Practically Paper Pieced Potter and a {GIVEAWAY}!!

I've really enjoyed seeing all the amazing paper pieced projects during Kristy's Practically Paper Pieced Blog Hop... and today it's my turn to show you what I've pieced!

I decided to make a coordinating cushion to go with the Harry Potter quilt that I made for my son's birthday..

There are some great Harry Potter paper pieced patterns available from Fandom in Stitches, so although I received a copy of EQ7 for my birthday I just couldn't work out how to put my own paper pieced Harry Potter pattern together in time and went with what was already available!

The original pattern, which I then cut in half and trimmed down so I could enlarge it.

I decided that I wanted my block to be ~10 inches though, so I had to blow up the pattern using Phillipa's fancy multifunction printer's copy function. Perfect! I also coloured in my pattern so that I could keep all the pieces straight... 

The original size versus my enlarged (coloured in) version.

My fabric choices - scraps from the Harry Potter quilt, a gorgeous black swirly fabric I bought for the August QCA Bee block, and some charm squares from one of the rainbow swaps.

... but I forgot to take into account that the pattern would end up backwards and I had to unpick and redo the blue section (because my husband was insistent that I couldn't just swap the Hogwarts crest around.. Bean would notice!).. once I'd fixed that up though it was relatively smooth sailing with only occasional unpicking required when I was being a bit too stingy with my fabric... it really does pay to be generous and then trim back - taking "short cuts" and being "thrifty" NEVER works with paper piecing!

Block complete.. So in love!

With the block complete I decided that I wanted to add an additional ~1" border in the black so that it made the crest stand out a little more. To make the cushion cover I wanted a 15" front panel, so I used 3" strips in the blue mosaic print from the Harry Potter quilt to border the Hogwarts crest (this gave me plenty of room to trim back). 

Using plain white homespun as backing fabric, I then quilted with a simple outline/ditch quilting around the "H", the crest (Aurifil 50wt #2130) and between the black & blue fabric (Aurifil 50wt #2620 - which I also used to piece.. I love this colour, it's so versatile for everything). 

I made a simple envelope backing (2 panels 15" x 10" - both lined with the white homespun for strength and one with pretty binding, incase you wanted to know) for the cushion using the blue feedsack from the Harry Potter quilt. Simple, but effective. Not to mention that it helps coordinate the cushion with the quilt!

The cushion turned out beautifully - Bean is so excited and wants to have it on his bed straight away, which kind of scuttles my plans to give it to him for Christmas! So much for planning ahead. I guess I'll just have to learn how to use EQ properly so I can make him another cushion (it looks so lonely by itself!) as a surprise. I think I'll attempt to design a Gryffindor crest of my own.. but we'll see!

The cushion and the quilt meet for the first time.

So there you have it! You could make a cushion like this with any stray paper pieced block, all you need to do is add a border to make it the finished size you want.

Oh.. I mentioned a GIVEAWAY, didn't I? It just so happens that next week is my 1 year blogiversary, AND I'm about to hit 100 followers.. all of which coincided beautifully with The Quilting Gallery's Blog Hop Party!

So to celebrate, I'm offering up an AURIFIL Thread Colour Card.

Image Source: Aurifil.com

To enter, all you have to do is leave me a comment. About anything really, but you could always tell me what kind of fan-related paper piecing you would love to try.

For bonus entries (which are entirely optional) you can:
* Follow my blog
* Follow me on Facebook or Twitter
* Tweet, Blog or share my giveaway and leave me a link.

The giveaway will be open until Tuesday, September 4th at 7pm Western Australian Standard Time. International entries are welcome.

If I manage to hit the 100 follower mark, I might even throw another giveaway on my actual blogiversary date :)

Meanwhile, back to the Practically Paper Piecing Blog Hop.. don't forget to check out the other projects still to come:

27th August - Fiona from Celtic Thistle Stitches

28th August - Anorina from Samelia’s Mum

And you can find the list of the other blog hop stops at Kristy's PPP page :)

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!).

TGIFF - Harry Potter Quilt & Bee Blocks

It's my turn to host TGIFF! What an excellent week to be hosting too.. I've finally finished the Harry Potter quilt top!! It still needs to be basted, quilted and bound, but I consider this a significant milestone - 10 days to get it quilted, that's heaps of time right??

Here's a quick update on how it all went together..

Stars sashed, centre section all one piece, top/bottom row still to go

Owl blocks with an additional border to complete top & bottom rows

Sashing complete - quilt top finally in ONE piece!

And finally complete.. approx twin size.

I'm so happy with the way it's turned out.. It has all pulled together perfectly and so much better than I ever could have hoped. Admittedly, had I known quite how much time/effort/planning would need to go into this I probably would have bought the fabric panel I'd seen on ebay in the first place. But if I'd done that I wouldn't have learnt a pile of new skills, I probably wouldn't have been able to convince my husband to buy me the Accuquilt Go! cutter, and I wouldn't have this incredibly awesome looking quilt top to give to my son on his birthday (did I mention it's in 11 days?). It is by far the most ambitious quilting project I have ever undertaken, and I can't wait until it is completely finished!

Mum and I were brainstorming how to quilt it today, and I think I'm going to go with 'ditch' quilting for most of it. I really don't want to take away from the piecing, and all the elements are so different that I don't think that an all over design would enhance it specifically. I also need to coordinate with my husband to make up the quilt label for the back, as he has gone and digitized the Hogwarts crest for use with Daisy the embroidery machine.

I also managed to complete my April block for the QCA bee (hive #2) - Sue requested a Starflower block, a la Ellison Lane / Samelia's Mum. Phillipa and I caught up on Wednesday and managed to get both our blocks completed in and around our other projects. I posted both blocks off yesterday, so Sue should get them early next week.  I think this is a gorgeous block, and I'd definitely consider using it again sometime.

April Bee Block - Star Flower

I've still got my Craftsy BOM blocks to do, I've cut my cardboard templates for the hexies and now I just need to get my paper piecing on the move. I must confess that I've been holding off so that I can work on the Harry Potter quilt though... once that's finished it's going to be a quilty free for all!!!

Anyway, thanks for coming along and sharing in MY finishes.. now it's time for you to link up so that I can see *your* finishes! Don't forget to link back to TGIFF so that your readers can join in the fun too.

Harry Potter quilt update

It's been ages since I've written an update on the Harry Potter quilt, and that's mostly because once I realised I wasn't going to have it ready before Christmas and it would become Bean's birthday present I just sat on it... because I had *time*... like a whole 6 months... except time has gotten away from me and now I have just less than a month. I can't disappoint my son by not having it ready in time for his birthday - he's been asking when he's getting his Harry Potter quilt and it makes me feel so guilty!

But over the last 2 weeks I've been on a roll - I completed the rest of the Split Drunkard's Path Star blocks, and laid it out so I could get an idea of how all my pieces looked together:

All my blocks, roughly placed.

 Next step: Making the owl blocks the same size as the star blocks. This shouldn't be too hard, right? It's just a case of cutting some triangles and sewing them on...

Auditioning 2 different fabrics as potential backgrounds for my owl blocks.

 I went with some blue "feedsack" (repro, of course!) fabric I'd bought at Spotlight, drew a scale drawing of my block and the "finished size" block and then used my ruler to work out how big my HSTs needed to be in order to make my block the right size. Luckily for me, it went together pretty smoothly. (Clearly my quilt math was ok!)

My larger owl block (unpressed)

Blocks laid out again with the larger owls

The next day I worked out how I was going to sash the stars to make them fit and have now turned them into strips of stars (but I forgot to take a photo) and I went and purchased a complimentary fabric that will go at the top and the bottom of the quilt top to make it longer. I think the width will be fine once it's all sashed and put together properly.

I haven't had a chance to touch it since last Thursday/Friday though as my husband and I have spent most of our spare time playing with Daisy, my new embroidery machine. (He is playing with another design he's digitized as we speak! I am sure he's getting WAY more out of this toy than I am! Oh, and my sister-in-law had her baby, so we've been visiting my new nephew!) Hopefully I'll get a chance to go to Phillipa's in the morning for our regular Thursday sewing morning and work on it some more then. Only 25 more days until it needs to be finished!

Building blocks..

So after a very productive start of last week I got all caught up in the crazy non-sewing stuff that was pencilled onto my calendar... On Saturday I hosted a Baby Shower for my sister-in-law which was a lot of fun :) She loved her quilt, and all the other pregnant women oohhed and ahhed appreciatively! The "long-legged monkey" is still happily ensconced, but we're all thinking that it's just a matter of days until he or she makes her dramatic entrance... not long to go now! (She just txted me to say she didn't feel like going to baby yoga this afternoon, so I think it might be go time real soon now!)

8 completed Split Drunkard's Path star blocks

Over the last week I've managed to complete the final 8 Split Drunkard's Path Star blocks for Bean's Harry Potter quilt, so now I can lay out the pieces that will form the quilt top and hopefully work out how to put all the elements together with relatively little trouble. (Hah!) I still need to make the owl blocks bigger so that they are the same size as the stars, and then I need to work out how much sashing/bordering is required to make the star border fit around the sashed tumbler centre section. And then, I need to work out what I'll still need to do to get it closer to single bed sized. How I wish I had a copy of EQ7!!!!

I also completed my second March Craftsy BOM block, the "Broken Spiderweb". I love this block! I've seen it floating around the blogosphere, and I just think it looks amazing. Blossom asked me if she could have this block, so perhaps when I get Bean's quilt finished and can start on hers I'll have to incorporate the broken spiderweb block into her quilt design! (I have all her fabric - a combination of Sweet Divinity and Sugar & Spice by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake.. just no specific design in mind yet) Can you tell I love the Quilted Fish? (My Craftsy BOM is using an FQ bundle of Delighted!)

Anyway, enough blogging, time for more sewing!

Linking up with:

2012 Quilty To do List..

Blossom starts Kindergarten this year (3 weeks to go!) so I'll have 2 days/week ALL TO MYSELF! For the first time in nearly 6 years I'll have 2 full school days to do whatever I want without someone whinging, needing to be fed/changed/entertained etc. So of course I'd mentally pencilled in a whole lot of craft time! And if I'm going to be crafty, perhaps some structure would be nice?

So in honour of my new found freedom, I appear to have signed myself up to a million and one projects (ok, more like half a dozen!), including:

1. Finish Bean's Harry Potter Quilt - Needs to be completed by May 1.

2. Make baby quilt for my sister-in-law - Needs to be completed by the beginning of April.

3. Learn how to FMQ - I took the pledge to join SewCalGal's 2012 FMQ Challenge

http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/free-motion-quilt-challenge.html

4. Joining MALT Designs' Disappearing 9 Patch Swap - The theme is "Spring Floral" and each participant makes 18x 9-patch blocks to make a total of 72 smaller blocks, keeping 8 and sending the remaining 64 to Michele @ MALT Designs. I finished all my 9 patches today, and then sliced and diced them and now all I need to do is post them! Goodness that was quick and easy!

5. Participate in the Valentine's Day Accuquilt Blog Hop - more about this soon ;) I have all my fabrics picked out, I just need to get Flo the GO! cranking..

6. Joined the Craftsy BOM - 12 months of quilty goodness led by Amy from Stitchery Dickory Dock. Here are my 2 January Blocks (I'm using "Delighted" by The Quilted Fish for Riley Blake)

Wonky Pound Block

Asterisk Block

7. And tonight I've managed to also sign myself up to participate in I'm a Ginger Monkey's "Swoon-along" where we all make Swoon blocks from Camille Roskelley's Thimble Blossoms pattern. I plan to use my "Tulips in Bloom" fabric that I purchased to make a quilt for myself and my husband - what better to snuggle under than something swoony?

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1904864@N22/

8. Make "Good Fortune" (Kate Spain for Moda fabrics) mug rugs for my girlfriends.. I make some D9P blocks out of my GF charm pack today..

Not to mention the other things that are floating much further down my "To Do" list!

It certainly looks like it will be a quilty year..

Catching up..

Goodness me! I've just realised that it's been a month since I last posted about something crafty on here! It's not for lack of crafting, let me tell you! Infact, it's probably exactly why I haven't managed to post.. aside from the fact that it's "that time of year" and things have been super busy with end of year concerts and parties as well as half a dozen birthdays, I've been spending quite a bit of time focussing on the actual crafting which has left significantly less time for the blogging. I've been lagging behind badly on my blog reading, too - falling asleep on the sofa has become my new normal.

So here's some of the stuff that I've been doing this last month...

Crochet "wine glass cover" #3 - about 3 rows to go.

My first completed "Split Drunkard's Path Star" (will blog tutorial)

2 stars plus the tumbler medallion.. Harry Potter Quilt still in progress

Quilt for Blossom's Kindy teacher, who is retiring.
Each child in the class decorated a square, and I put it all together.

Back of the teacher quilt.

Christmas table runner, complete!

I just love the backing fabric.. might even pretend it's reversible ;)

I also broke my fabric ban.. it all started so innocently.. with a voucher for $40 off at Spotlight when you spent $100... and I needed more fabric/batting for the quilt for Blossom's teacher, so it totally didn't count towards the fabric ban.. and my husband decided that I should make some "Minecraft Creepers" for Bean & Blossom (like these) so I had to buy fabric for those (because I seriously need ANOTHER project that has to be finished in time for Christmas!) and my SIL decided that she wanted a jungle themed quilt for her nursery instead of Peter Rabbit, and I found a gorgeously perfect panel..

And most people would leave it there. But not me... once the flood gates were open, it was on. It didn't help that there were a whole pile of Black Friday sales being tweeted left, right and centre... The first thing I indulged in was a 21 FQ set of Riley Blake's Delighted from The Intrepid Thread, which reminded me how much I love fabric designed by The Quilted Fish so I went hunting for some more Sweet Divinity to go with the fabric that I bought a couple of months ago (which will be turned into a quilt and accessories for Blossom's new room when we finally move)... and I found what I was looking for at two separate etsy stores.. A total of 10 yards, made up of 10x Sweet Divinity fabrics, 9x Sugar & Spice fabrics and the "Quite Contrary" Green Stripe by My Mind's Eye. Yes, way more fabric than I will need to make Blossom a quilt, given that I already have 5 yards of Sweet Divinity (5x fabrics).

My Christmas present to myself

And then I went back to Spotlight and bought myself a walking foot, some coordinating fabric for my SIL's baby quilt, some more fabric for the teacher quilt (because my backing fabric was an inch short and I decided just to buy another piece than mess around) and then decided that I was all binged out.