Dianne emailed me photos of her bookshelf quilts and I just had to share them here to inspire those of you thinking about making one too. They’re both gorgeous! She wrote:
Couldn’t figure out how to attach a photo to comments on your blog, so I thought I’d just email you. I’ve done two library quilts, and the recipients really loved them. This was years ago, and I used Christine Thresh’s pattern for some sample book blocks, but you don’t really need a pattern. (Sadly, Christine died some years ago, and I’ve lost the pattern she sent me.)
For my father-in-law, Geoff’s, Library Quilt, I printed out old family photos, “framed” with fabric to look like picture frames, along with the books. He was a publisher, and so the quilt was really special to him.
My son, Greg, is a big baseball fan, so I looked and looked for a paper-pieced pattern for a baseball cap to add to his Library Quilt, along with a big coffee mug. He loved that quilt, too, and I think he still has it somewhere. I decided to border his quilt with log cabin blocks, just for fun.
Thought you might enjoy seeing what I made all those years ago!
Wow! Theses look amazing!
I love the photo frames and some of those books look realistic too – good job by the quilt maker 🙂
Marvelous examples on how to personalize a quilt. Job well done!
Dianne’s bookshelf quilts are so beautiful!! I’ve been to many quilt shows but never saw one in person.
Also, Happy Anniversary to you and Keith! I loved reading your back years’ notes.
Thanks for sharing Dianne’s brilliant memory quilt, Mary! Adding photos to the Bookcase quilt was pure genius!!
Thank you for sharing. Really delightful! It took a moment to realize that the photo is an actual quilt. Wow!
These quilts are amazing thank you both for sharing. what amazing ideas. I have always loved libraries and books. I have been amazed with these quilts. I have made tablecloths out of library fabric as gifts for nice people that I want to thank like book shop owners or coffee shop owners that have old books on display. Yep I really like … love these quilts. You are amazing. Both of you.
Thanks for sharing my quilts with your blog followers, Mary! I so loved making them, and they leave so much room for improvisation and personalization. Can’t wait to see what you end up doing for yours! And thanks so much, everyone, for your kind comments. Maybe it’s time to think of another library quilt for me, after all these years!
Now I will have some redrawing to do. Theses are so creative. I still want some special book titles but the picture concept is amazing.
That picture bookshelf quilt pattern would be “right up your alley” as we used to say. You certainly have enough pictures to fill up a quilt. And adding pictures to fabric is really easy these days with all the technology.
The bookshelf quilt with the pictures would be perfect for you with all your photos. It’s so much easier now with new technologies to put photos on fabric.
The picture frames look interesting on that quilt. So many ideas of “things” to include on the shelves.
I’m impressed with these! I’m making one for my niece who is in her 20s, so more colorful books and I also chose to put fabric frames around some cross-stitch pieces to sit on a shelf. So many great ideas out there.
These are so special. Wonderful work and what pleasure they must have brought to the recipients.