SAW-WHET

 SAW-WHET

19 X 26 inches

Original Design

Rawedged fused applique

Fabric marker shadowing

Machine Quilted

Details

"Boreal Owl"

 "Boreal Owl"

18" X 19 1/2"

Original Design

Rawedged Fused Applique

Machine Quilted

April 2013

 Detail of bird

Detail of bark and pine

The Boreal Owl is a smaller owl so I wanted a smaller quilt to depict him on.  I decided to put him in a hole in a tree.  Only doing a partial body was fun and took  a lot less time.  I added the  need branches of a fir tree to keep my series unified with some of the same elements.  The hole itself was a challenge but I was happy with the results. The journey was a smooth and enjoyable one.

Boreal Under the Needle

 Well first off we were shocked today when we took Watson in for a tooth cleaning.  He was in for his yearly and they noticed his gums were inflamed so needed to clean the tarter off and ck. his teeth.  Well he has a hereditary gum disease that gets bad when there is any tartar on the teeth.  They called me after he was sedated and said one whole side was decaying and the other was starting.  So 17 teeth were pulled.  He must have been in pain but showed no signs of it.  Cats hide pain.  So he is staying over night and I will pick him up tomorrow.  He will still have his fangs and his front teeth and will have to eat wet food all the time.  Poor guy!

 Well after that news I had to do something to take my mind off of it and went to work quilting my Boreal Owl. 

He is getting there little by little.

We also had a setback when a pipe broke while we were installing the toilet.  Had to shut off the water but it still leaked into my basement laundry before we got it off.  I spent house cleaning that mess up this morning.  A plumber is coming hopefully Friday to fix it and install the toilet and sink in our half bath and then we are DONE!!!!

Unquilted Boreal

Being stuck upstairs with all pets may have it good points.  The workman came today to put in the kitchen floor, the last step to our project.  So I brought everyone upstairs with me so they would not be underfoot while he went between the kitchen and living room where the boxes of flooring are located.   This allowed me to begin working on my Boreal Owl at 7:30AM.  It is now 3:30 PM and I am finished with the construction of his face and wing.    He will now go under the needle to add all the detail.  I chose to use a fabric paint for the small white dots on his head.  It was an important detail and I could not find any fabric that was suitable.  I am really happy with how he looks inside the nesting hole in a tree.  Tomorrow I will begin quilting him.   Now I will take a walk and stretch a bit.  

I worked on the hole as well.  I think it looks more a part of the tree now.  I may add a bit at the bottom of the hole plus there is a bit of foreground quilting that is still to come.

Ghost Boreal

 I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Holiday.  Ours was celebrated last weekend so we went out to eat with friends.  When we got home I worked on my next owl quilt.  I decided this one needs to be in a hole in a fir tree.  I chose the Boreal Owl as my subject.    The first thing I did was choose my bark fabrics.  Then I made the circle for the hole in the tree,  The owl will fill most of it but there will be some of the back of the dark hole showing so I put a dark piece of fabric in there.

 Next I traced around the hole piece on the backing and batting sandwich.  Now I was ready to put all the tree bark on the batting fusing it in place.

 Once that was finished, I put the hole back on .  I like it, but need to add some additional pieces later to get it to look more like it is coming out of the tree not a wreath on the tree.

For now I put the tissue drawing of my Boreal Owl in the hole and see I need a bit more dark fabric on the left hand side too.   I am not fusing the inner part of the hole ring down yet as the owl will get tucked under it.  However I will quilt the bark of the tree body now and part of the hole circle on the outer edges once I am happy how it looks.

I just looked out the window because it was getting dark out and instead of rain we are getting snow, big white flakes!   Will winter ever give up?

"Snowy Owl"

 "Snowy Owl"

24 1/2" X 23 3/4"

Original Design

Rawedged fused applique

Machine Quilted

March 2013

Working on the Snowy Owl was perfect for me.  I loved the colors and experimenting with his feathers.  I feel I achieved the fluffy lightness of this younger Snowy who still has his camouflage
colors.  He may be fluffy and still a baby, but he is a Raptor and you can see it in his eyes.

Back under the needle

 Finished the feathers on Snowy's face and now I will begin to quilt him this morning.
There are 4 different whites on this face which do not show up well in the photo but they are there.
His eyes have black outlines around them so they are going to "pop" once I quilt that in.

In the meantime the kitties are having their early morning playtime.  Luckily this lasts about an hour and then they both settle down for their daily naps.  They do have the best times together and Watson is getting a lot of excercise that I think he needed. 

Head Lines

He has a head!   I like to put the head shape up first and cut holes for the eyes using the tracing paper as a guide.  Once the holes are in I fuse the eye ball and pupil behind the white fabric.
Then the beak is put on as it is buried in feathers just like the beak on the Barn Owl.  Once that is looking good I start building  the feathers.

Feet First

 Today I began the owl.  First it is his feet...the furthest from the forefront.
I build them on my teflon sheet.

 Once I trim them they are placed in the right position using my tracing paper sketch as a guide, and fused in place.

 Then I take them to my machine and quilt them.

Results !   Pretty good even if they look funny all by themselves. 

Ghost Image

Okay....here is the owl sketch on top of my stump.....added a couple of reeds, more will or may come but will wait til he is done to decide if it needs more.  Now comes the hard part but as you can see from his face he has built in personality.  I want him to look pudgy and fluffy.  Hope I can pull that off. 

Background Work

 I have been working on this background for my next piece, the Snowy Owl.   He will be in the center so I have left that open.

I think I have added enough of the grasses at this point.   So now I will begin and stump and the Snowy Owl.  The Owl will be a young  owl because they have more color.  When they mature they turn all white.  I wish I had been one of the lucky ones who was able to see the one that
was spotted in Sheboygan one time.  Pretty amazing to have one this far south.

Well back to work....it is once again snowing.  Last year at this date we were in the 70's!  Quite the contrast.  Looks like this year  I will be shoveling instead of gardening. 

"Barn Owl"

 "Barn Owl"

18 3/4" X 22 3/4"

Original Design

Rawedged fused appliqued

Machine Quilted

March 2013

 Details of feet and stump.  Barn owls are known for their long legs.

His sweet heart shaped face.  Very subdued colors in his face which give him that more gentle look.

His wings and some of the plants that surround him on his perch.  You can see that the furthest back are some low growing pines.  Although they are pretty much hidden they add a lot of depth when you are in front of the piece looking through the foliage. You can see this better below.

I really enjoyed working on this Barn Owl.  Still have the sleeve and label to add to the back but 

that I will do while watching tv one night this week.  

I want to gather up the owls and take a photo of the four of them soon unless I wait until I finish my snowy owl who is waiting in sketch form right now.

Barn Owl Under the Needle

 Quilting quilting and more quilting.   Lots of progress.  I love machine quilting.  I put on good music, have my eagles on the nest on the screen (they have layed their first egg!) and I just can relax and enjoy watching the quilt come alive.

I am close to the end now.....perhaps another 4 to 5 hours of work. 

Now for the Quilting

Okay....Here is the Barn Owl so far.  I think he looks pretty handsome.   There is a lot of subtle coloring in this owl and I think I will attempt to do more with thread. 

It is a foggy dreary rainy day.  This is the perfect weather to work in the studio  even though we lost an hour this morning.    I love being home on days like this.

Wing

Working the wings.   This is harder than I thought and a bit scary but I think once all the layering is on and it is quilted it will look better.  the lighter section is not quilted yet and that will darken it a bit.  the other wing will overlap this one so there is a lot to come. 

Tail Feathers

After a few false starts and ripping out some quilting, I finally was satisfied with my fabric choices and quilting on the the Great Horned Owl's Tail.  YOu can compare it to the photo above which is the one I am using as my reference/inspiration.

I may go back later and tweak this a bit but for now that is as far as I want to take it without the body on as well as his talon.    

Now my DH and I are going out to dinner with friends so ....I am off to spruce up!

Have a good night.  

Pine Needles and More Pine Needles

I have been quilting pine needles in two shades of green all day yesterday and will start again this morning.  I felt like my eyes were seeing double when I quit last night.  

I placed my owl sketch on the tracing paper on the body of the quilt to see how it is looking with the branches.  Looking pretty good.  Now I am ready to start again. 

Tree

 In between grocery shopping and contractors showing up to give us estimates on the repair of our kitchen, I began work on my tree which is in both the foreground and the background.  I added one branch as was shown in the photo but did not like it on its own.  The Great-Horned Owl is rarely seen in the daylight and if he is,  he makes sure he is camouflaged amoungst that trees sometimes picking the densest of trees to hide in.  The photographer caught him at an unusual moment however I am choosing to at least put a bit of the short needle pine branches around him.

I returned my sketch, which I do on tracing paper, to the quilt.  I like it but it needs more.

 I added another branch to the upper portion of the quilt.

 It is okay but it needs more to look dense like a pine would be.

I added a third branch on the bottom angling it different direction and since It is in the foreground, because I will continue it in front of the bird once he is on the quilt, it is larger.

Now I will quilt these branches and add the needles with thread.