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 :~)...!