The "Owl" Quilt

So one of the things we quilters are never supposed to do is criticze our own work publicly, right?

Well, I’m in a state of uncertainty about this one.

This is one of those that I just wanted to go away. It was in my basement. I had ignored it for years. Literally. Seriously. It was sandwiched. I figured that the safety pins had all rusted through and I was going to end up pretty much throwing it away. On the one hand, I hated to - it had a whole bunch of embroidered owls which I loved! On the other hand…well…let me finish what I started.

My husband, who has been working gradually on getting the basement cleaned out and things sorted, to make a sort of workshop for himself brought this quilt up. It was in his way. I had told him he could bring up stuff a little at a time so as not to overwhelm me with more that I could deal with at once.

I knew this one was down there. I knew it was. I also knew I had been ignoring it for a long, long time.

I had so much time invested in it but I did something stupid.

I made it a kid’s quilt. And I made it huge. Bad, bad idea. How many kids do you have who have a huge bed? Yeah…exactly. I don’t either.

Well, the embroidered owls were so much fun to made years ago now that I made them in all different colors. I couldn’t stop. Then, instead of using 4 in one quilt, like I probably should have, I them all in one quilt. Bad idea. Now what to do?

But when my husband brought it up, I said to myself, “OK, that’s it - I’m on a roll on finishing up things - I am going to go ahead and see how bad those safety pins are rusted while I quilt it.” I figured worst case scenario, it gets thrown into the dumpster as is while I have feelings of regret.

So, I started to quilt it. I didn’t want to spend any more time with it than I had to to keep it together so I quilted it pretty sparely. But then there is embroidery on it and I also didn’t want to quilt right through that, either.

So, I did this. I finished it. It’s not my finest work, but it’s finished. I feel like it’s one of those lunches that you fix for your kids when it’s just ‘lunch’. It’s food. It’s edible. Not quite the “carrot sticks shaped into nice even pieces and the sandwiches trimmed just so.” LOL.

I’m not sure what to do with it. I’m thinking I can bring it back to FL and let the kids use it for a tent. It isn’t appropriate for a children’s bed - wrong size - and the theme and colors aren’t really great for a couple’s bed.

I’m still thinking about it. Frankly, I don’t know what to do with it. I suppose if I heard of a local children’s group who could use it here, I’d be mighty tempted to give it to them for maybe playing on on the floor. Even though I had time invested in it with the owls, I’m not the type of quilter who thinks it’s awful for people or kids to actually use, possibly even “abuse” the quilts they are given. This is one of those areas that I’ve grown in my understanding and thinking since making this one.

Oh…and as to those safety pins. Not one was rusty!

So, of course, I HAD to finish it.

So here you are. No pattern. Just framed embroidered blocks and some sashing and borders.

The straight above Drone shot!

Enjoy. I want this one out of life ASAP…and into a new home.;) It’s fine now - much better as a finished quilt and the guilt is now gone. That part is the best!

My husband took a picture of this outside on the ground with his drone. He’s learning how to use it better so any opportunity to take pictures is a chance for him to practice. Because of the size of this one, we took them outside. He couldn’t get high enough in the house to get a straight above shot!

Have a great day wherever you are reading this!

Here’s hoping this is never your plight!

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Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store!

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