Stephenie Meyer has inspired all of us in some way. Her stories are amazing and I feel like I want to give a little something back to her. I and some of the other women who like to sew and quilt have decided to put together a quilt for her, a representation of the books in the Twilight series.

In my vision (aided by Shannon, Iris, Heather, Cat and a host of other wonderful women), this is a rought draft of Stephenie's quilt.


This is a paper model of the medallion center.

The tulips are a rough mock-up, and will definitely be something a little more fantastic than represented here. I also think that the chess pieces need to be appliqued onto the bottom right corner of the checkerboard section. The finished size will be about 55" x 55", so not too big to hang on the wall. At SewHooked (dot) org, there are the following paper piecing patterns that would work really well:

Photos of the individual blocks can be found by scrolling down on this page.

The "other" Jacob (Howling Wolf) (Joyce) by Jennifer Ofenstein
Bella's "My Jacob" Paw Print (Jean) by Cat Magraith, found in Guest Patterns
La Push: First Beach (Jerri Lynn) by Cat Magraith, found in Guest Patterns
Bella's Bracelet (Joyce) by Cat Magraith
Bella's Truck (Joyce) by Cat Magraith
Edward's Crystal Heart (Iris) by Iris
The Meadow (Iris) by Iris
Isle Esme "Why am I covered in feathers?" (Iris)
Bella and Edward Dancing at the wedding (Shannon)
Renesmee's Locket (Joyce)
Edward's Eyes (Jean)
Vampire Baseball
Bella and Edward's Stone Cottage (Lisa)
Forks Trees (Wanda)
Charlie's Block (Jerri Lynn)
Carlisle and Esme (Iris)
Alice & Jasper (Shannon)
Emmett & Rosalie (Shannon)
The Volturi: Clock Tower at Volterra (Iris)
Lion and Lamb (Shannon)

The finished quilt will have a label on the back with the names of each of the participants indicating which parts she completed, as well as credit to the creators of the patterns we will use in our quilt.

Each participant who signs up will provide her own fabric and agree to abide by the rules (posted below) of our Quilt Coven. In addition, each partcipant may choose to write a letter to Stephenie and include a picture of herself, to be included when we send the quilt to Stephenie in a care-package fashion. Participants may opt to donate money to help pay for the machine quilting that will finish this quilt off nicely.

Please do not take lightly the committment to participate in this quilt. Although it will be a fun project, there have to be some rules. Please read through them before signing up to participate. By signing up, you agree to abide by these rules.

1. You absolutely MUST follow through on your committment. Do not sign up if you do not plan to follow through.
2. There will be deadlines involved in completeing your sections of the quilt. Please abide by those deadlines. Life gets busy sometimes, and we can extend deadlines if the situation demands it, but plan ahead to make sure you're able to follow through.
3. By signing up to participate, you agree supply your own fabrics for the portion of the quilt you sign up for and to quilt by my rules which are these:
a. Wash your fabric before you begin (washing tips are to follow).
b. Use an iron at every step of the process; iron before you cut your fabric, iron after every seam, iron your quilt block as a whole. Ironing helps to keep your quilt blocks neat.
c. Do your best work. We are not expecting perfection, and quilters and sewers of all levels are welcome to participate. But this is a gift for Stephenie and represents all of us, so each participant is expected to do her best work.
4. The finished quilt will be machine quilted. Vivian, from Quilts with Love has offered to provide the batting and machine quilting for our quilt, and we gladly and gratefully accepted!
5. I plan on completing the center block for this quilt and will donate the fabric for this (unless Shannon decides she wants to). I will use the same black, red and white fabrics for the sashing (finishing) pieces, as well as the backing and binding. Participants may donate to help with this cost as well. More details on this will follow.
a. The amount of time you invest in this project will be soley up to you. If you want to participate, but have a full schedule, you can stipulate that you would only like to complete one block, which would involve a minimal time investment.
6. Open discussion is welcome and even expected. We love to see what you're up to, so please feel free to post with questions, concerns, pictures, etc.

The deadline for signing up was midnight (Mountain Daylight Time) on Friday April 24, and has now passed.

We are now currently dividing out the blocks that go around the center medallion. Each participant will have a month (deadline of roughly May 31st) to complete her portion of the quilt. Completed sections of the quilt will be mailed to me and I'll put them together and take them to the machine quilter's. Again, questions or concerns, please ask!

Participants:
Elizabeth (LizzieBug): Coordinator
Medallion (minus the forbidden fruit block)
Assembly
Iris (Mama2cjmj): Co-cordinator
Carlisle & Esme
Edward's Heart
Isle Esme
The Meadow
The Volturi
Shannon (Shannon17): Co-cordinator
Bella & Edward dancing at the wedding
Emmett & Rosalie (Received)
Forbidden Fruit Medallion center (Received)
Jasper & Alice (Received)
Lion & Lamb

Cat (HardHatCat)
Thanks so much, Cat, for the paper piecing patterns for:
Bella's Bracelet
Bella's Truck
La Push First Beach
Forbidden Fruit Hands and Apple
New Moon Parrot Tulip
Paw Print
Jean (OwnedByTwins)
Edward's Eyes
Paw Print
Jerri Lynn (JerriLynn)
Four corners, embroidered with quotes from the book
Charlie (Received)
La Push: First Beach (Received)
Joyce (LivetheDream)
Bella's Bracelet
Bella's Truck
Howling Wolf
Renesmee's Locket
Lisa (LisaRN08)
Bella and Edward's Stone Cottage
Vivian
Machine Quilting
Batting
Wanda (Meredemer)
Vampire Baseball
Forks Trees

Fabric Selection:
• Use only 100% cotton fabric for your quilt.
• Specialty quilting shops carry the best quality fabric for quilting. However they tend to be more expensive. Their fabric lines also run like clothing lines, they change from season to season and do not repeat, so you have to buy what you think you’ll need when you find it, otherwise you might not be able to get it later. JoAnn’s or other fabric stores carry 100% cotton fabrics, usually arranged together for easy identification as fabrics intended for quilting. Wal-Mart also carries 100% cotton fabrics, and though the price is great, the quality isn’t always the same. Often their fabrics have a petroleum smell, even after laundering. Fabric stores and Wal-Mart generally have a line of fabrics that they keep in stock continuously, so if you run out, you’ll usually be able to find it again. Buy the best quality fabric your budget allows.
• It is best to select fabrics with a print, even it is a tone-on-tone print like white-on-white. This gives your quilt texture and visual interest. Using a solid fabric is rarely advisable.
• When selecting fabrics, “audition” colors and textures as you go. Your fabric selections don’t need to “match” per se, but do need to “go” with each other. If you are unable to find all your fabrics at one fabric store, take what you have with you to the next store so you can see how a particular piece of fabric compares with the rest of your selections.
• Be careful when choosing stripes, plaids and large prints. Consider where you will be using it in your quilt. Stripes and plaids may not match up perfectly depending on how they are cut. A large print may overpower the other fabrics in your quilt block.
• Try something different, something you might not usually consider. Your perspective may change once you see it next to the other fabrics you’ve collected.
• Most importantly, choose what you like. If you don’t like it before you begin to sew, you definitely won’t like it after.

Tips for Washing Fabric:
• Wash your fabrics in cold water. This will help prevent fading.
• If you are using dark or vivid colors, a cup of vinegar in the wash will help to set the colors in.
• Make sure the soap you use does not contain phosphates.
• The warm air in the dryer will cause the shrinkage that pre-washing fabrics is supposed to achieve.
• When you throw your pieces of fabric in to dry, to help them from clumping up against the sides of the dryer, put a ball in with them. The bouncing of the ball will help to toss the fabrics around and let them dry faster. You can use a tennis ball, or I've seen "laundry balls" in the "laundry aids" section of either Wal-Mart or ShopKo (can't remember which, and not with the laundry soap, but on the aisle with laundry bags and sorters and ironing boards and such). I use two jumbo-size bouncy balls (this also works great for bed sheets and blankets).
• Iron your fabric after washing. Use steam and the cotton setting.

Quilting is simply piecing fabric together to make a design or picture. Nearly everything is sewn in a straight line. And although sewing in a straight line is simple, that is the tricky part of piecing -- keeping your lines straight . Marcia Hohn at the Quilter's Cache makes recommendations for supplies to get you started. Here are a few tips I thought might be helpful for those who are new to quilting.

• Be as exact as possible. Careful construction will yield the best results.
• Wash and dry your fabric before beginning construction.
• Cut your fabric on the straight grain. Sometimes the manufacturing process pulls fabric off-grain as it is rolled onto the bolts. After you have washed your fabric, pull the selvage edges together. If the fabric puckers at the fold in the center, it means that the fabric is not on grain. Slide the selvages opposite of each other, but still keeping them parallel with each other until the pucker disappears. You mat have more fabric one layer at the end of your piece than at the other. Cut perpendicular to the fold and selvage edges, and this will put your fabric back on grain.
• When cutting your fabric pieces use your ruler as much as possible to be the size guide, rather than the grid marks on your cutting mat. Place your fabric under your ruler, lining the straight edges of the fabric with the size marking on your ruler and cut.
• Seam allowances for quilt piecing are ¼”. To help keep things on size, sew a scant ¼” seam allowance; that is, sew just a hair’s breadth inside of the ¼” mark.
• Press your fabric at every step. Use the cotton setting and steam in your iron. Press your fabric before cutting. Press your seams before you open out your fabric. Press each seam flat (not open) towards the darker fabric, unless the pattern indicates otherwise.
• Chain stitch as much as possible. That is, begin your stitching on a scrap of fabric. When you come to the end of the scrap, place your first pieces to be sewn together level with the edge of the scrap. Continue sewing off the scrap and onto your pieces without backstitching. Continue adding your quilt pieces to your chain of fabric, until everything that you need to sew has been added. Place your scrap of fabric at the end of the chain and sew off the last piece onto the scrap. Cut the chain apart and press.
• It is not necessary to backstitch at the beginning and end of each piece of fabric. The pieces will be pressed flat, rather than open, which is less stress on the seam. Backstitching adds unnecessary bulk.

Paper Piecing
Paper piecing is like paint-by-numbers with fabric. It can be intimidating, especially on a pattern with lots of small pieces. It is a little more time consuming that traditional piecing, but yields results not possible with traditional piecing. Marcia Hohn has a wonderful tutorial. Her instructions are simple and easy to understand and can be applied to more complex paper piecing patterns. She also has a selection of other simple paper piecing patterns you can try out.

• Foundation paper is recommended for paper piecing. One a personal note, I have mostly just used regular printer paper (20 lb. weight) and have had great results. Most recently, I’ve been using vellum paper and it works really well also. The paper curls a bit when ironed, though, so you’ll have to straighten it out after each pressing.
• When working with paper piecing patterns that have complex designs or irregular shaped pieces, don’t try to cut an exact piece. I prefer to work with strips of fabric, sewing them on and then trimming them down after they are turned.
• Press the fabric with a dry iron after each new piece of fabric is added. This keeps your paper piecing neat.
• Use a blank sheet of paper under your paper piecing blocks when you press. The ink will transfer a bit with the heat of the iron, so you don’t want it on your ironing board cover to transfer later to other projects.
• Allow enough fabric to go beyond the ¼” seam allowance. Once you’ve completed each section of the block, trim it with your ruler and rotary cutter to a ¼” inch seam allowance before sewing it to any other pieces in the block.
• It is sometimes useful to leave the paper in your pieces until completely assembled and sewn into place in your quilt. The paper will help stabilize the many different biases of the fabrics and keep it in place until sewed into your quilt. If you have multiple pieces that make up a block, remove the paper in the ¼” seam allowance after sewing the pieces together.
• If you prefer to remove the paper in your pieces, sew around your block at ⅛” of an inch to help stabilize the bias in the fabric.

Appliqué
Again, I refer you to Marcia Hohn's tutorial for appliquéing. She also has some great basic patterns.

How to post a picture in a thread or a PM

1. Your pictures need to be in one of the following formats: jpg, jpeg, png, gif, bmp, tif, tiff, pdf, and must be less than 1.53 megabytes. I have never had an issue with the megabytes and I usually use the highest resolution with my camera.

2. Go to this web-site: Image Shack. You can ignore pretty much everything on there except for the following:
a. Under the orange bar, it says "upload" and then there are three choices. The default is "images," and that is for uploading files directly from your computer.
b. There is a big empty box below that with a "browse" button. Use the "Browse" button to locate the picture(s) on your computer that you want to upload. You can download more than one picture at a time.
c. Ignore the next box that says e-mail (unless you want to register with them, but that is completely optional and I have not).
d. You may or may not want to resize your picture. You have several choices:
1. Skipping the first two choices (Avatar and Thumbnail, which are both very small), 320 x 240 (for websites and e-mail) is the third choice in the dropdown menu and usually the size I do for forums. If you have a high resolution photo, this size works really well and the details are pretty visible.
2. The fourth size choice is 640 x 480 (for message boards). This is a larger size and is great if you really want to show lots and lots of details.
e. Ignore everything else and click the red-outlined button that says "Start Upload" Depending on the size of your image(s), it will take a few seconds to a few minutes to host your picture(s).

3. Once you've clicked the "Start Upload" button, a progress bar will appear. Once the picture(s) has been down new screen will appear.
For a single image:
a. Ignore everything above and next to your picture. Underneath the picture there will be a box that is checked that says "include details." Unclick that box.
b. Highlight the first box underneath that, containing a web address. It says (hotlink for forums 1) next to it.
c. Right click on the highlighted web address. Using the menu that pops up, click on "copy." Go to step 4 now.
For multiple images:
a. A gallery page will appear. In order to get the individual links for each picture, click on the share beneath the picture you want. You'll go to a new screen.
a. Ignore everything above and next to your picture. Underneath the picture there will be a box that is checked that says "include details." Unclick that box.
b. Highlight the first box underneath that, containing a web address. It says (hotlink for forums 1) next to it.
c. Right click on the highlighted web address. Using the menu that pops up, click on "copy."

4. Move to your post and right click in the post where you want the picture to appear. When the pop-up menu appears, click on "paste."
a. If you're doing multiple images, return to the Image Shack site and click the back arrow to access the other images, repeating step 3 to insert them into your post.

5. Voila'! You now have a picture in your post .

The medallion center 2 sections, Forbidden Fruit and Broken Petals paper piecing patterns by Cat Magraith, Forbidden Fruit pieced by Shannon, Broken Petals pieced by Elizabeth.

And the completed medallion center.

Isle Esme, adapted pattern by Jennifer Ofenstein, design by Iris.

The Volturi: Clock Tower at Volterra, pattern and piecing by Iris

The Meadow, pattern and piecing by Iris

Edward's Crystal Heart, pattern and piecing by Iris

Carlisle & Esme, pattern and piecing by Iris

Charlie, designed and pieced by Jerri Lynn

La Push, paper piecing pattern by Cat Magraith, piecing by Jerri Lynn

Twilight Book Quote by Jerri Lynn

Eclipse Book Quote by Jerri Lynn

Renesmee's Locket, design and piecing by Joyce

Bella's Truck, paper piecing pattern by Cat Magraith, piecing by Joyce

Bella's Bracelet, paper piecing pattern by Cat Magraith, piecing by Joyce

The "Other" Jacob, paper piecing pattern by Jennifer Ofenstein, piecing by Joyce

Forks, design and piecing by Wanda

Vampire Baseball, piecing by Wanda

Edward's Eyes, traditional pattern, pieced by Jean

The quilt has been machine quilted, bound and is finished ! Vivian did a beautiful job on the quilt. She used matching thread (white on white, black on black, red on red, etc.). She highlighed and accentuated all of your beautiful blocks, quilting design around the main parts of each block, and mostly just tacked the blocks down in the detailed areas so as not to distract from the beautiful work. For your viewing pleasure the completed quilt:


The top row of quilted blocks:


Here is the left column:


And the right column:



Here is the bottom row:

I am pleased to announce that the Twilight Quilt has been entered and judged in the 36th Annual Quilt Show at the Springville Museum of Art and we were awarded a ribbon and $100 cash award for Best Group Quilt!


I attended the awards and show preview on July 15th. After the ribbons were awarded, the winners got the privilege of putting it up next to their quilt. Take a look at that gorgeous blue ribbon!

The nine of us involved in making the quilt have discussed what to do with the prize money and are going to donate it to charity.

The Quilt will be on display from July 17th through September 2nd. During the run of the show, those in attendance will have a chance to vote for their favorite quilt and a "Viewer's Choice" award will be given at the close of the show.

So I had a couple of comments/ideas.


Ok, I'm probably not adding things up in my head right, but wouldn't a 30" block have to be bordered by six 5" blocks? Well I was thinking 6" blocks would be better anyway....for instance the Paw Print and Broken Heart are 5" but they go right up to the edge. In order to have a nice amount of background (and embroider claws on the paw) you need to extend the background.



So I'm thinking it may be a good idea to make the borders a variegated/multicolor fabric, like batik or fossil fern or something like that, because otherwise the center will only be black, white, red and it's going to look disjointed with the rest of the quilt that will (I'm assuming) have many other colors. So each layer of the center medallion can be the 3 colors but the borders could provide the linking/coordinating color.

Lizzie I also thought the Eclipse blocks could be made with real ribbon? I can volunteer for that if no one else wants to give it a try. It might give it some interesting depth/texture.

The finished size will be about 55" x 55", so not too big to hang on the wall. At SewHooked (dot) org, there are the following paper piecing patterns that would work really well:
Broken Heart (found in Shapes) to symbolize Bella's Broken Heart
Howling Wolf (found in Plants & Animals) for Jacob
Paw Print (found in Guest Patterns by Cat Magraith) for Jacob and the pack
La Push: First Beach (found in Guest Patterns by Cat Magraith)
Full Heart Container (found in Guest Patterns by Shae Merritt under Legend of Zelda) a good representation of the crystal heart Edward gave to Bella

I'm going to try to design a crystal heart pendant. If it comes out well I'll post the picture to see if we'd like to use it instead.

Traditional piecing:
Jewel box block with a progression from Gold to Topaz to Black to symbolize Edward's Eyes

That leaves nine 5" squares that aren't filled. Some of my other ideas are:
One or more of the houses in and around Forks; Bella's, the Cullen's, the Stone Cottage, Jacob's (obviously borrowing all this from Heather).
As far as houses, I think definitely the Stone Cottage!
Trees (for Forks)
Bella's Bracelet paper pieceing by Cat Magraith (not available yet, but soon )
The Meadow
Isle Esme Feathers? Sewhooked.org has a quill pattern we could probably adapt.
The Swiss flag (white cross on a red background) for Bella's declaration -- "I am Switzerland!"
Something for the Cullens, Carlisle and Esme, Emmett and Rosalie, Jasper and Alice

How about wedding flowers? Stephenie seems fond of flowers and floral scents.

The finished quilt will have a label on the back with the names of each of the participants indicating which parts she completed, as well as credit to the creators of the patterns we will use in our quilt.

Each participant who signs up will provide her own fabric and agree to abide by the rules (posted below) of our Quilt Coven. In addition, each partcipant may choose to write a letter to Stephenie and include a picture of herself, to be included when we send the quilt to Stephenie in a care-package fashion. Participants may opt to donate money to help pay for the machine quilting that will finish this quilt off nicely.

If you have questions or concerns, please send me a PM![/quote]

Okay, seriously...we picked the right Esme. Excellent work setting all this up, Lizzie! I think it's good to have a thread separate from Heather's quilt. It's nice to feel like things are organized and we have someone heading this up.

I also thought about doing real ribbon on the centerpiece, Iris, and I think it could look great if done well. So good idea there. I also love the ideas of doing feathers and wedding flowers. I guess it's the romantic in me, but I think Stephenie would love it. And as for the tulips, do you think there's any way we could spice them up a little bit? All the other elements are so pretty, and the tulips look just a little bit sad.

So I can't wait to get started!

So I do have this tulip pattern that's just slightly spicier:


I text my mom-in-law (who loves gardening and making quilts with flowers) to see if she has some good tulip patterns. However whatever pattern, I think the fabric choices are the key to making things look good/spicier I avoid solids as much as possible, so if the red and whites of the tulips have interesting textures/patterns then it will look good. Maybe the red could have some white elements & vice versa. Also, appliqued tulips would probably look stunning. I'm not a fan of traditional applique, so I wouldn't volunteer for that block.

Oh, I had another "unifying" idea....maybe the people who work on blocks that have blacks & whites could send a little to the person who does the chessboard blocks so you can have a variety of blacks & whites to give it more depth and tie things together?

Oh and Lizzie, I did like your idea of appliqued chess pieces on the bottom right corner. I didn't see that carry over to this thread.

There will be a white border around each of the blocks and a sashing between each of the blocks, so we'll need room to add those in. If the Paw Print is reduced slightly, that will give enough room for the claws. It will be best if blocks like La Push go right to the edge, that the design takes up the whole block. Each block will then have a border around it, the same border as all the others.


The red, black and white will be found in the borders and sashing around the other blocks. The fabrics will definitely be prints, though, and not solids.


My husband had that same idea. I've been tossing it around in my head. I contacted Cat Magraith and told her what we were planning and invited her to partcipate. Maybe she'll put together a paper piecing pattern




More great ideas!



Yes, that tulip is much nicer. In my post on the other quilt thread I mentioned that the tulips needed a little help. I'll fix the post here as well.


Unless we have an overwhelming turn-out, I planned to do the entire center. That way I could work out the pattern as I go and all the fabrics would be the same (I'm kind of a matchy-matchy, like things uniform kind of gal). I would also use the same through the borders and backing. I hope that isn't too much for me to take. I could make patterns and fabric kits (so uptight, I know!) for those who wanted to do parts of the center medallion.

.
Fixing that as well.

Posting so those of you with e-mail updating will be notified. I've updated the first post adding in ideas as discussed in the thread, as well as the participants post and I've also updated a few of the "Under Construction" posts

Iris, maybe I'm being selfish about not sharing the medallion center. We could divide it up, and perhaps coax Shannon to participate. I'm thinking that I could do the tulips and the chessboard, you could do the ribbon section and Shannon could do the hands. I'm flexible, it just takes me a few minutes to change my way of thinking .

I also heard back from Catherine Magraith (who lives in Australia) and she has declined to participate, but gives us her blessing on using her patterns (especially if we give her credit). She sent me the pattern for Bella's Bracelet and Bella's Truck. The truck is adorable, but I can't figure a way to convert the picture to PDF. Right now it is an attachment in the file she sent me.

Can't wait to see the truck! Well, I guess we have to see in the end how many people want to participate and then haggle over who gets to do what! So I couldn't resist having a little Easter fun, and made a special little egg I wanted to share.