun accent pieces for games and décor. Thank you sew very much for Tree Bird hopping and participating. Creative Bird Bliss…
What a great idea! Love your blocks. I also like the soft version too, good for tiny baby hands!
love the blocks. Nice
The fabric blocks are such a unique idea. thanks for sharing.
What a fun project, love your sweet bird blocks. Very fun!
I LoVe LoVe LoVe these blocks, they are way cool!! That said, I agree about failure, you can’t learn from it if you don’t have some failures. I’d love to see the tutorial when your ready and I have followed you via blogluvin.. Unique and fun idea.. great job.
Wow, what a difference foam makes! (Say, do you think it will work on my lumps if I sew it into my jeans? jk!)
Love not only your project but your beliefs about ‘failures’ as learning blocks. (get it? that was a bad pun!)
Cute project. Thanks for sharing the good and the bad.
What a cute idea. I love that you show your fail and your success. Oh, how we learn from failing and when we share it helps others.
A fabulous project! ☺
I really like the idea of your blocks. Learning ‘how’ is so exciting. These look great and it made me think that if they were “loaded”, they would make great door stops.
I really like your blocks, and I like that your post talked about your creative process. I also have fails, usually when I’m trying something new. I like that you kept on problem solving until you found a method which resulted in such a wonderful project.
These blocks are beautiful! I love how you view failures… I like to think of them as learning experiences too! Beautiful work!
Cute prints and great pics of the birds!
Your soft blocks are such a great idea. They turned out so cute.