Did you know there’s a National Bird Day? Who knew! Check out www.nationalbirdday.com to learn more about this day dedicated to the well being of all birds.
In our family wild birds are cherished. We feed, observe, listen to, log and paint all the visitors in our yard and local parks. On occasion we’re called upon to rescue those that mistake our window for wide open skies and cheer once they (hopefully) dizzily fly away The arrival of spring has all those birdies busy as bees making the perfect nest and hunting down the tastiest bugs and worms for their fluffy offspring.
In the spirit of spring and nature’s flying beauties we’re giving away a copy of Feathered Friends by Jette Norregaard Nielsen in our weekly giveaway!
If you love quilting and bird watching, you’ll want to make every one of these lovingly detailed and realistic paper-pieced blocks. The focus is on the paper-piecing patterns, with a chapter of the author’s tips for successful fabric selection.
To enter the giveaway, post a comment here and let us know your favorite bird story or experience. Can’t wait to hear your stories!
The winner will be chosen at random from all comments made by 9 AM PST on Monday, April 20th.
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27 Comments
I love birds – we have a big pond where we get to observe blue herons, Canada geese, egrets, ducks, and a birdfeeder that gets cardinals, cowbirds, sparrows, and many more. Don’t have a specific story, but love to watch the birds!
Wow! I feel like this giveaway was made for me. I have been an avid birder for nine years, and I blog about it here: http://avidbirder.blogspot.com/
I’ve just recently begun quilting and I’ve taken to it like a duck to water ;)
Favorite bird story? I think my entire trip to Texas, courtesy of Wildbird Magazine’s Birder of the Year contest, stands out in my mind as the best experience. Getting my blood sucked dry by greedy mosquitos as I walked around in the dusk looking for paraque, the stunning and ubiquitous green jays, the kettle of hawks rising on the morning thermals, the black-bellied whistling ducks sitting on the telephone wire! I could go on and on but I’ll stop =)
Great giveaway! I may have to go out and buy this book if I don’t snag it, it looks too perfect for me to pass up.
~Leigh
I really love paper piecing and these patterns would be absolutely perfect to make a quilt for my grandmother’s 80th birthday! She loves birds and taught me from a young age the names of different birds. We mainly saw finches, sparrows and doves, but once and a while spotted cardinals, egrets, and even some wild parrots!
I LOVE birds. I have 3 parrots of my own, a goffin cockatoo, a congo african grey and an Indian RIngneck. I would love to have a copy of this book!!!
I think the following video of my goffin cockatoo will be the best way to tell a bird story. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmWECAqsRmw
I’ve always had an affinity with birds. As a youngster, I would daydream and wish I could be a bird and fly and see everything from the sky. I think my favorite bird up here are the chickadees; such happy cheerful little guys. We have a bald eagle that nests somewhere near…he’s the best at keeping the redwinged blackbirds out of the corn field! No damage since he moved into the neighborhood!
I absolutely LOVE birds! My feeders are very busy all day long with mourning doves, sparrows, finches, cardinals, juncos, woodpeckers,
and some pigeons too. It’s very amazing to me, since I’m in an urban setting. I also feed the squirrels, who dodge the bluejays diving for peanuts. I keep my back door open all day long, unless it is too cold and windy, and enjoy watching them all.
our home is located on a steep piece of property in the Appalachian mountains. we are high enough to be at tree top level from some of the trees that start growing at the bottom. It is the most lovely bird watching place you could ever ask for. From my studio window I can watch the birds while I sew the birds, SWEET!
I’m one of those weird people who LOVE crows, & ravens! Tho, all birds are FAB!
This looks like a FANTASTIC book!!!
Last summer my oldest daughter (who was 4 at the time) and I were sitting in the back yard when the baby chickadees took flight out of one of the bird houses is our backyard. A few days ago, we caught some Chickadees popping in and out of the houses checking them out. She was so excited we might have baby chicakdees again, she ran into the house to get her binoculars so she could bird watch. It is this type of excitement in our kids that we need to ensure sticks with them as they grow into adults!
My favorite bird story is that I’ve ended up quilting in a group with three women who are all bird watchers to various degrees — and so nearly every time we get together I learn a “new” bird! I’d love to win the book…
We have had little red finches, yellow finches and chickadees at our feeder. We even have a few mourning doves hanging out–they look huge when they plop down onto the feeder compared to the finches.
I have always been fascinated by birds, and was so disappointed when I moved to Spain from the UK to find there were very few visited our bare plot in the Spanish mountains, BUT as our garden took shape so the visitors come, we take great delights in watching the Spanish Swallows swooping into our pool to take water to make there nests with! Last weekend the antics of a couple of sparrows who were rapping and tapping on the mirrored steel bin in the outdoor kitchen for over three days, going round and round looking at themselves, was amazing,it was a mating pair so I can only presume they were trying to impress each other!! Any ideas anyone?? I love foundation piecing, and here in Spain we struggle to get any supplies for quilting, so to be selected for this book would be fantastic!!
Have been a bird lover since I was a small child. Have been a quilt lover for quite sometime. Lost my mom within this last year and she was the quilter in our family. I’m carrying on her tradition of quilt making. Each time I quilt I think of my mom. It brings such peace knowing how proud she would be knowing I’m following her foot step. This book would bring my two loves together birds and quilting.
Hi…I don’t really have a bird story, but I love them! I am a bit of crafter and collect bird stamps, charms, paper, punches, etc…sort of addicted u could say :) and recently have begun a quiliting project where birds will be involved lol…I for sure would love to win this book…I am sure it would be a great book to start my collection. Ty for the chance, Cher
I have been looking at this book, because my grandmother was a big fan of birds, especially owls. I would like to make a quilt for her. I also really enjoy watching birds, we have a bluejay that likes to steal my cats and dogs food!
I love watching the birds! They entertain you! We have a feeder for Finch and also a feeder for squirrels. The squirrel feed has all types of food in it including whole peanuts in the shells. When we put out the squirrel feed the Blue Jays will come and swipe the peanuts. You should hear the squawking and spitting and the grey tails shaking! LOL But, normally the Blue Jay wins and off he goes with the whole peanut leaving the squirrel switching his tail and very mad! You can’t help but laugh at them! That is one reason that I sometimes don’t get to “quilt” for watching them play and steal the food! The feeders are just outside the window where I quilt!
When I met my husband ( we were in our 40′s), we talked about all the things we liked and high on both our lists were birds. He was sort of sceptical ( he told me later) because he was sure I was trying to impress him and make connections that weren’t there.
Then I invited him to my house for dinner. The birdhouse wallpaper borders, the framed cross-stitched bird pictures, the blue jay quilt on the window seat cinched it for him. He knew then that I was sincere!
I’d love to have the book. I think I’d make him a quilt for our 2nd wedding anniversary!
I live across the street from a 1000 acre preserve filled with birds.
I’ve set up a bird feeder in my backyard and every morning the cats and I watch the birds.
We have woodpeckers, chickadees, robins, and red wing black birds.
My favorite is humming birds, because when my grandson was small he called them honey birds. We spent a lot of time watching them on the flowers in the garden during my visits. I still have a gold and crystal humming bird he gave me when he was about 5 and I gave him a small stained glass window one. He’s 14 and 1/2 now and 6 ft. tall, but we still have that special connection of the humming bird
I love little birds and bird houses. I have alot of painted bird houses in my home. My mother also loved to paint little birdhouses. Well, she passed away in January this year, due to cancer. We were all there when she passed and after the sobs had settled a little, my husband said, “do you hear the birds?” and I did for a few seconds and then they were gone. With all of the days that we spent in this room with a window open that was the first time we had heard the little chirps.
One only need to tour my house to know the Cardinal is my very favorite bird. When I was in high school (all those many years ago) each spring a redbird would peck on my window and waken me. I suspect he was seeing the trees reflected in the window, but I enjoyed his wake up call.
i love birds and especially sea gulls. My children never tired of feeding htem at the beach much to the dismay of fellow beachgoers. Watching the gulls at the beach brings back many pleasant memories of beach times with the children. My grandmother loved watching birds in her yard with the new spring season. She would count off how many varieties she saw in her garden.
I call myself a hawk watcher. I love to find hawks perching near the road as I drive by, or soaring overhead. One day my kids and I were driving along a two lane road between two fields, with some trees near the road. A hawk swooped down to cross the road and nearly hit the car. He pulled up short (thank goodness – he would have been killed by the impact) but left feather marks in the dust on the window next to my son.
I saw your book at the LQS recently. It’s very nice. I finally live in the country where I can watch the birds. We have some great ones. Wester Blue Bird, Cardinals, Grey Herons, Red Tailed Hawks, Yellow Finches, Medowlarks, Doves, Purple Martins, Woodpeckers, to name a few. Then there are the migrating birds that land on our pond for a rest, Canadian Geese and migrating Teals and Wood Ducks.. so fun to watch them come and go.
I LIVE IN OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON. WE HAVE HAD HUMMINGBIRDS AT OUR FEEDER ALL WINTER LONG. INCLUDING DAYS WHEN WE HAD COLD WINDS AND SNOW. THEY WOULD HUDDLE UNDER OUR PORCH ROOF TO KEEP OUT OF THE COLD. NOW THE RUFFUS HAVE ARRIVED. THEY CHASE THE ANNA’S AWAY FROM THE FEEDER, BUT THEY ALWAYS RETURN. MY HUSBAND HAS TRIED TO TAKE PICTURES OF THEM BUT THEY SEE HIM COMING AND TAKE OFF. I WENT OUT TO SWEEP OFF MY PORCH ONE DAY AND ANNA ALMOST LANDED ON ME. I TOLD HIM TO GO OUT AND SIT ON THE CHAIR AND SHE WILL COME RIGHT TO YOU. WELL HE SAT THERE FOR HALF HOUR AND NO SHOW. THE MINUTE HE CAME BACK INTO THE HOUSE, SHE WAS THERE. I GUESS SHE PREFERS FEMALE OVER MALE. THEY HAVE BEEN SO MUCH FUN TO WATCH. HAD TO GO BUY ANOTHER FEEDER.
Several years ago we were on vacation/bird watching in Florida. In going to furtherest point south in the U.S. Key West, I got out of the car and looked overhead at the beautiful day and there were two eagles flying over with sun shining through those gorgous feathers. A sight I have never forgotten. We see eagles on a regular basis where we live but that was the best ever.
We went to visit my DGD and a red-tailed hawk hit one of the second story windows. It sat on the front lawn for a while..shook its head and flew away…poor birdie probably had quite the headache!