A Beautiful Swan For The Feathers Design Challenge

I don't know of any better way to start the day or for that matter start the new year than looking at something exquisitely beautiful. Do you?

When hubby and I were walking near a reservoir last winter near our home we were greeted on our walk by an amazingly beautiful and majestic swan. She seemed to have found a winter home just near and under a bridge on a local reservoir. Most of the reservoir was covered with ice except for the area close to the bridge.

Whenever we saw her we had to stop and just admire her beauty. She was unbelievably white and so graceful to watch. She inevitably sensed  us and would go under the bridge. Sometimes she'd just stay where she was and seemed to be looking at us.

A couple of times she has decided to walk on the ice and snow covering the rest of the reservoir. When she did that it was amazing to see how big her footprint in the snow was. Quite extraordinary.

During the summer we often spotted her with a mate. Where the mate is now is unknown. Why she was here in the winter also was unknown. I often wondered if she stayed there all day and slept under the bridge at night.

So, I decided to take some pictures of her. What I didn't realize until I viewed the pictures was she had a tag on her back left leg. You can see it in the picture at the top of this post. Who tagged her and why I don't know.

She was just so incredibly beautiful and such a beautiful image to start the day with. Wouldn't you agree?

After taking those pictures of her I had thoughts of creating a swan doll.  That hasn't happened yet but when I saw the Feathers Challenge on Spoonflower it became the impetus for creating my new swan custom fabric designs, which us shown below:

The Feathers Design Challenge Fabric

I created her fabric showing a mother swan and her babies because hubby and I believe she flew to another reservoir in a nearby town to give birth to her babies.  Driving by that reservoir one day we saw a beautiful white swan and several babies.  It had to be  her.  We were so delighted to see this and so happy to know she survived the winter and has a family of her own now.

P.S. I didn't win the contest but I loved creating her and hope you like her, too.