Ewe Revealed

At long last Ewe is ready to go off to my little grandniece. This has been a well traveled quilt. It went back and forth from New Mexico to Texas several times when I was working on the applique. Then it went to Oregon. I really love this quilt and might make a miniature version for myself.

I first saw this quilt when my friend Shelley posted one she made on her blog. I liked it so much I made my own version. Thanks Shelley! Of course Shelly only spent a fraction of the time I did to make hers.

Because this is for a small child I used a black sharpie for the applique eyes. I would have used buttons.

I like the detail on the flowers and leaves.

I was working on the quilt at a different retreat year and my friend Suze found some fabric with butterflies on a white background. She brought it over to me and suggested that I fussy cut and applique them on the quilt. I love the whimsy they add. Thanks Suze!

I had to take a closeup of the flowers when I did my photoshoot. The flowers in Central Oregon are all blooming now.

Instead of putting a seam in the background fabric I opted for a stripe to add interest. You can see some of the detail quilting of the flowers on that purple strip.

The label below has a story. At the retreat I attend every February my friend made a quilt out of adorable machine embroidered sheep. She noticed one did not have the blue fabric on the ear and was not going to put that one in her quilt. I told her I would love to have it. She even gave me a scrap of the blue fabric and I did needle turn applique so it is now complete. It was the perfect thing for a label for this quilt. Thanks Judy!

So how do you quilt the black hexie to make it look like a sheep. This was the hardest decision during the quilting.  I finally decided to try to make a realistic face. I  googled sheep photos and did a series of drawings. Then I drew the one I liked with a white removable clover pen on the quilt. I am quite pleased with the result.