The "eyes" have it!

Get it? Eyes vs. ayes! wokka wokka!

I decided to take your suggestions and add some button eyes. I bought a pack of these precious little buttons almost four years ago, but never found the right project for them. I'd forgotten I even had them until I was rooting around in my drawers. Isn't it satisfying to use up things from your stash? (especially when it saves you a trip to the store!)

It'll be on it's way to my partner tomorrow. Hope they enjoy it...I'm know I'm going to miss seeing it sitting on my rocking chair :(

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Presenting....the Wise Owl Pillow!

As you can see, I finished my pillow for the Pillow Talk Swap 4! Yay! The design of this whole pillow pretty much revolved around the three owls, because that's the first part I sketched. I love owls. I've loved them ever since I was little because I was obsessed with Greek and Roman mythology, and owls were a symbol of my favorite mythological goddess, Athena. My parents were constantly buying books for me, and if you want a hilarious mental image, when I was 7 they got me a copy of D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths and for my 10th birthday I received Bulfinch's Mythology. If you know anything about either of those books, you know they're both HUGE, so I was kind of like Matilda - a tiny girl toting ginormous hardback books to school, my sister's soccer practice, airports, car rides...pretty much everywhere. Random Fact: did you know "bubo" means owl in Latin? Hence the little tin owl being named "Bubo" in the original Clash of the Titans. (I was a Latin minor in college...and not exactly shooting for practicality at the time)

Anywho, moving away from my mental bank of nerdy facts....I noticed my partner had favorited lots of sewn goods on Flickr with whimsical little critters in them, so I thought she'd be just the type of person to appreciate some precious appliqued owls. I didn't want to mess with the center design, so I quilted only the string-pieced border with giant squares set 1/2" apart.

And here's the back, done up in Freespirit's Freckles in Orange. I kind of wanted a solid, but not really, so I went with the Freckles because it looks like a solid from afar...

...and a print up close.

Question: my husband says you can't really tell they're owls and I should add some eyes. At this point in the game, the only way I could do that is to embroider some. Personally I like the look of the solid silhouettes compared to the craziness of the border, but I'd like your opinions because I'm clearly biased.

So what do you think...eyes or no eyes?

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My Finished Project for the Holiday Mug Rug Swap

I finally finished my Mug Rug for the Mug Rug Swap 2! I've been tearing my hair out and cursing the day I signed up for so many swaps...I knew better than to sign up for so many right before the holidays, but I couldn't stop myself. Despite the madness, I managed to finish a few days before the final mailing deadline on the 29th :)  Now all I have to do is complete my Modern Swappers items, my 3x6 Bee blocks, and my Pillow Talk Swap pillow and I'll be right as rain.

I thought it would be cute to have a reversible mug rug that my partner could flip to reflect her current mood :)  I figure the "naughty" side will be pre-coffee and the "nice" side will be post-coffee...hehe! I used free-motion applique on all the words, packages, and lumps o' coal.

Below is a closeup of my packages. Don't act like you're not impressed by my crappy bows. They look so sad and lumpy *sigh* ...I promise they were much more majestic in my brain.

Also, I'll have some pictures of my finished Scrappy Spidey quilt soon! I had to baste it in an empty office at work and I've been hand quilting the layers during my lunch break every day in order to hide it from the hubby. Have I mentioned before that it's impossible to hide anything from my him? He always unwittingly stumbles across every surprise I plan for him...BAH! He guessed that I was getting him an XBox for Christmas last year, and I played it so cool. Still have no idea how he figured that one out. He's strictly forbidden from looking at my blog, so hopefully this year he'll be surprised when he unwraps his quilt :)

Hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving!!! I don't know about ya'll, but I plan on slamming. I pity the food that crosses my path come Thursday. I'm trying out a new cornbread and Andouille stuffing that looks pretty spectacular spectacular (in the words of the vernacular). Needless to say, the running regime shall resume on Monday before I spiral out of control and develop a food baby in the ol' stomach region.

P.S. Many thanks to my partner in Scottie crime, Sarah. She tipped me off about the amazing Scottie Christmas fabric you see above. Can you believe it's from Hancock's? Whiskers shall be getting a new stocking and a tree skirt this year. Yes, it's his tree skirt, because he believes that all our tree skirts are his personal blankets. He likes to lounge under the tree on them and munch on the plastic branches...this is also why we haven't been able to put up our Hogwarts Express Lego train the past two years....*sigh* The poor little Lego men would think he was Godzilla as he stomped through their little plastic town!

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Completed SavVy {Seasons} Bunting (2nd Set)

Why am I blogging at 12:40 am? I came home this afternoon from church and pretty much blacked out on my sofa. I slept for 4 solid hours and my husband practically had to blow an airhorn in my face to wake me up. We had a late dinner planned with the fam, so I didn't get to work on the last few touches on my 2nd bunting set until 10:30 tonight. I finished the two Santas yesterday, but I hadn't so much as cut out the fabric for the trees yet. Since the SavVy {Seasons} mailing deadline is the 18th (which is technically today....even though it's an ungodly hour right now), I had to shake a tailfeather in order to finish in time! Below are all the photos. My husband is already in bed and even uber-hyper Whiskers is dragging right now, so that's why I'm making this short and sweet. You can read more about my interchangable bunting and see the first set here.

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The Mo Pouch

1. I sit in a cubicle next to a lady named Carol, and every morning we swap stories about our impertinent pups. Hers is a wiener dog named Mo (short for Morpheus), and mine is a Scottish Terrier named Whiskers.
2. Carol also loves Coke, and drinks one like clockwork every day at 2 o'clock.
3. Her birthday is this week, so I combined her two favorite things: Mo and Coke.

And these are the humble beginnings of the Mo Pouch. I will be filling it with quarters and presenting it to her tomorrow :)

The main fabric is plain linen I bought at my local JoAnn Fabrics, and the weiner dog applique is courtesy of some Heather Ross fabric ("Dogs" from the Lightning Bugs & other Mysteries line) I had in my scrap bin. My inside joke "coke fund" tag is the type of thing I make all the time. I have a typewriter-style alphabet stamp set that I use for stationary and all my quilt tags. You can usually find rubber alphabet sets at stores like Michael's or Hobby Lobby - I think I got mine at Michael's, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Aside from the stamps, all you need is some linen tape (usually purchased on Etsy) and textile ink. Voila!


I also had a yard or two of the coordinating "Dots" from the Lightning Bugs line, so I used that for the lining. Since there's a lot of white in the print and money is very filthy (I know this because I worked at a bank every summer while I was in college), I used some iron-on vinyl to protect the lining. It's a big, crinkly pain in the butt when it comes to turning the pouch right side out, but I think it's worth it to prevent the fabric from becoming gray and dingy within a few weeks.

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