Seriously..I think it needs stitches.: Book or Bookshelf Quilt Block Tutorial for National Book Lovers Day

I don't know where to start with this post. There's so much that my love for books brings to mind. This day HAD to have a block in my National Days scrap quilt project.

From loving the smell of the library as a little girl.. getting so excited when the bookmobile came to our neighborhood.. how I loved Beatrix Potter books and the Little House books.. to taking my son to our library's storytime every Thursday for the first five years of his life..(they have a 25 book checkout limit and we routinely checked out the limit!) and how some of the books we repeatedly checked out feel like old friends.. and how he would stand the books up around his room at night and then pick which to read next as we had our own bedtime storytime every.single.night.

Fast forward to hearing him giggling out loud at night in his room as he read the Captain Underpants series and the Alvin Ho series independently..

I reached out to the author of the Alvin Ho series, Lenore Look, once on IG to thank her and tell her how much he loved her books and she was so kind, she sent him his own autographed copy of a couple of them! Here is his blushing face as he looked at them when they came in the mail. Priceless memories. Keepsakes for sure!

Fast forward again to our epic road trip in the summer of 2019 when some of the "in between cool places" driving time was spent reading out loud from these books:

We learned a lot about the states we drove through. The second book has the coolest artwork and random state facts. I found these pics on the Amazon listing because our book is packed away for our move.

This day also reminds me of my late mother in law who helped start and run her community library. And of the many School Literacy Nights I helped organize with my Book Bestie. :)

And how much my own mom loves to read. So many memories.. Such good times! We love books!!

Here is how this fabric bookshelf works.

Fabric A - Background

(2) 1" sq. (~)

(1) 1 x 1 1/2" (>)

(1) 1 1/4" sq. (+)

(1) 1 1/4 x 2 1/2"

(1) 1 1/2" sq. (*)

(1) 1 1/2 x 2" (#)

(1) 4 1/2 x 5 3/4"

Fabric B - Books (various scraps)

(1) 1 x 5 1/4"

(1) 1 x 7 1/4"

(1) 1 1/4 x 5"

(1) 1 1/4 x 5 3/4"

(1) 1 1/2 x 4 3/4"

(1) 1 1/2 x 5 1/4"

(1) 2 x 6 3/4"

Fabric C - Shelf

(1) 1 1/4 x 8 1/2"

--Match the symbols (*,+ etc.) in the cutting instructions with the symbols in the assembly diagram.

--Assemble your bookshelf block as shown below, using SCANT quarter inch seams.

You'll have an 8 1/2" sq. quilt block of all your favorite fabric stories. (8" finished in quilt.)

I got curious about what a mini quilt made with just this block might look like so I went back and mocked this up, using 10 blocks.

Hmm... I'm not sure how I feel about it like that.. I don't hate it. I think if I did this, though, I would make some blocks with the standing and stacked book sections swapped, so the books would look more randomly arranged. Here's a rough idea of how that might look. I like it a lot now! I need to make one for our favorite children's librarian who is retiring this year!

Here's how it might look on the wall..

I love it now! What a great use for scraps! It's like a bookcase of all of your old projects. :) You could really mix it up by swapping the arrangement of the books in the stacked book section and the arrangement of the standing books in that section.

Ugh, I'm still not sewing because of the weakness in my hand and stiffness in my neck but these make me want to play with scraps so bad! I realllly want to make a mini for our favorite retiring librarian! Maybe I could persuade my hub to help/learn to sew? haha! This is Suzy, best librarian ever. Wow, time flies. I can't believe Austin is 15 now and Suzy's retiring!

Okay, I'm off! Time to work on my PT/OT stuff. Thanks for dropping in to read today! I'll be back in a couple days with the next block in line. Oh! Next up is Vinyl Record Day and I have the cutest little vinyl record to share. A 45, not an LP. haha! Wow, that makes me feel old!

See you then! Happy Stitching!

xoxo,

P.S. I love to see blocks and quilts that are made with any of my patterns. If you make any and post on social media, please come find me in any of the places listed below, and tag me so I can see! :) If you're on YouTube, check out the short musical video tutorials of some of these blocks. I'm hoping they might inspire kids, or anyone really, to learn to sew. :) Plus, they're just fun to do.

@kellifanninquilts on IG

#kellifanninquiltdesigns

#nationaldaysquiltblocks

FB page

Sew along FB group

YouTube

I'm keeping all of these blocks organized on the National Days quilt blocks page *HERE*, if you're looking for any of the other 90 or so blocks I've posted so far. If you know someone who loves Minecraft, Pokemon, and or Harry Potter, check out these free sew alongs, too! :) And if you're looking for any of my print patterns, or other fun quilty gifts, check out my Etsy shop here. Be back soon!

2 comments...:

MissPat said...

How about teaching Austin to sew the blocks? It's all straight stitching and he'd learn a skill he could use in the future. Plus, I bet the librarian would be delighted that one of her "kids" made it for her.
Pat

December 21, 2021 at 11:28 AM

KatieQ said...

Thank you for the wonderful block. Your post brought back many happy memories. My children (now 36 and 33) loved story time at the library when they were pre-schoolers. We also took our grandson when he was younger. Our library had a massive dictionary on a tall book stand. They were allowed to open it to a page, close their eyes and point their finger to a word. I would read out the definition. My daughter says that was how she developed her love of words.

January 6, 2022 at 1:48 PM