Elizabeth

Hi! I'm Elizabeth. I've been married since 1996 and, Mr. Bug and I have two great kids, Grasshopper who was born in 1999 and LadyBug who was born in 2002. I've been sewing since I was about 8. I started out making shorts and pillowcases and then moved on to making Cabbage Patch Doll clothes from scraps from my mom's fabric stash. I loved making matching outfits for my boy and girl and even made clothes for my friends' dolls for Christmas. I worked at two different fabric stores in High School and I got my first sewing machine (which was replaced in early 2009 after 19 years of devoted service) and my first rotary cutter and mat (both of which I still have and use) at the age of 17. At the time, I used a wooden yardstick to cut my quilt pieces. I was thrilled when I discovered plastic rulers because if I nicked the yardstick, it dulled my cutting blade. I made a dozen or so prom dresses for friends during High School and two wedding dresses, one a few years after High School and one for my brother's fiancé a few years ago. I love to do creative things; gardening, paper crafting -- especially rubber stamping, reading and even cooking, but sewing is my first love.

I first read the Twilight books in September of 2008 and had a pretty strong reaction to them. I was instantly hooked and needed a daily dose of Bella and the Cullens. I combed the web for any bit of Twilight news and eventually landed at TwilightMOMS. It was there that I met Heather Laddick, the owner of the Zeppelin Threads quilt shop. She mentioned that she was planning a Twilight Mystery Quilt and asked if I'd like to join. I jumped at the chance and enjoyed putting together her design, even making a second set of the blocks she provided which I had decided to finish and send to Stephenie Meyer. Because of my intense reaction to her books, I wanted to find a way to let her know how much I enjoyed her writing and admired her personally. Four steps into the six-step Mystery Quilt, Heather had to take a break with the quilt. However, our group on the Mystery Quilt Thread continued to discuss ways to finish the blocks that we'd started. As our discussion progressed, I discovered that I wasn't the only one who had a desire to send Stephenie a quilt. It was suggested that we make a quilt together and I was quickly voted project coordinator, a challenge I thoroughly enjoyed. I love to organize and plan. The women in our group had such wonderful ideas for Twilight themed quilt blocks and with Iris as co-coordinator it was easy to put together a design and get the blocks divided out.

A former member had an idea for a medallion using Catherine Magraith's Forbidden Fruit block. With her OK, I went ahead with putting together a design, creating a paper template from that idea and the rest is history. It was been extremely rewarding to put the energy of my Twilight obsession into such an enormous project. I think our final product is better than any one of us could have done on our own because we each brought something different to the project. I have continued to work on my own Twilight Mystery quilt, which at one point was a true mystery because no one knew how it would turn out. Through the discontinuation of the mystery quilt patterns, a huge opportunity for me to exercise my creative muscles evolved and I am so exited to put together a quilt that at one time was intended for use as a snuggle-up-under-and-read quilt, but has evolved into an add-an-extra-room-onto-the-house-and-build-a-shrine-to-it quilt.

I'd like to send a shout-out to Stephenie Meyer, who chose to change the rules, create her own world and succeeded magnificently!

Motto: When life throws you scraps, make a quilt.

Favorite Quilt Shop: Corn Wagon Quilt Co.

Favorite Quilt Designer: Lori Holt

Favorite Quilting Tools: Omnigrid 4" x 8" Ruler, the Dritz 6" x 8" self-healing mini mat and spray starch -- AWESOME for paper piecing.

Favorite book from the Twilight Series: Breaking Dawn

Team: Switzerland

Blog: Such a Sew and Sew

My blocks in Stephenie's Quilt:
The New Moon Tulips
The Eclipse Ribbon
The Breaking Dawn blocks in the Medallion
Final layout and assembly

My blocks in the New Moon Charity Quilt:
Jacob's Sun
Bella & Jacob's Motorcycles
Bella, Jacob & Mike Newton Go to the Movies
The Wolf Pack
The Proposal

My blocks in the Eclipse Charity Quilt:
Graduation from Forks High
Edward's Bedroom/The Proposal

My blocks in the Breaking Dawn Charity Quilt:
Jacob & Renesmee
The Two Wolf Packs