The Harry Potter quilt is FINALLY finished!!

Harry Potter is in the House!!!! Finally!!!!

It has been a long, hard journey for the past 6 months, but finally... IT IS FINISHED!!!
Well, actually 3 are finished! I have 3 grand daughters that have vowed to be "Potterheads" for the rest of their lives so for Christmas this year.. they are getting an amazing Harry Potter quilt.. made by their favorite grandmother... ME!

At first, I was so excited as I was making 9 patch blocks but adding images and words, etc. I was fortunate to find several fabrics at Joann's Craft store as I hate buying fabric online. I like to see what I am getting, see the colors are right, etc, so, I only buy online when I have no other choice. But the prints I got were amazing and.. using a coupon, got them at 50% off regular price.

And I use several kinds of squares like Flying Geese etc and also did some machine embroidery with Glow in the Dark thread. Yes.. it really glows in the dark. I used it as the top thread and neutral cotton in the bobbin. Also, several, what I call, "glitter fabrics".. they really do glitter/shine, but there is nothing that flakes off like actual glitter.

2 of the girls, being sisters,  share a room so I wanted to make them like a bed spread of the same pattern, but some differences to make the quilt their own. I bought the panels for the center and kept those the same so the room doesn't look jumbled with different bedspreads. I then went back to math class and did the math to add sashings and 9-patch blocks to make the quilts twin size. They ended up being 70"x90". The older sister is rather tall so I wanted the bedspreads/quilts longer for her sake so I made them both the same size.

 The width pattern of the quilt is ... center panel, 2" sashing (black with gold dots), 4" sashing (blue with gold sparkles) 9-patch block (9"x9" finished block and each square is 3"x3" finished), blue sashing, black sashing and blue binding. The length pattern is the 9"x9" finished block and Black with gold dots sashings. I know they are going to love the golds in the fabric as they stand out very nicely!
 I was glad to have my design wall...which is a flannel blanket with a casing on top, and an expansion rod through the casing and put up over the closet sliding doors. This way, I have the wall and can still get in the closet when needed. I put each block up until I had the right amount of them, then placed them as I wanted them to be on the quilt.

MAKING THE BLOCKS 

 

 This is one block. I used Flying Geese to make the pointed squares and then cut out the faces of the characters and with double sided fusible interfacing... fused them to the block.  You can also see the black with gold dot fabric. They are raised up and you can't iron them.. they melt off! The other square I made was an "Hour Glass" and I used black and beige glitter fabric. It really does glitter/shine, but nothing comes off!

 This 9-patch I fussy cut images from the fabric  - the square of the school (top left) and the square with Harmonie and Ron (just below that and the dragon middle right) You might notice I did embroidery on some of the squares.. this is done with "glow in the dark" thread. Yes, it really does glow! I picked  15 names of characters and did machine embroidery and wrote the names... notice Hermione Granger in the lower right square and then I did a fussy cut of her face and fused it on! On the left bottom corner...another fussy cut of the Griffindorf logo fused on AFTER the 9-patch was finished.

 This one has HST's for each corner, a Flying Geese for the arrows and a fussey cut "Harry Potter" from the fabric. Also, fussy cuts are of the 4 house banners. Another thing I did that I think the kids are going to love, is this one fabric I got was like a newspaper with phrases and things. I cut them out, fused them to the finished block like in the upper right corner here. Again, some machine embroidery of names in the 2 lower corner squares.

This ne has a few of all of the above! Glow in the Dark name (top,left) Flying Geese (top right). Fussey cut from fabric (middle left and middle right and lower right. The center square and lower-middle are made into one rectangle and I used the Ravenclaw logo and banner and added a newspaper headline.

 This block had HST's on 2 of the corners with fussey cut add-ons and the glittery silver fabric. The center has Hogwarts fused to it. And as you can see, other squares are cut from the fabric as is.

 This one is one of my favorites because I made the three characters on the center of  2, flying Geese sewn together. And you can see the blue and gold sparkle fabric used for the sashing.

This one shows more of the machine embroidery with the Glow in the Dark thread of 6 names. All the squares are HST's. Amazing how many different designs you can make with HST's.







         

This is the back. I used Maurders Map fabric, the same blue as on the front and the Harry Potter with drawings of the Hogwarts school all around.  The binding is black.  This is a close up of the added headline, fused to the sashing. These 2 are quilts, cotton front, VERY THIN batting and cotton back. The point is.. they are on their beds all the time.. lot of sitting on them and being used so I wanted them a little thicker to with stand the use of being sat on etc, all the time.

AND THE THIRD ONE....

I did a third one for the other grand daughter. she is older and being in a warmer climate, she wanted less warmth so hers is more of a blanket quilt. Cotton top, NO BATTING and cotton flannel back.

 These are a few blocks from hers.  Again, HST's with the glitter fabric and some fussey cuts.

This one has a "Golden Snitch" HST. I did some with the gold glitter (beige background)with black glitter to imitate a Snitch also.

Golden Snitch (black and gold/beige)

The Golden Snitch black with gold triangles

This is the back. It is solid and I just fused a few of the fussey cuts around it. 100% cotton flannel and I fused (then machine sewed around) a few fussey cuts from the "newspaper" fabric.

This is the front. Hers is only different in that I made each block separately. I had alot of fun doing this.. just create as I go and make 16 for each quilt

I then thought to make them each a pillowcase to go with the quilts. These two are for the sisters sharing a room.. the black trim is different so they each have "their own" pillowcase!

And although I don't have a picture, I also made them each a 7"x9" zipper pouch.  I used the leftover 3,1/2x3,1/2 inch squares..sewed 6 together and that was the front.

And THAT's my World of Harry Potter for the last 6 months, which also included one month of NO sewing machine as both of mine were in the shop for maintenance and a massive struggle with FMQ'ing stitches not doing right, only to figure out.. I had my thread on the spool wrong! Now THAT was a lesson learned that with NEVER be forgotten!

I hope you have enjoyed the journey and gotten some good ideas for your own Harry Potter quilts or blankets. And with that.. I will not be saying the words "Harry Potter" again at least until Christmas when the quilts will be loved and adored by my wonderful granddaughters!

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NVvFOQOTGA


Thanks for stopping by and...keep on preserving those memories! Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE
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My TV Blanket/quilt...Red, White & Black..& Text!

I have always wanted a red, white and black colored quilt. Well, I have finally made one! Still contemplating how to do the back.. flannel or fleece...but the top is done and I really like it!  The star is my favorite block to do.. it is made up of HSTs. You can make them with Flying Geese, but.. HST is a little easier and quicker.. at least to me!  The blocks are made with 16, 3x3 (finished) squares so they are 12 inch blocks. The text on these are silly sewing related "articles". A real life issue.. with sewing things being the "culprits" etc! Just funny stuff!

 

 This is the text print. All these things are historical events.. and many that I lived through! I didn't take picture, but the others are about presidents of the past (Truman-Ford) and the Titanic and Amelia Earhart, Vietnam surrender and a few other things. This is a 6x6" square. 

  I did something new on this one... I added triangles in the corners of a block to make the block larger to the same size as the Star ones. I only had 4 of the history squares so I also used this "seed" ad text print.. tells about planting seeds and also includes a bible verse on some of them.  I wanted to break up the large portion of red so I added black triangles to the corners of the block!

 

This block is kind of like a "snowball" block/pattern. I sewed the red and black strips to the text square.. then trimmed to a 12"x12" block.

Here is the finished quilt top... minus the 1 inch four patch corners and the outer border. I alternated the starts and the diamond blocks.

 This is each side... closer view and alot you can see the corner stones better!

 

This (left) is the finished front and (right) finished back with red binding. The back is a fleece of little dachshund dogs. No reason for the theme other than it was cute.. and the fleece was on sale!

 

Nice and comfy for in my "TV watching" chair! It measures 60x50. Bit smaller than a twin size, but perfect for my TV chair!


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

Harry Potter returns...Now I need 2 more!

Well, I thought I'd be moving away from Harry Potter, but... you know kids!  My oldest grand daughter, age 19, saw my current Harry Potter quilt hanging on my design wall and flipped out! She squealed and jumped up and down saying it was the coolest thing she's ever seen and asked if she could have it. I didn't even know she liked Harry Potter! But she says she does so that one.. I am going to give to her... which means I need 2 more for the other 2 Potter Head grand daughter!

So.. I just started cutting squares, 3,1/2x3,1/2" and some 4"x4" to make HST's with. And I got some new ideas using Flying Geese too! So for 2 days now, I have been cutting squares.. and now for the fun part...creating the 9x9" blocks!
So far I have this many on the design wall...I will need 20, 9"x9" blocks.

 This one is using Flying Geese squares.

 I am also cutting smaller images and using double sided fusible interfacing and adding them to blank squares for that extra bit of "Harry Potter". I am assuming they will enjoy searching the quilt looking for all the special little Harry Potter things that they can find.
I cut out the little faces from one fabric and made iron-on's out of them!



This one has a little face of each of them.. Harry, Ron and Hermonie that I cut from the fabric and used double sided fusible to attach so the girls can "search" for these!                 Thanks for stopping by and...keep on preserving those memories! Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE

Sucess! A Fleece and Flannel Blanket! She loves it!!!

My grand daughter is hard to please in the handmade world. She just turned 17.. .need I say more? But she was at my house last month, saw the fleece/flannel blanket I made for her new baby brother and she loved the soft,soft fleece on the back and the soft flannel on the front and BEGGED me for one for her! I couldn't believe my ears!   She then noticed the tie-dyed flannel I had left over from when I made capes for my 2 other grand daughters  and loved that and begged me to make her a blanket with the fleece and flannel! I had made the blanket with no batting which made it softer and more "blanket" than a heavy, thick, stiff quilt.     And the satin binding just clinched the deal..she loved it too!

So I set out on a mission. She has a queen size bed so it had to be that large and I figured with no batting, it'd be easy enough to get my machine to FMQ the top with a meander stitch.  Went to the store to get more of that tie dye flannel.. and of course, couldn't find it! I sent her pic of other prints but nothing clicked with her. Finally, is literally wandering the store thinking, I came on an isle that had some fabric in it...and low and behold...there was a bolt of this tie dyed flannel print! I grabbed it and let out a holler of happiness and the lady standing there thought I was nuts until I explained, then she congratulated me! But the happiness only lasted a few minutes. There was only 2,1/2 yards on the bolt and it was in 2 pieces! I took it as I thought I might not be able to get a queen size, but I could at least get a twin out of it if I pieced the 2 pieces together properly. 

I had the blanket done in 3 days. and here it is!!

 She is doing her room in black with teal accents ( a true high schooler!). The back is a black fleece. The front.. blues, teals and blacks with a tad of pink accent.  Store bought Satin binding. And a queen size!!! Here's how I did it!

 I took the shortest piece and used that as the center piece. Then cut the longer piece in half and sewed half on each side of the middle section. I was a little leary of making seams in the tie-dye print as I thought it would distort the pattern, but thankfully, "tie-dye" is a motley pattern so it is hardly noticable! Check it out... I can just make out the seam on the left, but have to search for the seam on the right! So I was pleased with that!

 I used black fleece for the back, flannel for the front and no batting inside. I used an adhesive spray and pins and pinned it together, and did the FMQ wide, very wide, meander stitch. Worked out great.

My next troublesome part was sewing the binding to the edge of the blanket. Usually, I do the "roll over" procedure...where you sew the raw edges to the back, then roll the folded edge to the front and sew it down. Well, no roll over option here! Long story short, I placed the raw edges of the blanket inside the binding (2" Wrights) and then since one side is 1/4 inch shorter, that side went on the front and the tad longer was the back. This way as I sew the short side, it will grasp the longer side that I can't see.  I pinned literally exactly at the edge on the front, then turned it over to see where the pins were so that I was sure the edge was captured in the stitch line.

 
               FRONT                                                        BACK

 Next come the corners. I am pretty good at these mitered style corners with cotton, but you cant do them the same way with this satin so.. I  fiddled and got it matching and pinned. I had to make the stitches come to that center point on both sides.

 FRONT       BACK

 I used a large zigzag stitch all around and it took pretty good. I see some areas that could have been better, but.. for the most part.. it turned out pretty good. Taking out the not as good areas, would have made holes in the satin and it wasn't bad enough to do that! I also hand sewed the flaps/overlay portion of the corners from the corner point to the matching point to keep that all intact.

So... it is done. And only a few inches off being true queen size! Here it is on the back, folded up... it looks blue in the picture, but it is actually a beautiful black. The binding, again... matches the blues in the tie-dye perfectly, and is not this shiney! Camera... they certainly have a mind of their own!

 

Mission accomplished!

 My obsession of always doing a little extra... I had  a little bit of the flannel left so I made her a pillow case...the flannel being the base of the case and black for the cuff and a teal for the trim! I forgot to take a picture of it!

 So I rolled the blanket up, put it in a gift bag, and her birthday was Monday.  She was thrilled. She texted me later that night saying.. "IDK if you are up, but this blanket it perfect!!!" Then next day she texted me saying she could hardly get out of bed that morning because it was so warm and cozy!

Now, I want to make myself one! I am going to Joann's to see if that fleece is on sale or use my 50% off coupon and at least get enough to use for the back and later decide on what the front will be! I have a bed spread I am currently creating (in my mind!) but this will be the perfect blanket!!

Thanks for stopping by and...keep on preserving those memories! Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE
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Greysons Puppy Blanket ( A baby blanket!)

My daughter just gave me my first and only grand son! And he is the final grand child to this grandmother, so he is a bit special! I am so excited to have him. I won't be seeing him to much as we live to far to see to often, and that breaks my heart, but I will love him anyway all the time! I made him this blanket and I hope he will keep it forever.

My daughter is rather picky. She doesn't like my homemade/sewing things. Never has. I made all her clothes until in the fifth grade, she asked for a store bought dress for Christmas! I have made everyone quilts, but the parents don't like them (the other grand kids love them! Parents, they are so odd!)  But I wanted a thinner, softer, more of a blanket than a quilt, so I picked a thin flannel, no inside batting and a thin, soft, pile fleece..similar to Minkey and much better than anti pile/Blizzard fleece, which is rather stiff and heavy. This fleece was $14.99 a yard! But....don't panic.. I used a 50% off coupon so I got it for about $8 a yard..which is my yard limit anyway! The flannel was "Snuggle Flannel" (at Joann's Craft store) was on sale for $2.99. My daughter had said she was going to do his room in dogs/puppies so I saw this flannel and thought is was perfect and got 5 yards intending to do other things with the rest. Now, that he is born she tells me she isn't doing a theme, and doing in greys, yellows and beige! Oh well, all those colors are in there and I think she will love the puppies anyway! I think if she doesn't like the blanket, she will let it be used as a decoration item in the room... let it hang over the edge of the end of the crib or on the arm of the rocking chair.....



This is also my first time using Satin blanket binding on a quilt. Usually I use the 100% cotton that matches the pieces in the quilt, but I thought my daughter will like the satin effect..soft and smooth and maybe help it to look "expensive" and less homemade! I bought the Wrights brand of polyester satin binding.  I had real trouble with it tho.. how do you know you are catching the back edge of the binding when you are sewing it on the front? You don't do it like cotton binding where you sew it to the back, then roll it over and can see the row of stitching you made and can follow that. No, with this binding tape....you put the blanket edge all the way inside to the fold of the tape..then sew and hope you catch the front and the back edge of the binding in the zigzag stitching! Some areas I did great, others, not so great, but can't do anything about it now! I just hope after a few washes, it will soften up!

I also got all these puckers in the binding. I am on a facebook group of wonderful ladies that are like the encyclepedia of sewing....great helps, inspiration, tips, tricks etc. Great group of ladies! I was told it looked fine and that it is not unusual for it to look like this!  So, I leave it looking like this! I hope my daughter will accept it!How she got so picky, I don't know! She was not raised that way!!!

I also did some FMQ'ing on it... a wide meander stitch. The wider the area between stitches is what makes the blanket or quilt more pliable, cuddley and soft. And yes,  it did work that way! That part worked out great!

 

And one thing I didn't find the answer to, in all the vids I watched about it...when you make those corners, easy enough to make, but...once with the binding on... those corner flaps can pull open!  I was able to catch the little edge of it in the sewing of the corner, but the flaps still were "open" so I just got out the old needle and thread and did tiny stitches to blind stitch it down. If you weren't looking for it, you wouldn't see it!

So.. here it is... all done and ready to give to my little grandson, Greyson. He was a premie.  He was due April 3 but he couldn't wait. She went into labor the previous evening and had him about 12:30am on March 14. Had some problems tho in that he didn't know how to eat, or suck or what to do with anything in his mouth so he didn't eat and his blood sugar dropped to 20...fortunately with lots of tries and work from his mommy and some eye dropper feedings from his daddy, he is doing fine now.


Oh, it is 50"x50". To big for him right now, but he will grow into it! It will be a good soft blanket for her to lay on the sofa and lay him down there..and heck, if she wants to toss it over her legs while she feeds him...she can do that and I will be just as happy!

             

The blanket binding I used was this.... single fold, 2 inch wide. It is 100% polyester, no shrinking!

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