Whale or Mermaid?

In a large city in France, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said, "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"

A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern,
Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.)
They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have adorable baby whales.
They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp.
They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia.
Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs.
They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don't exist.
If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human?
They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them ... where is IT?
Therefore, they don't have kids either.
Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me: I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, "Good grief, look how smart I am!"

Shared by Angie.

The Coven is published!

I was contacted in November by one of the co-editors of Quilter's Home Magazine interested in writing an article about our group/blog. The article is now in their February/March 2010 issue! When she called to do the interview she woke me up so I'm not sure exactly what I told her! ;) I should note there are a couple of errors, such as those are't roses they are parrot tulips (as us obsessed fans well know), and there's only one member of our coven in Canada. And the article does not mention that a couple of the ladies that contributed to Piece, Love, Twilight are not active members, and we have two newer members not mentioned in the article, Melly and Angie who joined us when we were starting on the New Moon charity quilt. I'm a little miffed that they put a macabre looking vampire with fangs on the article since REAL vampires don't have fangs ;), but I guess it illustrates the "Bitten" title. She wanted a photo of the Coven members, but since we haven't all met in person and don't have a group picture......we will definitely have to remedy that some day!

Stephenie Meyer Quilt: Final Destination

I received this e-mail just a few minutes ago from Stephenie Meyer's assistant.

Hello Elizabeth

I just wanted to let you know that the quilt (along with the memory book) you made for Stephenie arrived to her safely. She was amazed at how stunningly beautiful the quilt was. The amount of detail and creativity that clearly went into its creation is truly impressive.

Unfortunately, the memory card does not work with our cameras but we will send along a picture to you in the near future.

Sincerely,
M
Assistant to Stephenie Meyer

Iris and I thought it couldn't hurt to ask for a photo of Stephenie with the quilt. The worst that could happen is that she could say 'no.' So, I sent her a memory card that I hoped was a 'standard' sort of card, hoping to make it as easy and painless as possible for her to get it to us. Even though the card doesn't work, it looks like she still might send us a picture of her with the quilt. How marvelous would that be?

The "Start the New Year Right with Twilight & Quilting" Exchange

Our first TQC official Exchange is here!!! Instead of adding to the stresses of Christmas shopping, we are starting off the New Year with our exchange. January 15th was the deadline for mailing goodies, and sounds like we all made it plus/minus one day, which is a miracle for me at least! :)

So as the goodies roll in we'll finally get to find out who got buddied up and what fun and creative things we all sent each other! Don't forget to take pictures ladies and share the fun....

Elizabeth's gift from Jerri Lynn
Jerri Lynn's gift from Angie
Angie's gift from Mel
Mel's gift from Wanda
Wanda's gift from Cat
Cat's gift from Joyce
Joyce's gift from Iris
Iris' gift from Elizabeth

Stephenie Meyer Quilt: An Index of Posts

In trying to keep things organized, we have created an index of the posts concerning the Stephenie Meyer Quilt, Piece, Love , Twilight. As we add more details about this fabulous quilt, the index will be updated.

Our discussion thread on TwilightMOMS
The Volturi: Clock Tower at Volterra

The Finished Quilt Top
A Quilt Story
Slideshow of the Quilt Blocks
Piece, LOVE, Twilight
Where is it now?
A Work of Art

Quilt Show Update
Vivian's Blog Post
Pacific International Quilt Festival
Visit to the Stephenie Meyer Quilt
Charity Donation Part I

Charity Donation Part II

The Quilt is in the Mail

The Final Destination

Quilter's Home Magazine Article
Letter to the Editor
Spring 2010 Quilt Blogger's Festival
Stephenie Talks About Our Quilt

Stephenie Meyer Quilt: The Quilt is in the Mail

The Piece, Love, Twilight quilt has been shipped to Stephenie Meyer. Finally! The hitch is that it isn't going directly to Stephenie. It has to make a stop at her publisher's in New York before it is forwarded to Stephenie. We hoped that we might present the quilt in person to Stephenie, trying every avenue possible. We even made a very last minute attempt to get on the Oprah show when she was on so we could give it to her there. Unfortunately, that didn't work out. So it is going by route of the United States Postal System. Stephenie's publicist, who is very kind and quick to get back to me, assured me that she will make sure the quilt gets to Stephenie. So, we're all crossing our fingers that nothing happens to it in transit.

Here are a few last pictures of the quilt before it was sent. This is the quilt label on the back of the quilt. It has the signature of each of the nine of us who worked on the quilt as well as a list of each contributor's quilt blocks. I just noticed that it says we presented it in 2009. Oops!

Here is a section of hanging loops which go across the top of the quilt. They lay flat against the quilt back, so if she chooses not to hang the quilt, they won't be in the way. Sorry about the photo quality.
Iris put together a little scrapbook to include with the quilt. This is the front cover.

Inside the front cover is a picture of the quilt and the top part of the quilt label. Each page after that features one of our group members with pictures of her contribution. Behind the pictures is a pocket where a letter from that person to Stephenie Meyer was included if that person chose to write one.





I also included this letter of introduction:

To our beloved author, Stephenie Meyer, we, the members of the Twilight Quilter’s Coven, present this quilt, Piece, Love, Twilight.

This quilt was created by nine women who had (at the time) never met in person. We met on-line at TwilightMOMS.com. We coordinated the design via discussions in threads and private messages at TwilightMOMS. Pieces of this quilt were completed in Australia, California, Utah, Colorado, Ohio and New Jersey and mailed to Utah for assembly. The machine quilting was completed in California and the finished quilt was displayed at quilt shows in Utah and California. We shared ideas and stories and fabrics and became friends as we united to create a work of art for one of the most inspirational women in our lives. Thank you, Stephenie Meyer.

The Stephenie Meyer quilt, Piece, Love, Twilight, received an award for best group quilt at the Utah quilt show. The prize money of $100 was donated to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, the official charity of TwilightMOMS. In addition, our group made a New Moon quilt, which was auctioned off in conjunction with the New Moon Movie release. The quilt sold for $850, all of which was donated to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. You can read more about our adventures at www.twilightquilterscoven.blogspot.com.

Sincerely,
Cat, Elizabeth, Iris, Jean, Jerri Lynn, Joyce, Shannon, Vivian, Wanda

Here is the quilt ready for mailing, neatly folded and put in a plastic bag for protection.

I didn't have the right size box at home, so I went to the Post Office to get one and meant to take a picture of it all boxed up and ready to ship, but it completely slipped my mind. I even thought of having the postal worker behind the counter pose with the box for me so I could take a picture of that too, but I was so focused on getting the quilt carefully packaged and on its way that I forgot. In any case, it has been properly insured, with delivery confirmation and so we'll be holding our breath until we know it has reached Stephenie's Publicist. After that, it is out of our hands.

Stephenie Meyer Quilt: Charity Donation Part II

We entered the quilt we made for Stephenie Meyer in the Springville Museum of Art Quilt Show. Our quilt was awarded Best Group Quilt, with a prize of $100. As a group, we decided that the money should be donated to Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, the official TwilightMOMS charity. We decided that this was indeed a worthy cause.

This letter from the ALSF organization came this week. Although I'm sure it is a letter they send to any donor, I thought it was worth sharing.

Dear Twilight Quilter's Coven,

Thank you for your recent generous donation of $100.00 to Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.

As you may know, Alex's Lemonade Stand was founded by our daughter, Alexandra "Alex" Scott, who was diagnosed with neuroblastoma (a childhood cancer) just two days before her first birthday. By the time she was four years old, Alex knew firsthand of the challenges faced by children with difficult to treat cancers. She set out to change that -- one cup at a time -- by raising money for childhood cancer research through a lemonade stand in our front yard. Her front yard lemonade stand became a yearly tradition and her efforts inspired a national movement. At the time of her passing in 2004, at the age of 8, Alex's efforts had raised one million dollars to help find a cure for the disease that took her life. Her front yard stand has now grown into Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, a national charity dedicated to Alex's vision of finding a cure for all children with cancer.

Your generous contribution has a direct impact on children with cancer. The money raised since Alex's first stand in our front yard has funded over 100 research projects at hospitals across the country, filling critical gaps in the process of bringing new treatments to children with difficult to cure cancers.

No one can express what your support of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation means to children with cancer and their parents better than Sue Levine, whose son battled an incurable cancer for several years, "To me it is astonishing what a 4 year old created that helped literally keep my son alive."

With your help, we will continue to astonish parents and bring hope to children with cancer. Thank you for making a difference.

Gratefully yours,
Liz and Jay Scott -- Alex's Parents