Heaven and Nature Sing! The Second Day

Welcome back, y'all! Hope you enjoyed yesterday because there's a lot more where that came from. 

Today we're starting off with everyone's favorite, and the unofficial birds of Christmas, Cardinals! Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal, in fact. Can't get much lovlier than that bright red plumage against snowfall.

Oh, my sweet wee Chickadee. I adore these little munchkins and their cheerful buzzing and chirping. They're probably my favorite bird. 

Critter friend! A teeny tiny Chipmunk has joined us. Yes, I reduced the size of the pattern to 33%. Yes, I almost went nuts making this microscopic friend. But how cute is he?

And finally, the glossy Crow. This would be a great pattern to use for fall decorating as well. To compliment him, today's freebie is a very unusual Crow design. I'm not sure I'd stitch it, but it's different, which I like, and it's we'll done. Might be a neat fall piece, with some color adjustments.

Here's a TIP for making sure your birds fit together with no fuss. When you cut out the pieces, cut out the bottom piece, or base, of the bird just inside your traced pencil line. Cut the top pieces just outside your traced pencil line. This ensures that when you're gluing beaks and wings onto the body, they're a tiny bit bigger and you won't have bits of the body peeking out where they shouldn't, requiring you to do extra trimming.

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Today's main dish is my adaptation of this recipe for Cajun Chicken Pasta. It's very good as is, but I added a bag of frozen peppers and onions at the beginning, and then sprinkled generously with mozzarella cheese at the end for my version of the Rattlesnake Pasta we used to enjoy from a restaurant at one of our duty stations. Either way, it's low effort comfort food, perfect for cold weather and busy days. I used mini penne pasta and it cooked perfectly in the suggested time.

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Day two, in the books. See y'all tomorrow!