tutorial: stuffed owls (and no, it’s not a recipe)

EDITED TO ADD THIS NOTE: I accidentally deleted photos from a bunch of my old blog posts. I have found and replaced as many photos as possible as I could find until I got sick of searching, from this post, but I'm not the most organized and there's 7000+ pics on my computer O.o yikes, I know. Anyway, the important ones are here...the owls, and the pattern. Enjoy!

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this may come as a surprise to you, but i occasionally tend towards not thinking things through all the way. (stop snickering, tina. i can hear you) sometimes i jump in with both feet and both arms and my whole body before i’ve really stopped to make sure there’s enough water in the pool.
and obviously a person such as myself would head blindly off to the fabric store to buy the supplies for 13 stuffed owls as gifts for the “night owl” sleepover party—each with their own “personality” and color/fabric scheme--without even making a list.
let me say that again: THIRTEEN INDIVIDUAL OWLS, NO LIST, NO SKETCH, NO PLAN. CREDIT CARD IN HAND.
i had gigi with me—the chatterbox who can make a grown man’s head spin—and not a clue where to begin. it took me all of 3.4 seconds to realize i had made a major, major mistake. actually let’s be honest—a number of them. i scrambled for scraps of paper and a working pen—shoot even an eyeliner pencil would work--in my bag, hastily trying to come up with the outline of a plan. i didn’t even have an idea what these 13 owls were going to be beyond vague thoughts of “oh, a princess owl. and maybe a ballerina owl. annnndd…uhh…oh! an artist owl would be cute…”
2 hours and $60 later i left with a stack of fabrics and felt and stuffing that would make the hardiest of sewists shudder, and the back side of an envelope covered with scribbles and arrows and circles and things crossed out looking for all the world like the john nash of jo-ann’s. (a beautiful mind, anyone? oh, and i totally typed “crossed owt” the first time. owls on the brain.)
but it worked. because sometimes flying by the seat of your pants, leaping before you look or…or…(insert 3rd “lack of planning” type idiom here because, of course, i started this list which clearly calls for a 3rd saying of some sort to complete the rhythm without thinking it through all the way. irony, people. get some.)
okay so it worked. that’s the point. when the sewing dust settled i had these:

13 owls, each with their own
personality colors
and
look

 each owl is a blend of cotton fronts with a soft minky backing, button eyes and felt details. i couldn’t decide which was my favorite. as i finished each one and set it aside it occupied the top spot as The One I Would Pick. until i finished the next one. i’m fickle like that.

if you happen to be in the market for 13 individual owls and would like a bit more to go on than a Vague Idea, i present to you each owl in detail:

the options are really endless. i started making myself crazy—i’d see some “themed” quilting cotton and think OH! that could be an XYZ owl! and the details…oh the details. should the french owl be holding a baguette? should princess owl have a scepter? should bookworm owl have a worm? or should i scratch his book altogether and give him a tiny pair of owly skinny jeans and call him hipster owl? will 8 year olds even get that?
decisions, decisions…
as for the sewing: i did certain things to make my life easier. first, the main part of each owl’s body was either brown or grey. and the backs were either red, pink, brown or white minky. i also used some fabrics on more than one owl. but not too much—i really wanted them to be individual.

heavy duty wonder under is your new best friend. each piece got attached with the wonder under first—belly, wings, eyes and beak.


some felt details were nice wool felt, others—like the beaks--were just the cheap craft felt.

gasp! did you really try to iron wonder under onto craft felt made from plastic bottles????

yes i certainly did. and it worked, too. i used a press cloth and short hits with the iron, but it worked. then i traced 13 beaks and cut them all out.

(obvs if you follow my lead you do so at your self and your iron’s risk)
and i did the same with the eyes.


i made a pinned together pile for each one—a body, belly, wings, two eyes and a beak. then i took them all to the iron and attached the pieces together.
once that was done i went to the sewing machine and stitched down all the pieces, mainly using a blanket stitch.

i also used white thread for the most part on the major details—again, just a little something to help save my sanity.
when all the fronts were done i got to work cutting out all the felt details. i sewed them down by color to save myself from switching my thread and bobbin 50 times. i laid out all the owls and sewed any red details on each with red in my machine. then switched to orange thread and did all the orange details…and so on.
i attached all the black button eyes by machine too. all 26 eyes—and i didn’t break a single button or needle. i’m pretty proud of that.
then i cut 26 owl feet (well, actually the ballerina’s feet were special, so 24 owl feet) and attached them to the bottom, matched up a back and sewed the back and front right sides together, leaving an opening on the side for stuffing.
jeremy and i spent an hour in front of the tv stuffing and hand stitching them shut the night before the party.
i have to say that all things considered they weren’t that difficult to do, especially considering the impact they had—the girls were SO EXCITED.
the last thing i did on the day of the party was print out little certificates that went along with each owl. to be honest my brain was shot. the woman who i initially got this idea from had cute little poems for each owl. i gave up on that idea.

they all were a variation on the above.

okay, probably the french owl was my favorite.

i had two bowls with slips of paper marked 1-12. each girl picked a number from the first bowl. then i chose the first number from the 2nd bowl. the girl with the matching number got to choose her owl and read the certificate to everyone, and she picked the next number from the second bowl.

(i mentioned in yesterday’s post that i put the owls in bags with a tag that had a clue as to their personality on it—i.e. a pair of dancing shoes for the ballerina owl, a book for the bookworm. that way they couldn’t see the exact details but had some idea what they were picking. with girls ranging from 3-12 i had some that appealed to littlers (princess, flower) and some that appealed to biggers (photography, moustache). i wanted to give them the chance to choose something appropriate.)

by making 13 owls rather than just 12 even the last girl to get her number picked still had a choice between 2 owls, and the odd owl out went to elliot. :) (which, to my surprise, ended up being the love owl. none of them went for the the heart. and the moustache owl went pretty quickly—thankyouverymuch MOM (who said no one would pick it because it was for a boy))
it was a hit. they had a blast seeing each new owl come out of it’s bag, and the majority of them curled up with their owl when it was bedtime.

finally i want to mention again the awesome blog i originally got this idea from—snowy bliss.
now, in case you’re really really a sick person and want all the dirty details because maybe you want to make your own baker’s dozen of stuffed owls i’m including my supply list and a printable pattern. enjoy!


+SUPPLIES+
+ 1/2 yard gray cotton an 1/2 yard brown cotton for the owl fronts
+ 1/3 yard minky in each color: pink, red, brown, white 
+ felt sheets in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, light pink, dark pink
+ 1/4 yard wool felt in each color: black, brown, white
+ 1/8 yard pink tulle
+ 26 black buttons
+ 2 bags of polyfiber stuffing
+ lots and lots of coordinating thread colors
+ one package of heavy duty wonder under (use your 40% off coupon!)
+ 6” strips of each fabric you need for the belly and wings of your owls. so if you use a different fabric combo for each owl you’ll need 6” strips of 26 different fabrics. eek! you see why it took 2 hours, right? all my fabrics were purchased from jo-ann’s. the chances of you finding exactly the same 26 fabrics is slim to none, i’m sure, but here’s a photo guide just to help.

(sorry, never did find this photo again! :(   )

because your owl belly’s are really just a 6x4 ish oval, you’re going to have a LOT of leftovers (this photo is actually my scraps!) so if you can double up on any fabrics (like the polka dots i used for a couple different owls) you don’t need to buy any more fabric. you can get at least 4 sets of wings or 5 bodies from each 6” strip.

you could also buy some fat quarters to make the owls. i wasn’t happy with the fabric choices in fat quarters at jo-ann’s though. but if you’re only making one or two owls it may be a good option.

+PATTERN+ 

+ right click and print these 2 pages. NOTE: print page 2 TWICE and cut out the belly piece from the second copy
+ line up the “X” and tape together
+ cut out your pattern pieces

+SEWING NOTES+
+ iron heavy duty wonder under onto your belly, wings, beak and eyes.
+ the wing has a left side and right side. make sure you cut 2 mirror image wings.
+ carefully fold over 1/4” and press down on the top edge of the belly and the inside edges of the wings.
+ iron all the pieces down, and then stitch around the edges of each to secure.
+ refer to my photos for all the felt details.
+ sew front and back together with a 1/2” seam allowance, leaving a small opening to turn and stuff.
+ hand stitch each owl closed.
+ i didn’t include the “feet” on here. that was partly because i forgot, and party because when i remembered i didn’t have enough room to add it. so if you want to add feet just cut simple bird feet shapes from brown felt and sew them on the bottom before sewing the back and front together.

PHEW! i think that’s it. i hope SOMEONE gets use from this—because this was a bear of a blog post to write! ha! enjoy—and as always, let me know if you make any—i’d love to see them!

night owls sleepover

what was it, two years ago that i first talked about the “night owls” sleepover party?
okay, so it was a year and a half ago…not too shabby. but believe me when i tell you that my girls did NOT forget about either the party details i talked about, or my off-the-cuff promise that we would do our own night owl party.
 
not only did they not forget, but in that year and a half that elapsed i managed to have another daughter grow to the age that she wanted in on the action, too.

even when i tried to convince them that owls are passé--foxes are the new owl--they wouldn’t bite. and as a last ditch effort i even threw out that maybe, just maybe they were too old for stuffed animals now? nope. it was night owl sleepover or bust.

all this to explain why i found myself on a saturday night a couple of weeks ago with 13—THIRTEEN—girls, ranging from 15 months (elliot) to 12 years, piled in my family room. and why for the three days prior i found myself attached to my sewing machine into the wee hours churning out stuffed owl after stuffed owl.

oh look, a pile ‘o owls.

party wise i really kept it fairly simple (besides all those dang owls). walmart had owl-themed paper goods (SCORE!) for 98 cents a pack. i had the girls make a banner from some scrapbook paper and owl stickers. i threw a yard of fabric down on the table as a runner.



if it was owl-y and under $2 then into the cart it went.
they made their own pizza, and i threw out some grapes and chips for snacking.



the fat little hanging owl lanterns were a pinterest find—$1 store paper lanterns + scrapbook paper wings, eyes & beak.




the cupcakes—another pinterest item—were easy. oreos split in half and topped with chocolate chips made eyes, an orange gumdrop cut in half made a beak. they were a hit.

there are an obscene number of owls in this one small photo.

i bought just about every “glow-in-the-dark” and/or light-up item i could find. between the party store, $1 store and walmart we had bracelets, necklaces, straws, and even glow in the dark balloons.
the only game i planned on was glow-in-the-dark freeze dance. but they were having so much fun just dancing that it ended up basically being a dark dance club.

which sounds kind of creepy now that i read it, like we hosted some sort of preschool rave. and then we 
played beer pong and did keg stands. oops.



but they couldn’t get enough of dancing to top 20 pop hits in the dark. even elliot wanted in.



then they all got their owls. i didn’t take a picture of this, of course. but i put each owl in a bag with a tag hanging that had a small clue as to the “personality” of the owl inside. my thinking being that i had such a range of ages—if it was random owl assigning i didn’t want a 12 year old to get a “princess” owl, while a 3 year old got the ipod wearing “music” owl. so they couldn’t see the actual owl, but had a clue as to what it was.



again—$1 store owl bags. SCORE. i collected all the bags after they got their owls and threw in a little notebook, some crayons and a pencil and some candy for them to take home.
to round out the night we got jammies on and snuggled in with popcorn to watch a movie on the big screen.



supervised by daddy ;)



gigi with her besties. of course we had to explain that sleepovers are only for girls, and her other bestie—uncle dan—couldn’t come. ;)

i put these three little girls in the bedroom to sleep, and left everyone over the age of 7 in the family room. then i spent the next hour and a half bouncing back and forth between the two trying to keep everyone settled and quiet. it may sound like i’m mean, but the next day was sunday. there were a couple of sleeping girlies in our congregation that day ;)

the next morning i made an easy breakfast casserole and some pancakes. they filled their bellies and then i threw out a little craft kit i got on clearance for them to play with as they got picked up one by one.
all in all it seemed like everyone had a blast. fortunately my girls are surrounded by lots of other sweet girls from good families, which makes doing things like this a joy.

as for those stuffed owls? well, you haven’t seen the last of them. tomorrow you can expect a nice big post with all the details on those guys. i’m sure you just can’t wait. ;)

it’s 2012. shouldn’t rosie be real by now?

t minus 21 hours, and the summer is, to all intents and purposes, unofficially OVER.

school starts tomorrow, ya’ll, and the drinks are on me.
and by drinks, obviously i mean a celebratory cup of coffee and possibly a bagel. cause that’s the way i roll. (get it? bagel? roll? whomp whomp)

this year’s a bit different though—only harrison and ava will be headed off bright and early tomorrow morning. guinevere is starting cyberschool this year, and her first day isn’t until the 4th. so for the first time in quite a few years i’ll actually have more home with me than headed off to school.

(field day, last year)

but even still—the return to schedules and predictability is welcome all around.

i struggle every year with the start of school. i said once that i never pictured myself being one of those mothers counting down the days until the first bell…but here i am. (t minus 20 hours, 57 minutes now) don’t get me wrong—by the end of the school year i’m counting the days and hours until my kiddos are home with me full time. i ache to have them back in my clutches--to erase the bad habits nine months of associations that i can’t control has created in them, to reinforce and reinstill the values we want in them 24/7. i love lazy days and lazy nights, sprinkler play and library trips, midweek sleepovers, day trips…to a certain extent i even enjoy the looks when i head out to the stores with my herd in tow. yup, all mine thankyouverymuch.

but it’s been a long and busy summer, and we are pretty much fully in the throws of FIVE KIDS. meaning: days are a whirlwind of diaper changes, fight refereeing, boredom busting, chore assigning…you get the drift. we run the gamut right now—baby, preschooler, school-age, tween—bordering on teen. the needs are many and varied and there’s always someone requiring attention.

beyond that—there’s the simple logistics of it. there are seven people in this house who need to be clothed and fed and washed every day, multiple times a day. there are seven people in this house creating messes, and i simply can not keep up. believe me—the kids have chores. they certainly do. i parked myself on the couch yesterday and supervised family room clean-up while crocheting, and did so unapologetically. i barked orders like a boss, yo. it wasn’t my mess, and they’re well old enough to clean up after themselves.
i wage a constant internal battle between wanting them to create and explore and make messes. i want them to have free access to the tools for that and the desire to do so.
and then there’s the other part of me that just wants my house to look clean and pretty for 15 minutes. i’m typing this now sitting in the bathroom while gigi soaks off the purple paint covering her head to toe from this morning’s bird house decorating.
and ava and harrison are on the their 2nd day of making a batman costume—involving cardboard, paper, glue, paint, fabric, sewing and cutting. the mess is spectacular—in both the dining room and harrison’s room. but how can i stop them? they’re coming up with ideas and solutions and creating and working together happily—laughing and talking all the while.

i can’t.

i’m going to grumble and complain when it’s cleanup time, because they’ll never get it all. they’re going to miss spots of paint and glue. and we all know the floor DOESN’T EXIST when mom says “clean up”.

the fact is that the onus of the work falls to MOM. and it’s a big job. we do at least 2 loads of dishes everyday. we do at least 2 loads of laundry everyday. the mess of daily life, x7, is great. and i’m very, VERRRRY ready to have the odds flipped a little in my favor.

i’m looking forward to days of daddy headed out to work, middle two headed off to school, the biggest hard at work in her school area, and the little two—more easily controlled. i’m looking forward to doing the dishes—and having the sink empty for more than 3.2 seconds. heading out to the store, only 2 googies in tow. (and i still get the “wow you sure have your hands full” comments even with just the two little girls. and i just chuckle and say yup. you have no idea)

and don’t hate me—because we all rise to the challenges we’re given—but when i hear or read about people who say ugh! i just had my 2nd/3rd baby and i simply can NOT get anything done! yeah, i’m laughing at you. just a bit. it’s cute. in the same way i’m certain the moms out there with 8 or 9 kiddos are chuckling at my whining right now. yup, it’s cute.

so today i’m enjoying this last day before school starts. these idyllic days where i can pretend that starting tomorrow my life will somehow magically be easier and that torturous hour between home-from-school and dinner time doesn’t exist.

oh man…maybe i’m not so ready for this after all.

okay, let’s discuss. do you let your kids have free access to craft supplies? or would they not recognize a tube of paint if it hit them in the face?
and what about school? are you ready? or are you holding on to these summer days as long as possible?
let me know in the comments…