Owl Mini Quilt

I started this little mini quilt while I was at the Sewing Summit. I love birds & have done quite a few illustrations of owls so I thought it would be fun to make a fabric illustration of sorts & this is what I came up with. It was inspired by the class I took from the talented Miss McPork Chop. She is amazingly talented & it was so much fun to meet her & listen to her creative process. Amanda's class was very informative too. I left it looking at sewing in a whole new way. With 4 kids and a busy day to day schedule, making mini quilts just made sense to me. It is far easier for me to put together a smaller  project than a large one. I don't know why I felt that only bigger quilts were acceptable as finished projects. Since then I have totally changed the way I look at quilting in general. Basically anything that's smallish & quilted can be considered a mini quilt. How wonderful is that!?! I feel it really makes quilting more accessible to anyone. Even if you don't feel you could do quilting on a large scale, starting with a mini may just tickle your fancy & open up the door for bigger & more complex quilting projects later down the road.  Take a look at my Pinterest board for some serious quilting inspiration.

Since I'm new at this whole quilting thing I find myself making a ton of mistakes. With each mistake I learn so much. Take the mistake in the above photo. I didn't baste before I started quilting. Now I know why basting is so important. Silly me, I thought I could quilt without it! Like I knew better than all ya'll seasoned quilters......Ha! Now I know better.

I didn't want to scrap it so I cam up with a plan. I decided to cut out the puckered part of the owl & then add a square to cover the now bare part that I cut away.

Even though you can still see my boo boo I feel it looks a whole lot better than before.

It even gives the back of this quilt a little bit of a modern feel. I love how the pink looks against the grey fabric. I used Dana's tutorial for the binding. Her tutorial is a perfect reminder to look at (I've bookmarked it by the way) since I have only bound one other thing. Hopefully I'll get to the point where I'm making so many quilts I can bind with my eyes closed ;)

There were several fabrics I used while making this. The darling green flower, pink flower & hopscotch fabric are all from the talented Sarah Jane's new fabric line Kid's at Play. The solid fabrics are from the Kona sample pack we received in our goody bags while at the Sewing Summit. I used my Babylock's decorative stitches to attach the solid fabrics together & I love the result. The plaids & gingham's are from an older Moda line but I honestly don't remember the name I've had them for so long. I'm really glad I finally had a project to use them on. 

I love my new Babylock that I purchased while at the Summit. It runs smoother than butter & she & I are becoming fast friends. I find it super easy to use & super quiet. Dean & I can actually watch movies now while I sew. Couldn't do that when using my other machine. If you are in the market for a new machine I highly recommend considering a Babylock.

Here she is totally finished!

I had so much fun making this little mini, & I can't wait to get started on another "tiny" project very soon. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this project. I'm in the process of making a pattern & I'm wondering if it's something anyone would be interested in. Thanks for stopping by & I hope you are having a happy holiday!