My favorite block Quilt along- Owl block

Have a look here for the other blocks.

Thanks to Kim for hosting this!!

So I had to pick a favorite block, well I have lots of blocks I like, but I decided to pick my OWL block!!

The block I made for the quilt for McCall’s in the summer of 2012 🙂

The directions are for a 6″ and 12″ block

Min measurements are approx.!! it really doesn’t matter to be exact- it’s all applique.

well except the background of course.

Now this post is PICTURE heavy!!

Cut out 6 1/2″ squares and 12 1/2″ squares

Here’s the APPROX. measurements for the owl parts:

6″ block

1 Wing 4 1/2″ circle

2 Eyes 2 3/4″ circles

2 White of eyes 1 3/4″ circles

2 black pupils 3/4″ circles

1 Beak 1″ square

12″ block

1 wing 9″ circle

2 Eyes 5 1/2″ circles

2 white of eyes 3 1/2″ circles

2 black pupils 1 1/2″ circles

Beak 1 3/4″ square

So go around your house and find CIRCLES!!

I found plates, glasses, tape, lids etc..

You’ll also need Heat N Bond

Trace the shapes onto the paper side of heat n bond

(if you are un-sure about a size, rather go LARGER than smaller)

Rough cut around the shapes and bundle together (if making 2 blocks)

Now raid your fabric stash and group those with the heat N bond shapes

Now iron the shapes onto the back of the fabrics

(the large block owl wings didn’t fit on my fabric so I cut it in half)

cut out all the shapes, and if you haven’t already cut the wings in HALF!

Again group them on their matching squares

Make sure to cut out the beaks! I rough cut squares from the heat N bond and them trimmed down AFTER they were ironed.

Now it’s time to PLAY!!

lay out the shapes onto the background squares and see if you like them

The smaller owl block- the eyes were WAY too big

So I went back and trimmed them smaller!

Ahh! much better

Now remove paper from the back of left wing and place on the edge, at least 1″ from bottom on the large block, iron in place

remove paper from the other wing and lay on top with sticky side UP!

Fold block in half and iron with hot iron, it’s okay to have a crease down the middle.

Open block up and iron down securely, this way it’s EXACT on the opposite side

see the crease!- that’s a good thing

Now place the big eyes on top and overlap them, the point they overlap should match the crease

don’t forget to slide beak underneat and iron down

Now iron down the white of the eyes and play with the placement of the pupils

Do you want a bit of a crazy owl?

or is he/she looking left?

or down the middle?

or is there something to the right?

or straight out?? (I don’t like this one)

Iron down any way you like

repeat with smaller block

I was making a pin cushion at the same time so here they are all ironed and ready.

(click above tab to find the tutorial on the owl pin cushion BTW- it’s a pattern in Fons and Porter a few years ago)

Now button hole stitch around all the shapes.

One TIP!:

have your needle DOWN as a default setting.

When pivoting, have the stitch complete the side stitch and right before it goes back and forth for the next stitch. THAT’s the point to pivot!!

especially important on small circles

With the eyes, I start stitching at the pupil, right where the white starts, this way I can stitch all the way around the white and then when that’s complete I continue on the black pupil without moving out of the way.

Here’s the blocks all done.

Large owl block with crazy owl cousin next to it 🙂

and here’s the pin cushion too- I was sending this to a friend, hopefully she got it already.