I recently had the joy of crafting for @Tapestry in the Mystical Swap. Her Pinterest was full of inspiration, and her Wishlist included an art quilt. I had recently neatened up my studio, and noticed this beautiful owl print, that I found at a local quilt shop. The print came in two sizes, smaller 2" owls, and these bigger 5" owls. I thought the bigger one would make a beautiful focal piece in an art quilt, and so I set out to make a home for my little winged friend.
I started with a base about 13" wide and 18" long, of navy blue stash fabric, layered with batting and backing. I cut the moon from a warm ivory batik, and then pulled all the blue, navy, and purple scraps from my “Scrippy-Scrap” bin. (The bin I put scraps that are too small or narrow to be 2.5" cuts, but are too beautiful to toss.) I layered them outward from the moon, getting darker the further away I moved. I did some free motion scribble quilting in a spiraling circle around the moon, radiating outward. Then I added in layers of deep green for the ground. The ground got more layers of free motion quilting, echoing the landscape, to add texture.
The tree was made from 4 charm squares of bark print in 2 shades, and some scraps of brown batik. The charm squares were just a lucky find. I ordered a larger Charm Pack, that was all nature prints, that was just on clearance from Quilts for Kids, and l didn’t even know they’d be in there. But I like how the two tones allowed me to “highlight” the side nearest the moon, vs the side facing away from it. The whole tree was sewn down in layers, with more scribble quilting in various shades of brown. Some scribbles even left the fabric branches, to become scribbly little twig branches of their own. (I loved getting to use up random spools of thread and bobbins on this project!)
The fern prints also came in that Charm Pack, and came in several shades of green, brown, and autumn red-orange. I ironed on some Wonder Under, then cut them out with sharp scissors, and ironed them down onto the quilt, before going over the stems and leaf veins with stitching. The tips of the ferns are left loose, so hopefully they will fray slightly and add more depth and texture.
The edges of the grass were also left raw, to fray like grass blades.
The owl was attached with Wonder Under, before quilting over the details, like the eyes, beak, and feathers.
I dug through my prescious hoarded Swarovski crystal beads, to hand sew on as stars. (I’m STILL angry about Swarovski discontinuing making beads, because, and I quote, “We want our brand to evoke luxury. We don’t want our brand to be associated with handmade crafts.” So now they’re doing brand deals with Nespresso, to make sparkly coffee makers.) I wanted the crystals to catch the light, but not distract from the rest of the work, so I used a mix of blues and purples, some opaline, some plain, some with an AB coating, and a few with a double AB coating to really shine.
I’m really proud of how this one came out. It has been sitting on my dining table, demanding to be sent for the last several weeks. I’m so glad it’s finally where it was meant to be, in Tapestry’s home.