Owl Stitchery

With all that's going on in life, this project was like a good book that I could pick up and get lost in, a mini-retreat if you will. It's been a little sad to call it done, but finished it is. I used materials I had on hand. The base of the owl is an old washcloth with a beautiful design that I'd saved from years ago. There are scraps, a block printing sample I made, and miscellaneous threads, some gifts of hand-dyed wool I had been treasuring. 

Here is the progress for my little whimsical owl stitchery. I started by making the owl face, and placed the face onto the washcloth. I took a photo and in my notes I sketched out different lines, colors, and ideas. 

The computer sketch is above and stitching below. 

The completed owl.

I put linen and my block printing sample into the embroidery hoop, and played with the positioning of the owl and branch. I used my notes on my ipad again to try out different embellishments that might look nice. I really enjoyed using my ipad for this, and am now using this method for some of my other artwork. 

The block print sample was stitched to the linen.

Here's a computer sketch of the branches to be stitched.

The grounding branch, blossoms and dainty branches were embroidered.

I needed to decide whether to leave it plain or add flowers, so I cut out a few flowers and arranged those in different ways. 

I loved the cheery flowers, and really, I wasn't ready to stop stitching yet, so I appliqued the flowers and leaves. 

And still not ready to put it down, I added various flora. 

A tiny bit of red was needed to pull in other art that would be nearby.

Once the stitching was complete, I hot glued the fabric to the embroidery hoop, then trimmed the excess off. 

I'm planning on creating a gallery up my staircase wall where my little owl will reside and watch over us with her sweet, inquisitive eyes as the years go by.