My Itty Bitty Owl Found a Place to Stay

Here is my first finish for July; made in a break in-between quilting of the wedding gift. The pattern is the Open Wide Zippered Pouch by Noodlehead. On the front I used the option for the Contrast Bottom Pouch, but divided the top panel in three to make room for the cross stitched owl. The fabrics plays well together with the cross stitch motif. Notice the pink zipper pull.

For the back the top panel is just one fabric. I lined the pouch with a marigold solid which compliments the colors of the top panel.

This is how it looks all zippered up. My Itty Bitty Owl can keep a lot of stuff under its wings, and help me stay organized with my sewing gear.

Not only my first finish for July, but also the first finish from my 2015 Q3 - Finish Along List; starting early this quarter!

Happy quilting!

An Itty, Bitty Owl

My tiny, little cross stitch owl is now finished. I won the kit in a blog hop over at Theresa from BumbleberryStitches. The 14 count Aida fabric is 4" x 4", so the little bird is about 2" x 2". That's an itty, bitty owl, indeed!

When I return back home it will decorate a zippered pouch, I have the perfect fabric for a bird that needs to be out among the trees. In the mean time it will just have to enjoy the beautiful, warm summer weather here with me. After thunderstorms and lots of rain, the weather is finally heating up.

Now it's back to assembling my Optical Illusion quilt!

Linked to Super Mom - No Cape! and Freemotion by the River.

A Bird in a Blog Hop is Worth Two in the Bush! (+Giveaway!)

When Madame Samm came out with the announcement for this blog hop, I knew I had to join. I immediately started searching my stash for fabrics with bird print. It turned out I had quite a few, so I decided to use whatever I had.

The first fabric I found was an old piece from Ikea, home décor weight, with flowers and branches, and a few birds! This was perfect for a boxy pouch.

As you can see, the spring has not come very far where I live. The snow just melted off my lawn a couple of days ago. But now, the sun gives good warmth and the birds are singing!

It turned out that the pouch was big enough to contain all my un-opened thread “jewels”; aren’t they lovely?

I decided I had to make a tote with an owl fabric from my stash.  I used a tutorial from   Adrianne over at On the Windy Side, but modified the design a little bit to incorporate a recessed zipper closure. Simple quilting on this one, straight criss-crossing lines.

The last few years I have re-discovered my passion for cross stitching.  I thought that it would be perfect to incorporate cross stitched birds in my projects. I didn’t have time to stich big pieces for the hop, so I found a free pattern of a little robin that was perfect for my purpose.

The first project was a French Press Cozy. I had bought one on a Christmas market several years ago, and used that one to make my own pattern.  The cross stitched robin was put in the center, surrounded by a bird fabric from BasicGrey. 

My most time consuming project for this blog hop was the table runner. It is my original design.  

Two cross stitched robins are incorporated in Economy Blocks. The yellow/orange batik is a perfect match with the center of the Oxeye Daisies. Also in this project I used the BasicGrey fabric with “zillions” of little birds. The runner is quilted with the walking foot in a quite dense grid. 

My last project was started two days before my day in the hop. Close to where I live there is a colony of rooks, and when I am out walking I am fascinated by these birds. They are so “well dressed”, wearing a tuxedo every day; they are really beautiful!

This is my meager attempt of portraying a rook in a mini quilt, my original design. I used batiks for the background, where the yellow represent s the grain fields which the rooks often feed from.  The tuxedo is represented with a feather-like shiny black fabric from my stash. I quilted the piece with “organic wavy lines” in grey and brown.

The final picture shows all my projects together. I stumbled upon this sheer burnout fabric with birds all over, added a green solid on the back, and voila (!), I had a wonderful background for my display.  Adding a beautiful orchid and my antique gold rimmed mocca cups, the display couldn’t be any better.

Who wants to join me for a cup of coffee?

Please visit the other bloggers presenting their projects today:

Friday, March 13

It Seams To Be Sew

Life in the Scrapatch

Amy Stitches

Lakeshore Stitches

Needled Mom

Quilt in a not - Shell  <---YOU ARE HERE

Suebee's World

Here is the Full Schedule for the Blog Hop.

Thanks to Lana and Madame Samm for organizing this wonderful  blog hop.

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!   The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations Brandy!

If you have come this far, you are probably wondering where the giveaway is?! Well, you have come to the right place, it is here!

What’s up for grabs today is a zippered pouch with a couple of owls on the front. I made the pouch  using Noodlehead’s  Open Wide tutorial.

For the giveaway, answer the following question in the comment section: What is your favorite bird, and why?  If you would like to become a follower of my blog, too, I wouldn’t mind. 

I will let Mr. Random.org pick a winner on the last day of the blog hop, March 23. The winner will be announced as an edit to this blog post on March 24, as well as contacted via e-mail. Make sure you have a valid e-mail address.

I will ship the prize anywhere in the world!

PS! Look who almost photo bombed me: A magpie on the neighbor's roof!

It soon got company of another one, so who knows; maybe we will get magpie babies in our neighborhood this year?

Until next time: Happy quilting, and make sure to enjoy the spring!

Building houses

I have good progress in my house-building project in Bee In My Bonnet Row Along , by Lori Holt, row #10. I just love this Row Along!. Here are my houses (in poor indoor light):

Tomorrow I will sew them into their proper order in the row, and put on the borders. Then I will be finished with row #10, and up to date in the Row Along. The next row is posted this coming week, and I wonder what it will bring!?

I have started doing the appliqué for the first mug rug in the Mug Rug Swap, cute little owls! This one is still "blind", poor little one, but that will be fixed soon!

Lets see what I will be able to do during the weekend!

Finally finished!

It didn't really take that long to make this quilt, just about 3 and a half week from start to finish. But it was a lot more work than I had expected, I am a little tired of Halloween fabrics right now. The resulting quilt is good-looking, though!

This will be a charity quilt for children at my local hospital. The size of the quilt is approx. 42" x 52". The design is 'Simply Spooky 2' by Red Rooster Fabrics. The quilt has a pieced backing, with leftover Halloween fabrics.

I added some of my own fabric from stash for the front, and I had bought the border fabric with a zillion black cats in the US. 

This is a bright and colorful quilt that will be popular among children, it has got all the appropriate ingredients for a Spooky Celebration! I even completed it in good time before Halloween! 

The back is ready

The quilting is done, so now I have to cut the binding and sew it on. I only show the back of the quilt now, because the poor cats won't show their faces before they get eyes sewed on. (One of the kittens is not ashamed, though).
I hope the quilt will be completely finished in a day or two, and then it will be properly displayed!

Endless joy!

Last night I prepared 'Simply Spooky 2' for quilting, and was going to start on it today. But, today I received my copy or String Fling by Bonnie K. Hunter in my mailbox. The quilting has already been postponed a bit, because I just have to study and admire all the gorgeous quilts in the book! This book is definitely going to give me endless joy!

I will have to try to tear my self away from the book and start quilting, but I think that may be difficult today. It is a lot more tempting to sit in the shade (we have the hottest day of summer here, today) and study this fabulous book!

Quilt top finished

I finished the quilt top for the charity quilt late last night. Well, finished and finished, I still have to add some eyes and bow ties for the cats, but that will have to wait until the quilting is done.

The weather today was much more co-operating, grey clouds, but no rain. My old, dead plum tree acts as quilt display.

I would say that this is a colorful quilt! Siw at Quiltegården helped me choosing thread for quilting. The quilting will have to wait a while, though, because first I have to assemble another Halloween top since the bag of fabrics I got was huge!

I guess both quilts will get a pieced backing in order to get rid of most of the leftover fabric. It is fun to make charity quilts like this, but after two Halloween ones, I think I will I enjoy returning to quilts more my "own" style.

A quick update

Today I finished assembling the blocks of the Halloween quilt 'Simply Spooky 2' by Red Rooster Fabrics, and now I have to cut the inner and outer borders and finish stitching the whiskers on the cats in the corner blocks.

The weather today was not perfect for picture taking, there were quite a few raindrops during the photo session, but the session was very quick, so not much harm was done to the quilt top.
I have to try to complete the top today, because I have to buy batting and decide on how to quilt it tomorrow. More updates will come...

Halloween quilt in the making

I got a big bag with Halloween fabric from my quilt guild to make a couple of quilts for charity. We give quilts to long-term ill kids at the local hospital. They are in great need for quilts for boys, and Halloween fabrics are definitely correct for boys. I found a great pattern on internet, and have started with piecing and appliqueing. I am adding some fabric from my own stash.

The black cat, he is not completely black, though, so it wouldn't be a problem if he crosses the road in front of you...

This owl is not not very spooky. I like the corn-on-the-cob fabric! But watch out, the owl sees every move you make!

Pumpkins belong to Halloween.

In addition I have made some pinwheel blocks, and they will of course be joined by spiders and bats!

I have quite a few more blocks to make, and I will keep you updated on the progress of the quilt. I really enjoy working with it! The plan for the next Halloween quilt is ready, and I look forward to starting it.

New logo

DS1 helped me make a new logo/banner for my blog. I really like the make-over, and I am grateful for him doing it. I hope this will inspire me even more to create great new quilts!
Love the design!

Owls in their right element

A pair of owls

These owl pot holders are my first finish in February. I found the design in !Sew WE Quilt. Aren't they cute?