My Harry Potter Quilt: A Place to Start

Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot.

-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, page 128


Click on the image for a closer look.

Harry Potter was my first book obsession. I went to the midnight release for books 5, 6 and 7 (didn't start reading until the first HP movie came out and didn't even like the 1st book until I saw the movie -- then I had to go back and re-read it and went on with 2 through 4). I made a Professor McGonagall costume and have worn it for Halloween for 5 years at least, plus to at least one book release. I was dead set against reading the Twilight books because everyone said, "it's the next Harry Potter." I thought they meant the books were to replace HP. What they should have been saying is "it's the next phenomenon as big as Harry Potter."

One day last week while I was procrastinating taking down the Christmas tree, I started to browse the Harry Potter patterns on SewHooked. I also found some great patterns on the Guest Designer page there and on Cat's Etsy Shop. From Sewhooked, I found two personal blogs which had lots of great ideas (and hopefully patterns soon to follow). Michelle's blog had lots of great portrait blocks of the characters. From Connie's blog I got the idea for my layout (I borrowed and tweaked one of her ideas) and some other great patterns.

I've been thinking about making a Harry Potter Quilt for a while and the layout on Connie's blog was just the spark I needed to get me started with a plan. Of course, this will happen AFTER I finish my twin Twilight quilts. I absolutely can't start another big project before I get that finished. If you scroll down about ⅓ of the way on Connie's blog, you'll see where I took the layout from. Each tower has scenes from one book (Year 1 on the left and moving to the right to Year 7). The tower above Harry Potter in the castle entrance has the four house crests on it. Both my kids want a Harry Potter quilt.

A few of the blocks I want to do are not in existence yet. I'm either going to have to beg and bribe some of the experienced designers to make patterns for me, or try it myself for the Hogwart's Express (bottom left corner), the Sword of Gryffindor (Book 2), the Prophecy (Book 5), The White Tomb (Book 6), Hufflepuff's Cup (Book 7) and Ravenclaw's Diadem (Book 7). Sirius Black (Book 2), Ginny Weasley (Book 6) and Voldemort and Naigini (Book 7) are on Michelle's personal blog and she hasn't published patterns for them. She also has James Potter (and a few others) that she hasn't posted patterns for, which I'm wracking my brains to figure out a way to include them, because I really need to include James and Lily Potter (she did her also, and that pattern is available). Connie has the Nimbus 2000 with a Snitch (top left corner) and the most amazing Mirror of Erised (Book 1) on her blog, but they aren't finished yet. So, I have two options: Option 1: Be patient while they finish their work because I have most of a Twilight quilt to finish OR Option 2: Get a live journal account and bombard them with compliments, comments and beg and bribe them to finish their patterns.

As for making a HP quilt for each of my kids, I'm not. This is for me. I know, I should probably make them each one as well as one for me. YIKES! Three quilts! And don't think it hasn't entered my mind to make one for JKR as well. There are about 90 blocks that I would like to include in the quilt. But as it stands now, there are 70 blocks in the design. I'm pretty sure I'm going to add one more row in each column making it 78 blocks. I counted, and my Twilight quilt has the equivalent of 55 blocks (some blocks, like Isle Esme, take up three spots, and the two rows of trees on top and bottom are worth 5 blocks each), so I'm making 110 blocks in total (two quilts, yes, I'm crazy.) for the Twilight quilt. And paper piecing blocks are very time consuming. So, the HP Quilt is a HUGE undertaking, and making four of them is absolutely insane. For now, I'm filing this away in the 'think about it' drawer. I have lots of other projects already in the works. But this one is a fun one to look forward to.

My Twilight Quilt: My Jacob

“. . . You started mumbling some nonsense about 'Jacob, my Jacob.'” I could hear the pain, even in the whisper. “Your Jacob enjoyed that quite a lot.”

I stretched my neck up, straining to reach my lips to the edge of his jaw. I couldn't see into his eyes. He was staring up at the ceiling of the tent.

“Sorry,” I murmured. “That's just the way I differentiate.”

“Differentiate?”

“Between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Between the Jacob I like and the one who annoys the hell out of me” I explained.
–Edward Cullen and Bella Swan, Eclipse, page 512

This is Cat's Paw Print pattern. I thought it was a great representation for Bella's 'My Jacob,' the side of him that she liked, even loved. I added claws to the block (inspired by Iris) so that it would look more like a werewolf paw. Even though they are claws, they are still fairly benign and the block fits that part of Jacob who is Bella's friend. The pattern is for a 5" block. I wanted the paw to stay the size it was but needed the block to be 6", so instead of enlarging the pattern, I added extra fabric to the edge pieces, hoping to have enough fabric all the way around to square up once the block was finished. But I didn't add quite enough to keep the paw in the center of the block. Adding the claws changes the center of the block, so I had to add the strips around the edges, which I really hate. It makes it look like you miscalculated on size, which is exactly what I did. The off-white background fabric is on ration because I'm using it for the Cullen's house as well. And now I come to think of it, the russet fabric is slated for a howling wolf block (the 'other' Jacob), so a re-make is not an option, nor is it really necessary.


Did I mention that I like adding blocks to my layout as I complete them? It confirms that the 'picture in my head' of the quilt is actually going to come out the way I want it. And it keeps me motivated, since this project keeps getting put on hold for other, more pressing matters.


I'm not sure what to work on next. I'm wondering if I should start with Bella's truck and go from there, left to right, top to bottom, or if I should just fill in wherever I'm interested in? When I was a kid, I had a coloring book that I wanted to color in order, starting at page 1 and moving to the end. One of my friend didn't like that idea, but my mom stood up for me and told her that's how I wanted it, so she needed to go in order if she wanted to color. I really like 'coloring inside the lines.' It would be fun to fill in the layout in order. But I'm exited about all of the blocks, so I really don't know where to go from here. I'm also afraid that when I get to Charlie's House, I'll get stuck. I'm not sure what color to make the house. The books don't say what color it is and it is white in the movie. But I'm going to make the Cullen's house white, so I don't want two white houses. Jacob's house is red, well faded red. So, I don't know where to go with that one. I need to go back and do a little tweaking on Isle Esme. I'm going to make the house a little bigger and scoot the other elements a little closer together. I'm also going to make the horizon line uneven. So, should I start there? I also have a lot of hand work to do on the Forks Forest trees and need to make the "Forks" sign to go on the top row. Should I finish up both of those things before I start work on a new block? And then there's the Wedding Dance block, which is really like 7 or 8 elements combined and takes the space of 4 blocks, but will probably be the most work of any of the blocks so far. Should I do that and get it over with so the rest is smooth sailing? What to do? What to do?

My Twilight Quilt: Switzerland

I am a neutral country. I am Switzerland. I refuse to be affected by territorial disputes between mythical creatures. –Bella Swan, Eclipse, page 143

Work on the New Moon Charity Quilt and Christmas projects hadn't left me much time to work on my Twilight quilt. I'd been dying to make this block for over a month and was so glad to finally get to it. This is Cat's design accented with machine embroidery by Jerri Lynn. Thank you so much, both of you! I love that everyone is so willing to share talents and ideas. Cat's shield design adds an awesome amount of visual interest. She went to Switzerland on her honeymoon and said that shields were displayed far more often than flags. The quilt block is designed to be a square. In working out some of the finer points of my layout I'd moved the Switzerland block from a 6" square to a 4" x 6" rectangle, planning to stretch the design and make it taller than it is wide, in favor of giving the larger space to a scene depicting the battle in the woods between Victoria and Edward in Eclipse. But one morning I came up with a better idea. I'd reduce Cat's block from 5" to 4" and border it with a quote from the book -- I am Switzerland. It was the perfect solution. The only problem was finding the time to do it.

The time finally came last week. I stayed up late one night to work on this block and just really enjoyed doing a non-deadlined, just-for-fun, just-for-me project. The red is left-over from the Stephenie Meyer quilt -- almost the last little bit of it. I had a couple of strips of bias cut left from the binding, which I recut so I could use it on the grain (the less bias pulling the better, right?) so it took me forever. Or maybe I'm just slow. In any case here is the I Am Switzerland block. I really like the way it fits into the quilt.

As my layout has evolved and the patterns for the blocks I'm including moved from traditional piecing to the very time consuming process of paper piecing, I've come to realize that no one will ever snuggle up under this quilt. It is meant to be displayed. Did I mention that I'm making two of this quilt? In the beginning one quilt was for me and one quilt was going to be a gift for Stephenie Meyer. But since the Twilight Quilter's Coven made Piece, Love, Twilight, a quilt for Stephenie Meyer as a group and I coordinated that, I decided not to give the second quilt to her. I'm not sure what the second quilt is for, but since I started two, I have to finish two (yes, I know that's a little mental).

My quilt started out being called the Twilight Mystery Quilt, mostly because I was following a set of instructions which were being given out every two weeks 'mystery style.' And that name was fitting for a while, because even though I worked on it, borrowing and coming up with my own ideas to represent the books, it was still a mystery as to how it would come out. But I think I have all the pieces in place now, and so taking all that into consideration, I think it only fitting that my quilt be called More Than A Little Obsessed.

Twilight Obsession: A Banner

As I've been working on my twin Mystery Quilt blocks, specifically the book covers, I have also made a third set of book cover blocks to put together in a little banner as a Christmas gift for a non-quilting TwilighMOMS friend. I've had to keep it under wraps, but as she's unwrapped her gift I can share now. I know I've posted my other blocks like these, but it is fun to have them all in one spot and this is a separate project, after all.

The Twilight Book Cover, designed by Cat. It is enlarged to 120% to make a 6" block. The fabrics in the apple were from Iris and the hands are the favorite iridescent sparkle fabrics in white and cream from JoAnn's. The black swirl in the background is also from JoAnn's. It is a little difficult to see here, and you'll get a better look at it in the other blocks. The apple stem is hand satin stitch. This is the third Forbidden Fruit block I've made.

The New Moon Book Cover, designed by Cat and enlarged to 120%. The red fabric is the same as in the apple, from Iris, and the few pieces of dark burgundy are from Wanda. Thanks girls! The white is Snow Fairy Frost and the green in the stem is a marble print that I used for the stem and leaves in the proposal block in the New Moon Quilt. This is the eighth Broken Petals block I've made, one trial block at 100%, four blocks at 80% for the Stephenie Meyer quilt and three at this size.

The Eclipse Book Cover. I did this the same way I did the ribbon on the Stephenie Meyer quilt, using the actual book as the model for it. I even used a left-over piece of ribbon from the Stephenie Meyer quilt. In addition to the ribbon in the Stephenie Meyer quilt and this block, I've made two other 6" ribbon blocks.

Cat's Breaking Dawn cover, enlarged to 120%. Although all of Cat's patterns are fun to do, this one was particularly fun for me, though I'm not sure why. I just really enjoyed doing it. The chessboard squares are Natural Fairy Frost (a favorite!) and I traced the chess pieces directly off the book cover. The chess pieces are made from the same pattern I used for the SM quilt, and did them at the same time. The queen is Snow Fairy Frost and the pawn is Red Fairy Frost. I've done three of these blocks.

The picture is a little distorted, but here is the finished banner, which I named Twilight. I should have called it Twilight Obsession, but didn't think of it until too late. Angie did a beautiful job machine quilting it for me. Thanks so much, Angie! The banner idea was Iris'. We were talking about our mystery quilts and how to fit in the book covers. She only included the Twilight Book Cover in her mystery quilt and at the time I was debating about using her awesome placement idea or putting each of the book covers in the four corners of the quilt. She said that she was going to make a book-cover only hanging, either in a banner, like this, or with two covers in the top row and two covers in the bottom row. I filed that idea away and thought it might be a great gift for a fellow Twilight lover.

The red fabric is left over from the Stephenie Meyer quilt. The borders around the 6" book cover blocks are 2" and the black borders are 4", I think. I worked this one out as I went, something I don't usually do, and I didn't write it down for future reference. Oops! I like to have a layout marked to scale on grid paper so I can make sure everything fits. This seemed like a straightforward design, so I worked out the details as I went. When I bound it, I included loops for hanging. The loops lay flat against the back of the banner, so if she wants to use it as a table runner, she won't have a problem hiding them. I brought in extra lighting to try to get a good picture, but the contrast between the black and white confuses the camera and so it is difficult to get a picture that isn't really dark. If you want to see a bigger view of it, just click on the picture.

Angie did a great job with the quilting. She did accent quilting around each of the Book Cover pieces. Then in the borders, she used a really fantastic sort of filigree pattern. It is very striking. Here is a close-up of that (click on the picture for an even bigger view).

She quilted in a complimenting pattern in the red frames around each block. Here is a close-up of one side (again, click on it for a bigger view):

This is what it looks like all the way around. The photo isn't the best (I was in a hurry to get it in the mail and only took one picture of the frames), but I hope you can see how cool the design looks around the blocks. You can also see the accent stitching that she did on the book cover elements in this block.

The quilting really makes this runner spectacular. Thanks for a great job, Angie!

My Twilight Quilt: New Moon Book Cover

I felt like I was trapped in one of those terrifying nightmares, the one where you have to run, run till your lungs burst, but you can't make your body move fast enough. My legs seemed to move slower and slower as I fought my way through the callous crowd, but the hands on the huge clock tower didn't slow. With relentless, uncaring force, they turned inexorably toward the end -- the end of everything.

But this was no dream, and unlike the nightmare, I wasn't running for my life; I was racing to save something infinitely more precious. My own life meant little to me today.

Alice had said there was a good chance we would both die here. Perhaps the outcome would be different if she weren't trapped by the brilliant sunlight; only I was free to run across this bright, crowded square.

And I couldn't run fast enough.

So it didn't matter to me that we were surrounded by our extraordinarily dangerous enemies. As the clock began to toll out the hour, vibrating under the soles of my sluggish feet, I knew I was too late -- and I was glad something bloodthirsty waited in the wings. For in failing at this, I forfeited any desire to live.

The clock tolled again, and the sun beat down from the exact center point of the sky.
-Bella Swan, New Moon, pages 1-2

I'm excited to have all four book covers and consequently all four corners of my quilt finished! This is the New Moon Book cover, pattern designed by the lovely and talented Cat. I had previously made five other Broken Petals blocks when working on the Stephenie Meyer quilt. I made one test block at 5", and then four more, reduced to 80% to add to the medallion center of the quilt. For my quilt, I enlarged the pattern to 120%, to make a 6" block.

As I was working my blocks this time, I compared the design to the book cover. Cat does an amazing job using light and shadow and color to create the book covers. It is no small task to translate a picture into workable pieces on a pattern, even using the paper piecing method. I think that when I have it quilted, I would like to have the "veins" of the flower petals quilted in to give it that delicate look that the book cover has. The main red color is a fabric that Iris sent me. I think she's used it in her quilt as well. I had exactly enough to make the tulips. Thanks Iris! The darker burgundy accent (just a few spots of it) is from Wanda. The white is Snow Fairy Frost (can I ever manage a block without Fairy Frost?) and the background is the black I've chosen to use throughout my quilt. I know I've mentioned it before, but is a Civil War reproduction fabric and that always makes me think of Jasper when I think of that. It always surprises me that it fits in so well in every block I've used it in. The tiny flowers are so perfect. They add just the right texture and color compliment to the blocks.

And here is the layout, with all four corners filled in: