Category: birds

on my work table

September 24, 2013
by annwood

Owls. And a blue velvet songbird.

I get pretty excited about fall and to celebrate I pulled out my houndstooth wool.  I’m also working on a blue velvet songbird and another owl  made from a  textile from Sri Threads.  It is one of my all time most favorite fabrics – I can barely stand to use it. I think if I had miles of it I would never get tired of it. Here’s a closer look – it’s a thick  heavy weave and the pattern is incredible.

And I made a little more progress on the songbird.

Another fall ritual for me is taking a group of little birds out to prospect park for a photo ( I do it every spring too).  It was a big adventure.

song bird preview

August 29, 2012
by annwood

These songbirds ( and probably one more) all made from vinatge and antique garments,  as well as forest flower ballerinas will be available  in my shop tomorrow at 11 AM ( new york time) . Also,  I have a new and  much speedier checkout  – you no longer need to create an account if you prefer not to – just enter shipping and email and you’re done. Existing customers can still log in as usual.

houndstooth songbird

teal songbird

antique teal jacket The teal songbird is made from this antique jacket.

black bodice songbird

antique bodice with fancy red silk trim

And this black songbird is made form this antique bodice.

There will be an owl and ship update on Tuesday Septmber 4th at 1 PM ( new york time) and you can check back here on Monday for previews.

forest ballet

August 28, 2012
by annwood

Earlier this summer, on another trip to the Adirondack park,  I made and photographed ( in front of my favorite mossy stump)  a little troupe of forest fairy ballerinas.

forest ballet

The ballerinas:

miss daffodil

miss daffodil

miss fern

miss fern

miss rose

miss rose

The ballerinas will be available in my shop on Thursday at 11 am ( New York time).  Lately I moved ann wood handmade to a new server  and this is long overdue -my old one could not handle the spikes in traffic that come with shop updates so I have been unable to share the date and time of updates to try to keep it manageable. I have felt unsure about how to test my new server  in any significant way  but I thought  of  a plan while I was away last week : it’s a particularly quiet end of summer week  and a  holiday  weekend ( in the US anyway) so I’m going to have  a couple small shop updates  and share the date and time – here , and with my mailing list and facebook – I’ll share the whole  schedule  and another  preview (songbirds) tomorrow.

woebegones

February 17, 2012
by annwood

woebegones

New Woebegones – from left to right: marcus, honey, dusty and thomas. I’ve just added them to the shop.

And new fabric – bits of a quilt that was never finished.

quilt pieces

I love the color combinations -I’m going to make some little ships with them.

bird madness

February 7, 2012
by annwood

Wholesale -that is what I am up to over here.   I shipped off the first order for 2012 yesterday – letty and lou – for BHLDN.  Here they are packaged to go. I like the idea of purchasing something from a giant retailer  and receiving something so personal and direct –  each unique and expressive, each made as if it is the only one I will ever make. Really. That’s the hard part. And the good part. I also like that BHLDN supports and celebrates that idea.

ann wood caketopper

This set will be available soon online at BHLDN  – I’m not sure if it will be in stores but I’ll find out. Over the next couple weeks I’m finishing orders for Catbird , Cog and Pearl,  and another order for BHLDN – all  beautiful collections I’m flattered to be part of.  This is not a pace I can maintain for a great deal of time without losing my marbles though. I am still doing everything myself – every label, every package, every stitch, every word, every photo, all the book keeping, and communication etc. etc. The details are endless.  My first priority after these orders ship is to get a little help with the stuff I can, should  and must have help with.

pink fascinators

letty and lou

letty and lou

packing and shipping and a contest!

December 5, 2011
by annwood

I spent the larger part of the day packing and shipping things – that will occupy about half of tomorrow too. I secretly enjoy it.

cake topper birds

Today was mostly birds and tomorrow larger things – ships.  Later this week I’ll post my very inexpensive but effective method for shipping large -ish fragile things – so check back if that’s of interest.

packing and shipping

And just for fun – a caption contest! A while back  Lisa of  a thread from the edge suggested a caption contest. I think it’s a brilliant suggestion and if you check out the comments to this post you can see some of  her caption ideas – so funny and perfect. And a prize! A winner will be chosen by a yet to be determined method  – either a vote or a panel of expert judges and the best caption gets their very own bundled up  bird!

eliza

Find the pattern to make your own little bird here.

Everyone  is welcome to participate – just create a caption for this photo and leave it in the comment section:

(you can click the image for a larger version if that helps you with your captioning)

A winner will be chosen next Wednesday 12/14.

a wedding party in prospect park

August 22, 2011
by annwood

park wedding
A wedding party in prospect park. Little birds all made from turn of the century dress maker’s scraps, bits of fabric that were never used and well stored for years and years so the wonderful little prints are bright and fresh and crisp.

park wedding

I haven’t gone to the park to take pictures in a long time and it was lovely – today was a perfect day – sunny breezy and 80 degrees.

park wedding procession
After the ceremony everyone walked down to the picnic house for blueberries, sunflower seeds and lemonade.

little bird sewing pattern

 

the current state of affairs

May 6, 2011
by annwood

overgrown

Besides this blog, lots of things around here have been  neglected and are in need of attention ( including email – if you’re waiting to here back form me hang in there – I’ll be catching up this weekend). My little victorian fishbowl terrarium ( a truly inspired gift from my sister becky) has slipped into  chaos and disarray. Maybe I have a little too – we are definitely both a little extra dishevelled.  I’ve collected some moss and tiny plants and will  correct the terrarium situation this weekend.  Next week I’ll be back with some new boats and owls and spiders and other stuff in progress.  For now here are a couple recently finished things pictured with the gowns they are made from and inspired by:

queenie and french

queenie and french

And constance and o.

constanceollie

And be sure to checkout BHLDN’s new decor line – it’s beautiful and  I’m flattered to be included.