HOW TO ENLARGE A FINISHED QUILT

There's no way to make it easy.  There's hard, and harder.  Since I had just finished - and LOVED - my quilt, I had to think long and hard before I basically tore it to pieces.

Part of me said to keep it as it is.  The other part of me insists on having a quilt cover my feet, and my feet were not happy campers.

I'm also not very handy with a measuring tape.  Measure twice, cut once, never worked for me.

So I laid it on the floor, eyeballed where I wanted to slice:  sliced.....then decided I should run to the fabric store and buy a few yards of a coordinating design.

Well, a "few" yards turned into a few MORE yards because, like I said, Measure twice, cut once, never worked for me.

I cut the coordinating fabric, front and back.

I then laid padding between the fabric strips, allowing one full inch of top and bottom fabric to extend past the padding.

I then began quilting each strip, because once it became part of the enlarged quilt, it would never fit inside my home sewing machine.

Once each strip was quilted, I pinned it to the master quilt, making sure I had a full 1/4" of fold, (top and bottom), making a bias/type of edge to sew in a zig-zag pattern for added strength.

When it was finished, my back hurt, and I decided I would never, ever, RE-make a quilt again.  Let my feet hand out and freeze.  I don't care.

ANGER MANAGEMENT FOR OWLS

Keeping in mind that I don't like to sew:  

I'm always in a hurry, and it was time to set the clocks back. . . .

I managed to make two owls in two hours and they measure about 8 inches tall.

While the photo is self-explanatory, I recommend using left over scraps from the last project you gave up on.  

The crazier the fabric pattern, the better.

The tan will be the owl's belly.  Sew it to the side panels.  

Iron the seams toward the darker fabric. 

 MAKE SURE the belly and sides come to a perfect point. . . . .

because. . . .

The point will be the BEAK!

YAY!  Now iron that sucker down.

This is the place where most people stop.  

But I've never seen a flat headed owl and I'm not going to make one.

This might get a wee bit confusing, but you're tough.  

You'll hang in there.

Flip the beak over to the backside and draw a curve from one edge ("horn") to the other edge.

Sew the curve.  Wheeeeee.

Yep.  It'll look like this.

Iron it again.  *sigh*

And see the horns?  Much better than a flathead.

Leaving an opening you can turn inside out.

Still here?  My, you ARE tough, aren't you.

Now things get a little bit screwy.

But it will work out in the long run.

Make the eyeballs ROUND if you want to, 

but I'm going to show you how to make an angry owl

So make little Beggar Purses out of the eyes, 

then sew closed along the STRAIGHT edge.

Okay now.  I'm getting tired of sewing.

Let's get out the Aleen's fabric glue.

The tube of glue decided to burp at just the right moment.

But nevermind.   

We're going to glue these onto the eyeballs we just finished sewing.

Straight edge, to straight edge.

*lost photo should be here*

I'm just laying the eyes down to give it a check-o.

This would be THE perfect time to sew black buttons at the top of the eyeball, but do you SEE buttons?

No?

Well, just another thing I forgot to do.

Flip them over and add glue. . . .

Make sure YOUR little black buttons have been securely sewn on at this stage.

Then iron  those suckers onto the head.

If you see any glue, don't worry.  It dries clear.

I ran LONG basting stitches around the bottom and started shoving batting inside.

Then I pulled the basting stitches closed underneath the owl.

Stitched those tightly into what looks like a puckered little owl butt and let the Mrs. meet the Mr.

And glue also works on buttons.

I was in a hurry and the Mrs has an odd looking tummy, 

but don't we all.