It all comes together!!

I took a little bit of time off from online while I wrapped up a couple of projects including the surprise quilt for my friend K.  I took a couple of pictures along the way...

It's been so much fun to open packages by all of the amazing women from the FandominStitches Project of Doom 2015 FB page, who volunteered time and talent and effort by making a block or two!!  We've been posting them as they come in and finally - all of them are here and we had to monkey around with the layout to get it looking JUST RIGHT.

And then I quilted the blocks with the batting...

and then I sewed them into rows and put them on shelves....

And then we had to decide about backing fabric.... oh decisions decisions....  I loved both of these because the pulled all the colors from the other side.

and we went with the tie-dye trimmed in turquoise (because turquoise and purple do some serious poppin'!)  well, and because if K isn't in beachwear, or resortwear - she loves bright popping colors...

and then we sewed the front to the back (by stitching along the shelves strategically)

And finally - it was all ready to take over, just in time for her surgery...
Delivery was emotional and sweet - she was absolutely floored.

And this - THIS is why I love doing things like this.  

K was truly surprised and tickled pink that she had been given this quilt.  She messaged me after we left still a bit in shock, but so so so thankful.  I love that I have such amazing quilting friends, and get to be a part of such an amazing community.

Coming up with a plan - K's quilt

So it's been a little while since blocks have started coming in for K's quilt, and I've been figuring out how to put them on the shelves.   This week I took down my PoD2K15 Dark Arts quilt from my wall board and started configuring the layout.... a quick peek...

I like how it's coming together.  There has been some conversations on the best ways to quilt this type of project, and this being my 6th version of this quilt (lol that made me chuckle), I am creating a tutorial on how I'm putting it together so keep your eyes open! (I'll update this with a link when it's done) :)

Mail's Here Monday!

This week we got more fun blocks!  I love seeing the purples that come in.  (just in case you're wondering - we're going to shelve them in gradients, allowing for a subtle ombre to happen in the background!)

More PoD2K15 - HPDA

I've also been working along with my own 2015 version of the Project of Doom which is more dark arts oriented.  I love that we've been getting patterns every Wednesday, but with the realization that the quilt will be done in the next 5 weeks, I'm a little sad!  I've taken some time to go back and pick up some alternative pieces to add to my own, so a little revamping has been going on!  here's this week's block #25 with the addition of baby norbert (printed at 75% size).  All patterns are property of Fandominstitches.com and are always free!

Monday Mail Call - so cute for K's quilt!

This week at the mailbox...

I am loving the mystical creatures and mermaids!!!  (K has a special affinity for creatures, in particular mermaids - **squee**  I know she's going to love this).

Mail's Here Mail's Here!!

It's been a fun week at our house!  Quilt squares are beginning to come in for K's quilt (awesome peeps!!)

(Adding Dumbledore to my mermaid square really came together!!)

Oh and progress getting the map and chocolate frog box put into a square too!

Making the Mermaid - K's quilt

My friend K and I are a lot alike - we're both landlocked mermaids who wish we could spend more time at the beach and near the waves.  I knew I couldn't pull this quilt together without adding at least one personal mermaid touch - and so I hunted down THIS pattern over at fandominstitches.com and put her together.  (side note:  I would love to do a set of these, one in reverse for some bookends maybe?)

I always start by laying out fabrics to play with color and contrast.  The pattern has her nekkid-ish, so I revamped it a little and added a clamshell (that was seriously a lot of work - if I do add these as bookends on something I'm doing, I'll plan to give her a washed out green textured skin and call it a day)

3 1/2 hours of work later - and I finally got her put back together.  I always have this angst about remembering to give myself the 1/4 inch seam allowance so I can sew it back together!  but it worked.

Isn't she lovely?  She measures out about 7.5 inches tall, which made putting her in to a block with some of our fun gift quilt mail pretty easy! :)

Shhhh - a surprise in the works....

My friend K has been undergoing some pretty severe health issues for a couple of years now and earlier this year began going through multiple severe surgeries to rebuild her jaw and has had complications all the way through (read: shingles, pneumonia, multiple infections, etc.). In a visit this week her husband expressed how much depression has crept in for her, but that he just didn't know how to help her - and it hit me... She needs help warding off those dementors! She's been my biggest fan as I've created each of the PoD and multifandom quilts and every single time has said - You should make me one!

So this week I sent out a call to my fellow Doomer's to see if they'd help me put one together - it's no small feat and I am overwhelmed with the love support and eagerness of this wonderful group of women to pitch in to raise someone's spirits.  Literally in the course of about 6 hours, all but a few of the 30 quilt squares were signed up for.  K's birthday is early August, and I have no doubt that I will easily be able to get it done before then.  

A sneak peek for you at some that are already done...

Since I've been gone....

I'm currently still working on my HP Dark Arts (Project of Doom 2015) QAL and these are the squares completed in the last two weeks.  I'm still in catch up mode since I'm a little behind the rest that started back in March, but I'm really happy with the progress.

Sorting Hat with Crookshanks (Weeks 21 & 22)  Pattern slightly adjusted to line things up a little more than the original.

Rita Skeeter's and Delores Umbridge's Quills (Week 23)  I did adjust this pattern to include both of the quills that were not on the original 2011 PoD, I'm pretty happy with how it came out!

Gilderoy Lockhart's Quill and Ink square (Week 15)  Well at least that's what I'm calling it...

Voldemort's wand (Week 14) -  the new 2015 version also offers patterns for Harry's wand and the Elder wand, but I felt like if I'm running a Dark Arts theme, He who much not be named's wand made more sense.  And while you can't tell as well here - the "bone" color of the wand piece is pretty cool.

Hermione's Blue Flame in the Jelly Jar (Week 20)  I am Thrilled at how this one turned out.  I used a shimmery overlay to give that feel of glass and it turned out great!

Durmstrang School Flag (Week 19) This week's square has quite a few options and I debated hard over if I should do one of the four houses (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw), Beauxbatons, the Hogwarts Crest and this one.  I just really liked this one!  Plus my first PoD has the Hogwarts crest.

All Patterns are property of Fandominstitches.com and are always free!

Hunger Games...

I've been slowly but surely taking on the Hunger Games quilt squares designed by Lil at liljabs.com and thought I'd show some of the progress...

HG - Pattern Testing District 5

So I am playing a bit with a new HG square for this quilt.  I'm still in the dark as far as how I'm putting this whole thing together, but I have a few ideas.

This pattern was put together with a red alphabet set, and a green alphabet set - Gotta love that liljabs LOVES all those little pieces!  Slow and steady!

Putting all those little bits together really took some time.  I feel like on squares like this it's important to remove paper as you go, and trim seams down to 1/8th an inch to avoid bulky seams.  I read somewhere that you can "hammer" those bulky spots too to help reduce, but I'm too chicken to do it.

Just a little more.....

and finally - whala!  I've got to work on my own lining up skills (thinking that switching to clips over quilt pins may help).  It's not perfect, but I'm happy enough with it.