Ron Weasley's blanket/quilt

 I finished the Ron Weasley Blanket-inspired quilt.  Here are some up close pictures of my really awful quilting...I followed designs that I printed up from online pictures, mixed with free motion waves.  I have never been great at free motion quilting and tracing these patterns with my long arm was just as bad.  However, I am happy with the quilt.  It is going to be a great sofa quilt.

  

I think Ron and Harry would approve.  

I did very little crochet this weekend but am plugging along...

Blue/bright granny square will be a lap blanket.  The granny rectangle will be another lap blanket and the square is one for the Ron Weasley crochet blanket.  

Very happy to have had the long weekend to work on this quilt and have a finish.  So many more to go...

Mischief Managed

 

I got the Ron Weasley Blanket-inspired quilt top put together.  Then I searched and searched for a piece of flannel that I KNOW I HAVE- white with the HP characters on it.  Can't find it anywhere!!!

I have other HP fabrics I could use but I really wanted flannel...I know I will find it-after I finish this quilt probably!

Here's some more views...

Here is the next project I cut out so that it can eventually serve as another leader and ender- simple Irish chain so once I have the 3 square units made with strip sets, I can sew them as L&E.  

Much accomplished for a Sunday, though I have ignored many chores that need to be done...

Weekend sewing- Friday Night with Friends

 

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sew on Friday night as planned- nothing is working as planned so far for the New Year...

I did get some time yesterday though.

I started a spur of the moment idea for a leader's and enders project.  Tested these and will finish getting it cut out today, hopefully.  I am putting lots of UFOs together so need Leaders and Enders for between rows etc.  

I love bees and have quite a collection of bee fabric.  Two other bee quilts in the works.

I got two more Weasley Blanket blocks crocheted on Thursday.  

I did go purchase more yarn a few days ago so that I would have enough variety of accurate colors.  

These one color blocks take just a few minutes and I love doing them.  They are relaxing and I feel like I am making progress.  

I hope I will have a quilt top to show by the end of today, as well as a new outlook for the New Year.  Focusing on recentering and reorganizing from the crazy start I have had to 2022.  

Happy sewing!

More progress on the Weasley Blanket

 

A few more blocks finished.  

The black one is 12 rows of black, then 3 of white, then 4 more of black.  The pink and blue are alternate sets of 4 rows per color and then only 3 rows of the last pink stripe.  

I actually started the quilt version as well...

It is a little hard to see since it is on top of a very colorful quilt.  I have 5 of the 8 rows done but only the left two are sewn together.  I am trying to stay true to the overall color of each block and the design as is presented in the resources I found online.  I am having a hard time as I am running out of unique greys, blues, reds, and browns and there are a lot of them in the rest of the quilt.  As you can see, there are only a few pieced blocks and I am working out the measurements as I go along.  

I am hoping to find some good HP designs to quilt into it when I have it finished.  And, somewhere, I have a piece of HP flannel in my stash...hope I can find it for the back.  

Harry Potter Inspiration

 

After watching the 20th reunion celebration, my husband and I have been inspired to re-watch all the HP movies.  We are up to Goblet of Fire which we watched last night, so only 4 more to go.  I also decided to reread the books.  I am on Chamber of Secrets.  And, I have always wanted to recreate Ron's blanket and finally feel like I understand crochet enough to go that route, though the original is knitted.  My blanket will not be identical- only inspired by...I won't be bothering with creating diagonal lines, but will look at colors and thickness of lines for inspiration.  I will also be using my stash so not all the colors will be exact.  

I started yesterday and have 4.5 blocks completed.  I am sewing in ends and putting the blocks together as I go along.  I created my own pattern but there is a book on Kindle Unlimited with patterns for a crochet version.  

Here is my first block.  I chained 25 which made the block exactly 8 inches.  I am using half double crochet (US terms) and each row has 23 stitches.  The chain 2 at the beginning of a row does not count as a stitch.  I thought I would do 20 rows but, as it turned out, 19 rows made it exactly 8 inches square.  

I am using mostly "I Love this Yarn" from Hobby Lobby- in a number 4 weight.  I am using a 5.5 MM/I-9 hook.  

Here is one way to test for squareness in addition to measurement.  I am not one to block my crochet unless it is just really out of whack...

For block number two, I did 6 rows of red, 7 rows of white, and 6 of blue.  

In the reproduction and reference materials I found online, there are 80 blocks in this blanket so that is what I will be aiming for.  That will make my blanket 64 by 80 inches.  That is if I decide it does not need any sort of border when finished.  

If you have made this blanket, or decide to try your own, I would love to see pictures and have updates on your process!

I used the gold from the first block to do a single crochet to put them together.  I like the ridge that is left on one side of the blanket and will make sure all the joins are on the same side.  If you look at the one in the movie, it appears to be joined with black and it does have a slight ridge as well.  

My husband said he thought, when I was printing out all the pictures for reference, that I was going to reproduce it as a quilt-not a bad idea so...

I only have two more days before I return to work after the Winter Holiday.  So many ideas and unfinished projects and NEVER enough time!!!  

2021 in Review

 

Well, I have to say that 2021 was not my best year.  I wasn't very productive, I have hated the changes brought about by Covid, and there have definitely been some rough patches!  However, I am starting 2022 by taking a deep breath and focusing on what I have to celebrate.  

First of all, the members of my family are all healthy and have what they need!

Then, I have this precious baby, Cosmo, pictured above, to take care of and enjoy, along with our lovely cat, Gracie who has been with us for just over a year.  

I managed to lose 35 pounds this year, though I haven't stepped back on the scale since Thanksgiving and fully expect to be more than 5 pounds back in the red...restart coming soon...

I have managed very little quilting this past year.  The focus has been on crochet, reading, and painting, when there was any time at all...

Here are some of my finished and unfinished projects.  There are many more unfinished ones not shown and a few completed ones that did not make the cut...

I have spent a lot of time painting by myself as well as with my daughter who works at a Paint and sip place-none of those results shown here.  In the above images, ...the fox is mine, the bunny is hers and those are actually kits from Michaels.  The sunflowers are an ArtSherpa tutorial.  The girl is my daughter- a picture I had made into a paint by number that I will hopefully get finished soon- she is an opera singer, about to graduate in June with a Masters in Opera Voice Performance.  The abstract is the result of my own playing and then there are the more crafty projects such as the rocker and plate.  

Here are some of my fiber projects.  I did a few wreaths around Thanksgiving and Christmas time.  I have enough Ribbon to do many more and hopefully will pace myself throughout the year.  I had just a few finished quilts.  That little art quilt with the bee might be my favorite.  I did quite a few machine embroidery projects.  Here are the 39 books I read this year.  My favorites were:  The Witch's Heart, Project Hail Mary, and The Anthropocene Reviewed.  

I think I may reread all the Harry Potter Books this year.  I am currently on Chamber of Secrets.  

I also hope to complete many quilt projects and Crochet projects that are already started.  Mostly, though, I want to enjoy the year, see some new things, spend time with my family, and be able to celebrate all I have!  

Blessings to you all in 2022!