Plot Twist - the Cover one

October 3, 2025

Of the many things that we in the TCJ studio have in common, our love of puzzles and a good twisty mystery novel top the list. In fact, the three of us are often bringing in recently finished books and jigsaw puzzles to trade amongst ourselves.

Not surprisingly, some of these "outside of quilting" hobbies have begun to show up inside of our quilting. First with our Star Adventure pattern, which, when designing, we referred to over and over again as one of those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books from childhood. These references were kept mostly in house, but the book inspiration idea stuck, and soon enough Plot Twist was taking shape.

Plot Twist is an intermediate quilt pattern, in which each block is constructed in the exact same way and then the final layout is entirely up to you. Picture the blocks like pieces to a puzzle, and your "twist" on them is what determines the final picture. Or like chapters in an edge-of-your-seat thriller, and your ultimate "Plot Twist" reveals the shocking ending. See? Puzzles and mysteries. Always.

The Plot Twist pattern includes five sizes and can be made using fat quarters, quarter yards, and/or yardage. For its release in March 2025, we made three samples:

And the Cover one! So, let's spend a little time with her, shall we?

For our Plot Twist Cover Girl, we made the large throw size (finishing at 72" square) in the Colorful Design style, with yardage (Bella Natural) for the background. We used Kitchen Window Wovens in Chalkboard for our accent, and the following 18 fat quarters for our B + C fabrics, all Bella by Moda:

Teal, Poolside, Pool, Mist, Frost, Fog, Feather, Baby Pink, Bunny Hill Pink, Amelia Pink, Petal Pink, Fuchsia, Flamingo, Cantaloupe, Clementine, Amber, Saffron, and Citrine.

Cutting a Plot Twist goes pretty quickly; every FQ is cut in the exact same way, with just squares and strips. Accuracy and precision are incredibly important for this quilt, so if your FQs have been folded for some time, it's worth pressing them well before cutting.

Step one of a Plot Twist is to strip piece (yay, chain piecing!!) and trim our accent blocks. Again, this is a pattern that benefits from precision, so taking the time to square everything up now will pay off in the final construction.

Okay, strip piecing done, trimming done, time to mix and match. In the Colorful Design, this means deciding which B (and A + B) blocks will pair with which C blocks. Three Plot Twists in, I can tell you every single pairing ends up looking amazing, so don't think too hard on this part. You will want a mix of high contrast and low contrast pairings, but if you're in love with the palette you started out with, you will love the final picture.

At this point, your Plot Twist blocks will come together shockingly fast. Before you know it, it will be time to lay them all out, twist your plot, if you will.

Okay, so this is the part of the Plot Twist pattern that we are beyond excited about. Once all of your blocks are made, and even if you made them exactly as we did, the final layout is 100% up to you, and the story your quilt tells will be 100% your own. In the four mock ups above, the blocks are all the same, all in the same positions. But give one a twist here, one a turn there, and you have four completely distinct quilts. Your quilt, your Plot Twist, your story.

And here's our story. We love the effect of the giant sawtooth star smack dab in the middle of the quilt. Once you're happy with your layout, it's time to sew your rows together...

...then your rows into a top...

...and ta da!

With that, we sent our Cover Girl off to Emily at So Sunny Quilts to get quilted.

Cover Girl is backed in Bella Dusk ,a vibrant blue, and Emily used the Funhouse pantograph by Mistletoe Quilting Co. We then bound it in Bella Clementine, a fiery orange we also used in the quilt itself. It is so eye catching and fun!