By Olga Schrichte of Olga Quilts…

Frederick, MD

Finished Size 14” x 14”

Materials:

Christy Dillon’s Cutie Owl Panto (Cutie Owl Pantograph)

Trim Background pattern by Anita Shackelford

½ yd. cotton fabric or muslin for backing:Cut a piece 18” square

1 yd. Minkee, steel gray for background of front of pillow and back of pillow (Pay attention to the nap of the fabric.I cut mine so it felt smooth when I ran my hand from the bottom to the top.)

• Cut 15” square for front of pillow

• Cut 1 piece 15” wide x 9” high for top piece of the back pillow cover

• Cut 1 piece 15” wide x 14” high for the bottom of back of pillow cover

½ yd. Minkee, off-white for foreground, Cut a piece 13” square.(Make sure the nap runs in the same direction as the base fabric.)

1 Fat Quarter of accent fabric: 

• Cut a piece 8” wide x 10” tall from this for the heart and head of the owl

• Cut two 5-1/2” squares to make the Yo-Yo eyes

Pellon #805 Wonder-Under: 

• Cut a piece 8” wide x 10” tall.Fuse this to the wrong side of the accent fabric following the manufacturer’s directions.Cool and then remove the paper backing.

Hobbs 80/20 Batting: Cut a piece 18” square

Yarn to coordinate with accent fabric to couch around owl

Black wool felt, cut two 1-3/8” discs (Hint: Trace circle on the dull side of Freezer Paper and then press to felt with a hot iron.Cut on the traced line.Save Freezer Paper to use over and over again.)

White wool felt, cut two 1-5/8” discs

Your favorite quilting thread to match fabrics (I used Glide)

Black embroidery floss (Use 2 strands)

Clover Extra Large Yo-Yo Maker (Makes a 2-3/8” Yo-Yo)

2 Brown Animal Button Eyes with locking backs

Fabrico Marker (This is Tsukineko ink, which will not change the hand of the fabric.I used brown.)

14” Pillow Form

Use 14 SPI and slow the speed down to 8.Use the spoon foot while quilting the Minkee.

Instructions:

1. Load backing fabric and batting. Center the background Minkee on top and baste the perimeter.

2. Center the off-white Minkee on top of the gray and baste it in place.

3. Center a 14” geometric square on the fabric and toggle it sewn. (Do not enlarge to 14.5”. You want the pillow to be snug and plump.)

4. Select Cutie Owl Panto. Use nodes to divide out one owl. Change size it to Width: 11.12, Height 11.99

5. Center it in the square. Use nodes again to divide out the heart and the head of the owl. Toggle these sewn.

6. Quilt the feathers and the outline of the owl. (I matched the thread to the fabric.)

7. Echo the outline ¼” on the outside. Stitch again over the previous line of stitching. (I did this because I did not apply a fusible to the Minkee.)

8. Center the accent fabric on the owl. Pin in the corners to keep it from shifting.

9. Change thread, if necessary. Toggle the heart, head, beak and eyes unsewn.Quilt. (I changed the eyes slightly.)

10. Use Appliqué scissors to carefully trim away the excess accent fabric

11. Then, trim away the excess off-white Minkee

12. Change to the couching foot to apply the yarn to the original outline of the owl. (Go back and divide the outline and toggle it unsewn. I divided the pattern so I started the yarn just above the curlicue. I followed the curlicue, came back up, went to the left and ended it where it started.) If necessary, quilt this line again to secure the yarn. (I did this.)

13. Now, quilt the background.Select the 14” square and convert it to a boundary. Select the echo line of quilting and convert it to a boundary.

14. Drag the trim background pattern on top of the owl and stretch to extend just past the boundary. Click on fill inside. Quilt.

15. Color the beak and the curlicues on the heart with a Fabrico marker. (Plan where you’re going to end your coloring at the bottom.)

16. Construct pillow back. Serge the bottom of the top 15” x 9” piece of Minkee, along the bottom 15” side. (Double check that the nap runs up.) Turn under ¼” and stitch with your domestic machine.

17. Serge the top of the bottom piece 15” x 14” of Minkee, along the top 15” side.Fold a 2-1/4” hem and stitch close to the serging.

18. Lay the top of the pillow back down with the right side up. (The hem should be at the bottom)

19. Lay an acrylic ruler on top of the piece so 4-1/4” of the top is under the ruler.

20. Lay the bottom of the pillow back down on top of the other piece with the right side facing up. Line up the fold with the bottom edge of the ruler. Pin the sides where the fabrics overlap and baste them in place with your domestic machine.

21. Turn the backing unit wrong side up and center on top of the owl. (The hem should run horizontal.) Pin, to hold in place.

22. The sides of this unit are pretty thick to stitch; so I selected “Draw-Line” and drew individual lines just inside the stitching line for the perimeter of the trim background to stitch the back in place.

23. Use “Draw-Line” to stitch the vertical sides first. Slow the speed down so the fabric doesn’t shift and stitch at 12 SPI.

24. Now, use “Draw-Line” to stitch both the bottom and the top of the back in place. Make sure the line is just inside the stitching for the trim background. Again, slow the speed down so the fabric doesn’t shift and stitch at 12 SPI.

25. Unpin the pillow cover and trim seam allowances to ¼”.Fold corners to produce nice, sharp points.

26. Turn right side out.

27. Eyes: Follow the Clover directions to make the Yo-Yos.(Circles are 4-3/4” in diameter, if you don’t have a Yo-Yo maker.)

28. Cut discs out of white and black felt. Layer a black disc on top of a white one. Use 2 strands of black embroidery floss and a blanket stitch to sew the discs together. Make the second set.

29. Poke a tiny hole in the center of the discs. Put the stem of the animal eye button through the hole.

30. Center this unit on top of a Yo-Yo. Cut a tiny hole in the back. Push the stem through the Yo-Yo and secure with the locking piece.

31. Pin the Yo-Yos in place from the inside of the pillow to hold the eyes in place as you hand sew them.

32. Cover the pillow with a pressing cloth and carefully press the accent fabric with an iron on the Wool setting to fuse the accent fabric to the Minkee and to set the Fabrico ink.

33. Trim Background Frame. Insert the pillow form.

Enjoy your Snuggly, Cutie Owl Pillow!

If you have questions or comments, please contact me at olga_schrichte@msn.com

I piece a number of fabrics for backing separated by a strip of 2.5”. Or if using the same fabric load a larger piece of fabric.

Let’s get started!

*Load you backing as if was a quilt. – Lay batting on backing fabric. – Lay pillow wrap fabric on batting and baste fabric edges. Load your quilting patterns.

My choice of quilting patterns for this project.

Pillow Wrap without coloring. Front & back.

Pillow Wrap with coloring added.

Table Runner – no color.

Table Runner front with coloring.

Table Runner back.

A few more ideas! 

And here is one for Valentine's!

Perfect for last minute holiday gifts, Ms. Olga was kind enough to share her process for creating the lovely mug rug coasters from our Christmas Ornament Project! This is what she shared: 

I purchased the Christmas Ornament Project on your sale and couldn’t wait to get some ornaments made. However, I wasn’t sure of what fabric to use. I love the look of quilting on wool felt that’s been washed and almost decided to use that when I discovered a beautiful piece of woolen fabric that I’d purchased at a workshop years ago and tucked away for something special. 

I decided to use the woolen fabric on top and the wool felt on the bottom. Since my fabric was only 15” x 23”, I made only 6 ornaments. I made 2 of ornament #1, and then one each of 4, 5, 8 & 9.

I used 2 strands of Glide thread (Military Gold and 91355) on top and a Magna-Glide bobbin of Military Gold to quilt the ornaments out.

I used the following settings:
• I reduced the size slightly to 5.8”
• Speed 5
• SPI 13 (Even though 16 was recommended, I liked the look of a longer stitch.)
• Tie Stitches 5 (I buried the ends)
• Stitch in Points “On”

I had no problem using 2 stands of thread, in fact, when I make more ornaments, I’ll probably use 3 as I love the hand-embroidered look that it produces. I find that when I slow down and have stitch in points “On” I never have to worry about my tension. It’s perfect on both sides.

After quilting the ornaments, I cut them apart with regular shears and then cut them out individually using my mom’s pinking shears, staying about ¼” outside the stitching.

I decided to gift these as “mug rugs.” I gave three away the other day. The recipients were delighted with them and had a hard time choosing their favorite one. They commented that there was something comforting and cozy about the wool and they loved the quilting designs.

Thank you for coming up with such a fun project. Now, I need to find the time to get some more made!

This is how I set up my quilting. You can see that I tried doing two very narrow echoes around the first snowflake, but because I barely had enough wool felt to anchor with my side clamps, the stitching wasn’t consistent, so I abandoned that plan. I may or may not couch yarn over that stitching.

And here is the final result! 

Leeanne H. sent us pictures of a lovely custom quilt she finished recently. The top is a curved nine patch, which is very similar to a double wedding ring. The extensive white space was perfect to showcase our DWR melon block, and Lissa's Feather Block 12 was a perfect fit for the central nine patch. She selected a classic piano key for the border, and voila, the perfect finish!

With just a few patterns, Leeanne created an extraordinary quilt that will no doubt be passed down through the generations. We were so impressed with the spectacular results that we had to share it with you!

Leeanne H. sent us pictures of a lovely custom quilt she finished. The top is appliqued with extensive white space, and Leeanne created a wonderful whole cloth using echos embellished with feathers and curls, a bit of ruler work, and our Stoney Brook Border 1 and Triangle 2.

With just a few patterns, she created an extraordinary quilt that will no doubt be passed down through the generations. We were so impressed by her skill and imagination, we had to share it with you!

From Leeanne Hopper:

Quilt Me Kiwi sprouted as a way for paying for my patchwork fabrics around 2008. What started out low key quickly grew into a thriving business! All my quilting is executed on my Gammill long arm machine. In 2018 I had a computer retrofitted and I expanded my quilting business even more.

I live in Whangarei Northland New Zealand. My customers send their quilt top creations to me from all over New Zealand as well as a few customers in Australia (I have even received quilts from an expat New Zealander in the UK)!

I'm on Instagram and Facebook all under a quick Google search of "QUILTMEKIWI"! My blog may be found at http://quiltmekiwi.blogspot.com/.

The blocks are sewn together, ironed, then trimmed to nine inches. Then the block is cut into three inch pieces and the outer center pieces are rotated one position clockwise. Then the pieces are sewn back together as a whole block.

A major part of the "look" for this quilt was a color gradient, so we spent a fair amount of time arranging and re-arranging the squares before settling on a final layout. Since we didn't really plan out the squares ahead of time, we ended up making a few extra blocks that helped transition colors. For example, there's a block with a yellow bottom and orange top, and another with a pink top and dark bottom. All in all, this was a blast to piece together.

We added borders, and quilted with our popular West Wind at Night Edge-to-Edge. As you can see, the stars add a lot of fun and flavor to the quilt, and the swirls provide good coverage and movement!

And here's the happy recipient of the quilt getting cozy before a little nap! 

And if you're interested in learning more about how to make this pattern, check out this fantastic YouTube tutorial made by Missouri Star Quilt Co. 

Lori tells us that our designs are some of her favorites (thank you!) and that she was drawn to the Clifton Set because of the cross-hatching and beautiful swirls. When she received Patti's quilt, she knew the Clifton Set would be the perfect compliment! She used Melissa K's ( https://www.mkquilts.com/) teaching on the Prostitcher Simulator to design the layout of the patterns, and then used her Avante to work the magic!!

We think the final results are spectacular! Thanks so much to Lori and Patti for sharing this beautiful quilt with us. We also love seeing how quilting connects us and brings us together, with Lori traveling from Petersburg, Virginia and Patti from Fresno, California to attend the Quilt Festival. 

The sashing was quilted with our popular Autumn Swirl Set II Sashing 1. The simple swirls complement the large block and fill the narrow sashing perfectly. The corners were accented with the Autumn Swirl Set I Quarter Block 6.

Some of the spaces were filled with hand-guided feathers and straight lines using a ruler. However the border was finished by shrinking down the Autumn Swirl Set I Edge-to-Edge 1, and the corner was finished with the Four Patch Feather Star Center Quarter Block.

Our special focus is making sure every pattern we design stitches out every time! We test every pattern, and stand by our work. If you ever have an issue, just let us know! And if you love them as much as we do, please take the time to write reviews and send pictures to post. Thank you!