Craft Competition Time

 Last year I took part in the Hillarys Craft Competition and really enjoyed creating my project.  A fortnight ago I thought I would look to see if there was a competition this year.

I was pleased to find that not only was Hillarys running a competition this year but I had just made the deadline for applying for my fabric. 

 There were four beautiful fabrics to choose from DAISY PISTACHIO, SAFI TURQUOISE, HATTI RASPBERRY and RAYNA APPLE.

I decided on SAFI TURQUOISE, this is a lovely bluey grey with fern fronds.  It reminded me of tree fern fronds and as there is a family connection to New Zealand I thought I would try and make a kiwi cushion, the fern fronds sweeping towards the back of the bird to resemble feathers.

 I have seen pictures of Kiwis but I wasn't entirely sure how to get "the look".  An online search found a sketch and I used this for my base pattern.  A trial run on a small scale meant I wasn't going to spoil my one metre square of Hillarys fabric.  http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/birds/birds-a-z/kiwi/

  Having cut all the fabric out I

 pinned the pieces together before tacking and finally machine sewing my seams.  A kiwi without its fluffy feathers resembles a mis-shapen pear so I pieced several gussets to shape the body and head.

turned right side out to see how things look.

Hillarys fabric is a joy to use, although this one does fray a little.  http://www.hillarys.co.uk/blinds-range/new-collection-roman/

 For the feet and beak I used some very soft pale grey leather.  Rolling the pieces to get the right shape and putting florists wire in the beak to give it structure.

 Beads sewn onto the sides of the head gave my bird his finished character and we went into the garden for a photo shoot.

 My cat wasn't that impressed with the new arrival and kept trying to join in.  I am very pleased that I have enough fabric left after making my larger than life kiwi to make a medium sized clutch bag.