Owls have been some of my favorite creatures since childhood: hearing their soft, haunting voices in the night woods from my bedroom; a rare ghosty glimpse in the trees or a flash of luminous eyes in the beam from the headlights on our country roads; my beloved worn paperback copy of Farley Mowat’s boyhood adventures with his unusual pets in Saskatoon. Later I was intrigued by their status in myth all over the world: birds of wisdom and prosperity, companions of goddesses, omens of death, divine messengers or demon spirits. And let’s own to it: a lot of them are cute. So it’s no surprise I fell for the tiny owls on Alexandra Rasmussen’s blog, Moonstitches, on my first visit. (I also fell for her beautiful quilts and photographs; she’s one of the craft bloggers whose posts I most look forward to nowadays.) I knew there were adorable sewn owls in my future.

I made this little guy last night when I realized I wasn’t going to finish the birthday present I’d started for Jen. He’s a placeholder until the real present is done. I stuffed him with wool and stiffened his bottom with a circle of cardboard from a priority mail envelope, which I figure is sort of a good joke for Harry Potter fans. And look how perfectly he nested overnight in my new 100% Philistine Made pin cushion:

I gave him to Jen at school to be her desk owl. Here he is on my desk:

… and outside at the bird bath:

(He didn’t go in, being so new and squeaky clean.)

Now I know why Alexandra says they come in swarms. I don’t know if I can resist making him a bunch of cousins. The literary collective noun for owls is a parliament.