my covert robin gift from Buzzmills

i have been so overwhelmed by everyone's covert robin gifts so far! and the one i received from Jane at Buzzmills is NO exception. when i opened the package, my jaw dropped. i am so lucky to have such talented and giving friends! and here's Jane to tell you all about the awesome gift she sent me... (i'm still not sure how she managed to let go of it!)

How much fun it was to be a part of this Covert Robin Swap.  And so much fun to be one of the hosts!!  I am amazed at the amount of people that participated and am loving all of the sneak peaks so far and can't wait to see how they all turn out this month!...Oh wait, I got a little excited there...so, I guess I should introduce myself!  My name is Jane, you can find me blogging about my adventures in sewing, crafting and creating with kids over at Buzzmills. Stop by and take a look around!

But now, back to the Covert Robin Swap...So, I feel like, in a tiny little way, I got to cheat a bit for this swap.  Well, of course I didn't cheat...I definitely didn't let the cat out of the bag to my partner or anything, but, it felt like cheating a bit because I know Rachael.  You may remember when I did a guest post for Rachael while she was off honeymooning and if you don't, here's the scoop...we went to high school together.  Of course, I hadn't talked to Rachael in years until Facebook came around...so, well, the gist is, making something for someone you know (even a little bit) is so much easier than making something for someone you don't know.

However, when I found out that I was supposed to be making my Covert Robin gift for the hostess of the mostess...I was a bit intimidated and was unsure of what to make.  And then, I remembered this post where I talked about Rachael's awesome Valetiney super hero embroidery patterns and about how someday I might want to turn a bird platter I got from Ikea into a long term embroidery project.  Hmmm, Rachael does like birds...and Ikea...I was on to something, but there was definitely not enough time for me to make this an embroidery project.

I turned it into a scrap busting project instead.  I used a bunch of little scrappy pieces to make a bunch of little birds.  As I was envisioning it I was remembering some of the old needlepoint and velvet pillows my grandmother used to have on her couch.

First, so you have an idea of where I am heading, here is a picture of the aforementioned platter.

To begin, there was a lot of tracing...I traced each little piece of each bird and labeled it with it's coordinating color...

Which, of course, was followed by a lot of cutting...but I cut a few corners and cut out the fabric and the pattern at the same time.  The pieces were small enough to make this manageable.  Picking out the fabrics was a lot of fun, especially since it allowed me to use up a bit (teeny tiny amount) of my scraps.  After all of my pieces were cut out I adhered Heat and Bond Lite to the back of my fabric pieces.  Next it was time to take this pile of seemingly trash and put it all together...

This is the beginning where I was trying to get the spacing just so...

And, as I moved on... (Excuse the shadow...they aren't ironed yet here, and I wouldn't dare move it just for the picture!)

And, a comparison after ironing all of the pieces onto the pillow front...The tiny hand in the left corner is my daughter's.  She (and I for that matter) was pretty amazed at how it all came together.  She watched me put it all together and kept talking about how "It's sort of like a big bird puzzle".  Indeed...

A close up of the birds before stitching...

Originally I had planned to embroider some of the white lines on the bodies and wings of the birds, but that seemed like it was going to take way longer than I had so I machine stitched all of the bird parts and then went back and machine stitched in the white lines across the wings, etc.  I did, however, embroider all of the little legs...

And, here is the finished product

Oh, I love it!!! I am definitely going to have to find time to make one for myself!!  But, wait, I forgot maybe my most favorite part...the back...brown velvet (that I just so happened to already have waiting in my stash...), a vintagey/retro throw back to grandma's pillows...but, with a Covert Robin twist ;)

This little guy had me giggling the entire time I was making him.  He definitely deserves three whole photos doesn't he?!  Well, I know Rachael has a sense of humor ;) so I am pretty sure she appreciated it and I hope you do too!

Happy to share with you all here at Imagine Gnats, and hope you come by and join me over at Buzzmills sometime soon!