look what I made

Hello there! Back from Christmas escapades. Hope you all had a wonderful time of much eating and drinking and giving and receiving. All worked out well here; my father managed to get out with his snow tires and come to pick us up. Whew! But more on that when I have a chance to put together a longer post. This is just a quickie about bird garlands.
I gave in to my holiday craft craving sparingly this year, and really only made one thing, well, two of the same thing: these felt bird garlands. I spent a solid day blanket stitching at the beginning of the snow-in, and would likely have kept going in an obsessive way, but that I fortuitously ran out of felt.

They were fun, and extremely easy. I do not know how to sew; anyone at all could make these, but I think they are very adorable! I wanted to post pics before, but the recipients (mom and Alexandra) would have seen them here. Here are the individual birds before stringing:

You may remember I was tempted to make round felt garlands I'd found at Anna Maria Horner's blog, but I restrained myself, and the felt, it was just sitting there in a stack, and one blustery night I found myself cutting out bird shapes. I used the colorful embroidery thread I bought at a Mayan market in Chiapas last spring and had so far not done anything with. I wish I'd bought much more of it. The colors are so ludicrously beautiful!
(I did not buy all of this; this is the stash at the market; I plundered it for maybe ten balls of yarn. I want more!)

Along with buttons mostly from my grandmother's button tin, and some little scraps of patterned fabric I buy from time to time despite the fact that I do not and cannot sew, and I was ready to go.

I plan to make myself one (or two) too, because they looked so cute hanging in my writing room (pic above). I'll have to acquire some more felt first! Perhaps I'll make them while watching the "Pushing Daisies" DVD Jim gave me -- color all around! I'm also keen to watch the other DVD Jim gave me, which is this:
It's called Baraka, which means "blessing" in many different languages, and it's a non-narrative exploration of. . . well, I haven't seen it yet, but I think it's a visual exploration of the world, of humanity in all its many faces, and of the planet too. Religious ceremonies, death camps, everyday scenes, extraordinary scenes, filmed at 152 locations around the world. Cool. Can't wait to see it, though it would be best on my parents' new giganto HD TV, not our own ancient thing.

Anyway, I'll be back with pictures of food and family, icicles and presents, soon. Hope you are all well!