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Friday, January 19, 2018

I give a hoot

I made a fabric quilted owl for a friend for Christmas and it was a challenge but thanks to some paint and “stewing” on the design wall I it came out ok.

Bottom left is starting to pick fabrics - so far so good. But then look at the next stage top left. It looks like two feet stomping on the poor owls face!
I trudged on and why I didn’t get rid of that dark blue is beyond me. At that point nothing was sewn or fused down. Adding the eyes helped draw your eye away from that in your face go awful blue. By this time I had glued the pieces together. I still could have taken out that blue legs but no, I left it.
Finally I came to my senses and tried to cover it up by brushing white fabric paint on it.

Here it is finished. If hadn’t seen the blue eyesore already I don’t think it would bother. The quilting also helped. 
Sometimes I think part of the fun is getting yourself into a corner and then figuring out how to get out. 
That’s why I don’t do commissions because if the project just isn’t working I can just say “ well I don’t give a hoot”
And try this and that- if it’s ruined so be it. Usually I find a solution. Paint, pastels and inktense pencils are usually involved. 
Have you backed yourself into a corner lately? How did you get out? Or are you still in the corner waiting for help to arrive to your brain?

8 comments:

  1. I definitely like the finished owl! Glad you found a solution. Claire aka knitnkwilt

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  2. I love this guy! It's really interesting to see how you were able to improve it after the bad fabric choice.

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  3. The owl is great. One thing I want to try this year is a dog portrait using this technique..but no paint.
    xx, Carol

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  4. I love it. I am having the opposite problem some of my white on a dog I am doing is off-white, but still too white. I am going for a bit of paint to darken it. I think your dark blue is beautifully camouflaged.

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  5. Great save, love the finished image.

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  6. Your owl looks amazing! Is this a Susan Carlton technique?

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