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

Elizabeth's Mystery Quilt Challenge Update, Part III

I'm still working on my Twilight quilt. I think I've worked out all the blocks now. I ended up taking out one of the "Vegetarian Vampire Eyes" blocks, moving the "Lion and Lamb" block up, scooting "Vampire Baseball" over and adding in a "Bella's Birthday" block. Wanda shared her wonderful silver fabrics and I'm excited to make a mini version of Iris' cake (although probably much less fabulous) with presents for that block. I also moved the "I Am Switzerland" block over and added in a "Battle in the Woods" block. I think that covers most of the main points in the books. I am always thinking about how to do things and I'm still really excited about working on this quilt. Moving the "Switzerland" block made it an odd size, 4" x 6". I plan on using a Swiss Flag Shield designed by Cat. She visited Switzerland on her honeymoon and said that they display shields much more than they display flags so she designed her block after that. The shape of the shield also adds more visual interest. In trying to fit the shield pattern, which is square, into a rectangular spot on the quilt, I had a stroke of genius (sometimes that happens, lol!). I'm going to make the shield 4" x 4" and add the words "I am" in a 1" strip above and "Switzerland" in a 1" strip below the shield. It keeps the shape of the shield in tact and fills the space. I love it when I have a great idea like that! But still, I can't claim this quilt as wholly "mine." I'm the first one to admit that I'm not great with the original ideas, but I know when I see something good. If it weren't for the other ladies in our group, I wouldn't have nearly as nice a layout. I love the exchange of ideas and the support we all lend each other! Thanks so much, ladies!

I had hoped to be farther along in my Twilight quilt by now. But it always seems to take a back seat. I did wolf paws for the New Moon quilt and wanted to do the "My Jacob" wolf paw block as I did those, but as I was under a deadline I didn't want to put my personal projects in the way and make my part of the quilt late (well, later than it already was *rolling eyes at my procrastination skills!*). I'm all nice and practiced up, though, and plan on working on that block soon. I also hoped to do my motorcycle blocks at the same time I worked on the block for the New Moon quilt, but I was under a huge time crunch and once I saw how much work it was, I decided that I'd better not work on those either. I hate to go back and do something a second time (I'd rather do it all at once), but the motorcycle block was pretty fun, so it won't be too bad to go back for a 're-do' on that block either. Those are the blocks that I will be working on next. In spare minutes I'm also working on getting the trees in the top and bottom borders stitched down. I'd originally planned on doing a machine blanket stitch, but when I worked on the Motorcycles block for the NM quilt, I used the same trees (thanks for the pattern Iris!) and did a hand whipstitch to tack them down. I wanted the stitching to be very subtle, almost invisible and it seemed to go pretty well. I enjoy doing handwork, so I decided to do the trees along the top and bottom the same way. I'm also going to add the famous "The City of Forks Welcomes You" sign to the top row of trees. I'd thought about doing that on the bottom row, but I think the top row will be better.

And now for the latest two blocks! I'm excited to have all four book covers and consequently all four corners of my quilt finished! This is the New Moon Book cover, pattern designed by the lovely and talented Cat! As I was working on it, I compared it to the book cover. Cat does an amazing job using light and shadow and color to create the book covers. I was thinking that when I have it quilted, I would like to have the "veins" of the flower petals quilted in to give it that delicate look that the book cover has. The main red color is a fabric that Iris sent me. I think she's used it in her quilt as well. I had exactly enough to make the tulips. Thanks Iris! The darker burgundy accent (just a few spots of it) is from Wanda. The white is Snow Fairy Frost (can I ever manage a block without Fairy Frost?) and the background is the black I've chosen to use throughout my quilt. It is a Civil War reproduction fabric (I always think of Jasper when I think of that) and it always surprises me that it fits in so well in every block I've used it in. The tiny flowers are so perfect. They add just the right texture and color compliment to the blocks. I managed to work out most of my issues with the fabric pulling and the thread showing, but in some places (like the stem) where there is layer upon layer of seam allowances, it still pulls a little, no matter what I do. That is still a frustration to me.

The Breaking Dawn book cover is another Cat original. I am always so grateful that Cat will share her awesome patterns; I even got to be her pattern tester for this one. I used Fairy Frost (what else?): Red for the pawn, Snow for the Queen and Natural on the chess board. Again, I used the black Civil War reproduction fabric for the background. It will also be the quilt back. I keep wondering if it is going to work on the next block but it always seems to look nice with whatever other fabrics I pair it with. I like the contrast in textures between the Fairy Frost and the plain old calico. The chess board is almost the exact size of the book cover (the width is exact, but it is just a tiny bit shorter) and is about as close as you can come to the real thing in fabric. Cat did a really amazing job with this pattern. I traced the chess pieces directly off the cover of the book. More details will be added to the Queen and pawn when they are quilted, defining the ridges on the pieces.

Christmas is quickly approaching, and although I've really tried to pare back the number of projects I'll be doing, it is still a little out of hand. I hope to be able to squeeze in a little stitching time on this quilt between now and then, though. And as soon as the holidays are over, this will become my number 1 project. I'll keep you updated, as Post-and-Tell is one of my very favorite things!

Elizabeth's Mystery Quilt Challenge Update, part II

Thanks to everyone who left comments on my last update! I really appreciate it! I decided after I last posted that I needed to get my layout set so that I could move forward. I needed to move Isle Esme and Bella & Edward's wedding dance and add a few blocks in. I carefully debated over where to put each block because I wanted to maximize the space I had allotted, putting the most key parts of the books in to my quilt. I drew my layout on grid paper and then took it to a copy shop and had them scan it. For some reason, the program I usually use to edit my pictures wouldn't work with the file and so I tried out the little "edit" button in the Microsoft picture viewing window for the first time ever. I discovered a really cool tool -- "Paint." I spiffied up my design and while trying to figure out how to crop out the extra grid paper, came across instructions for importing pictures into my current file. I was so impressed with Shannon & her EQ mock-up of the New Moon Quilt that I decided to give it a try. What do you know? I figured it out (still don't know how to crop, though). Click on the image of my layout for a bigger view, filled in with blocks I have completed so far.

You might have noticed that I have an empty 4" x 6" block in the Eclipse area. I'm not sure what to put there. A Jacob sun? A tree (I'm not sure if I have enough of those)? I also wonder if I should cut one of the Vegetarian Vampire squares, move the Lion and the Lamb up to right end of the top row, scoot Vampire Baseball and Charlie over and then add a square of trees next to Jacob's house or maybe a block with a cake and presents. Suggestions?

As for Isle Esme, I have decided that I'm going to do another house that is just a little bit wider, with square windows on both sides of the door. I might try out a different fabric for the roof and maybe for the house as well. I am also going to make the horizon uneven. It looks OK as it is, but will look a little better when it is crooked on purpose instead of accidentally being crooked while trying to be straight.

While this is a project that keeps getting put aside for more pressing things, and each block is very time consuming, I am determined to finish it!

Elizabeth

Elizabeth's Mystery Quilt Challenge Update

When Heather had to take a break from releasing the patterns of her Twilight Mystery Quilt four blocks in, I became anxious about never finishing the quilt. I tossed a few ideas around and then Iris showed us her layout. I borrowed her idea but I decided that there wasn't enough room in the layout for everything I wanted to put in my Twilight Quilt. So, I drafted out a second layout and began working on a design of my own. It was such a great creative outlet that I decided to continue in that direction even after the last two blocks of Heather's Mystery Quilt were released.

Iris issued the challenge that we each finish our Twilight Mystery quilts (duly named because no one knows how they'll turn out now) but I knew that I would never make that deadline. I thought, however, that I would be farther along than I am. I got hung up on Isle Esme. I'd originally planned a panel spanning the width of my quilt. This little vignette was to be 4" tall by 46" wide. However, it soon became apparent to me that Isle Esme was in the wrong spot, and so part way in to making the first block I began to turn over different ideas in my head of how to move Isle Esme into a more chronological position and still have it fit in with all my other blocks, which are 6" x 6", with a 1" sashing in between. I wasn't sure how I was going to keep the scale of the design. I discussed this dilemma with Iris and Shannon and they had the perfect solution -- move the waves from the sides of the layout to the bottom. This allowed me to make it into a 6" x 20" panel, which will fit better into the overall layout of the quilt and also fit the timeline of events. I've done some mental rearranging of my layout and now just need to get it down on paper. Another plus to moving Isle Esme is that it leaves me room to add more blocks.

I have been working on this little scene for more than a month now, and it is finally finished. Without further ado, Isle Esme (click on the picture for a large image):


The pattern for this house comes from Marcia Hohn's Website, The Quilter's Cache. The pattern is 6" x 7" and I reduced it to 57% so that it would be 4" tall (and 3 3/8" wide). I liked the square window next to the door so that is why I chose this pattern. Windows are hard; I never know what color to make them, so I used Butter Fairy Frost in the window. I lived in Brasil for 18 months and Isle Esme is an Island off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, as we all know. I used this brick print because it reminded me of the architecture typical of that country. I searched high and low for a red tile print for the roof, but wasn't able to find one.

Isle Esme wouldn't be complete without feathers. This is a quill pattern by Jennifer Ofenstein at Sewhooked. Her website is a favorite for fabulous paper piecing patterns and Cat has many of her designs posted there. I reduced this pattern down by quite a lot, but can't remember by exactly how much. The length of the feather is 1 1/2". I used a beautiful pearly fabric that Iris sent to me for the feather (see how it shimmers even at this small size) and Linen Fairy Frost (thanks Shannon) for the shaft. I pulled my hair out working at this small scale.

I think the fabulous trees are my favorite part of the island. They were designed by our very own Cat. Thanks so much for sharing your amazing talent (she said she's willing to share this pattern, so e-mail if you'd like a copy and we'll get you in touch with the right people). I used Lily Pad Fairy Frost fabric for the palm fronds. Cat varied the the shape and color of the pieces on the tree trunks. The browns I used vary in shade only slightly and so this neat detail doesn't show up in the picture. I love the tropical blue of the sky, but it has a subtle directional pattern, a vertical and horizontal cross-hatch that nearly made me crazy when trying to piece it so that the pattern went in the right direction.

When I thought of Isle Esme, I wanted to include some sort of beautiful tropical flower. I was browsing through Marcia Hohn's patterns and found her N.F.B. block (no idea what N.F.B. stands for) which reminded me of a Bird of Paradise and so this was the natural choice for an exotic flower for my block. Again, I reduced this pattern, but I'm not sure by how much. I had originally intended for this to be a 4" block, but decided that if the flowers were the same size as the trees, it would throw the scale off. So, I reduced again to finally end up with a 2" block. I used Fairy Frost again (have you noticed a pattern? I have been given the moniker 'Queen of the Fairy Frost' by Iris). The colors are (from outside to in) Orange, Lipstick and Honey, with Lily Pad for the green.

For the waves, I had originally planned two 4" blocks on either side of the Island. I planned to use the Snail Trail pattern, winding it so that eventually there was beach next to the flowers. But when I rearranged the quilt, the size necessitated ten 2" blocks across the bottom to create beach and waves. I pre-pieced the four-patch in the center and then paper pieced the rest, due to the tiny scale of the waves. I loved the fabric, a Batik from a favorite LQS (Local Quilt Shop). It reminded me of water.

And since water doesn't break on the beach in perfectly straight lines, I did a few waves with the lighter fabric on the outside to break up the line. I hope it "works." I am considering making little hills and valleys on the beach/skyline because landscapes don't come in straight lines either. Any opinions or suggestions on that would be great! After hours and hours of work, I'm too close to the project to have a good perspective. If it needs some more work to make it better, I'd love the input.

Besides Isle Esme, I've done a few other blocks. I hope you'll indulge me, and allow me to share those with you. I am going to put the book covers in each of the four corners of the quilt. I have the Twilight book cover finished. I used Cat's Forbidden Fruit pattern for that. I enlarged it to 120% to make a 6" block. The stem is a satin stitch done by hand. This goes in the top left corner.


I also have the Eclipse book cover finished. I bought a machine washable polyester ribbon at JoAnn's and modeled it after the book cover, pinning it in place first and then stitching it down. This block will sit in the bottom left corner.


One of my favorite parts of Twilight is the baseball scene. It also happens to be my favorite scene in the movie. I designed the Vampire Baseball pattern for the quilt we made for Stephenie Meyer. Wanda put it together and I loved the fabric she used for the outfield. Doesn't it remind you of a forest surrounding the clearing? So I asked if she would send me some of the fabric for my quilt. She very kindly obliged and it really makes this block.

These next two blocks are a combination of ideas from Heather's Mystery Quilt and a design for Edward's Eyes that Iris came up with for her quilt. Heather had us put red in the diagonal row of squares in this traditional jewel box pattern, but I liked the color progression in Iris' block from gold to topaz to black, so I combined the two to make Vegetarian Vampire Eyes.

This block is another of Heather's designs, modified slightly by me. In her quilt, she did a progression of the phases of the moon from full to new. I chose to just use the New Moon portion of the block. Here again I used Fairy Frost; Natural for the moon. It is raw edge applique with a machine blanket stitch.


Iris modified Heather's full moon from her phases of the moon block and turned it into an eclipse. I liked this idea as well and so I'm incorporating it into my quilt with my version of an Eclipse. It is raw-edge applique with a machine blanket stitch.


Renesemee's Locket was another block we included in the Stephenie Meyer quilt. I wanted to include it in my quilt as well. I started out with a paper piecing pattern for a sort of oval shape, but it ended up looking like a perfume bottle. So, I drew out a pattern for an oval locket and Cat helped me clean the pattern up and put it in electronic format -- thanks again Cat! Jerri Lynn helped me out with the embroidery for the words and my machine provided the vine stitch. I had to use Fairy Frost fabric again, this time the color is Yellow. If you'd like this pattern, please e-mail. I'm happy to share.


The forest around Forks is a character in the books and so I had to have a representation for that. Iris helped me out with this fabulous pattern and I put together two long panels of trees, one for the top and one for the bottom of the quilt. Here is the top row, which is raw edge applique and will eventually have a machine blanket stitch around all of those trees (yes, I am crazy, in case you hadn't noticed):


This tall tree will connect with the bottom row of trees near the bottom left corner of the quilt. It is raw edge applique and is partially machine stitched down.


And here is the bottom row of trees, which is also raw edge applique and will eventually be machine blanket stitched. I am going to add a little sign that says "The City of Forks Welcomes You" to one of the rows of trees, probably the bottom row towards the right side.


I've got a lot of work to do, because in addition to these blocks, I have plans for the New Moon Book Cover, the Breaking Dawn Book Cover, Bella & Edward Dancing at their wedding, flowers from their wedding, And so the Lion Fell in Love with the Lamb, The Meadow, Bella's Bracelet, Bella's Truck, "My Jacob" wolf paw, La Push - First Beach, Edward's Diamond Heart, Fire and Ice, Bella's Broken Heart, the "Other" Jacob, The Clock Tower at Volterra, a Meteor, a Graduation Cap, Motorcycles, Cliff Diving, a Swiss Flag, The Cullen's house, Charlie's house, Bella & Edward's cottage, Jacob's house, Alice's Porsche, more trees and Charlie. I'm trying to come up with ideas for blocks for Carlisle & Esme, Jasper & Alice, Emmett & Rosalie and Renee as well. I'm also considering adding the Cullen Crest, although that is a movie thing.

I also want to thank those who have inspired me. Stephenie Meyer, you're at the top of my list for writing such an amazing series of books. My fellow coven members are right at the top as well. I wouldn't have been able to come up with all of this on my own.

As I mentioned, I won't be done with my quilt by the challenge deadline, but it is a priority and I am going to finish it. I'll keep you updated as I go along, as showing off is one of my favorite things to do.

Elizabeth

Mystery Quilt Challenge

Hello Coven members. I don't know about you but I've been missing the momentum of the original Twilight Mystery Quilt we all started months ago. I miss the excitement of getting a new pattern every two weeks and the fun of sharing our blocks. So, in that vein I'm going to issue our next TQC project: Finish the Mystery Quilts! And that title is still appropriate since it will be a mystery what everyone comes up with! First of all, to refresh memories, the original Twilight Mystery Quilt patterns can be found at Zeppelin Threads and our individual progress at TMs discussion thread. Zeppelin Threads' pattern is still in limbo but that turned out to be a great opportunity for us to expand our creativity, finding some wonderful paper pieced patterns at Sewhooked; Twilight patterns by Cat Magraith and a myriad of others that have been adapted for our quilts. Some of us also bought or designed other patterns. I will be sharing my Edward's Meadow, Volturi Clock Tower, and Edward's Crystal Heart patterns in the next couple of weeks so stay tuned!

So, let's give ourselves 10 weeks, till August 31st to finish up the tops! Going by my current design I have 13 "blocks" to finish, not sure how many everyone else has and of course everyone keeps evolving their designs, which makes it so exciting. Every two weeks I'll be asking for progress "reports". It will be easier to continue the discussion on TMs, but please send in photos, ideas, thoughts to our email: twilightquilterscoven@gmail.com and comment on posts over here too. The more input the better!

At the end of the 10 weeks we can all show off our tops and then start the creative "how are we going to quilt this" discussion. I'm hoping we can get input from the talented Vivian Love who is going to quilt our Stephenie quilt. If you haven't checked out her blog Quilts with Love head on over now, she has some lovely work!

Iris