I'm a dreamer. Not a daydreamer, but a night time dreamer. I wake up in the middle of the night or in the morning with vivid memories of my dreams. Some of the things in my dreams - being late for work, forgetting to finish something - can be explained because it might be something I'm subconsciously worried might happen. But sometimes I can't figure out how particular details wind up in there and how one dream can twist and turn so much.
It's probably not much different than when I lie awake at night. I might start thinking about one thing, which leads to another, and another, and another. My mind moves a mile a minute and I forget what I originally started thinking about. I guess it's like that Bing commercial about search overload syndrome.
It even happens to me during the day. I was going to start today's blog by saying, "It's back!".
Which then made me think of Back to the Future.
Michael J. Fox.
Fox and the Hound.
You ain't nothin' but a hound dog.
Elvis.
Graceland.
Will and Grace.
Last will and testament.
The Ten Commandments.
Tablets.
Ipads.
Ipods.
Pea pods.
Pea fence.
Vines.
Ivy.
Poison Ivy.
Calamine Lotion.
Baby Lotion.
Baby Blanket.
Hmm..Actually without any forethought, that example worked out just right. I guess my mind knows where it's going after all.
The "It's back!" was referring to my exercise streak. I'm finally again three days (in a row) into an exercise routine. And how are baby blankets connected to today?
Finished my first quilt for Operation Kid Comfort. (Since kids' pictures are on the blanket, I took the picture from afar.)
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Make an Owl Pincushion - Day 195 of 365, Tutorial Tuesday
When my daughter was a toddler, we were playing in the snow outside our front door. As we approached our pine tree, a gorgeous white snow owl flew from the tree. Owls were good.
A couple years later as I was finishing up college to become a teacher, I took a science class to learn how to teach science to kids. In one of the activities, we worked with owl pellets. (An owl pellet is undigested food the owls have regurgitated.) Things like bones, fur, feathers, and teeth. We took these disgusting looking pellets and took them apart, looking for jawbones of animals, legs, etc. to get an idea of the owl's diet. We were told you just had to use the owl pellet activities with kids. That lesson left me not liking owls so much. (And I never did use that activity with my students.)
As time went on I forgot about the activity, I forgot about the snow owl. Didn't have a thought about owls until this spring.
Thanks to Oprah I liked owls again.
I watched an episode where she and Gayle were doing a camping trip to Yosemite. Oprah woke up in the morning in the coolest owl pajamas. I liked owls again.
I thought this owl-liking business was going to stick. I've been seeing cute owl fabrics, and knew they'd make great kids quilts.
But this summer, owls were on my bad side again. Behind our back fence, across the road, sits an old metal building. In that old metal shed some owls have taken residence. Some screech owls. (They probably aren't screech owls, but they sure sound like them.) All night long they screech. It seemed though the babies cried and cried for mama all night. Mama eventually shows up, feeds them, they quiet down, and mama leaves again. And the babies cry again. And again. And again until she shows up again.
It probably wouldn't bother me so much except I had problems sleeping this summer. And the particular metal shed where the reverberation of screeching owls occurred just happened to be a straight shot out my bedroom window.
Thank goodness those owls have since moved on. They probably left plenty of pellets behind, but I certainly am not checking on that one!
I decided I need to start liking owls again. I again see lots of cute fabrics, but since I've already purchased enough fabric to make kids quilts for the rest of my life I won't be buying any owl-specific fabric.
But then I found a post over at The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle. I visit her site often as she is tremendously creative when it comes to decorating sugar cookies. Just last week she made some beautifully decorated owl cookies. Oh, how I wanted to make those cookies!
But I'm on a sugar-cookie fast, so instead I made an owl-themed pincushion using the same cookie cutter for the pattern. I used scraps from my stash, buttons from my collection, and some leftover felt, too.
- Two 5” x 5” fabric scraps
- Two buttons
- Small felt scraps
- Pincushion filling – I used fiberfill but you could use cotton batting or steel wool
- Pins or Clover Wonder Clips
- Iron
- Sewing machine
- Matching thread
- Scissors or Rotary cutter, Cutting ruler, and Cutting mat
- Owl template, download HERE
Disclosure: Deb's Days is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to affiliated sites. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you new sewing and crafting content.
You can find the step-by-step how to video for making these homemade fabric owl pincushions right here:
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