Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit quilt

I haven't mentioned it before now, but our second grandbaby is due in August.  Our son decided that the nursery theme for this grandbaby will be Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit. 

There are some LOTR and The Hobbit fabrics available online, but you have to order each different piece from a different Etsy shop (what a pain) and when I tried to contact a couple different Etsy shops, I never got any reply (not good customer service).  Well, when none of the shops would reply to my inquiry's about their fabrics, I decided to see what Fandom in Stitches had available.  Fandom in Stitches had a block of the month quilt along back in 2011-2012 for Lord of the Rings, and another one in 2013 for The Hobbit.  Lots of blocks to choose from.

I choose 13 blocks (one for the back of the quilt) from those quilt alongs, but, the blocks were only 7 inches square (finished).  I wanted my blocks to be bigger.  After the Peter Pan quilts, I really didn't want to be working with those tiny pieces again.  Well, Jennifer of Fandom in Stitches has a tutorial on how to enlarge or reduce paper piece patterns.  I've spent a good part of March enlarging the paper piece patterns, then taping them together, cutting them out, coloring and folding all the pieces.  I finally started stitching last week.  Once again, I'm making 2 of each block.  Just like last time, there will be 2 identical quilts (one for the baby, and one to put in my quilt guild quilt show). 

original sized pattern, and enlarged pattern

Here is the first block(s) to be finished.  'The Precious'.

'The Precious' blocks

Since the paper I used to enlarge the patterns (11.5 x 14) is heavier than ordinary copy paper (and there is tape in places, holding parts of the patterns together), I've had to reduce my stitch length even more than I usually do.  I'm stitching about 25-30 stitches per inch. 

stitching on 'The Precious' pattern

teeny tiny stitches

I'm hoping the smaller stitches will help me remove the paper easier, when I'm done with the blocks. 

One of the blocks could be either paper pieced or done in embroidery.  The paper pieced block is rated a 5 out of 5 for difficulty, so I chose to embroider the block.  Embroidery is much more relaxing.

I had the problem with this embroidery block of trying to mark the embroidery pattern on a dark fabric.  I'm almost out of the Lecien Quick and Clear Transfer (sticky stuff) left, that I've been using on the Harry Potter blocks, so that wasn't an option.  I haven't been able to find any more online.  Someone had suggested I try Sulky Fabri-Solvy.  I bought some, but, it isn't 'sticky' like the Lecien is.  I can't get it to 'stick' to my fabric. I've even tried using spray baste, but it just doesn't stick well.

Sulky Fabri-Solvy and spray baste

after using spray baste (still wrinkled and loose in most places)

I've used Clover White heat erasable pens in the past.  I tried it on this fabric.  I could get it to show up on part of the tree trunk, but, not on any of the branches, no matter how many times I traced.  I dug around and found some Easy Mark crayon, and tried using that.

Clover White heat erase pen and Easy Mark Crayon

lines are not very sharp

Using the Easy Mark Crayon gives wide lines that are harder to follow as you stitch.  There was a lot of guess work in places.  Here is the finished block.

White Tree of Gondor, block 1 finished

I'm trying to decide if I want to try the Sulky Fabri-Solvy block, or just trace another block with the Easy Mark Crayon.