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.

I Demand A Re-Count

If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.
–Benjamin Franklin

Grace, my ever faithful sewing sidekick, is away on holiday. It will be three weeks tomorrow since I dropped her off for a nice spa retreat. I'm hoping she'll be ready for pick-up tomorrow. In her absence, I've been doing a lot of prep work on quilts I hope to someday finish. One of those prep projects is the result of a half-square triangle swap I did almost a year ago. I got my triangles-in-the-rough back about 5 months ago, and I've been pressing. A lot. Approximately 600 freshly pressed HSTs showing here:

When I put together my triangles for the swap, I formed a plan for what to do with them based on the instructions of putting together a light and a dark fabric for each set of HSTs. I actually heard “neutral and print” and was pretty meticulous with how I put them together. I did roughly the same number of HSTs of every color and split my white and off-white neutrals evenly between the two. As is always the case with swaps, there is room for interpretation and some of what I got back didn't fit in my plans. No matter. The fabrics were still really great, so I unpicked about 300 HSTs {yes, I know }, which left me with 600 orphan triangles who needed neutral buddies to become HSTs again. Enter the Go! Fabric cutter, and in a few hours, I was all set to go {yeah, I know. Bad pun, but I couldn't resist. I ♥ puns}.

I also put together a few fabrics to fill in on some of the colors I didn't get much back on and will sew those up using the triangle papers we used originally to put our HSTs together. But I'm not showing those because that passes up “particular,” “picky” and “persnickety” and crosses over into “obsessive,” “complusive” and “just plain nutty.”

As I've pressed and cut and sorted, I've been turning over ideas for how to use up 1400± 2½” HSTs. While I was getting my swap triangles done last year I saw a quilt called Triangle Confusion and decided that I wanted to do that. Now that I have the raw materials to work with I've tried a couple of Triangle Confusion layouts. I liked the explosion of triangles with all its patterns and sub-patterns. Then, just for fun, I arranged the HSTs into a more obvious pattern and put it up for an unofficial vote.

I was kind of surprised at the results. Everyone who expressed an opinion chose Diamond Illusion. Although I didn't really know which layout I favored until people started offering opinions {which is why I ask for opinions; it helps me to know what I really want}, I realized that I was leaning more towards Triangle Confusion. It was so bright and cheerful, if not somewhat frenetic. Diamond Illusion was very drab to me even though you could see a definite pattern. Perhaps here was too much brown and orange and green and not enough yellow and pink and turquoise. So I laid it out another way. What do you think?

Green was the color I'd gotten the most back from the swap, so in my first layout I used that for all the small diamonds. It just wasn't working for me. In this new version, I used a different color for each diamond and I think I like it a lot better with more color.

Triangle Confusion is still on my mind, though. I mean, there has to be some way to make it work. So I tried organizing the colors a bit more. I am totally in love with those partial diamonds. The shape is incomplete but the eye finishes it. There's still a lot going on there, though, even with an attempt to make it play nicely by using color to force the sub-patterns. Do you see the large pinwheel in the center?

Still, there is something I really like about Triangle Confusion.

As you can see, I'm still undecided on what to do with all these half-square triangles. Unless I make a king size quilt {which would require another 1700 HSTs and I've almost entirely ruled that out}, I have enough HSTs to make two nice lap-sized quilts; one Diamond Illusion and one Triangle Confusion. The only problem is that I don't have enough of some of the colors to use an even amount in both quilts. Only one of the quilts could be rainbow bright. The other one would have to be mostly green and brown and blue. I could break up the left over browns, blues and greens a bit with solid {meaning unpieced} blocks between pinwheel blocks made of the HSTs and come out with two baby quilts to donate, plus one lap-sized rainbow-y HST quilt for me {design yet to be determined}.

Or, if I decide that I absolutely have to make both a Diamond Illusion and a Triangle Confusion quilt and they both have to have a balanced amount of color, I could make more HSTs, in which case, Jeanette, a swap would definitely be in order .

And there would probably be enough left-over HSTs for a donation quilt.

Diamond Illusion or Triangle Confusion?

He puzzled and puzzed till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. -Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Once upon a time, I made 936 - 2½” half-square triangles for a swap. Our group used a semi-paper pieceing speed method to put together groups of twelve HSTs at a time. For each set of twelve, I used a different main print fabric and I only repeated my neutral white or off-white fabrics in two sets of twelve at most. In the end, I had 78 different sets of 12 HSTs. I kept four HSTs from each set and sent the rest off to the swap hostess. Six months later, I got a box back full of half-square triangle treasure. They sat in that same box for about 3 months, and then in a drawer in my little sewing area, just waiting to be discovered. Last Wednesday, I dropped Grace off for a three-week spa vacation, and when I got home I started pulling the papers off and pressing them open on my spiffy new ironing board cover.

As I've worked, I've been puzzling about exactly what to do with these 936 HSTs when they're all pressed. Actually, I'll have more like 1250 HST's when I'm done. I think there was some room for interpretation in the instructions, which were to pair a light and a dark for each set of HSTs. I heard “print and neutral,” and kind of formed a plan around that. Some of the HSTs I got back don't work for what I had in mind as they are, so I'm unpicking a few more than 300 of them {yes, I know } and am going cut a bunch of neutral {white or off-white} HSTs with my Go! fabric cutter {the die that came with it has the perfect triangles} and put them with the prints that I've unpicked from each other. I only have about a hundred more to unpick.

When we were in the planning stages of the swap, Candace at The Double Nickel Quilt Challenge linked a really cool quilt called Triangle Confusion to my monthly finishes linky party, and I decided that's what I wanted to do with my half-square triangles. But as I have been pressing, I've been turning over options for what to really do with these HSTs now that I'm in the process of pressing and sorting. So I laid them out in a diamond pattern to see what it would look like. I really liked it, except it lacks a bit of variety. I chose green for the small diamonds because far and away, green is the color I got back the most of. I'll probably mix it up a little if I go with this layout, but isn't this a cool design?

It is fun to look at each block close up.

As I opened each HST, I tried to guess who made it. Some were easy to guess. Others, not so much.

I love how from far away it gives the illusion that it is a series of interlocking diamonds, but close up you can see each triangle and each print.

I ♥ orange. It is a highly underrated color.

I'd really almost made up my mind to go with the Diamond Illusion layout. But just for fun, I laid out a little Triangle Confusion. You can still see the diamond pattern, which I love, but it is an explosion of color.

But you can also see, among other patterns, pinwheels intermingled with the diamonds. Pinwheels are awesome.

Time for some more close-ups. I haven't posted much lately, so it is picture overload today.

It is an interesting block design.

I'm not sure why, but I only took close-ups of three of the four blocks, so this is the last one.

In the first layout, I kept the diamonds each a single color, but I mixed the other colors in everywhere else. I wanted to know how it would effect the overall design if I paired colors in the non-diamond areas {corners} of each individual block.

It is still an interesting pattern, but not quite so much of an explosion, which I think I maybe like. I didn't notice until I was editing photos, that with the colors paired as they are it makes a secondary diamond pattern; or rather, a large pinwheel on point between the diamonds.

That has me wondering what it would look like if I paired it so that the large pinwheels were all one color. I think I might like that best of all {control freak here}, but I'll have to lay it out to see because that might suck all the joy out of Triangle Confusion. I'll probably wait until I get all those other HST's unpicked and the neutral triangles cut, though. I only have about a hundred left.

Even though my puzzler is a little sore, I'm also puzzling over what size to make this quilt. My original plan was a 6 x 8 block layout with a 1" stop border and a sawtooth border beyond that, which finishes at 54” x 70”. That's a really cozy lap-size quilt. But that will leave me with 375± extra HSTs, which I will have to use up in something else. I've pondered other sizes, right on up to a 9 x 11 layout {with no borders} which finishes at a nice 72” x 88” twin size quilt. That will require an additional 300 HSTs beyond what I'm already working with. I kind of like the idea. This quilt is scrappy and patchy and full of calicos, which makes me think of quilting at its roots — quilting out of necessity and using whatever was on hand. Of course, I'm not trying to kid anyone here. I have bins and bins of fabrics and I don't need to quilt, except for the sake of my sanity. I really want this to be a useful quilt, though, because I'm excited about it. A lap size would be used for snuggling under to watch TV or read. I don't know whose twin-size bed this quilt would go on. Maybe I should open an Etsy shop . Do you think anyone would pay $2300 for a twin-size quilt?

My next thought was to make it square. I really like square quilts. 8 x 8 finishes at 64” square. I even have enough HSTs for a 9 x 9. But then, we're almost back into the bed size quilts, at 72”. So why not go super-size and make it a king? I happen to sleep in a king size bed that needs a pretty quilt on it. But for that, I'd need another 1900 HSTs .

Anyone want to swap?

Fabulous Fandom Mash-Up

Mash-up: noun, a creative combination or mixing of content from different sources

Fandom in Stitches is a really fun site that hosts lots and lots of {free} patterns for all kinds of fandoms. You can find Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Disney Princesses. That is where I got the patterns for the Sesame Street quilt I'm working on, and where lots of Twilight patterns, including the few I've designed, are hosted.

Jennifer, the owner/editor/designer of Fandom in Stitches, announced a little mash-up challenge last month. The rules were simple; choose any Fandom In Stitches pattern and make it into a project for a different fandom than originally intended.

I didn't think much about it, until just before the entry period closed and one of the Twi-Quilters suggested that I submit something I'd already done. The wheels in my brain started to turn and I realized that I had two other things I could submit. So, I did.

Voting is going on now through the 7^th, over at Fandom in Stitches. Go. Have a look. And vote . There are so many clever mash-ups over there, so don't feel like you have to vote for me. If I weren't voting for myself, I would probably vote for this one.

Twilight Saga Charity Quilt

When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it’s not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end. –Bella Swan, Twilight, page 1

I know. My geek is showing. But we're all friends here, right? And it's no secret that I ♥ Twilight. Since January of 2009, I've been working on a Twilight-themed quilt {which I really want to finish this year} and also collaborating with an on-line group of friends to create more Twilight-themed quilts, which have been auctioned or "raffled" off and all the proceeds given to charity. We call ourselves the Twi-Quilters. And we all love Twilight. But more than that, we've become friends.

All told, we've made seven eight quilts together and we are proud to show our ninth quilt and to give you an opportunity to win it—all for charity, of course.

My part in this quilt was the center block; representations of the four book covers. The patterns were designed by Cat, and I'd done three of the four covers several times each. The Eclipse cover was the only one I hadn't done and I was excited to try it. I enlarged the patterns to 12" and used my favorite Fairy Frost fabrics to put them together.

Our group members have donated all the fabrics and supplies as well as our time, to create this beautiful quilt, which includes our favorite scenes from all four of the Twilight Saga books. Angie, our quilter extraordinaire, has expertly and artfully finished the quilt and we're going to give it away to one lucky fan! For every $5 donation from you, which will go directly to George Mark Children's House, you’ll get one chance to win the quilt. We hope you'll give generously to this worthy cause. Donations will be accepted through March 9, 2013 and the winner will be announced by March 15, 2013.

Visit the Twilight Saga Quilt Page for more information and links to posts about the individual blocks..

Make your donation

Travelogue: {Not So} Sunny California

My guests, you're welcome here,

Be at your ease.

Get up when you are ready,

Go to bed when you please.

I'm happy to share with you,

Such as I've got,

The leaks in the roof,

And the soup in the pot.

You don't have to thank me,

Or laugh at my jokes.

Sit deep and come often,

You're one of the folks.

–Unknown

Thursday, November 15
9:20 am
Mr. Bug just called and said that his work is offering tickets to a pre-screening of Breaking Dawn, part 2 at 5:00 pm or 6:15 pm. It would have been nice to have a little more notice. I'm flying out to California tomorrow morning to meet up with the Twi-Quilters who live there, it is a work night for Mr. Bug and I don't feel comfortable leaving the Little Bugs alone for that long. We decided the responsible thing to do is not to go.

Being responsible sucks.

3:31 pm
My office-mates were talking about headaches and I noted that it's been almost three weeks since I had a migraine.

I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

6:13 pm
I'm off work at last. T-minus 16 hours and 57 minutes. I have so much to do before I leave.

6:43 pm
Where did I put my phone? It's not in my purse. It's not in my coat. It's not in the car.

Of all the days to leave my phone at work . . . I don't have time for this.

9:47 pm
Ugh. Driving to work once a day is bad enough.

9:59 pm
Please let my phone be here. Please let my phone be here. I forgot how much I hate this stupid lock. Please let my phone be here. Please let me get this door unlocked.

10:01 pm
Good. My phone is here.

10:21 pm
Home again. I just want to go to bed. I have too much to do.

11:39 pm
I've been lying in bed for at least 20 minutes. Why am I still awake?

11:47 pm
So close to sleep . . . but I forgot to put my camera on the list of things to take. Oh, and the batteries need charged. And the memory card is still in the card reader on my computer. Maybe I should get up and take care of that?

No. I'll remember. I'll remember.

Friday, November 16
6:00 am
What is that noise?

Oh. That's right. I changed the ring tone on my alarm so I wouldn't sleep through it.

6:00 am and 10 seconds
There's Mr. Bug on the land line with my wake-up call.

Why can't I find a phone?

6:14 am
How am I going to fit everything in a carry-on? I guess I can make due with only one pair of shoes, but where's the fun in that? My hair dryer is bulky and I really do need to bring clean undies. Why didn't I book with an airline that allows a free checked bag?

I remember now. If they loose my luggage I'll have to wear the same undies for my entire trip.

6:21 am
There's no way I'm going to fit everything into a carry-on.

7:02 am
It is not worth the stress. I'm going to pay for a checked bag.

7:07
Why didn't I have Mr. Bug get the suitcases down from the attic last night?

Oh, yeah. Because I have some silly penchant for clean underwear.

7:15 am
It wasn't as hard as I thought to get the suitcases down from the attic.

I'm glad I didn't fall off the ladder.

7:56 am
I just dropped Grasshopper off at school. It's a miracle he wasn't late this morning. He gets up at 6:00 am on weekends, but when he has to go to school he won't get out of bed. Teenagers.

One down, one to go.

8:29 am
Phew. LadyBug is at school.

I need to be out the door in 31 minutes.

9:14 am
Late as usual, but I'm finally out the door.

9:18 am
Longest. Stoplight. Ever.

9:20 am
Oh, no. I left my boarding pass on the kitchen table. I really, really, really hope the electronic boarding pass I had them send to my phone works.

9:47 am
Uh oh. I hope that what I'm feeling on the left side of my head is not what I think it is. I mean, c'mon. Can one person have this many migraines? It's not a migraine. It's just the stress of getting everything ready to go this morning.

Yeah. That's it. It's just stress and once I get settled in, I'll be fine.

10:08 am
Car parked. Row and shuttle stop noted.

Shuttle successfully boarded.

10:23 am
Wait. Is this my shuttle stop? I didn't hear what the driver said. What terminal are we at? What airline am I flying? Is this my shuttle stop? OK. I see the sign. This is it.

I love the airport. So many beautiful people off to exotic destinations or going back home.

10:27 am
I'm cutting it close. They start boarding in 20 minutes.

My bag is checked and I'm headed to my gate.

10:28 am
Which gate did she say?

10:29 am
I'd better make a quick pit stop.

10:37 am
I got through security without too much hassle. I was able to find some Dramamine. And lucky for me, they still have those screens with flight numbers, times and gates.

10:49 am
I kind of don't like flying. Except it is better than a road trip.

Mr. Bug told me that when he was in the Navy there were a few sailors who would throw up as soon as the whistle blew to signal they were underway.

Just walking down the sky bridge to the plane makes me queasy. It must be the same psychosomatic reaction.

11:01 am
We're pulling away from the gate. Eeee! I'm so excited.

12:06 pm
We've moved one time zone backwards, so I've got an extra hour. And we arrived a little early.

So glad I didn't get airsick.

12:19 pm
What is taking the baggage so long? Is this even the right carousel? Did they loose my suitcase?

I knew it. I'm doomed to three days in the same undies.

12:21 pm
False alarm. There's my suitcase.

12:22 pm
There's Iris! I'm so excited to see her! What a cute jacket! And it is so nice of her to pick me up and show me around.

I'm meeting Colleen for the first time. It is really nice to finally meet her in person.

12:38 pm
The city of Oakland is really very pretty. I love the architecture. Those buildings with the green roofs are very pretty.

Oh, and look, there's the Oakland LDS Temple on the hill, there.

1:14 pm
Iris and Colleen picked a really yummy Italian place for lunch. I love it!

2:00 pm
Is there anything better to do than to shop for fabric with friends? Iris picked this particular shop because they have lots of batiks and she knows I'm stash building.

The ladies here are very . . . friendly.

3:00 pm
Those ladies sure were chatty. It took forever for them to get us cut. I got some good batiks, though. I'm excited about that.

Next stop, San Francisco.

3:12 pm
What a fun trip. I'm enjoying catching up with Iris and getting to know Colleen.

3:38
Iris warned me before I came that it was going to be rainy. She said it was sunny the whole week before and was forecast to be sunny next week, but that it would be rainy the entire weekend. It's a good thing I like rain.

Maybe we'll get to see some Cullens.

3:57 pm
We've been across the Bay Bridge, which was pretty awesome. I've never been on a suspension bridge, at least I don't think I have.

We're on our way to the Golden Gate Bridge now.

4:24 pm
It was a pretty amazing thing to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. It's not something you do every day.

Unless you live in San Francisco.

{Colleen, Iris, Me}

4:35 pm
We're going to dinner in Napa. It will probably be too dark to see the vineyards as we drive through, but that's OK. I'm enjoying the conversation.

6:12 pm
It's not stress. It's a migraine. Or maybe it is stress that's causing the migraine. It seems like every time I go somewhere I get one. Good thing I came prepared.

Maybe I'm allergic to travel.

6:48 pm
My meal comes with a goat cheese souffle. I have no idea what to expect. I've never had goat cheese before.

Or a souffle, for that matter.

7:02 pm
The goat cheese souffle is fantastic! Wow!

9:17 pm
Iris is so kind to let me stay with her. I've seen pictures of her girls, but it great to meet them. They are such cute girls!

Saturday, November 17
12:02 am
Sleep-overs are even more fun when you're a grown-up. Iris made pumpkin pie—so good!—and she gave me a tour of her beautiful home. The best part was hanging out in her sewing/craft room. She showed me all of her fun projects.

My favorite was the Twilight quilt she is working on. She has it up on her design wall and she's done some really amazing work.

9:32 am
Today we're going to Sacramento to meet up with Jerri Lynn and Wanda. We're going to see the movie. You know. The one about sparkly, teenage vampires.

11:30 am
What a fun morning with Iris' family. It really was great to get to know them.

I need to remember to bug Iris for that recipe for French Toast Souffle. It was amazing.

1:38 pm
I think Wanda is the biggest Twi-Hard of us all. She dressed up the island in her kitchen with Breaking Dawn themed items, put together Twilight themed swag bags for us and she even invited Edward to the party.

{Iris, Me, Edward, Jerri Lynn, Wanda}

2:12 pm
It is so fun to meet Jerri Lynn in person. I've know her forever, but it is really good to put a face with my friend. She looks different in every photo I see, so now I have a fixed image in my mind. She brought here Twilight quilt. I've seen it in photos, and love it, but it is so much more amazing in person. Wow!

4:04 pm
Lunch was awesome. Again, lots of fun conversation and catching up. Our next destination is the movie. Finally.

It has been hard to contain my enthusiasm.

4:18 pm
Ugh. I just can't stay ahead of this stupid migraine. The medicine only dulls it, but I guess that's better than nothing. I won't enjoy the movie at all if I'm fighting to ignore the headache. Since I'm headed to the concessions stand for a soda, I'll get souvenir cups for everyone. The ones with Edward on them.

I love that I can show my geek with these ladies.

4:30 pm
Squee! It's starting!

6:48 pm
I loved it! I mean, I really loved it. And I loved what Stephanie had to say about it.

11:48 pm
Yep. Sleep-overs are better when you're a grown-up. I'm staying at Wanda's tonight. I have really felt like "one of the folks" this weekend.

Our little group really is made up of amazing women.

Sunday, November 18
3:58 pm
It really has been an extraordinary weekend. Aside from the migraine nonsense. Wanda and I went to brunch this morning, with her adorably awesome husband. Then we went to church. It's kind of an odd combination of things to do. But there it is. My plane is about to take off now.

I'm anxious to get home and see my family. I've missed them.

7:38 pm
Oh, no, no, no, no, no! I put my suitcase in the back of the Trooper, locked the back door, and as it was closing I realized that I am not holding my keys. It's too dark to see in the windows. They're not in my purse. They're not in my pants pocket. They're not in my jacket pocket. What am I going to do? Can I call airport security from the shuttle stop? Do they even help with that sort of thing?

I need a plan.

7:39 pm
This can't be happening. I just want to go home.

I'd better check my pockets one more time.

7:40 pm
I'm a dork. I big one. I freaked myself out for nothing. They were in my jacket pocket after all, just not on the side I usually put my keys.

I'm on my way home, and there's no place like it.

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.

The Twilight Saga Charity Quilt

“Twilight again,” he murmured. “Another ending. No matter how perfect the day is, it always has to end.” –Edward Cullen, Twilight, page 495

I belong to this really awesome on-line quilting group. We met through the TwilightMOMS forums and live scattered across the US. We even have a member {and pattern designer extraordinaire} in Australia. We're a little nutty in our obsession with a series of books about sparkly teenage vampires, and the crazy is translated with fabric and thread into quilts. We call ourselves the Twi-Quilters.


Over the last four years, we've created four Twilight themed quilts. We gave our first one to Stephenie Meyer, the author of our favorite books, and we auctioned off the other three and donated the proceeds to two different charities.

The final movie in the Twilight franchise, Breaking Dawn, part 2 is set to be released in just under a month. In conjunction with this culminating event, we are pleased to announce the Twilight Saga Charity Quilt. Here's just a teaser ...

The quilt will also include one embroidered quote and five blocks from each of the books, depicting our favorite moments in the Twilight series. Watch for more about this quilt coming soon.

As always, our goal is to raise money for a worthy cause. We're donating our time and materials and for every $5 donation you make to our charity, you'll get one chance to win the quilt. We've chosen George Mark Children's Hospital to receive your contributions. Details on donations will be announced soon.


In the meantime, here's a little something to tide you over. I mean, is there such a thing as too much Twilight?

Black & Red Hexie Notebooks

If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. –Lawrence J. Peter

I planned to start 2012 with a bang. It was more like a whimper. I wanted to finish three quilts in January. I finished nothing. We're already two weeks into February, and no quilts finished. But I did finally get these little Hexie notebooks done. I've only been working on them since September-ish. Looking at it another way, six weeks into 2012 ÷ six notebooks = one finish a week. OK, so maybe 2012 is going better than I thought, especially if I don't tell you that four of these six notebooks are for birthday gifts in October and November of 2011. These are for the girls in Twi-Quilters {red & black, apple theme, Twilight font monograms}. We do a little something for each other's birthdays, only I'm way behind. This bunch gets me through February, and then there isn't another birthday until May .

I did a little McTavishing on the red backgrounds, and outlined the apples and monograms on the Hexies. The lighting isn't the best, so you can't see the quilting on the Hexies, but here is one from the back.

To put the Hexies together I cut the fabric, a layer of Mistyfuse and bit of batting using the largest {5”} Go! Hexagon. I trimmed the batting Hexagon down by ⅜” all the way around and used the Mistyfuse {I put a little parchment paper between the Hexie and the iron to keep the allowance of Mistyfuse around the outer edge of the batting from fusing where I didn't want it} to hold it in place on the back of the fabric while I quilted it. After I'd finished quilting, I pressed the edges over and sewed it onto the notebook cover, which I did using Pellon Peltex 72F II and a rough approximation of this fabric postcard tutorial.

Today's post brought to you by:

Breaking Dawn Charity Quilt

You could run from someone you feared, you could try to fight someone you hated. All my reactions were geared toward those kinds of killers—the monsters, the enemies.

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 1-2

I belong to a little on-line group called Twi-Quilters. We've been working on a quilt themed around the book Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer. Our quilt is finished and we are proud to bring you the Breaking Dawn Give-to-Win Charity Quilt fundraiser.

Last year, our Eclipse charity quilt raised $1,729.00 for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. With your help, we hope to raise even more than last year.

This year, we have decided to pledge donations to two charities: Alex's Lemonade Stand and Childhelp. Our group members have donated all the fabrics and supplies, as well as our time, to create this quilt, which includes scenes from Breaking Dawn, as well as autographs from eight cast members, including Peter Facinelli, who plays Carlisle Cullen and is a spokesperson for ALSF, and BooBoo Stewart, who plays Seth Clearwater and is an ambassador for Childhelp.

For every $5 donation from you, which will be split evenly between the two charities, you’ll get one chance to win the quilt. So please give generously. Donations will be accepted through December 4, 2011 and the winner will be announced on December 7, 2011.

Read more about the individual blocks:

Alice: Vampire Bat in the Belfry by Colleen
Alice's Note by Nicole
The Amazon Coven by Nicole
Aro's Gift by Angie
Bella & Edward's Cottage by Beth
Bella & Edward's Wedding by Mel
Bella's First Hunt by Beth
Bella's Shield by Iris
Bella's Transformation by Jerri Lynn
Cast Member Autographs
Cravings by Angie
The Denali Coven by Joyce
Eggs by Kate
The Egyptian Coven by Nicole
Feathers by Cat
The Hybrids by Joyce
The Irish Coven by Jerri Lynn
Isle Esme by Cat
Jacob & Renesmee by Elizabeth
Jacob & Rosalie's Rivalry by Kate
Jason Scott, Attorney at Law by Wanda
Midnight Swim by Kate
The Nomads by Joyce
Renesmee by Joyce
The Romanian Coven by Joyce
The Wolf Packs by Elizabeth

For more information about the charities, click on the buttons below.