My Twilight Quilt: Bella's Broken Heart

How many ways can one heart be mangled and still be expected to keep beating? I’d lived through a lot that should have finished me in the last few days, but it didn’t make me feel strong. Instead, I felt horribly fragile, like one word could shatter me.
–Bella Swan, New Moon, page 495

It had not been Edward and Jacob that I'd been trying to force together, it was the two parts of myself, Edward's Bella and Jacob's Bella. But they could not exist together, and I never should have tried. –Bella Swan, Eclipse, page 608

This block is symbolic several different ways. In New Moon, Edward leaves Bella because he hopes that she will be better off without him and she completely falls apart. Jacob becomes her best friend and helps put back the pieces. In Eclipse, Bella has to choose between Jacob and Edward because she loves them both. The pattern is by Jennifer Ofenstein, a very talented and prolific pattern designer.

And, my quilt to date.

My Twilight Quilt: Earthbound Sun

Jacob was simply a perpetually happy person, and he carried that happiness with him like an aura, sharing it with whoever was near him. Like an earthbound sun, whenever someone was within his gravitational pull, Jacob warmed them. It was natural, a part of who he was. –Bella Swan, New Moon, page 145

When I decided to expand my layout for this quilt, I knew I wanted to include this block. I used the design I did for the New Moon charity quilt with the Twi-Quilters, but since I only had a 6" space to fill, I left off the soda cans.

I really like doing crazy-quilt patchwork. It is a lot of fun. I was very conservative with the thread colors I used in the first block. But this time, I went with a golden yellow for the stitching between the patchwork pieces. I really like how is emphasizes the crazy quilt aspect, but it made things difficult when it came to embroidering the little phrase from the book, like an earthbound sun. I had to go with a really deep golden floss for it to show, and even then the words kind of collide with the stitching.

I've mentioned before that I'm making two identical Twilight quilts. Up until now, I've never bothered to photograph the twin blocks, because they are identical. You've seen one, you've seen them both. But Jacob's suns turned out differently because I didn't use a pattern to do the patchwork. So, I thought I'd show you a few sets of my twin blocks, just so you know that really am making two quilts.

LadyBug saw both clock tower blocks on my table and asked, why are you making two clock towers? I told her it is because I am making two quilts. Her reply? Well, that's just crazy. She might be right. It took two weeks to finish these and I'd estimate that each block took about 20 hours.

Two of the little diamond heart Edward gave to Bella.

Two La Push First Beach blocks.

OK. I can see some of you are going to sleep. I won't bore you with photos of the sets of all blocks for both quilts. But trust me when I say there are two of every. single. one.

Now, for my favorite part, the layout with one less empty space.

My Twilight Quilt: La Push First Beach

I’d been to the beaches around La Push many times during my Forks summers with Charlie, so the mile-long crescent of First Beach was familiar to me. It was still breathtaking. The water was dark gray, even in the sunlight, white-capped and heaving to the gray, rocky shore. Islands rose out of the steel harbor waters with sheer cliff sides, reaching to uneven summits, and crowned with austere, soaring firs. The beach had only a thin border of actual sand at the water’s edge, after which it grew into millions of large, smooth stones that looked uniformly gray from a distance, but close up were every shade a stone could be: terra-cotta, sea green, lavender, blue gray, dull gold. The tide line was strewn with huge driftwood trees, bleached bone white in the salt waves, some piled together against the edge of the forest fringe, some lying solitary, just out of reach of the waves. –Bella Swan, Twilight, page 114-115

This is First Beach, along the Olympic coast in La Push, Washington.

First Beach plays a big part in the Twilight series. Bella spends a lot of time with Jacob there. Cat, one of my favorite pattern designers and fellow Twi-Quilter did a paper-pieced First Beach several years ago and I've been dying to do it ever since. I finally got to it!

This block went together so quickly and finished really nicely. I love how it came out! I found the same “water” fabric as Cat used in her block {although I might not have done the best job with the fussy cut} and the beach fabric has a little bit of sparkle to it {though you can't see it in this picture}. I used a mix of green fabrics for the trees, the same green fabrics I'm using throughout my quilt. My only reservation about the block is that the grays I picked for the mountains might not be quite dark enough. Still, it's one more block finished!

My Twilight Quilt: The 'Other' Jacob

“Do you think you could behave yourself a little better, at least?” I asked, irritated.

“No, I don’t. You decide, Bella. You can have me the way I am — bad behavior included — or not at all.”
–Bella Swan and Jacob Black, Eclipse, page 329

I used the Howling Wolf pattern by Jennifer Ofenstein for this block. The “other” Jacob refers to the pain that Jacob experiences as he loses Bella to Edward, which surfaces in a number of way and can be summed up as “bad behavior.” Jacob is Bella’s best friend. He helped her to heal after Edward left. When Bella goes to save Edward, despite the pain he caused her, Jacob is hurt. When Edward comes back, Jacob realizes that he's got to give it everything he's got to win her over. He pulls some pretty infantile stunts {like kissing her } to get her to realize that she loves him too. But it just isn't enough because Edward really is the one for her.

I used Moda Marbles in a lovely russet color {which I also used in the 'My' Jacob block} and the background fabric was a gift from a {non-quilting} fellow TwilightMOM in an exchange a couple of years ago. The pattern is a little bit chopped up, but I still like the overall effect. It kind of underlines the pain the howling wolf is experiencing.

Cat's Twilight Block of the Month: Block 9

Your best friend is a werewolf? –Alice Cullen, New Moon, page 387

The beginner's block for month 9 of Cat's mystery quilt was another fun and quick block to put together. I used Fairy Frost, of course, I really like how it came out.

I'd already done the advanced block, but I thought it would be fun to show again.

I also did two different sets of paw prints for the New Moon quilt. This first set was about 50% of original size.

Jacob

Paul

Sam

Embry

Jared

It was a good thing that this is one of my favorite of Cat's patterns because we did a revision on the layout and the first set of blocks was just a little bit too big to fit the new layout, so I did a second set on an even smaller scale. After making so many of this block, I still think it is really fun to do.

Today's post brought to you by:

Cat's Twilight Block of the Month: Block 8

I am a neutral country. I am Switzerland. I refuse to be affected by territorial disputes between mythical creatures. –Bella Swan, Eclipse, page 143

Now that my box of Twilight fabrics and blocks is open, I don't really want to close it. I've been working a little bit on Cat's Block of the Month and a little bit on my own Twilight quilt. The idea was to do each of Cat's beginner blocks and then if I hadn't already done her advanced block for that month and was using it in my quilt, I would do that too. I've worked my way up to block 8 now. This was really fun to put together and took less than 45 minutes, including printing out the pattern and picking fabrics. I used Fairy Frost in Red and Snow and I love how it came out.

I already had the advanced block finished. I was Cat's pattern tester for this one and I posted about it previously. But, you know me . . . any opportunity to do a bit of sew and tell, so you get to see it again. The red in the shield is some of the last bits I had left over from the Stephenie Meyer quilt, Piece, Love, Twilight. I had a lot of fun putting this block together.

Today's post brought to you by:

Breaking Dawn: 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

This 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.

This block is going to be part of a Breaking Dawn themed quilt that the Twi-Quilters are putting together. I'll keep you updated as we finish it up and if you're a Twilight fan, I'll tell you how you can enter to win this quilt.

Big Day

When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give your beloved, how could you not give it? –Bella Cullen, Breaking Dawn, page 2

Breaking Dawn: Jacob & 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 not 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

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 the Breaking Dawn Quilt for Charity I'm working on with the Twi-Quilters. 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, we'll be posting the progress of our quilt on the Twi-Quilters' blog.

Twilighty Fabric Postcards

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

Yeah. I know . It is completely ridiculous to be so be so into a series of books about teenagers — teenage vampires, no less. But I am. If you haven't read the books, you can't judge. And if you have read them and don't like them, well, not everyone has good taste .

In an effort to feed my obsession shortly after first reading the books, I searched the internet for anything Twilight related. Eventually, I found TwilightMOMS^TM, where I met lots of other Twilight obsessed people. Those of us who liked to sew and/or quilt kind of banded together and formed a little group. We are each working on our own individual Twilight themed quilts and we've made a few quilts together as a group; we sent one to Stephenie Meyer and the other two were auctioned and all the proceeds were donated to charity. We live scattered across the States and we even have a member in Australia. We've been quilting together, coordinating our efforts via e-mail and private messages, for almost two years now. We've become quite good friends. We do a gift exchange at least once a year, we commemorate our anniversary with a little swap, and those who want to send each of the others a little something for their birthdays {tradition is a card and a fat quarter}. And we very often trade in Twilighty fabrics and merchandise.

Last fall, I decided to make Twilighty fabric postcards to send out with my birthday fat quarters. 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.

I had all the supplies necessary on-hand. I bought I don't know how many yards of the double-sided fusible Peltex {with a 50% off coupon, I'm sure} probably a year-and-a-half ago, planning to make birthday fabric postcards to send to family and friends in 2010. I never got around to and I still have a ton of it left. It is all cut and ready to be made into more postcards. Maybe 2012 will be my year.

I started working on these last fall. I was going to make them a few at a time, as the birthdays came up. But life got on the way and the three I started with for October birthdays got set aside. Then two more birthdays happened and I decided that I'd better just finish them all in one go and get the late ones out to the birthdays that had already passed and then be prepared for the birthdays still to come. And while I was at it, I made a few extras.

These are for the girls 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. Am I going to count this as fifteen finishes? You bet your sweet Aunt Fanny I am! It is nice to start the year off with a bang, especially since most of what I've been working on are things I started a while ago. Hooray for clearing out projects half-done!

Today's post brought to you by:

Cat's Twilight Block of the Month: Block 6

The wolf closest to me, the reddish brown one, turned its head slightly at the sound of my gasp.

The wolf's eyes were dark, nearly black. It gazed at me for a fraction of a second, the deep eyes seeming too intelligent for a wild animal.

As it stared at me, I suddenly thought of Jacob. –Bella Swan, New Moon, page 244


I'm slowly closing the gap, getting caught up with Cat's Twilight Mystery Block of the Month. July's focus was Jacob. The beginner's block is the same as the previous two months; a heart, this time in Jacob-y colors. I used Fairy Frost in Coin for Jacob's russet colored heart.

I'm a very visual person, so I thought it would be fun to see how all the blocks I've finished look together. I'll probably put a black sashing between them with red setting squares at the corner, but I haven't decided for sure.

The advanced block for July is the cutest wolf block. Which presents a bit of a dilemma for me. As I mentioned when I posted my May block, I already had my layout decided on when Cat announced her BOM. I'd chosen to use her paw print to represent the part of Jacob who is Bella's friend, who she loves. And I chose Jennifer Ofenstein's Howling Wolf block {pattern here} to represent the part of Jacob that Bella can't stand, the pushy, obnoxious, moronic DOG! {Eclipse, page 332} Cat's wolf is too sweet to represent the angry, hurt side of Jacob and I've already got the paw print done for the nice side of Jacob, so to keep my pile of orphaned Twilight blocks from growing, I'm going to have to go with common sense and leave this wolf block out of my quilt.

Perhaps I'll do a wolf pack wall hanging sometime {after I finished the 572 other things I'm working on}, making the wolves in their different colors {yeah, I'm gonna list them all }:
Sam {black}
Paul {dark silver}
Jared {medium brown}
Embry {gray w/spots}
Jacob {russet}
Quil {deep chocolate brown}
Leah {silver}
Seth {sandy brown}
Collin {?}
Brady {?}

My Twilight Quilt: Bella's Bracelet Redux

[Jacob] turned the bag upside down and shook something silver into my hand. Metal links clinked quietly against each other.

"I didn't make the bracelet," he admitted. "Just the charm."

Fastened to one of the links of the silver bracelet was a tiny wooden carving. I held it between my fingers to look at it closer. It was amazing the amount of detail involved in the little figurine – the miniature wolf was utterly realistic. It was even carved out of some red-brown wood that matched the color of his skin. –Bella Swan, Eclipse, page 374

[Edward] pulled my left wrist away from my leg, and touched the silver bracelet for just a moment. Then he gave me my arm back.

I examined it cautiously. On the opposite side of the chain from the wolf, there now hung a brilliant heart-shaped crystal. It was cut in a million facets, so that even in the subdued light shining from the lamp, it sparkled. I inhaled a low gasp. –Bella Swan, Eclipse, page 438

Bella's Bracelet was one of the first blocks I made for my Twilight Quilt. That is to say, after I discarded all the blocks from the Zeppelin Threads Mystery Quilt, made my own layout and then changed it 2½ times, it was one of the first blocks I did. But it just wasn't quite right. The block {really, set of two blocks, because I'm making two quilts} went in the huge pile of orphaned Twilight quilt blocks and I went back to the drawing board.

I puzzled and puzzled over exactly the right background fabric to use in this block. The Mystery Quilt assigned purple to Bella, presumably, because in the movie Charlie buys her a purple comforter set for her bed. I tried to carry that over from the Mystery Quilt; the idea of assigning a color and fabric to each character to use throughout the quilt. And I wanted to use the fabrics I'd already invested in. It works great for Jacob. I found a really cool Moda Marbles in russet for him. I used that for his little wolf charm on the bracelet and on his Wolf Paw block. And it works for Edward too – white and sparkly. I used that in the heart charm on the bracelet, in his Diamond Heart block and in the Fire and Ice block. {Sidebar: I'm wondering why I didn't use Jacob's russet fabric in that block too. I went with an earthy orange fabric to represent fire, because the block is called Fire and Ice. But the design is very abstract and since it represents Jacob and Edward I could have gone with the russet fabric just as easily as the orange. I'd better not think about that too much, or I'll obsess over it and have another block for the orphan pile .}

I had a hard time with a color for Bella, though. The Mystery Quilt, with mostly traditionally pieced and appliqué blocks, was a very different style than my new layout, though. The fabric I used just didn't work for the paper pieced bracelet block {but it looks really nice in my Snowball Quilt }, so I went out and bought four or five other purple fabrics. Some of the Twilight Quilter's Coven girls even sent me purple fabrics. But none of them worked. So, I shoved the pattern to the back of my stack. As time passed, I pretty much gave up the idea of using one color to represent Bella and started thinking about the best color to use to set off the bracelet; the best color to use as a background. The last time I thought about it seriously, gold was at the top of my list. I like gold and silver together, and it seemed a nice, neutral color. I didn't have a specific fabric in mind, but last week when I pulled out my things to work on Edward's Diamond Heart, right on top was a piece of pretty ivory fabric with tiny gold flecks on it that Wanda had sent me. Bella's Bracelet was next in line after the Diamond Heart, so my mind was working on it more actively. Things clicked into place and I finally had a fabric that seemed just right for the background.

I used Silver Fairy Frost for the bracelet {what else? } Under the 'frost' overlay, the fabric has subtle variations in color and I used the lighter fabric for the front of the bracelet and the darker fabric for the back, as indicated in the pattern, to give it perspective. As mentioned, the little wolf charm is made from a Moda Marbles in russet and the heart charm is white with iridescent sparkles {Crystalline Solids from JoAnn's}. I'll add jump rings to the block {probably after it is quilted} so the charms are attached to the bracelet.

This is one of the first Twilight patterns Cat designed. We used it in the Stephenie Meyer quilt and it is included in Cat's Mystery BOM.

And now my favorite part of my Twilight Quilt Sew and Tell, the layout with one more block filled in :

My Twilight Quilt: Fire & Ice

The wind shook the tent again, and I shook with it.

The temperature was dropping. I could feel it through the down bag, through my jacket. I was fully dressed, my hiking boots still laced into place. It didn't make any difference. How could it be so cold? How could it keep getting colder? It had to bottom out sometime, didn't it?

Edward sat as far from me as possible in the cramped space, afraid to even breathe on me when I was already so cold. It was too dark to see his face, but his voice was wild with worry, indecision, and frustration.

I heard the sound of the zipper around the tent door pulling swiftly down.

Jacob slid through the smallest opening he could manage, while the arctic air flowed in around him, a few flecks of snow falling to the floor of the tent. I shivered so hard it was a convulsion.

Edward's hand was suddenly hard on his shoulder, restraining, snow white against the dark skin. Jacob's jaw clenched, his nostrils flaring, his body recoiling from the cold touch. The long muscles in his arms flexed automatically.

"Scoot over, Bella," he said, zipping the sleeping bag open farther.

I stared at him in outrage. No wonder Edward was reacting this way.

He crammed his body into the nonexistent space, forcing the zipper up behind himself.

And then I couldn't object -- I didn't want to anymore. He was so warm. His arms constricted around me, holding me snugly against his bare chest. The heat was irresistible, like air after being underwater for too long. He cringed when I pressed my icy fingers eagerly against his skin. -Bella Swan, Eclipse, pages 487-494

As I was refining my layout for this quilt, I found a block called Light and Dark at The Quilter's Cache. I really wanted to incorporate it in my quilt. Iris says it makes her think of Midnight Sun. It made me think of the chapter in Eclipse called Fire and Ice. The block is 12" and originally I'd planned to make two 6" sections of it, one with 'fire' as the dominant color and one with 'ice' as he dominant color. But as my layout evolved, I realized I needed to make room for other blocks and so I gave this block one 6" square and reduced the pattern by 50% to make it fit.

I like the representation; each of the 'ice' dominant sections has a bit of fire in them and vice-versa. Edward, who is obviously the 'ice' in this block also has a bit of fire in him. He's not exclusively ice, although he is as cold. And Jacob, who runs at a toasty 108.9, is not all fire. That is what makes it so hard for Bella to choose between them.

When putting this block together I wanted the fabric to be just right. I used Platinum Fairy Frost for 'ice.' It has a silver background with silver glitter. I love the way it shines. The 'fire' is a hand-dyed fabric that Iris sent me. It has a lovely, earthy texture and tone, with variation in the color that made me think of fire. I hope I got it right.



And now, my favorite part. I know you just saw the layout, but here it is again, with one more block filled in.