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!


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How I Use Glow in the Dark Thread on a Quilt

In working on my Harry Potter quilt for my grand daughter, I have been trying to make original creations using images from the fabric. The block is 9x9" made with 3x3" squares. I have used Glow in the Dark thread before and it turned out really nice. I made pillowcases  for my Grand daughters and it does glow in the dark! They love the pillowcases! So I thought I'd add that to the Harry Potter quilt.

Here is a short video about HOW I use it....

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

Harry Potter Quilt...Part 3

Well, if you have been following my blog.. I had the problem of this quilt being to short for my tall grand daughter. I struggled on how to make it longer and have it look "planned" and not just an after thought. Only one idea came to mind and I am not crazy about it.. but then I thought...my second oldest "Potter Head" might like it and she is not as tall as her sister (different mothers!) so it'd be perfect for her at this length. But.. I have to talk with her and in a stealthy, "secret agent" way.. see if she is going to be a PotterHead when she is an adult! So far, I haven't been able to make contact, so... this quilt is going to just hang right here until we have our "summit"!!!!

Here is what it looks like right now.

I just have to add the 2 borders around the whole quilt and it'll be done! Then I have found out that they would rather have a "blanket" instead of a "quilt" in relation to the thickness, softness etc. so I am going to bat with flannel and a cotton fabric back or make the back fleece  and no batting.

Here are some of the blocks I created.

 This one has the tiny face of Harmonie.. I used double sided fusible interfacing to fuse it to the fabric.

 And a tiny Harry Potter on a broom on this one

 A basic HST and squares cut from the print fabric with Ravenclaw crest in the middle

I also did some "sayings" or text off one of the fabrics.. I cut it out, fused double sided interfacing to the back, then fused it to areas on the quilt. I later did a quick stitch to stitch it to the quilt.. I figure with all the use and washing it will get.. the interfacing might wash off.

I will be working on the borders tonight.. hopefully have it done.. then I will be backing it with flannel and no batting to use on warmer nights here in California when you just need a little something to cover with.

Harry Potter Quilt Journey Part 1
Harry Potter Quilt Journey Part 2


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Harry Potter Quilt Journey - Part 2

 Well, so far.. I have the blocks done. I just cut squares of different Harry Potter prints and put them together and mixed and matched and rearranged the squares until I found a pattern I liked. I made HST's out of some some and others used the full 3"x3" square. Here are a bunch of the squares. I also learned... everything doesn't always have to "match" or have to be the same pattern or design of squares. I am hoping by doing them all different.. there will be more things for my grand daughter to look at and enjoy and ... remember!

 These two are the prints I got and cut 3"x3" squares of just the images.

                        I also cut out the "house" crests of each of the houses the kids were in.. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Ravenclaw.. and then back them with double sided fusible interfacing and the pressed them onto large solid color areas on the blocks. 
 

 Even this little tiny characture of Harry Potter.. I fused to solid areas.

   

So... I keep working on the quilt and so far have enjoyed it! It is fun to play with the squares and match colors and images and make each one different!

 Harry Potter Quilt Journey Part 1

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
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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

Stay with me.....Blogger and Google are not getting along!

Due to the issue between Google and Blogger.. apparently Blogger and Google are not getting along anymore, so......

... if you are following me with Google, you won't be getting notifications of new posts to my blog. You won't be able to comment on a blog post.

To stay with me... just go to the top left of this page and on the side bar.. click "follow me via EMAIL" and input your email  and that way, you will get an email from me/Blogger when I post something new.

Hope you'll stay with me! I am still in the Junk Journal and Quiet Book worlds...and I enjoy posting my work and hopefully giving you all some good ideas for your own books!

Thanks for stopping by and...keep on preserving those memories! Want to read more at Fabric and Memories? CLICK HERE
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A Junk Journal for "later". Plan ahead!

It's been awhile since I did Junk Journaling but... I'm back! Taking a break from sewing!  I finished this junk journal with the intention of having it for a trip I will be taking. I plan to be moving to another state and wanted to have something to write things about the trip, when I get there, find a new house etc.

I made this one with mostly pocket pages, tuck spots and other ways for ADDING as I go, instead of writing on the actual page.  Lots of journaling cards and other papers to take out of the book, write on and then slide back into a pocket or tuck spot.

I also included a few memories of my past in this state, both current and from my childhood.  Kind of like I was saying good bye to the past and hello to the future!

Here is the video of it on You Tube... click and watch and enjoy and get some good ideas for your own junk journal! 

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