West Coast Creature Feature- Beautiful Barrow's Goldeneye



Barrow's goldeneye by smallgirl-apologies for the blurriness-it was raining

Walking in the rain by the sea is more fun than it sounds. One of my favourite winter activities is birding along the seashore, mostly to observe these guys.

Barrow's goldeneye overwinter on the West Coast. It brings me such pleasure to go down to the sea and observe them, swimming and hunting in huge rafts. You can identify this threatened species from common goldeneye by looking at the patch on the male's cheek: if it is a crescent (as opposed to a coin) you are looking at Barrow's goldeneye.

A simple thing that people can do to protect Barrow's goldeneye overwintering on the coast is to not run their dogs down the beach, or into the water, as it takes a lot of precious energy for the birds to get up and fly away.

Happy birding!

DIY-Hootie the Adorable Felt Owl Ornament

Teddy Forest Owl by smallgirl

Okay...so this is a lovely Teddy Forest Christmas ornament...but Christmas was two days ago. However, owls look nice around the house anytime, so I decided to post anyways.

Supplies:
Felt in a colour of your choice (we used Ecofi, felt that is made from recycled plastic bottles, but wool is still the most eco-friendly choice)
Scrap felt for feet and beak
Scrap of cotton or flannel fabric for belly
Scrap of ribbon or twine for hanger
Sequins for eyes
Glitter glue for the wings
Polyfil or scraps for stuffing

Tools:
Scissors
Sewing needle and thread
Stuffing stick/chop stick

What to do:
1. Cut two of the following body pattern from the felt. Add the marks in on the wrong sides.

2. On the right side of one of the body pieces, sew on sequin eyes, beak, and belly
3. On the wrong side of the second cut piece sew or glue your ribbon hanger
4. Sew the two pieces together, wrong sides facing, from A to B (you won't be able to see them once you sew both sides). Note that there is no turning involved, so your stitches will show.
5. Stuff from the opening in the tail, using a chopstick to help move the stuffing.
6. Sew the tail hole closed.
7. Draw on the wings with glitter glue.

Voila! You have a gorgeous owl!


by smallgirl

*This tutorial is for personal home use only, not for resale, manufacture, etc, and was created by smallgirl

After a long hiatus...a few ATCs to show

Hi! I have not been spending as much time in Teddy Forest as I would have liked in recent weeks, but I hope to share more of Teddy Forest with you soon, especially as I will be posting a fun tutorial soon (hopefully this weekend).

In the meantime, here are some owl ATCs I have made recently...

Airmail Owl by smallgirl

Pink faced Owl by smallgirl

Poetry Owl by smallgirl

Professor Hoot by smallgirl

I've been enamoured by owls since observing a beautiful barn owl hunt in the field near my home. Hint for my upcoming tutorial: it is also owl related.

Have a nice day!