Comfort and JOY with Bea and her Tutorial for Owl Pot holders ( 2 guests today, tomorrow New Years EVE)

I'm so excited that Madame Samm allowed me to host this tutorial here.

I've been quilting for 7 1/2 years and long arm quilting since 2009.

You'll learn more about me here and follow my blog too if you want :-)

So, how would you like to make these cute owl pot holders?

They are a HOOT to make.

They measure approx. 7" when done.

I just use scraps, but often use at least 1 FQ for the body or you can use scraps for that too.

I also used my GO! cutter and circle die for this but you can cut out circles yourself instead.

You will also need Heat N bond and batting.

(If you are intending to use them as ot pats too, I recommend special heat resistant batting also)

First cut out (4) 7 1/2" squares from a fat quarter.

For wings cut out 5 1/2" x 11"

For Eyes (whatever matching color) cut out (2x) 3 1/2" x 7"

For the iris of the eyes (white) cut out  (2x) 2 1/2" x 5"

For the Pupils (black) cut out 2 1/2" x 2 1/2"

Beak 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Cut out the same in Heat n Bond but them everything about 1/4" smaller

and iron to the back of fabrics

I used my Go! cutter and the wing fabric I cut out (2x) of the large 5" circles.

The outer eyes (4x) of the middle 3" circles.

And the white of the eyes (4x) of the smallest 2" circles

(or trace or print out circles and trace that way if you don't have a GO! cutter)

The beak I used a 3" square die, but you can just as easily cut that out with your rotary cutter

With the black pupils of the eyes I used a small spool or a bobbin to trace and cut them out by hand

Here's all the pieces cut

I cut the NOSE square in half at an angle, or you can cut it into more of a diamond shape if you want

The wing circles I cut in half too, I line them up on the grid of the mat and had 2 1/2" on either side of the middle line and cut them in half (both of them)

Now it's time to iron them on!

I line up one wing, maybe 1/2" from the bottom edge of the owl body, removed the paper and ironed with a hot dry iron

then I laid the other owl body next to it and laid the wing so it matched the other side and ironed that again

You can also lay then on top of each other to match up where the rest of the wings are placed and remove the top one before you iron.

Now both are ironed down

Then I placed down the beak in the center and made sure it was straight, WITHOUT ironing.

Then placed the large outer eyes on top, one overlaps the other

when I was happy with the look I ironed them down

Then added the white and black of the eyes, I like to have them look in different directions :-)

Now it's time to cut the handles!

from left over scraps ( this time the FQ scraps) I cute (2x) 2" x 6" strips

ironed them in half

and then opened them up and ironed the raw edged in toward the crease

I stitched down the side close to the edge ( less than 1/4") and then put them aside

I then button hole stitched the owls with black thread, I like to turn when the needle is down, this way things don't slip around.

here they are both done

I cut out batting in both regular batting and heat resistant batting.

All 4 are 7 1/2" squares

first I laid down the heat resistant batting

then the regular batting

then the back of the owls with the top center marked with a pin

I added the handle and have the seam on the inside and pinned on either side of the pin marker

lastly the owl fron with wrong side up

I then pinned everything down really well, leaving a 4-5" opening at the bottom, I like to pin two pins right next to each other to remind me of where to start and stop

I attached my walking foot to the sewing machine

and sewed 1/4" all the way around ( if it's a little bigger seam allowance that's okay too)

I snipped the corners before turning inside out

I used this wooden stick that came with a bag of fiber fill, that's a great tool for getting the corners

I pinned the bottom closed and stitched close to the edge all the way around both pot holders

aren't they cute??

I gave these away already for Christmas, but this black and white set is cute for New years too!

Another set I made a while ago, using bobbins for irises.

If you make any of these sets, I'd love to see pictures of them, please send me an email or link on my blog!

Thanks for looking and

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!