Applique Felt Owl Project

So now that I'm getting to the business end of my PhD, sewing time is definitely decreasing and each project seems to be taking longer and longer! Recently instead of starting something new I have gone back and picked out my sole remaining WIP (well the last one that I'm going to salvage!!) to help clear out my sewing space and allow a more organised move forwards.

So in light of the fact I've no real photos to share on my current WIP here's a little project that I worked on for a while last year. It had been one of these ones that was ongoing in the background while I made loads of other projects as I had a very liberal timescale for this. My friend's birthday was on November the 11th and she loves owls - so i thought that this would make a great present - plus I didn't have to send this one as I visited at the end of November. I also bought the kit around mid march so was in no hurry to get things done.

This project came as a kit with everything included including stencils and a small instruction sheet.

I found this a great starter project for applique as the felt doesn't fray and is very easy to work with. All the pieces were hand stitched together with a mid grey lightweight thread. I didn't reckon that this would see much wear and tear so didn't use an expensive thread. I also used grey for appliqueing everything and did not change colours between objects because as the owls were light anyway I didn't think it showed up much at all.

In terms of quilting, I quilted along the edges of the owls, tree, leaves, stars and along the edges of the brown border. It definitely made the owls 'pop' and I'm really happy with how the whole project turned out.

I love how the back turned out - all the images are so clear :-)

One of the more tricky aspects was keeping everything straight and not glueing everything together to keep the little pieces in the right place.

Now I have tried this technique I'm really looking forward to trying it again! Does anyone have any suggestions for some more beginnerish projects?

Take care and have a great weekend folks :-)
JCS x