for the birds...

someone suggested that you wonderful people may want a glimpse into the ways i grab my inspiration. lemme tell you, it comes from all over the place, but usually, my children have a large part of it. today's example: Billie Bird

when we lived in Alabama, my youngest son Jackson had a major nail-biting problem. nails bitten down to the quick constantly. sometimes, if his little world was rocking, he'd bite them so much that it hurt him to hold a pencil or his fingers would bleed.

Jack had been begging for a new pet for a loooooong time, so i made him a deal: stop biting your nails for 6 weeks (with daily inspections by Mom) and you may choose a new pet...rat, bird, or guinea pig. i thought it would take him some time, but it took exactly 6 weeks. so, i helped him research his options and he chose a parakeet.

we brought home a green parakeet who quickly informed us he (she?) needed a playmate, so we brought home a second bird. Jack and Clara named the little guys, and since we couldn't tell gender without a DNA test(must be true, Jack looked it up), we named them Billie and Sammie...names that would be good(and "so they won't feel weird, Mom")whether they were boys or girls.

these little feathered friends brought so much joy and noise and mischief into our lives, but disaster struck right before Christmas...

Jack had been in a bus accident and developed a migraine that lasted for over 14 hours...i gave him his meds and put him to bed. the next morning, i took the cover off the cage so that the birds could sing Jack awake, and to my horror, i found Sammie lifeless on the floor of the cage. all his (her?) song was gone.

the next morning, Billie suffered the same fate. and Jack was heartbroken.


not too long after our tragedy, the kiddos and i were looking at the basic shape of my *Anya* pattern from the shop and brainstorming the other people and creatures that we could see in it...Billie and Sammie seemed to spring forth! so, i whipped up a few stuffed birds(we think they're parakeets...but really, they could be just about anything) and got the notion that you might like to make your own.

wait 'till you see what Clara saw in *Anya*...(i'm still a little grossed out!!)