Crazy Quilt Owl Block

I created an owl block at the request of Pamela Kellogg for her Autumn 2015 magazine publication.  I was so excited, yet nervous, when she asked me to do one.  She only asked that it be in fall colors and include an owl and maybe fall leaves.  That gave me a good starting point yet left me lots of room to play.  I thought I would share the full block along with some close-ups with you now since she has made the cover public.

Final Completed Owl Block

For those of you who did not see the announcement, below is the image of the cover of her upcoming magazine featuring my block.  The magazine will be available August 1 which is just around the corner.  Her blog is http://www.kittyandmedesigns.blogspot.com/ where you will find some beautiful work and a link to order this magazine or her previous publications.  Click HERE.

Final block used for Pamela Kellogg's publication

Planning my block:

Since the main subject of the block was to be an owl I had to first decide how I wanted to incorporate the owl.  Options included doing an outline stitch or use an embroidery pattern stitched directly onto the block, find a silky with an owl feature, paint an owl onto fabric, or (the option which I chose) to stitch onto felt.  I actually chose the latter because I have wanted to try this technique and because the icon could then be moved around to find a favorable placement.  The other options were pretty permanent once stitched.  I cut out a silhouette of an owl I had drawn to check the size and play with placement.

Planning owl size and placement

Here is the owl which I stitched, both front and back.

My final stitched owl

The back side of stitched owl (not so pretty)

Below is the placement I chose at which point I began adding decorative embroidery stitches.

Placement of owl

I then used some leaves from a silk flower arrangement to decide on leaf placement before I actually stitched them in place.  I sort of wish I would have used the same technique for the leaves that I used on the owl...but I didn't.  I think they would have showed better and I would have had more options for placement.

Planning placement of leaves

At this point (below) I had all the seams treated and the owl, branch and leaves stitched.  I could have called it done at that point, but kept thinking it looked a bit blah and uninteresting.

Completed version one

So I kept going...here are some close-ups:

seam close-up

Seam close-up

Button cluster and owl close-up

Close-up

Spider and web close-up

Trailing vine close-up

Shibouri ribbon floral

This was my first attempt at using Shibouri ribbon.  The colors were perfect and I love the texture and dimension it adds.  Below again is the completed block.  I was glad I continued to add details as I think it adds so much more interest without taking away from the focal point, don't you?

Finished block

Although this wasn't part of my CQJP 2015 journey, I learned new things and I will definitely use the stitched felt technique on future blocks.  I will also use the Shibouri ribbon again.  Now to figure out what to do with the block!