Olly The Owl

I was shopping with some friends in Brighton a couple of weeks ago, when one of them fell completely and utterly in love with two cartoon owl prints. After persuading her to buy them lest she walk away and regret it, I offered to design and make her a little cuddly owl toy to go with her pictures, even going out to Fabric Land to buy some special fabrics which I thought would complement the printed owls.
That was several weeks ago and yesterday I decided to bite the bullet and get down to designing and making, sewing late into the night, watching the little owl take shape in my hands. Most of the designing is actually in the making for me, as I tend to make things up as I go along and do a lot of unpicking and starting again. Finally though, after several hours, my little owl was finished and Olly was born.
Meet Olly the Owl!!

Isn't he cute? I LOVE him!! Even if I do say so myself.
Look, look, he even has a proper tail...!!

He is quite fiddly to make by my standards (I prefer simple and easy) and is made up of several parts, first the tail is sewn together, then the two wings, then all of the components for his front (tummy, eyes, beak) are sewn on,feet stitched together,  tail sewn to the back part...then the big sew, his front and back are put together right sides facing, the wings are also set inside, sewn all the way round leaving a small hole for the insides to be pushed outside (a very nerve-wracking bit as I wasn't sure what it would all look like, could have gone disastrously wrong!)...and finally his bottom is sewn together, trapping his little feet in the stitching along the way. And don't forget all the stuffing and extra decorative stitching that went on!! But I think he is worth it, don't you?

And now I have started, why stop? I can have a whole owlery (a new word?) set up by the end of the week, in a whole range of different colours- might start a psychedelic purple coloured owl....hmmm, the ideas are flowing now!!