Twilight Saga Charity Quilt: Book Covers

If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all. –Oscar Wilde

Twilight Saga Book Covers
Patterns by Cat and pieced by Elizabeth as part of our Give-to-Win Twilight Saga Charity Quilt.

Twilight

New Moon

Eclipse

Breaking Dawn

From Elizabeth:
I had done Cat's Twilight, New Moon and Breaking Dawn patterns each several times and enjoyed doing them. I had never tried the Eclipse pattern, though, so I was excited to try it. I enlarged the patterns to 12" and used my favorite Fairy Frost fabrics to give the blocks that shimmering vampire quality.

I especially love the beautiful quilting Angie did in these blocks (and throughout the quilt). Her work is amazing.

For every $5 donation to George Mark Children's House, you get one chance to win this quilt. Visit the Twilight Saga Quilt Page for more details.

Make your donation

Stephenie Meyer Quilt: Breaking Dawn Book Cover

No longer just a nightmare, the line of black advanced on us through the icy mist stirred up by their feet.

We're going to die, I thought in panic. I was desperate for the precious one I guarded, but even to think of that was a lapse in attention I could not afford.

They ghosted closer, their dark robes billowing slightly with the movement. I saw their hands curl into bone-colored claws. They drifted apart, angling to come at us from all sides. We were outnumbered. It was over.

And then, like a burst of light from a flash, the whole scene was different. Yet nothing changed—the Volturi still stalked toward us, poised to kill. All that really changed was how the picture looked to me. Suddenly, I was hungry for it. I wanted them to charge. The panic changed to bloodlust as I crouched forward, a smile on my face, and the growl ripped through my bared teeth. –Bella Cullen, Breaking Dawn, pages 367-368

The black and white checkerboard, representing the Breaking Dawn book cover was designed and pieced by Elizabeth.

From Elizabeth:
When I worked out the design for the center of the Stephenie Meyer Quilt, I had no digital quilt design experience. I went with what I knew, which was to get out the paper and make a full-scale model of the quilt.

It was really good to have the dimensions down before I actually started working with the fabric. The pattern served as a great reference when it came time to make the representation of the Breaking Dawn book cover. I knew exactly how many squares I'd need and the placement before I started. I strip pieced as much as possible because at 1”, all those black and white squares were enough to make you go cross-eyed.

I traced the white queen and red pawn directly from the cover of the book and appliquéd the chess pieces, raw-edge, to the bottom left corner of the block. When Vivian quilted them, she added in the ridge details to make them look three-dimensional.

This chessboard pieces completed the center of the quilt.

The New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn book cover representations were my contributions to the quilt, as well as the finaly assembly and binding. It was such a fun project to be a part of and I have really enjoyed the friendships I have in our little group.

Stephenie Meyer Quilt: Eclipse Book Cover

The clouds I can handle. But I can't fight with an eclipse.
–Jacob Black, Eclipse, page 600

The design for the ribbon, representing the Eclipse book cover was designed and pieced by Elizabeth.

From Elizabeth:
As we discussed ideas for representations of the Eclipse cover on the Stephenie Meyer Quilt, we decided that using ribbon would work the best to make the blocks. It seemed like a simple enough idea. But when it came time to put these blocks together, I was a little nervous. There was no pattern to fall back on. It was just me and the fabric and the ribbon. I cut the fabric and then lost my nerve. I skipped ahead and worked on the Breaking Dawn blocks.

When I finished the checkerboards for the Breaking Dawn section, and was out of excuses for putting off the ribbons, I worked up my courage and began getting the ribbon ready. I used a good sharp pair of scissors to cut away the selvage edge a few inches into the ribbon, and then pulled the cross fibers out about an inch down. Then I snipped away the remaining fibers, using the book cover as model for how much to snip away and what to leave. When that was complete, I pinned the ribbon in place, again using the book as my guide, and sewed the edges down.

Rather than repeat the same pattern in all four blocks, I copies the book cover for just the triangle section on the left and wove the ribbon in and out through the other three blocks. Here are the first three sections of the center medallion.

Stephanie Meyer Quilt: New Moon Book Cover

Tonight the sky was utterly black. Perhaps there was no moon tonight—a lunar eclipse, a new moon. –Bella Swan, New Moon, page 74

The tulip, representing the New Moon book cover was designed by Cat {pattern available here} and pieced by Elizabeth.

From Elizabeth:
In 2009, we decided to make a quilt for Stephenie Meyer, including our favorite scenes from her Twilight series as well as representation of each of the four book covers. When we first started working on ideas,Cat's patternfor the parrot tulip on the cover of New Moon wasn't yet available to the public. As a matter of fact, we didn't know she had a pattern drawn up since we were just getting to know each other and she didn't participate in the early planning stages of this quilt. Several patterns and ideas were tossed around but nothing seemed just right. We had briefly contacted Cat about using some of her other paper piecing patterns in the quilt and when we couldn't come up with something that was right, we contacted her to see if she had any suggestions. She said she had a pattern for the tulip, but it hadn't been tested. She sent it to me and I made up a test block.

I was hoping that the tulip would fit into our quilt design at the size it was designed, but it was too big. The polka-dotted fabric I had chosen didn't really work either. I reduced the pattern to 80%, chose a different red and gave it another try. This time we had a winner.

I put a sashing around the Twilight book cover block and then framed it with the four tulips. It was really fun to see the center of the quilt starting to take shape.

Lunch with Friends

A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be. –Douglas Pagels

Twilight and quilting began our association. In the beginning, they were the only things we had in common. We live scattered across the United States and Cat lives on the other side of the world, in Australia. But as we've worked together long-distance on half-a-dozen quilts, we've become friends. This is the most important part of our group and the foundation for our success.

Both Wanda and Iris came to Utah to see the Stephenie Meyer quilt. We visited the quilt while it was displayed at a quilt show, enjoyed lunch together and then did a little shop hopping. It was a really fun time. A few months ago, Wanda, her husband, and their youngest daughter with her husband and their daughter came to Utah again. We enjoyed lunch together and just had a wonderful time visiting and talking about quilting and families and life.

When I decided to attend my cousin's wedding in California last weekend, I was hoping that I might have a chance to meet up with the girls who live there. Iris, Wanda and Jerri Lynn live relatively close to each other, so I texted to find out how close they are to where I was going. As it turned out, Wanda is really close to where the wedding was held and she offered to let me stay with her while I was in town. Not only that, she took me to every place I needed to go. She and her wonderful husband were such gracious hosts and I am so happy that Twilight brought our paths together.

The day after the wedding, Iris drove to the mid-point between her house and Wanda's and we had lunch together. Unfortunately, Jerri Lynn had other plans for the weekend. We had a great time catching up with each other and all the great things that are going on in our lives. There was a little gift exchange and I came away with an Alice doll {thank you, Iris!}.

I had such a fun time that I'm hoping to go back again soon, for a little sewing weekend. We always have a great time when we get together.

Breaking Dawn Charity Quilt: The Wolf Packs

There was a good reason for the Alpha's authority. Even a pack as strong as ours wasn't much of a force without a leader. We had to move together, to think together, in order to be effective. And that required the body to have a head.

So what if Sam was wrong now? There was nothing anyone could do. No one could dispute his decision.

Except.

And there it was—a thought I'd never, never wanted to have. But now, with my legs all tied up in strings, I recognized the exception with relief—more than relief, with a fierce joy.

No one could dispute the Alpha's decision—except for me.

I hadn't earned anything. But there were things that had been born in me, things that I'd left unclaimed.

I'd never wanted to lead the pack. I didn't want to do it now. I didn't want the responsibility for all our fates resting on my shoulders. Sam was better at that than I would ever be. Be he was wrong tonight.

And I had not been born to kneel to him.

The bonds fell off my body the second that I embraced my birthright.

I could feel it gathering in me, both a freedom and also a strange, hollow power. Hollow because an Alpha's power came from his pack, and I had no pack.

–Jacob Black, Breaking Dawn, p. 208-209

Pattern by Cat, layout and piecing by Elizabeth

This block is a representation of the two wolf packs. I used Cat's wolf pattern because it was perfect for this block. I scaled the size down so that I could fit two into the block and I did Jacob a tiny bit bigger than Sam. This isn't really meant to represent one specific moment in the book. It is more of a combination of several scenes that popped to mind; the quote from above, the fact that Jacob had grown bigger than Sam, the trail that Jacob, Seth and Leah cut as they ran guard around the Cullen's house, the delegation Sam sent to try to convince Jacob's pack to return to La Push, and the peace the two packs finally arrived at after everything was over.

We've had a lot of fun planning and working on the Breaking Dawn quilt. Watch for more blocks coming soon.

Breaking Dawn Charity Quilt: Jacob and Renesmee

Heat flooded through me, stronger than before, but it was a new kind of heat—not a burning.

It was a glowing.

Everything inside me came undone as I stared at the tiny porcelain face of the half-vampire, half-human baby. All the lines that held me to my life were sliced apart in swift cuts, like clipping the strings to a bunch of balloons. Everything that made me who I was—my love for the dead girl upstairs, my love for my father, my loyalty to my new pack, the love for my other brothers, my hatred for my enemies, my home, my name, my self—disconnected from me in that second—snip, snip, snip—and floated up into space.

I was not left drifting. A new string held me where I was.

Not one string, but a million. Not strings, but steel cables. A million steel cables all tying me to one thing—to the very center of the universe.

I could see that now—how the universe swirled around this one point. I'd never seen the symmetry of the universe before, but now it was plain.

The gravity of the earth no longer tied me to the place where I stood.

It was the baby girl in the blond vampire's arms that held me here now.

Renesmee.

–Jacob Black, Breaking Dawn, p. 360

Design and piecing by Elizabeth

One of the most interesting turn of events in Breaking Dawn is Jacob's imprinting on Renesmee. It was fun to represent in fabric. I did needle-turn appliqué, with a bit of embroidery for embellishment. I used Fairy Frost in Maize for Renesmee's locket and put a bit of gold blending filament in with the embroidery floss to give the chain and border in the locket a bit of shine. Jacob's paw print is, of course, russet and I used Jacob's font to add an embroidered quote from the book.

This quilt block is part of our Breaking Dawn Quilt for Charity. With the release of part one of the Breaking Dawn movie, we're putting together a quilt with our favorite parts from the book and we're giving it away! One lucky fan will win this quilt. Here's how it works: we are donating all the materials and time to complete this quilt and for every $5 donation you make to Alex's Lemonade Stand or one other charity to be named shortly, you will be entered in a drawing to win our quilt. More details on this will be forthcoming. In the meantime, keep an eye out as we post the progress of our quilt.

Twilighty Hexie Art Journal

“Do I dazzle you?”
“Frequently.”
– Edward Cullen & Bella Swan Twilight, p. 168

I've been puttering around with some little chipboard art journals and my Go! Fabric Cutter and Hexie die. What do you think?

I made this for a fellow Twilight fan whose birthday was last month. Isn't that apple fabric perfect!?! I tried a little McTavishing on the background. It still needs a little work and I think the next one I do {good things come to those who wait, Twi-Quilter friends } I'll use black thread so it shows up a bit more.

Love this little Twlighty notebook? Want one of your own? I'm hosting a giveaway on my blog and you can enter to win one here!

If you want to make your own, I loosely followed this tutorial for fabric postcards. I made a few alterations; for the front cover I used Pellon Peltex 72F II double-sided fusible stabilizer {I got mine at JoAnn's, but couldn't find it on their web-site} and only used Heat n' Bond Lite to for the appliqué t and to fuse the fabric to the back cover {inside and out}. If you're interested using these cute little On Board 5" x 5" Art Journals {Stampin' Up!® item #108495}, I just happen to know the cutest Stampin' Up!® demonstrator you can order your supplies from. Her name is Jenna and she would be more than happy to help you out. If you live in the US, you can place an order through her web-site {if you live outside the US, visit Stampin' Up!®'s website to find a demonstrator in your own country}.

Twilighty Fabric Postcards

Why don't you sit with me today? –Edward Cullen, Twilight, page 87

I thought it might be fun to send Twilight-themed fabric postcards to my fellow Twi-hards. I used this tutorial, with a few minor alterations. I finished my outer edges differently {she did a satin stitch, I used pinking shears}. And I used Pellon Peltex 72F II double-sided fusible stablizer instead of the non-fusible Peltex to save on Heat 'n Bond to fuse the front and back to the Peltex. I still used Heat 'n Bond to fuse the additional fabric elements on top. For the pictures, I used fusible ink-jet fabric sheets.

These are for the few who are Team Jacob. I used these as an opportunity to to a little free-motion quilting practice. I did pebbles across the brown strip. The first one wasn't much fun, but I'd gotten into a groove by the second one. My original plan was to quilt in a birthday wish using the character's font from the book, but after spending well over an hour on the first one, I changed my mind. This cute little paw print fabric I used for the background came from Angie.

These are for the girls who are Team Switzerland. Again, I did a little FMQ practice — horizontal straight lines on the background, a few flourishes at the corners of the pictures and some elongated loops across the burgundy strip. Sorry about the fuzzy picture.

And these are the Team Edward postcards. I found this fabulous batik with the apples on sale on-line, six or eight months ago and bought a yard, wondering what fabulous project I could make with it. LOVE it for these postcards! The red Moda Marbles came from Wanda. I quilted swirly scrolls along the red accent strip and did flourishes or frames around the picture.

More postcards for Team Edward. I did the same quilting on these; swirly scrolls on the accent strip and frames around the pictures.

Our group is predominantly Team Edward. Iris sent me that gorgeous gold fabric I used for the accent strips. Nothing too original with the quilting on these — elongated loops across the gold strips and flourishes on the pictures. I also did vertical straight-line quilting on the backgrounds for these.

I did stippling on the red background and just a straight stitch across the black accent strip. That fabric is some of the tiny bit I have left from the quilt we made for Stephenie Meyer. I love the swirls in it.

I love this picture of Bella and Edward. I kind of went with what I knew for the quilting and did elongated loops across the burgundy accent strip and flourishes on the pictures.

And this is my absolute favorite — Edward in the meadow. Wanda found the background fabric and sent a little bit to everyone in our group who wanted some. It goes perfectly with this picture. I did little flowers across the accent strips and flourishes at the corners of the pictures.

And there you have it. Fifteen Twilighty fabric post cards.

Eclipse Charity Quilt: Graduation from Forks High

Graduation from Forks High by Elizabeth

Edward kissed me quickly, sighed, and went to go stand with the C's. . .

I walked down the line to take my place behind Jessica, mildly curious as to why she was suddenly so friendly. . .

Jess was babbling before I was in earshot.

". . . so amazing. I mean, it seems like we just met, and now we're graduating together," she gushed. "Can you believe it's over? I feel like screaming!" . . .

She droned on and on, and I was sure the sudden return of our friendship was due to graduation nostalgia. . .  I paid attention as well as I could while I shrugged into my robe. And I found that I was glad that things could end on a good note with Jessica.

Because it was an ending, no matter what Eric, the valedictorian, had to say about commencement meaning "beginning. . ."

It went so quickly. . .

I watched as Alice, suddenly appearing, danced across the stage. . . Edward followed behind. . . Only the two of them could carry off the hideous yellow and still look the way they did. . .

Mr. Greene said something I didn't hear, and everyone around me shouted and screamed. Yellow hats rained down.
-Bella Swan, Eclipse, pages 353-355

This is my Graduation from Forks High block. When I showed Mr. Bug the pattern, he pointed to the section with the tassel in it and asked, is that actual size? He wondered how all those tiny pieces were going to come off. I think the tassel is my favorite part, though. I used Fairy Frost in Gold, Yellow, Banana and Snow. I also used Fairy Frost on the diploma scroll; Snow, Icing and Silver. I like how the dark blue background makes the yellow really stand out.

Finals were done and most of them had been a cakewalk. My high school education was over. And I didn't really know how I felt about that. I couldn’t look at it objectively, tied up as it was with my human life being over. -Bella Swan, Eclipse, page 323

This block is going in the mail today, on its way to Iris, who designed this quilt and will be assembling it. Hooray! I'm finished!

Eclipse Charity Quilt: Edward's Bedroom

Edward's Bedroom by Elizabeth

Edward's room was at the farthest end of the third floor hallway, hard to mistake even when the huge house had been less familiar. But when I switched the light on, I paused in confusion. Had I picked the wrong door?

Alice giggled.

It was the same room, I realized quickly; the furniture had just been rearranged. The couch was pushed to the north wall and the stereo shoved up against the vast shelves of CDs -- to make room for the colossal bed that now dominated the central space.

The southern wall of glass reflected the scene back like a mirror, making it look twice as bad.

It matched. The coverlet was a dull gold, just lighter than the walls; the frame was black, made of intricately patterned wrought iron. Sculpted metal roses wound in vines up the tall posts and formed a bowery lattice overhead.
-Bella Swan, Eclipse, page 150

The Twilight series of books are a far cry from a Harlequin romance novel, but things get a little steamy in Eclipse when Edward provides a bed for Bella to sleep in while he has his family hold her hostage when he is away on hunting trips. He returns early from a hunting trip and there is a lot of kissing. But that is as far as he lets it get. As a matter of fact, when Edward himself holds Bella hostage with the rest of his family away for the night, Bella tries to seduce Edward. Fortunately, Edward is a bizarrely moral vampire and insists that Bella marry him first.

I pause here to point out that this all sounds very silly when I talk about it. But Stephenie Meyer can tell quite a story. If you haven't, you ought to read it in her words.

I'm happy to report that I've finished the most difficult of the two blocks I signed up for for the Eclipse Charity Quilt. I think it came out pretty well. The pieces in the ring and the rose were so small and intricate that I'm going a little bit cross-eyed.  The ring represents Edward's eloquent proposal and the black rose on the floor represents the rose Edward broke off the bed frame and crushed to dust to show Bella just how fragile she is to him. For the bed frame, I used some of the black fabric that was left from the Stephenie Meyer quilt.  I thought that the swirls in the fabric would give the bed that sort of  'wrought iron appearance.'  I used shades of gold for the rest of the room.  The book describes the bed covers as just lighter than the walls, but I went with lighter walls to give the block a bit of contrast.  The fabric I used for the walls is absolutely gorgeous and feels so nice.  I combined three patterns, altering and resizing to get the final result.  I used Harry's Bed by Jennifer Ofenstein, Cat's Rosebud pattern, and Gaunt's Ring by Michelle Thompson.  All of these patterns are available at SewHooked.


I coveted you. I had no right to want you -- but I reached out and took you anyway. And now look what's become of you! Trying to seduce a vampire. -Edward Cullen, Eclipse, page 454

Elizabeth's Mystery Quilt Challenge Update, Part IV

Since Christmas, and the crafting mayhem that accompanies it, has passed, my main project focus has been my Twilight Quilt. I started this project just over a year ago and it has been set aside so many times for other pressing projects. I have been collecting patterns and fabrics, filing away ideas for future use, dreaming, planning. And I finally get to put all that to use. The only problem I have now with this quilt is deciding which block to work on next. I have filled six empty spaces since the beginning of 2010. And I'm working on filling the seventh. I've started my own blog to catalog and keep track of my crafty things. As I finish each block I've posted the details while they're fresh in my mind. But I wanted to share an update here as well.

First, my quilt is no longer called the Mystery Quilt. I've pretty much hammered out all the details and I realized one day that due to the insane amount of work that I'm putting into not just one quilt, but two identical Twilight quilts, that the quilts must be called, More Than A Little Obsessed. "Why," you might ask, am I making two identical Twilight quilts? There are a couple of reasons. My quilt started out as a 'snuggle-under-it-and-read' kind of quilt. I was following the Block of the Fortnight Mystery Quilt instructions on the Zeppelin Threads web-site. I'd bought enough fabric for two quilts and intended to make one for Stephenie Meyer and one for myself. When there was a pause in the release of the instructions for the Mystery Quilt, plans began to emerge for a group quilt for Stephenie (now know as Piece, Love, Twilight) and it seemed to me that a sending a quilt to Stephenie from just me was no longer the thing to do.

Still, I'd started two quilts and so I decided to finish two, mainly because I'd bought enough of a very expensive black Civil War reproduction fabric for two quilt backs. I'm beginning to think that was a little neurotic. Plans for my own quilt began to evolve at this time. But by the time I realized that I was going to be spending an obscene amount of time on each block and that my quilt had expanded and morphed into something that no one would ever use for such a casual purpose as snuggling under to read, it was already too late. I was already in too deep with my 'twin' quilts to give it up. I'd spent too much time on the few blocks I'd completed to abandon one set and make just one quilt. There was only one thing to do, keep on keepin' on.

Before I realized the intense amount of time each block would take, I didn't think to keep track of the hours I was spending on this quilt. Once I realized that is was taking hours and hours for each block, I just had to turn a blind eye. I couldn't bear to think of how much time it was taking. So, I think that the name More Than A Little Obsessed is very fitting for these identical quilts. And anyone who has read Twilight should understand the meaning.

Now the question is, 'what to do with the second quilt?' I plan to add a room onto my house for the first quilt and build a shrine to it. The second quilt will probably be locked away in some earthquake-proof, fire-proof, flood-proof, impervious-to-natural-disasters safe placed on the dark side of the moon.

Now on to sew-and-tell with the last six blocks I've completed and a preview of the seventh. This is I Am Switzerland and belongs in the Eclipse section of my quilt. This is Cat's design and I was lucky enough to be her pattern tester. Thank you, Cat, for sharing your wonderful talents! The red fabric is the same that I used in the sashing and borders of the Stephenie Meyer quilt, almost the last bit of it. And the black is my ever faithful and trusty Civil War reproduction fabric, which will also be the quilt back.

This is the My Jacob block, representing the 'Jacob' who is Bella's friend. Another Cat original, the Paw Print pattern is available at SewHooked. Adding the claws was Iris' idea. Thanks for the inspiration!

I wanted something spectacular for the Meteor. You know, the meteor Edward compares Bella to in New Moon. I think that this fits the bill. I used The Night Sky pattern by Marcia Hohn. Two words for this block? Fairy Frost! I used Gold, Yellow and Banana.

How strongly are you opposed to grand theft auto? Alice's Porsche was fun to put together. This is also Cat's design.

Bella's Truck was among the first patterns I collected for my quilt (and another of Cat's designs). I'd been itching to try it out for months. It was so satisfying to finish and fit into my electronic layout.

I worked on Charlie's House in two sections. It technically takes up two blocks, although the blocks aren't separated by sashing. I started out with the forest* while I mulled over which fabrics to use for the House, which turned out to be a surprise to me, mostly because I wasn't sure what color to make Charlie's house. The books don't say (trust me, I've looked). Charlie's house in the movie is white. The Cullen's house is white, but in the movie, it is tan. This presented a problem because I wanted to stay true to the books in the representation of the Cullen's house and the only image of Charlie's house was white, and I couldn't have two white houses. So, after talking it over with the other coven members, I went with a light tan. I like the results.

I'm currently working on a section across the bottom of the quilt that has the Cullen's house, the river, a bit of forest* and Bella & Edward's Cottage. Here is this section in progress. This takes up a little less than half of the section this block will fill when complete. The river, more forest* and The Cullen's house goes to the left of this completed section.

*Key: 1 paper pieced tree = 500 trees in the Fork Forest

TQC Exchange: Iris got some love from Elizabeth

From Iris on January 17:

Coming at a great time to cheer me up from a "down" weekend, this afternoon I opened the mail to find a surprise from my secret exchange buddy! It's a 5" x 7" matte print of this beautiful sketch of Robert Pattinson by Noel Cruz. Thanks secret buddy! I heart you. I'll update this post when I find out who sent it!

Update: Elizabeth was my xchange buddy! Look at the beautiful "Abbey Bag" pincushion/scrap bag she made me! She'd sent me the pattern but let's face it I was never going to get around to making it! This is perfect! And a selection of green fabrics. She knows I love green! Also the little rascal sent along a frame for that gorgeous print of the Robert Pattinson sketch! I had been thinking about getting a large frame and putting a printout of the original photo next to the sketch....now I have a better idea since I already got a frame, I'll just print out the original small and put it on the lower right corner! I heart you Elizabeth! Thanks for the great goodies!

TQC Exchange: Elizabeth's gift from Jerri Lynn

Reported by Elizabeth on January 19:

I got my exchange gift today! It was from Jerri Lynn and she picked the one thing off my list (mentioned casually in the middle of everything else) that I really wanted and could really use right now. Here it is, all wrapped up in custom Bella and Edward at the Prom wrapping paper:

And here it is unwrapped (I couldn't figure out what the 'bump' in the paper was):

A 6½" square ruler! I was just thinking today that if I didn't get one in the exchange I'd go and buy one for myself. This is the exact one I wanted! It is an Omnigrip, which means it doesn't slide around on your fabric. I love it! I've been doing errands again today, so I haven't made much progress on Alice's Porsche, but I'm going to stay up as late as it takes to finish it, just so I can use my new ruler . Thank you Jerri Lynn. I also got some Machine needles (always handy) and two fun fat quarters:

The orange one with ladybugs and flowers might have to go in my Bug Jar quilt.

Too much fun! Thank you again!

A Twilight Banner by Elizabeth

I love post-and-tell and even though I've shown you my other blocks like these, I'd still like to share because this is a and different project and it is fun to have these all in one place. As I've been working on my twin Mystery Quilt blocks, specifically the book covers, I have also made a third set of book cover blocks to put together in a little banner as a Christmas gift for a non-quilting TwilighMOMS friend. I've had to keep it under wraps, but as she's unwrapped her gift I can share now.

The Twilight Book Cover, designed by Cat. It is enlarged to 120% to make a 6" block. The fabrics in the apple were from Iris and the hands are the favorite iridescent sparkle fabrics in white and cream from JoAnn's. The black swirl in the background is also from JoAnn's. It is a little difficult to see here, and you'll get a better look at it in the other blocks. The apple stem is hand satin stitch. This is the third Forbidden Fruit block I've made.

The New Moon Book Cover, designed by Cat and enlarged to 120%. The red fabric is the same as in the apple, from Iris, and the few pieces of dark burgundy are from Wanda. Thanks girls! The white is Snow Fairy Frost and the green in the stem is a marble print that I used for the stem and leaves in the proposal block in the New Moon Quilt. This is the eighth Broken Petals block I've made, one trial block at 100%, four blocks at 80% for the SM Quilt and three at this size.

The Eclipse Book Cover. I did this the same way I did the ribbon on the SM quilt, using the actual book as the model for it. I even used a left-over piece of ribbon from the SM quilt. In addition to the ribbon in the SM quilt and this block, I've made two other 6" ribbon blocks.

Cat's Breaking Dawn cover, enlarged to 120%. Although all of Cat's patterns are fun to do, this one was particularly fun for me, though I'm not sure why. I just really enjoyed doing it. The chessboard squares are Natural Fairy Frost (a favorite!) and I traced the chess pieces directly off the book cover. The chess pieces are made from the same pattern I used for the SM quilt, and did them at the same time. The queen is Snow Fairy Frost and the pawn is Red Fairy Frost. I've done three of these blocks.

The picture is a little distorted, but here is the finished banner, which I named Twilight. I should have called it Twilight Obsession, but didn't think of it until too late. Angie did a beautiful job machine quilting it for me. Thanks so much, Angie! We're already in cahoots for her to do the quilting on another project, a High School Musical Quilt for my daughter. The banner idea was Iris'. We were talking about our mystery quilts and how to fit in the book covers. She only included the Twilight Book Cover in her mystery quilt and at the time I was debating about using her awesome placement idea or putting each of the book covers in the four corners of the quilt. She said that she was going to make a book-cover only hanging, either in a banner, like this, or with two covers in the top row and two covers in the bottom row. I filed that idea away and thought it might be a great gift for a fellow Twilight lover.

The red fabric is left over from the Stephenie Meyer quilt. The borders around the 6" book cover blocks are 2" and the black borders are 4", I think. I worked this one out as I went, something I don't usually do, and I didn't write it down for future reference. Oops! I like to have a layout marked to scale on grid paper so I can make sure everything fits. This seemed like a straightforward design, so I worked out the details as I went. When I bound it, I included loops for hanging. The loops lay flat against the back of the banner, so if she wants to use it as a table runner, she won't have a problem hiding them. I brought in extra lighting to try to get a good picture, but the contrast between the black and white confuses the camera and so it is difficult to get a picture that isn't really dark. If you want to see a bigger view of it, just click on the picture.

Angie did a great job with the quilting. She did accent quilting around each of the Book Cover pieces. Then in the borders, she used a really fantastic sort of filigree pattern. It is very striking. Here is a close-up of that (click on the picture for an even bigger view).

She quilted in a complimenting pattern in the red frames around each block. Here is a close-up of one side (again, click on it for a bigger view):

This is what it looks like all the way around. The photo isn't the best (I was in a hurry to get it in the mail and only took one picture of the frames), but I hope you can see how cool the design looks around the blocks. You can also see the accent stitching that she did on the book cover elements in this block.

The quilting really makes this runner spectacular. Thanks for a great job, Angie!