The Harry Potter Quilt, complete!

It just occurred to me that I never posted about the Harry Potter quilt once it was completed! I managed to get it done in time to present it to Bean on his birthday - yay! He was very pleased with it, and it has been on his bed ever since. He then promptly requested a Pirates of the Caribbean quilt for his next quilt, to which I replied that his next quilt is quite a way down my list!

Using painter's tape to baste the backing fabric to the floor  

And some more painter's tape to secure the batting

Quilt top in place, and ready to pin

Pinning, pinning and more pinning.

 I must have spent 2 hours pin basting this quilt.. I pinned every tumbler block, which was like 132 pins.. and then there were the Split Drunkard's Path Stars and the owls etc. My knees and my back were killing me by the end of it, I was walking like a little old lady! Even my fingers and palms took a beating. Next time it will be spray basting for a project this large!

On the upside, none of the pins were "in my way" when it came to the quilting, and it was quite therapeutic when I got to remove them finally!

Centre section basted and ready to go!

Gosh I love how the stars turned out - they're seriously my favourite part of the quilt!

Simple ditch quilting

 I decided that the quilt really wouldn't suit an all over quilting design due to all the different elements, and the good old "stitch in the ditch" was really the perfect option. I bought two different threads, a mid-dark grey for the back of the quilt and a mid grey-blue for the quilt top. They ended up blending so perfectly that you almost can't see the thread.. and the back of the quilt looks amazing because the quilting really makes the design stand out even though the backing fabric is charcoal grey.

I did some free motion quilting at the top and the bottom of the quilt where the blue fabric sections are - I attempted a spirally wave type of design that turned out better than I expected (but certainly not pro by any means!). I think it adds some movement in a subtle kind of way.

On the bed, ready to go!

I know I've said that if I'd had any idea how much time, effort and thought/planning/quilt math would be needed to complete this quilt I probably would have sucked it up and paid $90 for a Harry Potter quilt panel on eBay.... but really, it turned out so much better than I could have hoped for and I'm really rather pleased with myself. It's definitely the biggest, most ambitious and intricate project I have ever taken on (it really makes their "baby quilts" look tiny and insignificant) and it's nice to know that I can pull off something more than a lap sized quilt.

Now I just need to do some work on that king sized quilt I'm going to make for the husband and myself! (Don't hold your breath for that to be finished any time soon - I've only made one Swoon block so far!) And before I do that I have some BOM blocks to catch up on and a couple of swap projects to complete.. it's kind of nice to not have a major project with a deadline looming!

Incase anyone is interested to note, almost all the pieces of this quilt were cut using my Accuquilt GO! fabric cutter, using the 3.5" Drunkard's Path, the small Tumbler and the 2.5" Strip Dies. That includes all the sashing and the binding (LOOOOVE my 2.5" strip die!).