And I'm off and flying! Hoot, hoot! I finally got enough of my new fabrics ironed that I could pause and pick out the fabrics for the start of my owl quilt. Ignorant as I am of applique, I thought that the tree would be the first piece that I would be appliqueing, but it isn't. I actually start with the small owl in the tree trunk. You can see him below. Thankfully, his body is one piece, so I still get to start with an easy piece. My biggest challenge has been deciding what color to make him. He will be reverse appliqued behind the tree.
I spent last night finding all of my batik fat quarters and organizing them into a carry bin. I won't show you the batik yardages I also have to choose from; I think I can find enough options here.
After much deliberating, I have the pieces picked out and my freezer paper cuttings ironed on. See my new scissors? I went to Sager Creek and bought my first official pair of applique scissors for cutting out precise fabric pieces. I'm so proud!
Anyway, the hole in the tree is a black batik I found on my recent shop-hop shopping trip. Perfect! I have a slightly oversized hole piece cut out on the left. To the right of my "black hole" is the tan batik for the owl's body. Most of my owls are going to be colorful, but I want this shy little owl to show up in his hidey-hole, so he's going to be pale. I'm hoping that the stamped pattern on the tan fabric will show up looking like feathers (sort of). The curve on the left is the side of the hole and the point at the upper right is his ear.
The orange batik will be his beak. I was stumped on what color to use for the iris portion of his eye (the small black circle ironed onto the black material on the upper right of the photo is for the center of his eye - the pupil). The pattern shows white, but I'm afraid that white would not show up well against the pale tan body. Most owls have yellow or orange eyes, but they also don't show up well against the tan fabric. Finally I opted for a bright green eye to offset his drab feathers. The others owls will have bright feathers and less colorful eyes. That should let me shy little owl stand out!
Finally, more photos of my irises and my jealous kitties.
Sinbad, desperately wanting outside. The sunroom is just fine unless he and I are on opposite sides of the screen!
Callie, feeling the same way.
And more shots of my wild irises. Every wild iris I have is purple. I have bought many flag irises, but few of them have actually thrived in my garden. The few that have are all...wait for it...purple!
I hope you all have a great day. I'm going to go home, take care of my baby chicks (usually my husband's duty, but he's out of town), feed my dogs and kitties, then head to my sewing room. If I can get the last of my fabric ironing done, maybe I can start on a shy little owl...
'Til later,
Debbi
No comments:
Post a Comment
How are you and what are you thinking? I'd love to hear from you!