Harry Potter
I am a bit of a PotterHead. I know with my Sherlock obsession it's not the first thing you'd pick me for... Maybe it's the British accents...
Anyway!! In my travels around the internet around two years ago, I stumbled upon a Harry Potter quilt. I pinned it and then promptly forgot about it. It was paper pieced and way beyond my skill level. Honestly, when I found it, I did not have the first clue how I would have made it.
For some reason, a month or two ago I found a link back to Fandom In Stitches and the Harry Potter quilt. I looked. I thought. I pondered deeply. Yes, it is as cool as I remember it being. Yes, I am still a Harry Potter nerd. Yes, I now have a fabric stash (and know where to get more) to make this a vibrant lively quilt. Yes, I have some sewing skills and might be able to give paper peicing a try.
So I hit print. A lot. There are a lot of pieces of paper for paper peicing. Who'd a thunk?
And then the hard part. Picking my background fabric. I had chosen my shelf fabric long, long ago. Back when I first saw the pattern I had decided this was on the bucket list and had bought some Joel Dewberry wood grain.
But what could I coordinate with this? I wanted a linen look, but was warned off fabric that has any hint of directional print. Very glad someone gave that advice. Any kind of "print" was out, but I didn't want to do a solid. So for the last month I have been googling to try to find the right background. My local quilt shop was having a big sale, and I only go there rarely, because often their fabric is not my style, but I thought I'd take in my wood grain and see if I could find a match.
Huzzah! I found a lovely creamy smooshy fabric. And at 50% off I was very happy to have gone visiting that day! Of course, being me, I also grabbed a thousand other fabrics of varying descriptions, spent a gazillion dollars and left swearing never to bring my credit card with me when I go into that store. I was seriously tempted to buy a new machine...
Well, I got home with my loot and started cutting straight away.
For the last 2 weeks every spare moment has been spent making my bookcase. I know I have other projects that I said I was going to complete, but I am hooked on this one right now. I have fabric spread everywhere as this is so scrappy.
As my first foray into paper piecing I'm actually really enjoying it. Some of my blocks are a bit bulky, but I'm giving myself leeway as a newbie.
I apologise for the photo quality. My camera is still playing up so I only have iPad photos to share, but I miss blogging and telling you about the things I'm making, so please forgive me. If I didn't share my Harry Potter goodness, I may have gone crazy :-).
Today is another day for sewing, so I have picked my block and my fabric and have a Harry Potter DVD ready to go (because you can't make a Harry quilt without watching Harry Potter as you make it, right!), and I will see you all when I come up for food :-)
E xx
Love HP. Reading through the series for the 3rd time right now. Once for self and one time with each my 2 kids. Book 4 at the moment. This will be one amazing quilt, your pp is awesome - imagine snuggling under this quilt and reading or watching Harry!!!
ReplyDeleteI can't count how many times I've read the books. Back on book 1 again, while I stitch this one up. Hopefully my sewing can keep pace with my reading, and I can get my blocks done before I finish the series, again. :-)
DeleteE xx
I made one of these just over a year ago and only finished the top within the last few months. I used white Kona for my background. It worked for me! Your blocks look great.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you are where I got the inspiration to do it? I know I saw something that prompted me to go back to it, but I can't remember where/what it was.
DeleteAre you happy with your top? And did you do all the blocks? Which ones did you think where the hardest? Just so I can avoid those :-)
E xx
In my best English accent I want to tell you just how much I love your blocks. I love Sherlock too, hence my latest pup being called Watson :D
ReplyDeleteLol. I will take an English accent where ever I can find it! Thanks, Chrissie.
DeleteAnd I would love to have named my puppy Sherlock, or even Harry, but my hubby was not a fan of this plan. My third option was Ernest (from Oscar Wilde, also very English) and I got voted down on that too!
E xx
Amazing! My SIL just found this quilt and begged me to make it for her. It is awesome but man oh man it looks like it sure would take forever! Yours looks great!
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly I'm actually knocking through it with reasonable speed. I mean, speed for me, so it's still going to take forever, but I've done almost two rows and impve only worked on it over about two weeks, so that's huge for me.
DeleteE xx
I'm friends with the lady who designed this quilt and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when it first came out, I was all gung-ho to do it too, and printed up the first couple block patterns and bought background material AND Joel Dewberry woodgrain for the shelves and then was like... Nope. Too much work. I love how paper pieced blocks look, but they make me crazy to sew :D
ReplyDeleteFandom in Stitches is doing a Princess Bride quilt right now, which is half paper-pieced and half embroidered, so I designed one of the embroidery blocks (Count Rugen's six-fingered hand!), and I so would love to make the whole quilt (because The Princess Bride was my absolute favourite movie when I was a kid, like... watched it every week favourite), but omg the paper-piecing.
Anyway, not to scare you off paper-piecing, but to say, Go you for tackling this one! And if you haven't already, post your pictures in the Fandom in Stitches flickr group (assuming you use flickr...), I know Jen loves to see the things people make with her patterns :D
That is so cool! It's like you're famous! :-)
DeleteI've never tried paper peicing before, so I was scared, and the angles are a night are, but I'm starting to really enjoy it. I've joined the POD Facebook page (which Jennifer moderates) and it's awesome to see everyone's different interpretations of the quilt. Some people are intense with the paper piecing, like dragons and what not, and I'm not there yet! Maybe one day.
I saw that they're doing a Princess Bride QAL, but it's not for me, I think I watched the movie in school (for whatever reason) so it's never had the same appeal to me. I do like the Hundred Acre Woods blocks they have going. And they'd cute as pillows for baby showers. If I fall in love with this paper piecing thing...
You should do some princess bride blocks though. "As you wish" embroidered around the borders... You know you want to :-) lol.
Now I have to go stalk the fandom in stitches blog to find all the patterns with your name on them! I feel famous by association :-)
E xx
This is going to be an incredible finish! We are Harry Potter fans in this house too. Helen read all the books in three months when she was nine and has reread them so many times since then. Emily is now done them so as a family we are starting back at the beginning with the films (even the ones we have seen) and each Saturday having a Harry Potter night. Last night was Y3. But I won't show them this quilt as they would want one and you know my aversion to paper piecing!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan. I have my fingers crossed all the blocks come together right.
DeleteI do love a book you can reread over and over. And the best part of Harry Potter is that they are characters that grow up, so as the reader ages, the book ages. The third movie is possibly the best, in my opinion. Sirius a Black and dementors everywhere. And the cinematography in it is great! Not to mention Hermione punching Malfoy... Ok I'm nerding out. Must stop.
E xx
Oh wow Erin this is so fab! I'm a huge HP fan, more so the books than the films, and back in the day I would be in the nightclub till 11.45 and then in the bookshop at midnight, queuing for the next instalment!! It's going to be fantastic, I hope you enjoy every stitch. Why don't you listen to an audio version (with the excellent Stephen Fry) then you can sew at the same time! (And listen to British Accents of course ;-)
ReplyDeleteWho doesn't like up the books better than the films! Even now, when I watch the films I get grumpy about the things that got missed out.
DeleteYou are a bigger fan than I am though. I was not a sit-outside-the-bookstore kinda gal. I'm a wait-til-the-hype-is-over-and-try-to-get-the-book-cheap woman. Lol. I do love the image of you in your party shoes sitting outside a bookstore with a bunch of kids in wizard costumes :-)
I looked at the Stephen Fry audio books (because, hello, Stephen Fry!), but they were quite expensive. I should look again, because now that it's been a few years, they might be a touch cheaper. And his British accent is divine. I like that he has started narrating documentaries. He's logging to be the new David Attenborough for me :-)
E xx
I love HP and Sherlock, so I don't find the two an odd combination at all. :) I've read the books so many times, it's a little ridiculous! I'm so pleased you're making this quilt, it looks amazing!! Your paper-piecing skills look like they're coming right along, those blocks are coming out great. :D
ReplyDeleteI am waiting for my books to start falling apart at the seams. I'm genuinely waiting, because when they do I'm going to buy a new set, and I'm getting the ones with the grown up covers, so I can stop carrying around a cartoon Harry Potter. :-P
DeleteI'm pretty excited about this paper piecing thing! It felt really ambitious when I started and now I feel like I'm getting the hang of it. I was even contemplating downloading those gemstone patterns and seeing how I go... I'll finish this one first, hey :-!
E xx
I have never seen a potter quilt before! I love it! I need to learn to paper piece...
ReplyDeleteChristina, you should join in! The pattern is free, so there's no bad side :-) I'd never paper pieced before I started. And in a lot of ways it's a good beginner pattern because some of it is just books, which are really simple to piece, so you can try harder blocks as your confidence increases.
DeleteE xx
This. Is. Awesome. I've seen that quilt and I can't wait to see your version! The woodgrain idea is genius!!
ReplyDeleteAww. Thanks, Jess. If I'm honest, it's because I'm not brave enough to try to quilt woodgrian. I'm sure there's someone out there who could... you perhaps???
ReplyDeleteE xx
I love this! And wish i was ambitious enough to make one for myself. I'm hoping my two little guys will be Potter fans when they get a bit older, so maybe if i start now i'll have it ready on time!
ReplyDeleteI have had it in my back brain for two years and have only just become adventourous enough to attempt it now. I do hope that todays little people will grow up loving Harry. I think there is hope as I have a young lad I babysit and now that he is reading chapter books he has found Harry Potter. It just makes me happy :-)
DeleteE xx