Emily's Owl Quilt

My grandkids are growing up so fast! It's hard to believe that just a short 11 years ago I had one grandbaby and that she was only 6 months old. Now I have eight grandchildren and the oldest is in middle school! Where does the time go?

When my oldest granddaughter, Katelyn, turned 10 we decided it was time for her to have a "big girl" quilt and so I made her this one. 

Now my #2 grand, Emily, has turned 10. It seems like just yesterday since she was a baby...

But the years fly by and before you know it she walking and talking and then is a preschooler.

Whenever I think of Emily, it is her blonde hair, great big blue eyes and her sweet smile that spring to mind. You can see her spirit shining thru.

Then you turn around again and she's in school. Emily has such a zest for life! Always ready to join in any activity.

This has been Emily's year at school! She was selected for the accelerated program, the Odyssey of the Mind team, state honor choir and got the lead in the school play! What more could a girl ask for? 

 Alice in Wonderland

Emily has been eagerly awaiting her grown up quilt. She talked about it for months before her birthday. She even had a special quilt request. She wanted an owl quilt. We discussed whether it was to be a scrappy quilt made with owl fabrics or a quilt with an owl on it. She picked the latter. 

I found some really cute fabric on Etsy that had owls on it and I couldn't resist it for the backing. It became the inspiration for the whole quilt. I loved the colors, too. It was perfect!!

I wanted this owl as my applique on the front of the quilt....

I had my husband draw it really big for me. This little guy is now 20" tall.

My idea was to have him sitting on the branch of a tree....

so I stuck my owl drawing on my background fabric and put my tree fabric up to see if it was going to work. I think it just might. :)

I took my tree fabric to my cutting table, turned it over and started drawing a tree trunk and two limbs. This was very gutsy of me because I am not an artsy person and I don't do anything without a pattern!! I took the scissors to it and cut it out-there was no turning back now! I glued the tree to the background fabric using little tiny drops of Roxanne's glue. 

I had picked out fabrics for the owl at the quilt shop, so I knew what I was going to use. I was getting excited about this quilt!!

Next came leaves. I free form cut those too.  Where was this inner artist coming from???

All of the applique has been done and the borders added. Next was quilting.

The background was a simple stipple with a few stars and a moon quilted into it. 

The tree trunk intimidated me until my friend Judy told me how to do it. I was really pleased with how it turned out!

Here is detail of the quilting on the owl. I quilted "feathers" on his wings, crosshatched his belly and quilted circles in the whites of his eyes.

Emily did not want a label. She wanted me to write on the back of her quilt. So I did just what she wanted.

The quilt is finished!! I am so happy with the results and Emily was absolutely ecstatic! I have 15 months until Madison turns 10. I better start thinking about her quilt now. In the meantime-I still have Gabby's baby quilt on my design wall!!

Happy quilting, 

Grammy