Big Birds Blog

In Jan 2016, while winter RVing  in AZ we purchased a winter home

with a raised patio overlooking the desert.  We also had 3 cabinets

that were lighted inside, so I decided they needed 

some stained glass doors where the light could

 highlight them from within.

Since Id never done stained glass before I headed down to the

"glass" room to see what I could learn.  The first person I met

was Linda and she told me she had 30 years of stained glass experience.

So I decided to think big and make a 44" tall piece featuring

a sandhill crane.  Since I'd been a tapestry weaver for 35+ years, I

thought the design process would be similar, so I  got to work,

with a lot of help from my new found friend Linda Lou...

I've always loved pelicans and who can resist a majestic Bald Eagle.

So these were glass projects 2 and 3.

A few years later we moved into a different home in the

same 55+ park and I had no windows or cabinet doors to

house the pelican and eagle, so we mounted them on the

outside walls above our patio set.  Unfortunately when

we left AZ in Oct 2021 I had to leave them in AZ.   I was 

able to bring the Sandhill Crane with us since a friend had

built a frame for it.

It occupied a wall in our guest bedroom in AZ,

and looked great in our new home in CA next to 5 small format

tapestries I wove many years ago.  So that gave my another idea...

Why not make an appliquéd, quilted wall hanging that

would replicate the look of my stained glass sandhill crane,

and feature these 2 big birds in one 35" x 36" piece.

It's always fun to try the same design in another medium,

as you've seen in some of my other blogs.

As usual, I selected a wild "backing" fabric (that

that wraps around the front),

to create a 1/2" "binding" around the entire edge of the hanging.

And as you walk into our living room, this is what you see.

Remember to click on any photo for a larger view.  If you

do that on this photo, you'll notice that the birds on the

right can't see yet because they have no eyes.  I ordered 

authentic bald eagle and great white pelican "glass eyes" from

a taxidermy site on-line and they won't arrive for 10 days!!!