Harry Potter Project of Doom "Quilt-Behind": Week 21 ... and a giveaway!

I was really excited when Jennifer put out a new Sorting Hat block for week 21 of the PoD, and I just had to jump ahead.  I'm trying to work on the blocks as they inspire me, instead of trying to stick to an order or a strict schedule.  It's keeping the fun alive, rather than making this a chore.

This is my crazy fabulous (I know it's narcissistic, but I'm SO proud of this one!) block for the week:

Crookshanks and the Sorting Hat.

I already had the perfect fabric for my Sorting Hat, because my mom had given me about a half yard of soft, cotton-thin suede after making my sister some Link gloves for Comicon.  It sewed up beautifully and pressed nicely.  I was concerned because I knew nothing about the care instructions for this fabric, so I used a pressing cloth and only pressed for a second on low heat, just to set the crease.  This suede may actually end up being the bottom layer of my Monster Book of Monsters as well, but I'll be adding fur on top.

My Sorting Hat.

The same day the pattern was released I had to run to JoAnn for a Girl Scout project, and I thought I would check through the oranges to see what they had for Crookshanks.  They had about a million fat quarters of this perfect orange swirly fabric that I thought would make a perfect long cat fur.  This is one of those semi-directional fabrics, where there's a basic direction (up and down in this case), but no one will notice if it's slightly awry.  I'm pretty happy with how I got the fabric to line up.  The fabric really shines on his bottlebrush tail.

I used the embroidery machine to add the results of my sorting session.  I'm not doing a heavily Ravenclaw-themed PoD except for my wallpaper around the outside, but it's 100% my house and I did want a couple of little nods to it throughout.

If Crookshanks gets lost, he'll make it back home with his personalized pet tag.

Then came my favorite part: the tag for Crookshanks!  I was looking at one of those nitpicky little areas where Crookshanks and the hat meet up in a corner, and lamenting the fact that it was a smidge off and was going to drive me nuts for years.  I thought, "Gosh (yep, I'm a dork in my head, too), I wish there was something I could put there to hide that.  Like a cat tag."  Like.  A.  CAT TAG!  I could almost literally feel the light bulb going off above my head.  Within minutes I had ordered a 2$ cat tag that says "Crookshanks" on the top line and "Hermione Granger" on the bottom.  When it arrived, I stitched it on like you would a button, and it feels totally secure.  I absolutely love that little detail.

Eventually I will be embroidering some whiskers on Crookshanks, but those kinds of additions will come near the end, when I don't have so much piecing to do.

I'm so excited to be making progress on the PoD, and I want to help you get there too!  I have a giveaway for you to enter, with the chance to win some fabrics for your PoD.  I have some fun book spine fabrics, a fat quarter of the Crookshanks fabric, and a large piece of some speckled brown and green fabric that I plan on using for my Trevor when he comes along.  I will draw names from any entrants on my birthday, June 22.  You can see the fabrics you can win below:

Crookshanks and Trevor fabric.

Some fabrics for your book spines.  I especially love Alexander Henry's "The Ghastlies" print on the left.

Just leave a comment letting me know where you're at in your process or how you would use these fabrics!