Harry Potter Quilt Journey.. come with me! (Part 1)

After a year away from sewing, I am happy to be getting back into the groove of making quilts! I can honestly say I have missed it. The creativity and the imagination that goes into making any quilt is the best therapy in the world!

Anyway.. I decided to make a Harry Potter quilt for my oldest grand daughter to give to her when she graduates high school...in 5 years! She is the most dedicated "Potter Head" in the world! She tells me she will always be a "Potter Head" and Albus Dumbledore is her "mentor". ( He does have some really good things to say!)  I know very little about Harry Potter so I am just making this quilt based on the obvious! I recently watched movies 1,2 and 3 but I think I am just to old to "get it"! And I can't ask her.. the quilt is a surprise but I have snuck a few general questions in on her asking about her "potterhead-ness"! And I have asked on a few groups I am on and got some great helps
 from some great friends!

Anyway.. again... I thought I'd share my progress with everyone in case someone else wants to make one. If you want to follow the progress.. join via email in the top left side bar. I searched all over the place for ideas and the only Harry Potter theme one was of the book shelf style. Very nice, but to me it was so much work and so involved that it just didn't say "harry potter" to me and I want this quilt to have memories of the HP world for her.

Now.. on to the first part. I shop at Joann's.. only. I hate buying online as my past experience has not been good! So I picked up all fabrics at Joann's. Small selection but once I got going, I was able to make appliques and other added embellishments with it to "stretch" the idea farther.  I did buy the center panel (below)  on Amazon.com.

I cut off the outer border as I want to put my own there.. and replaced it with a blue glitter sashing and a black with gold dots sashing around that. VERY nice and bright and colorful! Brings out the yellows in the panel for a little brightness. I decided to use 9x9" blocks as the 12x12 seemed to dwarf the center panel.

9x9 means a 9 patch of 3, 3x3" squares. This worked well as the prints I got were small images so I could get good images in the smaller pieces. Larger would not have looked as good.  Here are a few of the blocks I have created so far. All I did was browse through some quilt blocks idea books and chose a quilt block I liked and would work with 3x3 size squares. I made some HST's and some Hour Glass squares. The blocks themselves do not have any name. I just played with the layout till I liked what I saw!

I tried to pull out some of the brighter blues from the panel as the main colors in the blocks. I got some fabric (100% cotton) that was beige with gold glitter on it.. and silver with silver glitter on it. REALLY does sparkle! This first one.. is the silver glitter in the half of HST. The other half is the glasses, wand and little flying thingy from the movie (I always forget what it is called!) The top left corner square.. that is Gryffindor logo that was a fabric so I just cut out the specific image using a template and cut it 3,1/2x3,1/2 inches.  The Right top corner block.. again, that is the fabric print (looks similar to newspaper print) and it has things about Harry Potter.. the broom stick and that little flying thingy and few other things. I used the template to specifically cut out a square that had things that could be "read" in the fabric. The Lower right corner.. that is a image in the print.. that flying thingy again!

This block uses the gold glitter fabric in the corners of the HST's. The 2 middle/side blocks are, again.. cut from the print fabric, specifically centering around the images. That is Ron and Harmonie and I don't know the name of the dragon thing!  In the middle, I cut the Ravenclaw crest from fabric (this fabric has all the logo/crests on it!) and appliqued it to the blue square and made that the center of the block. The middle top square is that newspaper print fabric again.. and this time it specifically says "Hogwarts" and "Quiddith" . I know Hogwarts is the school and the Quiddith is a game they play!

 This one.. I used that black with gold dots to make that little flying thingy. In the movie it is gold.. but I Forgot that when I was making the HST'! I got the design right but should have used a gold fabric. Oh well... it looks good anyway! The lower right corner has the Gryffindor crest on it. I didn't applique this one.. I just cut it out leaving about 1/4 around it, and then used that double sided iron-on interfacing. That stuff is my BEST FRIEND! I love that stuff! So many uses. In this case.. I cut out the crest, then pressed one side of the facing to it, then peeled the backing of and pressed the crest to the square! So easy and looks soooo good!!!

 This one, I tried to pull some of that pretty blue out of the panel to brighten things up a bit. Again, that little flying guy with the black and gold. Another crest (Hufflepuff) in the top right corner and newspaper square in lower right and upper left.

I think it is going along pretty good. I did just kind of assembly line it... meaning I cut about 10, 3,1.2x3,1/2 squares of each print I had and matching solids. Then I cut a few 4x4" in ones to make HST's with... laid them all out and just played with with the placement until I got a 9 patch I liked!

 This is one of the prints.. so you can see how I chose to cut squares out of it.

 This is the "newspaper print" fabric.. and I cut the specific portions out so they are still readable as a square.

That's about it for now! I have several more to go. I keep getting new ideas so...come back next time for those! I am really enjoying making this.. especially since it is for my grand daughter when she graduates.. a wonderful time in her life. However, I might save it for later.. depends on what she does with herself at that time in her life! Maybe I'll give it to her if she goes off to college and she can take a little bit of her happy childhood past with her!! I know she will love it.... that is all that matters!

Don't forget to join to follow if you want to see the next things I do for the quilt. Just put in your email and when I post.. you will get an email with the link.

 Harry Potter Quilt Journey Part 2
Harry Potter Quilt Journey Part 3

Thanks for stopping by and...keep on preserving those memories! Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE