Friday, April 20, 2007

Rejected

This snowy owl lives at the Alaska zoo. It was found injured & would've died in the wild, so is living out it's days in our zoo.
When I thought about the Quilting Arts 2008 Calendar challenge, 'A Novel Idea', to base a small quilt upon a favorite book, Harry Potter's owl Hedwig came to mind for me. I love JK Rowlings books. I've read & reread them e ery time another book or movie comes out. I've lost count how many times I've read them all. I'm rereading again in preperation for the finale book #7, & the next movie. Both coming in July, along with my next grandchild. July will be a very exciting month for me this year!
Anyhow, I made "An Homage to Hedwig", because I love Harry Potter. & I think that those books have gotten my kids reading than anything else in recent years. & an owl represents wisdom, (something else that can come with knowledge learned from reading),
so I placed Hedwig among Harry's school books. The books were fussy cut from an old blouse of Aunty Ethel's, as well as the red fabric of Harry's blanket from an old wool jacket.
The gold is all wool rovings needle felted on, including the 'binding' on the edges. Hedwig herself is also needled felting then appliqued on to the surface. Some pearl cotton hand stitched on for her feathers.felted piece, & a bit of hand-dyed rick-rack for the irises, glued in place. Austrian crystals sparkle in the dark sky behind her head.

The eyes are old black glass buttons under the feltd owl body. Even though Hedwig didn't make the cut for the QA challenge. She'll hang in my studio as I quilt & create , & listen to the Harry Potter movies on DVD while I sew. I decided when I was making her, it was more for me than them anyway, & you can't win 'em all :~)...!

16 comments:

Granny Fran said...

Hedwig is wonderful. Can't imagine him not being chosen, but, glad you get to keep him. Or is Hedwig a girl? You can tell I haven't read the books, although I enjoyed the movies.

allie aller said...

Fie upon them!

Lori (A.K.A. Elkhoundmom) said...

I love it! My son and I also love Harry Potter. Your quilt is wonderful!

Deb Geyer said...

She is too cool!!

Anonymous said...

Your Hedwig is excellent! Aren't you glad you got to keep her in the end? I would be!

Barbara C said...

What a fun and wonderful piece. Hedwig has so much personality, I love her face.

jenclair said...

Beautiful! I love your Hedwig!

Dianne said...

She looks so snowy and gorgeous!! We all love Harry Potter in this household....

Suze said...

Beautiful owl...I love how you did the face.

Caron Mosey said...

Deb,
I am an owl lover, and your little Hedwig is absolutely adorable. What a great job! Hedwig can come live with me in Michigan any time.
Caron Mosey

Micki said...

I love owls. I have a whole collection of them. Your Hedwig is wonderful and can't imagine them not choosing it.

PaMdora said...

I love his eyes! And who wouldn't want an owl like Hedwig, except for the biting part. Someone once gave my dad an owl statue, then the rumor got around that he was collecting them, so when I was growing up, we had dozens of all different kinds of owls hanging around the house, lol!

Shirley Goodwin said...

Oh I am SUCH a Harry Potter fan too, Deb! Love your Hedwig. And good to hear you were inspired to buy getrude's book - I'm sure there'll be something in it to inspire us (haven't got my copy yet!)

Françoise said...

She's really beautiful!
And I love Rowling's books too.

Emmy said...

this is a wonderful Hedwig

Michelle Auer said...

Your owl is very pretty! One of these days I will actually read those Harry Potter books! :-)
Owls are one animal that I always get kind of blown away by when I see one in person. Mostly because their eyes are just so unreal. I love owls.