My new book, The Artful Bird, begins its blog tour today. And there will be one live tour stop along the way, too! I will be in New York on Saturday, March 5, for a trunk show and signing at Purl Soho from 12 pm – 1 pm and I'll be teaching a bird-making workshop at the New York City Public Library's Handmade Crafternoon at 2 pm the same day! Hooray!
To kick off the tour, let's do a giveaway! I have put together a package of goodies that includes a copy of the book, a yard of bird-themed fabric (June Song by Alexander Henry), a pair of hemostats (the best bird-making tool you can find!), and a handmade bird!
To enter, tell me this…if you could be a bird, any bird, which would you be, and why?
Comments will be open all day today and will close tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 7:30 am EST. I will use the random number generator to choose a winner. And I'll ship internationally, don't worry! Have fun, everyone, and happy birdmaking!
_________________
Wow! Thanks everyone! Comments are now closed. I am going to have a fun morning reading through them and imagining you all a birds! Random number generator will choose a winner and I'll post it here this afternoon!
Hey! I would be a princess parrot. they are beautiful and are endangered, and get this, they’re pink!! my email address is fingernaildust@gmail.com
i’m going with yellow billed magpie. They kinda freak me out but they already live in my neighborhood, they look pretty and they’re always surrounded by many friends.
Your book looks amazing–congrats!
No question, I would be a pelican! They are so graceful, and they get to hang at the beach, and they eat seafood, how cool is all that! I love your book, and hope to make some of your creations in 20 eleven, thanks for the give-away!
Cuckoos are cool – they get someone else to raise their chicks but I think I would be a Galah – you are allowed to be a clown, you are forgiven for being stupid (it is expected of your breed) and you live for a really long time with freedom to fly all over Australia. What a life!
Oh I think I’d be some kind of raptor- maybe a golden eagle… or an Andean Condor.
I think I would be a robin because they are garden birds and always seem to cheer people up when they see them. Their bright red breast is so distinctive and I have fond memories watching them from various windows over the years.
I don’t know a lot about birds, but I’m thinking like Siona there. I would say the gorgeous blue jay that lives in my crab apple tree right outside the window.
I would be a robin, as that is my name. Your book looks great! Thanks for the generous giveaway.
I would love to be an eagle up the French-Spanish mountains (Les Pyrénées), I had the chance to spot a few of these birds during my holidays and it must be great to enjoy the view from up there !
Thank’s a lot for your blog, I’ve been reading it a lot lately and I really enjoy seeing your works and learning the technical tricks.
Ps : I would rather be a cat than a parisian pigeon though …
I would like to be a wild canary – they are small and fast and glisten like gold when the sun catches them
An Australian Magpie. They “collect” shiny things, are terribly smart, and really funny to watch.
They sing beautifully too (unlike my off-key caterwauling).
They’re very cool and I love them – in fact my blog logo is one!
I would choose a tui which is native to New Zealand. They have a beautiful call, are handsome and are a delight to have in the garden. Also we have a beer with the same name which is a pretty good drop. Thanks for the opportunity to win a fantastic prize.
Oh my goodness, what a wonderful giveaway!
I would love to be a Kookaburra as they’re known for their happy laughter like call.
I would love to be a Cape White Eye. They are so busy and happy and sing all day while dashing in and out of the shurbs and trees.
Thanks so much for this opportunity.
Loren
I think I would be a Dodo. Not only is it a fun, flightless looking bird, but also an extinct species (as I feel sometimes myself!)
I would like to be a peacock.
But I’d probably be a pidgeon. In Italy we are packed with them. Funny birds though, they learned to cross the street, on foot, using pedetrian crossing….
I would like to think of myself as a graceful swan but I think a waddling duck is more realistic lol.
I’d like to be a seagull; always being around the sea sounds like heaven to me!
Your book lokks lovely and your blog is great (and helpfull!)
Great giveaway! I would love to be a swallow, flitting about on a summer afternoon. And they always look like they’re having a great laugh gossiping when they’re all perched on a wire, side by side, making those lovely soft warbling sounds.
hey! What an amazing giveaway! I love birds and it’s hard to choose just one. There are so many beauties over there, specially in a tropical country like mine. But I think today i would choose to be an Amazon parrot, they seem to have a lot of fun flying all together, enjoying the palm trees fruits and making all that noise 😀
I would be a pukeko. A water bird with blue and black plumage, and red beak and legs. They seem to me to be an easy going bird which is something I’d like to imatate in real life. Also, I’d be very content being around water all day.
I wish I were a pratincole. This is a bird with long thin legs and very thin beak. It is so small and so brave – when crocodile’s teeth hurt, the tiny pratincole is the only one who is not afraid to clean his teeth!
When I was little, I loved a cartoon after R.Kipling. It is 8 min long, and yo can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJDMcSg926c
The birdie (her name is Tari) can be seen near the end (at ~6:40). It is so teeny-weeny!
Congratulations on your book Abby! I love your box assemblages on etsy! thanks for a chance to win your work!
that’s a very hard question! so many amazing birds!
I would love to be a Whooper Swan migrating from the Russian Far East to Europe every year. One of the heaviest migrating birds in the world (the mute swan is the heaviest).
I saw a pair fly over me, calling occasionally, on a quiet, still, frosty morning and it was such a breath taking moment, I had goosebumpbs on me! (or would that have been swan bumpbs this time?).
I would love to be a falkon so I could fly really hi and let the mind cathc my wings and take me higher.
I would love to be a penguin, so that I could make everyone smile when they see me waddling down the street!
Thank you for the giveaway! Penguins are designed to thrive in some of the world’s harshest climates, and look so cute and cuddly. They are also quite comical, so I would chose to be a penguin.
What a great idea!
I think I would be a Canadian goose. I’m Canadian and would love to be a strong representation of our country. Plus I’d get to migrate south for the winter!
Happy sewing!
An Osprey, smaller than eagles and more nimble, plus they have the greatest bird scream ever! But honestly if I could be a bird I really wouldn’t care which kind of bird, it would be so amazing to fly..
Ok, well, now that I am thinking more about this, I really wouldn’t want to be a turkey or a chicken or…anyways you get the idea!
ooo, i’ve been waiting this! love that sweet birdie! thanks for the giveaway and have a great tour! xx
I’d be a swan (a white one) – after just watching “Winged Migration” again, I love the part when the cygnet pops up on the mother swan’s back!
Love the book – have fun on the tour!
Congratulations, the book looks beautiful. I wish I could make it to New York. I think I’d like to be an African gray parrot, they are the best talkers.
Without putting heaps of analyzing on it I think I’d pick an ostrich because of their speed; besides, they are super cute.
Abby you are so generous to do this! The question is an easy one for me, I would be a crow! I love their intelligence, their glossy iridescent blue/black feathers, and their amazing sense of humor. Companions to gods, wily tricksters, and friends to ghosts: they are wonderful!
An owl obviously! Everyone thinks you’re wise. Seriously though, they fascinate me. I’ve had the privilege of assisting many to return to health after trauma. I will have so much fun creating one with help from your book which I already have by the way. But I would still like to be the winner so I can gift it!
I’d be a kinglet – they are so tiny and always seem so cheerful. I love the way they hover too!
Birds are what first attracted me to your site. I think I would like to be an Evening Grosbeak. I just like their looks and it’s been a long while since I had them at my feeders when we lived in Colorado.
Hi !
I would like to be robin, because she is the christmas bird.
I don’t know the name of it – in David Attenborough’s Life of Birds there was a bird that collected piles of interesting things to try to attract a mate. I am definitely attracted to piles of shiny and interesting things!
oh! that is such a tough question. I think I’d be a scarlet tanager. Who can resist those amazing colors. Oh! Or a peacock. Or a beautiful heron. Or an owl, because I stay up late…ack! Too many beautiful birds in our world!
I have always admired your work. So excited for this book.
I would be a hummingbird. A while ago, a baby hummingbird found its way into my house and was perched on the window ledge. I gingerly scooped the little guy up and he fit in the cup of my hand, with room to spare. Oh what a thrill. I have been entranced ever since with hummingbirds.
I so love your birds that you create and I am thankful for the chance to possibly win one.
Happy Valentines Day Abigail
I would be a raven. So smart and clever and lovely and I love to watch them play in the wind. They also make the coolest sounds.
The bird someone was looking for above (the one Attenborough showed) is the Bower bird. They are awesome too!
Happy Valentine s Day!
I think I’d be a cardinal with that red that is joyful in all seasons.
I have to thank you for the tutorials on designing and making soft toys. I believe you have the groundwork for your next book.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Oh how I wish I could get to NY for your signing and craft session at the library. I would be a blue bird. People make special homes for them so you know there’s always a place to go. You’re fed, admired and such a pretty color.
I’d be a black swan… ‘cuz I just saw that movie and it’s completely fueling my imagination right now. Congratulations on your book release, Abby!! Woo hoo! 🙂
Thanks! I would be an owl, because I think they are really neat birds.
If I could be any bird, I would be a black capped chickadee. Why? Because they’re my favorite. They’re small, poof up all funny, and make a nice call that after the millionth time make you want to pull your hair out because they’re telling you the same thing. 🙂
I would be a magpie. They seem dashing.
I would be a cockatoo! They are lovely and live a long time. And the crest of feathers on top of my head would be fun to fan around 🙂
I have always said if I were any kind of animal in general i would be a magpie. I am always picking up bits of thread, yarn, buttons and fluff and stuffing them in my pocket to take back to my studio (aka nest). My pockets are always filled with treasures. Plus, I like to chatter like the magpie.
I would be a Saw Whet Owl, because I LOVE owls and I love how petite they are, but how they are still a raptor at heart. I love things that are tiny and fierce. I’m rather short, but I’m tough and sometimes people forget that when they look at me!
You will have such a grand tour. Best of luck to a deserving soul!!
Blackbird singing in the dead of night…. take these broken wings and learn to fly… all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arrive.
I would like to be a swallow because I have always adored a swallow tattoo.
I would choose to be a Bohemian Waxwing, they have the most beautiful, silken plumage, they range over north america, europe and asia so I could travel extensively and I have always aspired to a bohemian lifestyle 🙂
Your giveaway is so amazing! I am particularly excited about the handmade bird, but having some of those hemostats would be so useful!! Ever since you wrote about them I have been hunting for a pair without success.
I would be a Purple Martin. They are welcome around people and they migrate to the Amazon. I would love to go south every winter!
I would be a black stilt…My brother and I spent many sunny childhood afternoons watching stilts, with their silly backwards knees, running in and out of the waves. They always seemed so silly and graceful at the same time.
My bird is a robin.
piep
Nina
I guess I would be a parrot; some people complain that I talk too much! 🙂
Thanks for this wonderful giveaway!
ap_lemos at yahoo dot com
I would choose to be a Nut Hatch – they are just so sweet and fun to watch! Thanks for the chance for this awesome bird themed giveaway – I love birds!
Oh to be a Cedar Waxwing! So well groomed. So perfectly dressed. Such a swept-back air.
I would be a blue heron because they are so graceful, long and beautiful. Plus, they spend their live on the water and I would love that.
Thanks,
Jenny
I would be a raven or a magpie. Spendmy days collecting sparkly bits of this and that!
I’d be an owl. Who wouldn’t want to be able to turn their head all the way round?
I would be a great blue heron. They are graceful, beautiful, and they nest in rookeries (it’s all about community!).
I would be a robin red breast. I just love when they show up in the garden, espically in mid-winter. Also they are friendly and responsive and very cute!
I would be a seagull. They can ride the waves all day and just bob along.
I think I would be an English Blackbird. They are wonderfully elegant in an understated way and I love watching them in my garden. Especially when they cock their heads to one side and seem to listen for the worms …. before stabbing into the earth to come up with a fat worm. My resident blackbird is very clever and has my two cats sussed out! Also, I find it totally enthralling listening to a particular song they sing just after it has rained. It’s a beautifully clear, trilling song and always lifts my spirits.
Elaine
Definitely a Great Northern Loon! Love the dual identity of this enigmatic celebrity. Portrayed on a national currency by day (CDN loonie), mysterious and haunted singer on the lake at night. Hot stuff!
I would be a robin. It is our state bird here in Wisconsin, and first robin sighting means Spring is just around the corner. I would love to be able to bring joy and anticipation to all of the cold Wisconsinites!
i love the way they bob and hop!
I’d be a scarlet ibis. They hang out by the water (which I love to do) Also,they are brave. Ibis are supposedly the last creatures to take shelter from a hurricane, and the first to reappear when it’s over.
(that was supposed to start with, “i would be a wren”)
Maybe a trumpeter swan because I really like the book The Trumpet of the Swan. =)
Abigail–I love your blog, and I’m sure the book is just fabulous! If I could be any bird, I’d be a wise owl. The cute (not scary looking) kind. 🙂
I’d be a red robin. They’re so beautiful to look at, and they’re little and round yet no one seems to mind 😉
e-mail lisafr@netvision.net.il
I would like to be a crow. I think they’re amazing birds! (very smart too)
Or a duck! I’ve always loved ducks a lot.
I think I would love to be a kiwi – then I would get to live in beautiful New Zealand! Or a fairy penguin… Hard to choose!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
robin red breast. I can remember trying to see them every spring with my Grandma.
I would like to be a redtailed hawk or any kind of hawk really. I would be able to soar on the updrafts over the woods and mountains; I love the calls they make – sort of an eerie, free cry. Thank you for your work and the giveaway!
I’d be a cardinal because I’m a beautiful red and have a lovely singing voice.
A heron. I’m always ridiculously excited to spot one. I love the contrast between grace and gawkiness.
I’d be a crow, because they are wild, opinionated, sociable and aloof. I’m always cautious of the crows when out walking – I want them to like me and certainly you don’t want to make them mad. I really love your blog.
I would be a song sparrow. My grandmother heard one the morning I was born, so I guess that makes it my lucky bird. Plus, they sound so beautiful. If I was a song sparrow, I could sing and trill to my heart’s content, and people would enjoy hearing my song.
I’d be one of the fat little sparrows poking around my backyard after a rainy night, chirping happily while I hunt for breakfast. What a simple and joyous life they have!
Your book and giveaway look ab fab Abigail! If I could be a bird, I’d love to be the lustrous, diligent kingfisher! Such beautiful plumage and yet not vain and busily, elegantly fishing for supper. Fond memories of an inspirational teacher who took great delight in glimpsing the kingfisher darting about on the nearby beck and enthusiastically calling his children to share in the wonders of nature. A wonderful memory recalled, thanks!
I would have to be a Rainbow Lorikeet, because I love colour. We have lots of them here, and often see a flash of colour as they fly past.
I also have a lot of love for Kookaburras, because I love their “laughs”, so that would be my second choice.
Thanks for the lovely giveaway.
I’d be a kookaburra. Their laughing call makes them seem eternally happy and it makes everyone who hears them smile too.
I would be an Eastern Bluebird — not too fancy, but just fancy enough. Eating berries in the Winter and worms in the Spring. Turee! Turee! The male is so blue and pretty, with a red breast, but the female is ADORABLE, too, though her coloring, as usual, is plain. There is a photograph that has made the rounds, of an “angry” bluebird (http://www.watsonswildlife.com/images3/mad_blue_bird_Large.jpg) that makes me smile in sympathy every time I see it. He is really fluffing out his feathers to keep warm, but he looks so grumpy!
My daughter’s name is Wren so it would have to be a wren although I also love crows, they have so much personality.
I would want to be a Nightingale. I love how they sing both night and day.
I think parrots are just about the best ever. They’re relatively long-lived, curious, incredibly smart, gregarious and loud!
Oh your book looks so awesome!!Thanks for the chance to win.
I would love to be a Bell Bird!!
There’s an interesting theory that birds are really dinosaurs (see http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/avians.html) so assuming that theory is right I’d be a perodactyl. I love your birds and can’t wait for you to come to NYC.
I would be a Rainbow Lorikeet. They are beautifully colored and at the local zoo they are part of a great interactive exhibit. Plus I’d be from Australia.
Congratulations on your book! It looks wonderful. I would love to be a sandpiper and live on a warm beach all year round.
We love birds so much, but one in particular is the Western Meadowlarks – they have the best Call.
Thank you so much for the giveaways. I love your blog and your tutorials.
I would be a Northern Flicker woodpecker. I would love to show off my fabulously polka-dotted feathers and peck away at the trees, creating nature sculptures.
I think I’d have to say a duck. I’m rather partial to ducks.
Being a Mama Duck would be lovely.
Such cute little babies that follow you around whilst you enjoy swimming, ducking your head underwater, spashing around, going for a walk, then when they get bigger they can fly along side you.
I’ve always been drawn to hawks. Something about how they seem to own the sky. It just looks so freeing to have wings!
Congratulations on your book and thank you so much for doing this giveaway. What a wonderful celebration!
I would love to be a Kestrel, the tiniest of falcons. There is a kestrel in my garden that eats all of the grubs and I call her Kessie. She is magnificent.
I think I would be a Rosella because they are such bright, colourful and cheery birds
Thank you so much for the opportunity! I lOVE your work! I think my bird choice would be a black crowned night heron—the classic bird shape and soooo cute! Or maybe a stork—long legs and beak—and they carry babies. : )
I’d be a pigeon. Not because I resemble them in any way (if we were going by looks alone, I’d be something with those gangly legs like storks and such have), but because they’re rather remarkable birds -they’re really skilled fliers and can do lots of amazing tricks & things- and as it happens, they’re my most favourite birds too. 🙂
A crow. I love them. They’re so brash and self-confident.
What a delightful giveaway!
I would be a Carolina Chickadee. We have a feeder in front of our window, and the chickadees show up to cheer me on the grayest of winter days.
Hard to choose as i love them all but as i’m born In Paris, i’m would say ” a moineau”, typical parisian little bird, never afraid and always in moove. The other repy could be any birds of yours as i’m found of them…
i would be a LOON! they keep me company on the lakes when fishing, their lovely dotted pattern is so pleasing on the eye, and their melancholy call is soothing to hear in the quiet of the night.
Just wanted to tell you Abigail that I’ve wanted a book on your work since I saw some of your beautiful creations in one of my newsletters from Interweave last year and downloaded the pdf they were offering, and then I saw your book in another newsletter last week so decided I’d go a googling to see what I could find, and wonderfully I found your blog! Have added you to my blog list now so that I can follow along.
I’m pretty sure your book will be my next purchase! Love your little tutorials here on your blog. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
A barn owl for so many reasons. Such a majestic and ghostly bird. One flies in front of my car scaring me half to death every night…you’d think I’d have learned by now. Anyway, it must be fun so I’d like to have a go at that.
Thank you for this fun opportunity. I would have to be an oystercatcher. They are black and white wading birds with red legs and bill and are sleek and beautiful. Like the oystercatcher, I like things to be black and white but I also wear a lot of red. It’s a strong, vibrant colour that adds a splash of brightness to my life. I think the oystercatcher was created with me in mind :o)