Hmm... well this is really not all that hard to do. This is all "applique", but really the only parts that I sewed so far are the eyes and the beak. Mostly this is all ironed together.... As a couple of you may be interested, here is a shot at some instructions for this process. (Just keep in mind that your first project should be considerably less complicated.)
So the first thing I do is pick a photo and blow it up to the size I want. This happens to be 15 x 20", but my first project doing this was 8.5 x 11" (letter size paper). You can either print it on your home printer and tape all the resulting pages together or you can run up to a copy center and get them to do it. My FedEx/Kinko's up the street will print black and white poster size for $.75 per square foot.
I traced all the shapes that I will cut out for pieces on the pattern with a fine Sharpie marker. A lightbox works really good for this or you can do like I do and tape it up in the window. You might have to take a break if your arms get tired, though. I don't know if you can see the lines on the pattern well enough, so I took the center shape in the owl's forehead and traced it with white pencil so you can see it.
Using a piece of Wonder Under or similar product, I trace the shape to be cut out of fabric.
Keep in mind that you have to draw on the exposed glue side (not the paper side), otherwise you will get a reverse image. Now comes the trick part. You have to remember to leave fabric underneath the edges that will overlap! This is the piece on the owl's chest- the bottom edge is drawn so that all those raggedy feathers will be cut out. The top edge has been drawn 1/4-3/8" extra. The piece above this one is cut the same way, so the bottom edge of the upper piece will be on top of this piece. After I have this traced, I usually rough cut it out- NOT on the lines that I have just traced. I iron it to my fabric and then cut on the lines so that I cut the paper and the fabric at the same time.
Here are some of my fabric choices. I usually have these all spread out on a table so I can see them at the same time and pick the best one for the piece I am cutting out. As I want the owl to look real, these are all sort of "natural" textures. Batiks tend to work pretty well also.
I don't iron these together until I get a bunch of them cut out. It is a real problem if you have been fastening them down one at a time and discover that you messed up and forgot to leave that overlapping edge where you should have. Not sure you can tell in the photo on the previous blog, but I did that with the brow piece over his eye and now will have to figure out how to go back and fix that.
Hope that provides enough information for any of you that want to try this. If you think a photograph is too complicated to start with, you might snag a picture from your child's coloring book just to try the technique!
Since we've wandered off on quilts that we made when we started, I will show you this one. This is the first quilt I actually quilted on the machine. This was made in pieces, quilted and then all the pieces were sewn together. I made the center medallion, the second inside square, two sides, the two longer sides and then the outside row of flowers and the border. (I had no idea that you could manage to cram the whole quilt top under the arm of your sewing machine.) I was SO proud of this quilt.
Hmm... well this is really not all that hard to do. This is all "applique", but really the only parts that I sewed so far are the eyes and the beak. Mostly this is all ironed together.... As a couple of you may be interested, here is a shot at some instructions for this process. (Just keep in mind that your first project should be considerably less complicated.)
I traced all the shapes that I will cut out for pieces on the pattern with a fine Sharpie marker. A lightbox works really good for this or you can do like I do and tape it up in the window. You might have to take a break if your arms get tired, though. I don't know if you can see the lines on the pattern well enough, so I took the center shape in the owl's forehead and traced it with white pencil so you can see it.
Here are some of my fabric choices. I usually have these all spread out on a table so I can see them at the same time and pick the best one for the piece I am cutting out. As I want the owl to look real, these are all sort of "natural" textures. Batiks tend to work pretty well also.
Hope that provides enough information for any of you that want to try this. If you think a photograph is too complicated to start with, you might snag a picture from your child's coloring book just to try the technique!
Wow am I tired! It is Day 2 of the new job and I am sitting here thinking it is only 7:30 but I would really, really like to go to bed. Guess it is probably a little early if I don't want to be up at 3:00 am.... Work is going good but I have been thrown into the deep end of the pool- I have been scheduled for meetings and training every day this week. 
These are my new cabinets! They were purchased at IKEA. The 4-drawer dressers run about $80 which is not too bad for all the storage they give you. When I went home for Christmas, Mom had fabric strips all folded up in the hutch in the dining room where she sews. I gave her a hard time about it but after a while I decided it was a really cool idea. So I have re-folded all my stash and put it in the drawers. That took a really long time. I took some 1x2 wood and built a frame to fit around the top of the two dressers, screwed a 1/4" piece of plywood to the top and padded it with foam, batting and some cotton duck. Now that nice square ironing surface is about 65x20". Guess my quilt tops won't be dragging off the skinny end of the ironing board any more!
Guess it will be pretty easy to find any fabric that I need! The fat quarters are all folded into squares; any piece over 1/2 yd was folded into quarters (selvage to selvage) and then wrapped around my 6" ruler.
This is the sewing table that Caleb sleeps under. Yes, he has his own quilt down there. The brown fabrics on the table are for the owl that I am currently working on. I am alternating between that and the Beachcombers quilt on the wall that is of my niece and nephew. Not sure how that will turn out, as I just took my first applique class but we will see if it looks any better when it gets quilted. I will replace that utility cabinet with another tall IKEA cabinet maybe in another month or so. Please note I am still using the masking tape to secure my current projects to the wall.
Here is the other sewing table set up on the opposite side of the room. Just for the record, my workspace is never this clean. This is cleaned up for photo purposes only... soon it will be back to normal!
Molly's Dad sent this architect's table down to me and this is my favorite place to work in the whole room. I do all my embellishing and needlework over here. Got Dave's chair mended this week so I no longer tip over to one side. You can see the owl I have started from the photos last week. All of my beads and threads are in that little cabinet. Everything I need is right at my fingertips....
The only problem with that table is that I put it right next to the window where the pond is located. Sometimes I get distracted by the birds coming in to get a drink or the fish swimming on the surface of the pond. Sometimes I just stare off into the garden and daydream...
And this is how I decided I am going to try and keep track of the projects I am working on this year. The quilts on the left of the cork board are in various stages of construction. The quilts on the right side are being quilted and are almost completed. Notice Mr. Nosy Butt has followed me around the room! Guess we will go get something to eat and then get back to work!
I swear that it's my mom's fault. Really. If she was not retired and spending so much time surfing around on the web then I wouldn't have this list of projects to be working on... although there are some really great ideas in there that I would never have come up with on my own.
the dressers and have a wonderful large (and SQUARE!) surface to iron on. I have also been in process of pulling out all my fabrics from the boxes they were stored in and folding them into standard sizes that fit in the dresser drawers. Just for the record, if you are really interested in knowing what exactly is in your stash this is a great way to do it.
Great Horned Owl which I started with is the last of these pictures on the
