The #charleyharpersewnstudio swap wrapped up at the beginning of April. My partner finally got the package yesterday (it took 3 weeks to get from Winnipeg to Tennessee - ridiculous!) My partner said that her favourite prints are Foxsimilies, Family owlbum, and Mice Invasion. So I incorporated all of them into the package I sent.
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| A Charley Harper label to hint at what's inside! |
First, the mini quilt. I waffled back and forth about what I wanted to do, until inspiration hit in the shower (where I do all my best thinking). I decided to recreate Family Owlbum as the main feature of the quilt.
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| The original artwork |
The owls were pretty challenging. I combined a few different techniques to achieve the final project. I used English Paper Piecing to make the large eyes and the baby owls. I used machine and hand applique to attach all the small parts, and embroidery to draw around the eyes.
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| The owl family |
I used needle turn applique to attach the portrait to the centre of a cream panel, and added four circles of the feathers fabric around the owls. Then I framed the whole thing using the twigs fabric as the corners.
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| The front, before quilting |
On the back, I attached a label made to look like a Charley Harper nest.
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| This is my favourtie label ever |
I wanted to make the circles really pop, so I left them unquilted, and did some free motion stiples around them on the cream fabric. And I did straight line quilting in the frame. I attempted machine binding for the first time for this project, because I wanted to try using a decorative stitch on the binding. I prefer hand binding. Maybe I'm just not very good at machine binding, but I wasn't thrilled with how it turned out.
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| After quilting |
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| Free motion stiples |
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| Binding closeup |
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| Love the pop! |
In hindsight, I wish I would have centred the quilt label on the back to coincide with the owl on the front. It ended up half in and half out of the stiples, which I think is less than ideal.
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| The back, post quilting |
I made a few extras to include with the mini quilt. I made a needle book featuring Foxsimilies during my stay at 52 Quilters.
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| Those elephants were perfect for the inside! |
I made a needleminder from the ladybug fabric.
And I made a pincushion/jar from the Mice Invasion fabric.
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| Jar and button courtesy of Grandma's hoarding! |
I loved putting this package together for my partner. I enjoy Charley Harper's artwork so much, so it was a lot of fun to get to interact with it like this. Thanks Sewn Studio for hosting this super fun swap!
If you liked this post, you may be interested to see what I received in this swap!
And if you love reading about my love for Charley Harper, here's a few other gems for you.
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