Mythical Creatures - for Project QUILTING 16.1

After waiting with much anticipation on Sunday, January 5, 2024, for the announcement of Project QUILTING first challenge of season sixteen, I was totally perplexed. The theme, Mythical Creatures, was completely out of my wheelhouse! I’m just not a follower of mythology. After much pondering, inspirtation struck!

I want to give a huge shout-out to Kim Lapacek of Persimon Dreams and Trisha Frankland of Quilt Chicken. Project QUILTING is just what I need during the short, cold, snowy, windy days after the holidays. These challenges provide an opportunity for our creative minds. The adventures push us to think outside the box, try a technique rattling around for a while, use fabrics you have no idea why they are in your stash, and feel accomplished for creating and completing.

THE PLAN

Harry Potter was the answer. Although Harry, himself isn’t really a Mythical Creature, his books are filled with them. According to Wikipedia creatures from Auguries to werewolves and Bowtruckles to Occamy, a diverse menagerie of exotic magical beasts live inside J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter world. Depicting Harry and his lightening bolt becomes the goal.

THE CONSTRUCTION

Materials for background fabric and Harry’s hair are gathered.

• A sketch of Harry Potter’s hair and scar are drawn on freezer paper. Tightly woven Island Batik solid black is backed with MistyFuse bonding agent.

• My Cutterpillar light table is used to place the fused hair on to Island Batik solid white squares. Hair is then fused to background fabric.

Adding the glasses

• To get perfectly even bias rims for the glasses, I used Karen Kay Buckley’s Perfect Stems. They are sturdy, flexible and heat resistant.

• A zipper foot on my BERNINA 790 was used to stitch very close to the Perfect Stems.

• Lots of steam allowed the bias strips to form circular lens.

• Glasses are fused to white background with 1/4 fusible then stitched in place.

Lightening Bolt

•Freezer paper stencil is pressed to forehead area. Red Inktense pencil colors area created by stencil.

• Lightening bolts are heat set with a dry iron.

The Quilting

• After layering the backing, batting and quilt top, the hair and glasses were quilted with black thread using a straight stitch.

• White thread was used for the straight stitch quilting on the background area.

Audition Binding

• Checking out a black and white dot as a binding option.

• Stripes are one of my favorite go-to binding choices but this one is a bit too light for this project.

• Found the perfect black/white ratio fabric in my stash. The heavy use of black in th binding fabric balances nicely with the heavy use of white in the design area.

THE FINISHED PROJECT

These Harry Potter mini quilts can be used as mug rugs or hot pads. They are sure to find their way into a Hogwarts lover’s home. They finished at approximately 8-1/2 by 8-1/2 inches and can be found in my Etsy Shop.

Additional views of the completed project. I’m linked up to the challenge here.

Published by Sally Manke, Fiber Artist

Sally Manke's mission is to delight others with textile art that exemplifies her passion for joyful, creative expression through color and texture. She is a speaker, teacher, pattern designer, and fiber artist. Contact her to book a workshop or trunk show at this link. Visit her Etsy Shop at www.sallymanke.etsy

Sally is a brand Ambassador for BERNINA USA. All stitching on this project was completed on a BERNINA 790 PLUS.