Tuesday Tales

The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser — in case you thought optimism was dead. –Robert Brault

I forgot to post two Personal Progress Totes I finished this month with the bags I posted yesterday. I was planning to put them all together in one post but forgot, so you get to hear from me two days in a row, with is an altogether uncommon occurrence around here these days. We only had one April birthday girl in our ward.

And this second one is for one of my cousin's daughters. I made one for her other daughter earlier, and casually included it into my post with the ones for February and March birthdays, hoping she wouldn't notice her daughter's name. I sent both of them to her a few weeks ago as a surprise and she was tickled to receive them.

For me, that is what it is all about — I love it when someone loves what I have made for them. I put a lot of thought into the things I make and try to use fabrics and colors that suit that person. When I first started working with the Young Women, I had each of the girls fill out a questionnaire so that I could casually find out their favorite colors for the ribbons and their embroidered names. Even though all of the totes are made with the same fabric, I wanted them to be personalized for each girl.

A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by someone wondering if I would make a Gumnut Baby quilt, like the one I made for one of my Twi-Quilter friends. It was a collaboration quilt and we all made blocks for it. I did the center block, which featured the main characters, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.

For the most part, I turn down requests for commissions. Honestly, it takes all of the fun out of my "me time." It makes my hobby a job. I'm torn, on this one though. I love needle-turn appliqué. And I'm very flattered that someone liked my work enough to pay me to do it. But that's the sticky part right there. I don't know how much to charge. I'm sure those Gumnut Babies took at least 20 hours. Add to that quilting time and supplies and we're looking at $500+ for a baby quilt. I don't know if I would dare ask that. Another sticky spot is that I tend to procrastinate something I perceive as a chore. Creating for money makes it a chore. The person who wants the quilt doesn't need it until Christmas, but that just means I have lots of time to put it off and then I'll end up stressing myself out trying to pull it together at the last minute. I also don't know if I saved my pattern. I don't even know where to start to look for it. I'm a fool if I threw it out, regardless of whether or not I will ever make this block again. And then there's real life; kids, husband, church stuff, job, summer vacation . . .

Do all of those "cons" outweigh the joy of creating something so individualized? I don't know, but I probably should e-mail the person back to let them know I'm still considering. That is the polite thing to do. And whether or not I make the quilt, I can be polite.

Today's post brought to you by:

P.S. Don't tell, but I think those Gumnut Babies are a little bit creepy.

Christmas Memories Part V: A Very Important Date

♫♪ EM EYE SEE ♪♫
See ya later.

♫♪ KAY EE WHY ♪♫
Why? Because we're going to Walt Disney World!

♫♪ EM OH YOU ESS EE ♪♫

Our goal this Christmas was to make memories instead of collecting more stuff. We did a few fun things before Christmas and one of the gifts that was under the tree for LadyBug and Grasshopper was a monogrammed Mickey Mouse silhouette luggage tag for each of them with a note saying that we are going to Walt Disney World. I only finished the tags for the Not-So-Little Bugs in time for Christmas. I finished the four others this week. I used clear tablecloth plastic to make windows on the back to put our information on and we are set to go.

The time has finally come. Reservations have been confirmed. A superfluous supply of Dramamine has been acquired. The bags are almost packed. And we are all beyond excited.

See ya real soon . . .

Today's post brought to you by:

Stitchy Kits: The First Finishes of 2013

It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do. –Moliere

I've had my two Stitchy Kits finished since Monday, but haven't had a chance to post pictures of the finished project. I'm really excited about how they turned out. I absolutely love all the rainbow-y-ness.

This little kit by Lori Holt is the cleverest little thing for keeping all your hand sewing supplies in one place {click here for pattern}. You can lay it over the arm of a chair or couch while you stitch at home or take it with you when you take a project somewhere to work on. There are two Stitchy Kits here, shown at the top left. The components of a single kit are show across the bottom and up the right side in the photos above. One is for me and the other was for my birthday/blog-a-versary giveaway earlier this month and is on it's way to Martina in Switzerland.

I used Indie by Pat Bravo for this fun project and love how the fabrics worked together. I've got another little project in mind for this great fabric line.

Today's post brought to you by:

The Big Four-Oh Giveaway: Winner's Roll-Call

Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity. –Edwin Hubbel Chapin

I would like to thank everyone who entered my giveaways this past week-and-a-half. Thank you for the birthday wishes as well. I spent the day simply and it was just what I needed; a quiet day at home spent with the people I love and doing what I love. For those of you who are dreading 40, you don't need to worry. I feel the same as I did at 39 and 33 and 27 and 18, except perhaps, I am a little wiser.

And now it is time to reveal the winners. This part always kills me because I only have four prizes to give to four winners and I'm rooting for all of you. I wish I had a little something for everyone, but that's not the way it goes. I had the No-So-Little Bugs help me with the random draw. Based on the number of entrants for each giveaway, I gave them a range of numbers and let them pick one. I didn't tell them which giveaway they were doing or coach them in any way to pick the winners. It was completely fair and absolutely random.

• Quilter's Care Package Winner:

Drawn by LadyBug

Congratulations to
Shay
at Quilting In My Pyjamas


who said: Happy Blogiversary E! I always enjoy reading your posts.

And as for your actual birthday...shouldn't we be giving you presents instead of vice-versa? I hope you have a wonderful birthday no matter how you decide to celebrate. My 40^th is a little hazy because it was a number of years ago.

My favourite sewing tool are my flower head extra long pins. Did you know you can usually sew right over those suckers with no side effects? Note I said “usually.”


• Chocolate Sundae Batiks Fat Quarter Bundle Winner:

Drawn by Grasshopper

Congratulations to
Hafza
at Hook 'n Needle Creations

who said: My favorite colors combination are red, pink, brown and yellow!

Special thanks to The Fat Quarter Shop for sponsoring this giveaway.

• Indie Fat Quarter Bundle Winner:

Drawn by LadyBug



Congratulations to
Richard
at Richard and Tanya Quilts


who said: My wife has bought the full Ticklish line and Twirl and Amelia all from the Me and My Sisters collection. I did not buy the full line but almost the full line of Architectural and Reunion. But mostly I just buy random fabrics that interest me. I am all over the place but I do love when I can make a quilt out of a full line of fabrics.


• Stitchy Kit Winner:

Drawn by Grasshopper



Congratulations to
Martina
at Sunshine Quilting

who said: How lovely! The kit looks just great! Happy birthday to you! Be very much blessed and enjoy your day.

I remember my birthday as a child. My favourite cake always was the Black Forest cake. It has a lot of whipping cream and cherries in it. So on my 10^th birthday we went on a little hike into to forest and had the birthday celebration there. And my mom just brought this cake in her backbag with it. Wow, I don't know how she managed to do this but this was such a sign of love for me which I never forget.

Thank you again to everyone who entered and to my sponsor, The Fat Quarter Shop. The winners have been notified by e-mail and prizes will be mailed out shortly.

Stitchy Kit Giveaway: Update

When all is said and done, more is said than done. –Lou Holtz

Remember this?

It's the Stitchy Kit that I'm giving away in conjunction with my 3-year blog-aversary and my 40^th birthday. Well, it's pieces of it anyway. Since I posted the giveaway, I've managed to take matter unorganized and create this.

Pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. The pattern is by Lori Holt and the fabric line is Indie by Pat Bravo {some of which I am also giving away}.

Pictured above are two partial Stitchy Kits. One is for me and one is for the giveaway, but I wanted you to see both the outside and inside of the kit, as well as the needle book. I'm not quite finished yet. There will be a little patchwork drawstring bag, which will complete the kit {I opted not to do a covered measuring tape because I don't use a measuring tape that frequently}, but I wanted you to have a better idea of the giveaway, in case you didn't enter because I just posted a bunch of random parts.

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on the giveaway post. Comments left here will not counted count as an every in the giveaway.

The Big Four-Oh Giveaway, Day 4: Stitchy Kit

Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
–Norman MacEwan

I don't think I've finished a project on a deadline since my sister got married in July of 2010 and I made a quilt for her as a gift for her wedding shower. Today is no exception. My giveaway for today is not ready. I've been sewing all day, ignoring the chores {guilt-free, I might add. It's my birthday. I'll sew if I want to} and I still only have unassembled pieces to show you. But we'll get to that in a minute. It's my birthday and you have to indulge me by listening to the back story.

When Lori Holt released her adorable Stitchy Kit pattern in early December, I ordered it the same day. I always take some hand work with me when I go someplace I know I'll have to wait and I thought this would be the cutest thing to have to carry my supplies. When the pattern arrived in the mail, I took it straight to the super secret Christmas present stash without even opening the mailing envelope, which took an amazing amount of restraint. When I did open the envelope to put the pattern in my stocking {which is very large and takes some creativity to fill; socks and underwear usually fit the bill, but this was much more fun}, it was wrapped in some cute tissue paper, which was a fun surprise and made all of my earlier self-control unnecessary.

Since Christmas, I've been thinking about what kinds of fabrics I wanted to use to make my Stitchy Kit. In the end, I decided that I wanted to do something rainbow-y because I love stuff in rainbow order. When I saw the pillow that Amy over at Diary of a Quilter made using the Indie fabric line, I knew it would be a perfect fit. I loved the way the fabrics looked together. I also decided that a Stitchy Kit would be a really fun thing to give away and I could kill two birds with one stone if I orderd ½-yard cuts of the Indie fabrics {see also, Indie Fat Quarter Bundle Giveaway}. I ordered my fabric two weeks ago and it was all here by last Monday. I washed and pressed fabric for days and in between washing and pressing, I worked on the embroidery for the pincushion of this adorable kit. Last night, I cut most of the fabrics out and this morning, I started sewing. I've got lots of pieces together ready for assembly and nothing else to fill in for this last day of my giveaways, so I'm going with it. I love how it is coming out so far and think it will be awesome when it is done. And I promise to have it done by the time I draw the winner.

Without further ado, then, I give you today's prize, a Stitchy Kit for keeping all of your hand sewing supplies in one place, good for traveling, or to put over the arm of a chair or couch while you stitch.

Stitchy Kit includes:
• Cover with inside pockets and pincushion
• Scissor Cozy
• Drawstring Bag for supplies or floss
• Needle Book

Note: this stitchy kit will not include the covered tape measure, unless I change my mind.

UPDATE: I've almost got the Stitchy Kit finished. Pictured below are two partial Stitchy Kits. One is for me and one is for the giveaway, but I wanted you to see both the outside and inside of the kit, as well as the needle book. I'm not quite finished yet. There will be a little patchwork drawstring bag, which will complete the kit {I opted not to do a covered measuring tape because I don't use a measuring tape that frequently}, but I wanted you to have a better idea of the giveaway, in case you didn't enter because I just posted a bunch of random parts.

The Fine Print:
• To enter this giveaway, leave a comment telling me your favorite birthday memory. Or just leave a comment. Whichever.
• You can enter each day's giveaway only once.
• Non-blogging/non-Google users and international entrants are welcome.
• If you do not have a Google account, use the name/url {url optional} commenting option and make sure you leave your e-mail in your comment in the following format: address (at) domain name (dot) com.
• Comments with no contact information will be deleted.
• Google account users: not sure if your contact information will be attached to your comment? Click here:


• Duplicate comments will be deleted. Comment moderation is on, so don't panic when your comment doesn't show up. I'm notified of new comments and will approve them periodically each day, after which they'll show up on the post.
• The giveaway will close at 10:00 pm {MST} on Friday, January 18^th. Winner will be chosen by random drawing and notified by e-mail and announced here by noon on January 19^th.

Good luck!

The Big Four-Oh Giveaway Directory
• Quilter's Care Package
• Chocolate Sundae Batik Fat Quarter Bundle
• Indie Fat Quarter Bundle

This giveaway is now closed.
Winners can be found here.

Out With the Old: 2012 Finishes in Review

That's the motivation of an artist — to seek attention of some kind. –James Taylor

1. Phoenix Song Charity Quilt 2. Forever Sudoku Quilt 3. Seeing Spots Lap Quilt 4. Hexie Notebooks 5. More Hexie Notebooks 6. Felted Wool Christmas Ornaments 7. Blouse 8. Rooster Potholders 9. Holly Jolly Christmas 12" Table Topper 10. Poultry in Motion Table Runner 11. Pinkalicious Baby Quilt 12. In the Pink: A Study In Pinwheels Sampler Quilt

I kind of felt like I was moving in slow motion this year. I'm always looking for the balance between satisfying the everyday have-to's and still finding time for the the really, really want-to's. Looking back, I finished more than I thought. It is kind of nice to see a whole year's worth of work all in one spot.

Today's post brought to you by:

Holly Jolly Christmas: Reprise

Have a holly jolly Christmas

It's the best time of the year

I don't know if there'll be snow

But have a cup of cheer
–Johnny Marks

Yesterday I showed you this cute little table topper that I made for my bowling league Christmas party. It was so fun and easy to put together, so I've written up some super simple instructions and included my holly design.


Here’s what you’ll need:
80 – 1½” squares of red and green fabric; 40 of each color
8½” square of neutral fabric for background
Scraps for holly leaves and berries
15” square of fabric for back
9½” x 17” piece of fabric for binding {makes 2¼”- wide binding}
15” square of batting.

• Appliqué the holly to the background fabric using your favorite method. I used fusible webbing and did raw edge machine appliqué on mine.
• Sew the 1½” squares together into pairs of red and green; alternate colors and make two strips that are 2 squares wide by 8 squares long, and two strips that are 2 squares wide by 12 squares long.
• Sew the 8 x 2 strips of squares onto the left and right sides. Finish the topper by sewing the 12 x 2 strips across the top and bottom.
• Quilt as desired.

One of the things I enjoyed most about making this mini is that I used fabrics from four different people on both sides of the country {shout out to Angie, Iris, P. and Wanda!}. It was fun to think about them as I used the fabric they had sent me. I love how the scrappy border turned out.

The holly design is a composite of things I liked from different images. I liked the shape of the leaves from one image, the cut-outs in the center of the leaves from another, the berries from a third image and the placement from yet a fourth image. There was a little bit of tracing, some free-hand drawing, a circle template and a lot of erasing involved as I pulled the different elements all together to make the perfect holly sprig. To size the holly for the 12" table topper, you can either copy the image and paste it into a Word document or save it to your computer and insert it into a Word document. Then set the size of the image to 8" by 8" and you're done. Or you can download the Holly Jolly Christmas 12" Table Topper PDF, and the image is ready to go. Just remember to print it at original size {make sure the "fit to page" option isn't checked}. If you use my holly, even if it's not for a mini like mine, I'd love to see it! Leave me a link so I can come check out your work!

And what could be more fun than a little music to sew by?

Holly Jolly Christmas

Christmas is a necessity. There has to be at least one day of the year to remind us that we're here for something else besides ourselves. –Eric Sevareid

I think I mentioned that I joined a bowling league. It's been a lot of fun. Once a quarter, we have a little party. On Halloween, they put on quite a Witches' Feast. This week was the Christmas party. When they reminded us last week about the party and gift exchange {translated: I'd completely forgotten we were having a Christmas party, was surprised it was so early and wasn't even aware that there would be a gift exchange}, the wheels in my brain started turning. I always bring a little something to stitch on by hand between my turns at bowling. And the ladies are always curious. I figured that since I already have sixty-eleven other projects that need finishing ASAP, why not start something new to bring for my gift exchange?

Holly is one of my favorite Christmas images. I even have Christmas "china" with holly on it {and I use the word china lightly because I got them in a box set of 8 place settings at KMart}. Last week before bowling I'd been admiring Lane's appliquéd Christmas quilt. I loved the machine appliqué and the scrappy non-Christmas-print-fabrics-but-still-Christmas-y look. I was going for that same sort of feel and came up with a 12" table topper.

It was really fun to put together. There are eighty - 1" squares in the border. I used 34 different fabrics and three different colors of quilting thread. I tried a little McTavishing in the center. Maybe someday I'll get it right. And I'm not completely happy with how the holly puffed up. I think I maybe stitched too close to the edge of the appliqué and if I'd moved out a teeny bit, it would have looked a little nicer.

The gift exchange was really fun. When you got a strike, you got to pick a gift out of the pile. I bowled a strike my first frame {which was a total fluke and the rest of my game was absolutely rubbish} and got the cutest little wooden nativity magnet set on a stable shaped magnet bard. As it turns out, the woman who brought the gift I got ended up getting my gift too. What funny coincidence .

While I was putting the mini together, I kept thinking of her and hoping she'd get it. She is the cutest lady and I just love her to pieces. She is always the first to come over and see what I'm doing that week and to admire my work. I almost put her name on the tag with the plan to hand it to her under the table and tell her to pretend she drew it out of the pile when she got her strike. But I left it up to chance. Mostly. I probably got us both on the naughty list because when I got there, I told her that she might want to pick what I brought. She winked and told me which one was hers. I'm glad it worked out because there were only a handful of gifts left, mine being one of them, when she got her strike. I'm sure that strategically unattractive gift wrapping had something to do with that. And since I had less than a week to put it all together, I just printed my label instead of doing an embroidered label.

Find tutorial and holly design here.

Today's post brought to you by:

Friday Night in Zoobie-ville

Some days are hopscotch kind of days. Some days are waiting to get nailed at dodge ball kind of days. –Unknown

*tap* *tap* *tap* Hello? Is this thing on? *tap* *tap*

It's been a slow month for blogging. There just never seems to be enough time to fit everything in. My sewing time is not what it used to be. Work just gets in the way too much . And I feel like I'm moving in slow motion all the time. Since I don't have much time for sewing, I don't have much to blog about on that subject. But it's not that I don't have anything to blog about. I write blog posts in my head all the time while I'm drying my hair in the morning or cleaning raw chicken for dinner. I scribble down notes on the backs of envelopes and in the thirty-seven notebooks that I rotate in and out of being lost and hope that is enough to jog the prose out of my memory when I actually do get to the blog. It's kind of a catch-22, though, because if I blog, then I don't get to sew, which means I have less to blog about. In the few precious hours I have between the time the kids go to bed {which is often interrupted by them getting back out of bed for a drink or something to eat or to tell me they can't sleep or to use the bathroom — when will they grow out of that? They never seem to think I mean it when I tell them good night and that I don't want to see them again until the morning} and the choice is blogging, folding laundry and sewing, I most often choose sewing. Although folded socks and undies is also a priority.

And for all those blog posts I've written in my head over the past few weeks, tonight's post is about nothing in particular. It's Friday night in Zoobie-ville. If you're not from around these parts, BYU students are sometimes referred to as Zoo-bies. Provo and its surrounding areas are known as Zoobie-ville. I left work pretty late tonight; later than usual. I usually drive home through one of the neighborhoods in the heart of Zoobie-ville. Traffic is minimal and there is only one stop sign along my route, until I get to the highway that leads home. But tonight I needed to go to the bank and the only open branch was two blocks from campus, so I took the main road through town, University Avenue, to get there. I was surprised by the traffic. There were lots of cars out and in those cars were couples; people out with their best guy or best girl. It brought a smile to my face, because I loved Friday nights when I was in college. It was so fun, after a week of work and classes, to go out with the girls for bowling or to a football or basketball game, or to go on a date with my best guy.

Right now, my best guy is sleeping. He'll get up for work in a few minutes and then I'll go to bed. It's not date night for me.

But I do want to show you something that I've been keeping a secret for what seems like years. You might remember that I belong to a really great quilting group. We met on-line and most of us live scattered across the US. Our pattern designer extraordinaire, Cat, lives in Australia. She had her second baby at the end of June, and because we're quilters, we made her a quilt. When Cat had her first baby, we did a chicken themed quilt because she loves chickens. This time we decided to do a quilt based on the Snugglepot and Cuddlepie series of books by May Gibbs.

The quilt is finished and finally made its way to Cat and her sweet little guy {who is now 4 months old} in Australia, so I can finally let you see my block. I've been dying to show you since April.

When we make a quilt we all throw ideas out and then we sign up for the block or blocks we want to do. I love to do needle-turn appliqué, so I thought it would be fun to do the little Gumnut Babies, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. I have never seen the books, so I used an image I found on-line for my pattern. Everything is needle-turn with a bit of embroidery for the details. I did a satin stitch for the pupils and the white reflection on the eyes and also for the mouths. I used backstitch for the noses, eyelashes and around the chins for definition.

I'm going to wait on showing you the whole quilt {and the amazing quilting job Angie, our quilter extraordinaire, did on it} because we haven't posted it on our Twi-Quilters blog yet, so stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, I'm going to spend the few minutes that are left of my Friday night sewing.

Or I may just go to bed early.

HMQS: Their Mothers Knew It

stripling: [ˈstripliŋ] n. a boy or youth not yet fully grown

In The Book of Mormon, there is a story of 2000 young men who go to war to defend their families, their liberties and their beliefs. Years before this, their fathers had been a bloodthirsty people and were constantly at war. Killing had become a way of life and they did it just for the pleasure of it. When they came to know Jesus Christ, they swore an oath that never again would they shed any blood and they buried their weapons as a symbol of their commitment to obey to the commandments of God. However, they were about to break their covenant because an army of their enemies was on its way to to destroy their peaceful way of life and they saw that the army defending them needed more men to fight. When their sons saw this, they knew that they could not let their fathers break their covenant to God.

Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it. –Alma 56: 47-48

These 2000 Stripling Warriors went to battle, never having fought before but with great faith that God would protect them because their mothers had taught them to believe. These young men played a major role in saving their people and though many were wounded, not a single one of them was killed in battle.

Today, it is my sincere prayer that the young warriors I have been given charge over will not doubt that God will help and guide and protect them; that they will not doubt that their mother knows it.

---

On Friday, I volunteered as a quilt monitor at the Home Machine Quilting Show. One of the quilts that I loved most was called The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. I loved the beautiful fabrics and colors the quilt maker used, and I was especially touched by the block that portrays the story of the 2000 Stripling Warriors from the perspective of the mother watching those young men depart for battle.

Request a free copy of The Book of Mormon.

A Quilt for Little Peanut

Friendship is a sheltering tree. –Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I belong to a really fun on-line quilting group. Most of our group efforts have produced quilts about the Twilight series of books. But that's not all we love to quilt. In early 2010 we discovered that our cute little Mel was expecting, so we started planning a quilt for her new little one. While she was pregnant she called him, Little Peanut, so we decided on an elephant/peanut theme for the quilt. Nicole headed up this project, setting the layout, choosing fabrics for the border and sashing and assembling the blocks. She did a really fabulous job! Mel's sweet little baby boy was born on October 1, 2010. This post is long overdue, but I still wanted to share this fun group project.

Mel had this to say about the quilt, For my 29^th birthday, I received a totally wonderful and unexpected present. A quilt, handmade by my very special Twilight Quilters friends! It made my day to open up the package and find that beautiful quilt, made just for my little baby. Owen has loved his one-of-kind present from the start. (And let me share a little secret . . . I used it a few times myself! And it's really snuggly!!!) This is something I will treasure for the rest of my life, and I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful friends, even if they all live hundreds and hundreds of miles away from me.

For my part in the quilt, I did a few jungle trees. I used a rubber stamp as my 'pattern' for the trees. I stamped the image onto paper, scanned it, enlarged it and then also reversed it so that I had trees going in both directions. I did raw-edge appliqué using Heat 'n Bond and did a machine blanket stitch around the trees. Then I did a bit of messy free-motion stitching to add a few details to them. The background fabric was a FQ that Wanda sent to me for my birthday, and I thought it was perfect for the trees. These were a lot of fun to make.

Here's the Little Peanut, with his new quilt.

For photos and details about all the quilt blocks, visit the post at the Twi-Quilters blog.

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.