Wednesday Sewing - Robins!

One of the things I miss about living up North is the robins returning in the spring.  It's always so good to see them again!  I thought that when we moved to Arizona, I'd still be able to see robins since pretty near every bird habitat map showed this area as their wintering ground.  Hmmm - I've yet to see a robin in the Phoenix area.  They might be here hiding somewhere.  When our apple trees began blooming last week, I suddenly missed robins again.  Apple blossoms and robins just seem to go together!  So now, our apple trees have robins - kind of ....

Materials:
*felt - robins are a brownish-gray and the felt I've found is not, so unless you have a great source I don't know about (tell me, please!) you'll have to pick browns or grays.  Not quite robin color, but close.
*ribbon
*wide hole bead
*large gray or black bead
*small gray or black bead
*pattern found here

1.  Cut two of each pattern piece if you want your robin to be two sided.  I used dark gray for the larger bird silhouette and the larger wing, light gray for the smaller bird silhouette, black for the head cap, and red for the breast area.

2.  Lay the smaller silhouette on the larger one, trying to leave an even amount of larger silhouette showing underneath.  Lay the breast and head cap on as shown below. 

Sew along the top of the breast and the bottom of the head cap.  Repeat for other side.

3.  Lay the wings on as shown below.  Sew around the smaller wing.  Repeat for other side.

4.  Sew an eye on each side by bringing the needle up through the the large bead, then the small bead, and then back down through the large bead only.

5.  Put both sides of the bird together.  Cut a one foot piece of ribbon, fold in two, and place the open end between the two bird sides - make sure about an inch goes down into the bird so it'll be anchored firmly.   Sew around the smaller silhouette.  This won't be perfect on the opposite side, but it will work fine.  Slip a wide hole bead onto the ribbon and tie a knot just above it.

Now the robins have returned - it must be spring!

Happy Creating!  Deborah