My NEW Sewing Machine Mat - every machine needs to be organized

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For YEARS this is what the right side of my sewing area has looked like, a complete mess thrown together.

So one day I decided I was going to make a Sewing Mat Organizer.  I just "wung" it, if you know what I mean.  I measured the distance from the left edge of my machine to the right edge of the table, measured from the back of my machine to the front edge of the table, THEN measured how far down I wanted to pockets to hang down above my thighs.  I knew I wanted LOTS of pockets.  I had to use some of my owl fabric to go with the theme of my logo and sewing room. 

I made 2 rows of 5 pockets.  The end pockets are 3 inches wide and the others are 6 inches wide.  Lots of space for all my stuff.  At first I was going to make a velcro thread/scrap catcher but decided to stick with taping a grocery bag underneath on the corner.

Look at This Cute Washi Tape that I Found at WAL-MART!

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Okay, so I have known about Washi Tape for a while but was never interested in it..........until NOW!  I was at Wal-Mart in the pet food section, I looked down and there was a roll of this oh so cute Washi Tape with none other than Owls on it!  Being that it had cute colorful owls on it I snatched it up and put it in my buggy.  I knew exactly what I was going to do with it - put it on my packages I mail out.  Now, I was in a hurry but knew this item would normally be found in the scrapbooking/craft section but I didn't have time to go and see if there were more.  It rang up at $2.99 which I thought was decent for such cuteness!  The roll is 50 feet by about 1/4".  If your Wal-Mart doesn't carry it, check with Michaels, Joann's, Hobby Lobby, etc or you can order it online from scrapbooking stores.  Just Google WASHI TAPE OWLS TAPE WORKS.

I'm thinking about getting a roll of stripe and a roll of dots to complement my owls on packages.

ARE YOU INTO WASHI TAPE?  WHAT DESIGNS DO YOU LIKE BEST?

Meet Owlivia & Owlbert!

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On September 1st I received this email from Melissa who is a blog follower/reader & a regular in the Fat Quarter Friends Swap:

Good morning April!

I opened my Pinterest account this morning and these cute owls were staring at me and they reminded me of you, so I thought I would share!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/78812407/lovely-plush-mini-owl-choose-any-color?ref=v1_other_2

Hope you have a great day!

Melissa

 

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Well, I thanked her for the email and was touched that something made her think of me.  It's no secret that I adore Colorful Retro Owls, I'm slowly building up my collection for my future sewing studio.  Then I clicked on the link and thought they were freaking adorable!.  So I got inspired and did a Google search for "OWL PLUSHIE".  I found several that were very cute.  I even started a Pinterest board for Owl Plushies Patterns and started PINNING.  I found a picture of some felt Owls that were small children's toys.

 

Now, at this time of day I was kinda bored.  I was in a crafting kind of mood but didn't want to drag out my sewing machine because my sewing space isn't set up yet and I had nowhere to sew except for my kitchen counter!  Yes, my kitchen counter!  We are just starting out and don't have a dining table yet.  Anyhooo.................I remembered that I had some felt in a few colors, that I had some embroidery floss and some buttons.

 

About a week before Melissa emailed me I became interested in hand embroidery though in the past I thought it was really lame and I discounted ever doing it.  I became familiar with very basic stitches through YouTube.  Anyway, back to being bored.  I thought it would be cute to make an owl pincushion.  I WANTED CUTE FAT OWLS, NOT SKINNY ONES.  Being that my blog banner & buttons have a girl & boy owl I decided to make a girl.  So I drew out a pattern similar to the graphics in my banner/buttons.  After tweeking it a bit on several sheets of paper, I was happy with what I came up with.  So I grabbed the felt and starting tracing the cut out pattern pieces.

 

I made the girl first and decided to give her a cute name with the world OWL in it.  So Owlivia was born.  Then I realized she needed a companion so I grabbed my blue felts and made her a boy-friend.  I named him Owlbert. 

Without further Ado, Meet Owlivia & Owlbert!

This was my first time:

* Doing Hand Embroidery

* Doing Applique with Felt

* Making a Plushie

* Making a Pincushion

I really enjoyed making these and the color combinations are endless.  They finished at 4.5" tall and 5" wide.  I loved how they turned out and the fact that I could put them together and do the hand embroidery while sitting down in front of the what my mom refers to as "THE BUBE TUBE".

The wings are trimmed with the SPLIT STITCH, Owlbert's wings are dotted with SEED STITCHES & his heart is outlined in my version of the BLANKET STITCH.  Owlivia's Hair Flower has FRENCH KNOTS in the center.  Her Heart was outlined with BACK STITCHES underneath as well as SEED STICHES.  The top of her heart has my first attempt at SATIN STITCHING in a wonky sort of way.

The applique shapes (wings, hearts, eyes) were sewn on when I did the hand embroidery, except for the beaks which I glued on.  I attached the front and back body pieces on my sewing machine but I think I will start attaching them by hand with small hand embroidery seed stitches.

The fat bellies are filled with a round felt pouch filled with none other than LENTILS!  I wanted something that would give a little weight to the pincushion & so that the belly won't go flat over time.

I know this post is long, so I will conclude by saying that I really love Owlivia & Owlbert.  Soon I will do a tutorial for anyone that wants to make their own and will upload the PDF pattern when I get it scanned.

So what do you think of Owlivia & Owlbert?

Owls in Rainbow Woods

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My friend Brenda Sanders "Buny" from the Dhahran Oasis Quilt Guild in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia bought this wonderful quilt pattern when she went to a quilt show in I think it was England.  I LOVE owls, per my blog logo and I LOVE Rainbows.  When she finished the quilt top I told her that I wanted to share it on my blog.  It's by Lee Brown and it's titled "Owls in Rainbow Woods".  Finished size is 64 1/2 x 56 1/2 if made according to the pattern.  But you could always make a larger border to make a larger finished size.

ABOVE IS WHAT THE PATTERN PACK LOOKS LIKE.  IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ORDER THIS PATTERN, CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE.

NOW ONTO BRENDA'S FINISHED QUILT TOP!  SHE DID A GREAT JOB!

 BLOCKS WAITING TO BE PIECED

 TREE BRANCHES WAITING FOR THE OWL FAMILY APPLIQUE

 VOILA!  FINISHED!  JUST NEEDS A BORDER.

 BORDER ADDED!

 WHAT A CUTE FAMILY!  I LOVE OWLS!

 HOW CUTE ARE PAPA OWL'S GLASSES!

 MAMA OWL KEEPING THE LITTLE ONES SAFE.