GO!Baby Tutorial: Roly Poly Owl Block

Somebody left a BABY on my doorstep this week.  Can you believe it???

And this one doesn't cry or cost a fortune in diapers.  Woohoo!  The folks at accuquilt sent me this GO!Baby Cutter and three dies and asked me to do some tutorials.  I love writing tutorials and I have been wanting to try an accuquilt cutter so I was pumped.  Oh, and there might be something for a lucky reader in the near future...ahem, ahem!

This week I will be showing you how I used the 3.5" drunkard's path die.  I have had the acrylic templates to this block for a long time and unfortunately did not get good results with my test block.  I initially did not even consider getting this die because of that, but I saw all the amazing variations and knew it would be worth trying to master this block.  

 Here is what I cut using the die cutter:
3 blue concave pieces
1 blue convex piece
3 convex pieces for my owl
1 concave piece for my owl
Additionally I cut a 1" square of beak colored fabric& 2 1.5" circles for the eyeballs (backed in heat bond) .   I also selected 2 buttons for pupils.

 Sew up your pieces like so.  There is a little divot in the die that helps you line up the centers of the 2 pieces.   I also found it helpful to shorten my stitch length to help the curves go more smoothly.  This is my first successful attempt at curved piecing!

 You see the owl is shaping up.

 I drew a diagonal line on the back of the orange beak piece.  I placed it face down on the bottom of the owl's head and sewed on the diagonal line.

 I then trimmed the excess 1/4" from the sewn line.

 And pressed the beak out.

 Sew into pairs.

 Then sew pairs together to make a block.  The owl block should measure 7.5" unfinished. 

 I ironed on my 2 white circles.  You can secure these with stitching.  I chose not to because I don't plan on this being washed or used...just for display.

 I experimented with eye placement...fun!

 This owl looks like he is something you would find on a drunkard's path ;)

Stitch your buttons where you like.

I had way too much fun stitching this up.  I actually made four more.

 I named this "Hoo's that girl?"  All the boy owls are looking at the girl owl (who could not care less).

Next week I will post a tutorial using the tumbler dies.  I'm not doing a review of the system but if you have any questions feel free to shoot me an email or  leave your question in the comments section.