A to Z Challenge: O is for Owls

Today is Day 15 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you are new to the blog and haven't heard of this challenge before, the basic idea is to blog (almost) every day in April, taking one day for each letter of the alphabet. Since I have a cross stitch blog, I am blogging about cross stitch patterns in my stash and on my wish list for this month of April.

O is for Owls

Not really sure why, but I am totally obsessed with owls right now.  Not so much your traditional, realistic owls, but I love those cutesy, stylized owls that are so popular.  Which is good for me, of course, because it makes finding charts much easier.  

Two of my favorite owl patterns in my stash are the two new Owlets kits from Mill Hill I got for my birthday (thanks again Kathy & Brianne!).  These cute little adorable babies are just so sweet with their decorated eggs and sleepy eyes.  These look like they will be even more spectacular in person.  The colors and the beads really stand out when you're looking at the stitched models, which unfortunately I didn't capture much with my photo here.  I really like Mill Hill kits, so I look forward to stitching these. 

I also was able to get my hands on a chart by Ursula Michael (one of my favorite designers) called Halloween Hoots last year.  Sadly, it was after Halloween so I didn't feel like pulling it out, although I hope to start on it for this year.  I think my favorite owl of the three is the orange vampire owl on the right.  He looks so mysterious and mischievous.

There's a matching design called Holiday Blues for winter that's on my wish list.  I'd love for Ursula to do an owl design for every season!  I also like how the Holiday Blues chart can easily be used for Christmas (the "joy" aspect) or just left up for winter in general.  Love those little cuties bouncing all over the letters. 

I also have a lot of owl charts in my stash thanks to charts from Dailycrossstitch.com.  These patterns are fun, easy, and usually pretty quick to stitch up.  The biggest problem I've had is finding the time to do so!

By the way, if you like the style of these charts, and you like freebie patterns, make sure you do check out www.dailycrossstitch.com.  They offer a different free chart per day, and some of them are really great.  You just have to make sure you check back every day so you don't miss one.  Of course, if you do miss one, they go on sale in the store for only $1.00 the next day, so even then that won't set you back much.

So now I've given you brief glimpse into my owl stash, of course you know I have more owl patterns in my wish list.

There's a series of patterns you can purchase from Etsy featuring owls called Hooties.  I love just about all of them, but I am particularly drawn to this one, called "Chic Smart".  Out of all of the Hooties charts, I'm not sure why I like these ones best.  Perhaps it's because I'm a nerd and always will be.

I mentioned Holiday Blues by Ursula Michael earlier.  She also has an owl pattern called A Few Hoots.  It features a family of owls sitting on a tree branch with the greatest caption: "Families are like owls. Mostly sweet with a few hoots."  I have a few hoots in my family, that's for sure, so I'd love to stitch this one up someday.

One of the other A to Z blogs I've been reading had the excellent idea of adding links to previous posts at the end of a particular day.  So if you'd like to see my previous A to Z entries:

A is for  Alphabet
B is for Britty Kitty
C is for Carousel
D is for Debbie Mumm
E is for Eat
F is for Frogs
G is for Garden Cat
H is for Hats 
I is for Ice
J is for Joan Elliott 
K is for Kokeshi 
L is for Lesley Teare
M is for Margaret Sherry 
N is for Noah's Ark