That’s how books are supposed to end, isn’t it?
And that’s how the story of the Bookcase Quilt is also going to end. It’s done, despite a number of delays and obstacles in my path, and I’m very happy with it. It’s not my most immaculately made or quilted piece, but it’s perfectly personalised and tailored to its new owner. I’ve had a lot of fun making it, too.
So here it is. The eagle eyed among you will observe a few pins still in the binding as I had not at that point quite finished stitching it down. I had to get some photos while there was still reasonable light, as it’s going off tomorrow to my niece. The pins do make that side hang a bit strangely, but at least I have a record.
And now it’s time to move on to something else. I have my F2F blocks to make for this month, I have a large blue & white Bulldogs RFL team quilt to make for the 60th birthday of a friend’s husband, and I have a pile of fabrics and garment patterns singing a siren song, which I’ve firmly resisted so far.
I’m going to start with pressing all the fabrics and cutting the pieces for the Bulldogs quilt, all 240 of them.
Good job they’re all nice simple squares…
talltalesfromchiconia 
It is simply wonderful.
I’m so glad you like it. I love it myself, but I’m never sure if other people will feel the same way about the things I make…
I feel sure that we are related on our mothers’ side, four times removed and we are probably distant cousins or something. I could come and stay with you and promise to bring you endless cups of tea and help test your recipes and generally be a charming guest. Did I mention I love books? I could bring an empty suitcase 🙂
Seriously though – that is a gorgeous quilt and an amazing gift for your niece. That ;quilting as you go’ has worked out well and I’m definitely going to give it a try on a future project.
In the meantime – I’m off to check the family tree.
If you came to stay *at all*, you’d definitely be in line for a quilt! The tea and recipe testing would simply be the icing on the cake… I’m sure there must be a family connection; after all, why else would you put up with my puns…? The making process has thrown up one or two things I’d do differently another time. Perhaps I should write a tutorial, since there has been some interest. It will have to wait till later in the year if I do; I have piles of blue and white fabrics to wrestle with!
A tutorial would be brilliant. Both my daughters are mad about books and this sort of quilt would be perfect for them. Calm down a bit first though.
If I ever entertain the thought of flying for such a long time you will be first on my list of destinations. I’ve been as far as Hong Kong, L.A. and Rio de Janeiro before (all starting from the U.K.) but that was when I didn’t mind flying – now I’m not so keen. I’m waiting for them to invent a mode of instant transport – ‘Beam me up Scotty’.
I’ll write something up in a month or two, when the decks are slightly clearer. Remind me, because I *will* forget otherwise, and I’m very happy to do it! Pity about the flying; if you fly Emirates and go via Dubai and Singapore, the shopping is outstanding! And if you stay a couple of days in each place the jetlag is nowhere near as bad. How about a Skype instead of a transporter beam, are you hooked up?
Yes, yes, you should write a tutorial. I would happily pay for it. I’m in love with that quilt and will miss seeing it. How could anyone not love it??? I’ve never done quilt as you go either. So much to learn, so little time.
Payment will not be necessary, just a bit of patience while I clear a slight backlog! QAYG has its own slight drawbacks, but it’s infinitely easier to wrangle the quilt through the sewing machine that way.
Patience I have plenty of. I know all about the backlog. Have one of my own. Waiting for the eye to see well again. wrangling that big quilt under the machine is definitely no fun.
I’m finding it quite satisfying to cross things off my list, which is still pretty long. So long as I don’t add any more any time soon, I should catch up some time next decade! Hope the eye recovers quickly.
Thank you. It’s doing pretty good.
Hi Kate, I’m making a small strip quilt. I don’t intend to use any batting I’ve connected 4 of the blocks and I’m thinking that if I stitch matching ribbon over the back seams it will be pretty and conceal the connected seams and raw edges. There are just 16 – 9 ×10 blocks, finished size should be about 38 x 38, and I’ll bind it with matching fabric. I’ll try and send you a picture tomorrow.
What do you think?
It sounds pretty, and the ribbon is a good solution if you’re not using batting. If you had, the ribbon would have distorted a bit, and I’d have recommended using a double thickness fabric like I did on this quilt. How do you plan to finish the edges? I suspect the usual double fold binding might be a bit stiff for such a soft quilt.
Oh Kate, I just was oooohhhhing and aaahhhing here! It is so beautiful with all its lovely details! I’m sure your niece will love it (is it still a complete surprise or did she already see it while you were working on it?)
She’s seen it, and thinks it’s great, so I’m confident she’ll still be happy when it arrives! The poor thing has a cold, so it will be useful to keep her warm and cosy.
it’s gorgeous
well done ^^
Thank you! A good result for a rush job!
it doesn’t look rushed at all
and I love the binding ^^
Yes, I realised a scrappy binding was what the quilt needed after trying plain colours. Plus it used up lots of unused strips!
The Bookcase-Quilt-a-la-Kate is one of a kind, and after keeping your niece company in Aus, will go on to be a long lived much loved piece and keepsake. I think it’s marvelous 🙂 It’s amazing how keen you are… on to the next. I’d need at least several days of cups of tea and good lie downs!
As always with me, there’s a shortage of time, and I really do need to get cracking. I *should* have started the Bulldogs quilt when I squeezed the Bookcase Quilt in, so it’s about to go critical! I’ve managed to score all the fabrics already, now I have to start cutting!
The quilt is delightful, a real success, and I’m sure your niece will be thrilled with it. Your workload sounds very heavy: I hope you can slow down a bit.
I am on Skype – it would be great to have a chat!
love,
ViV
Great! I’ll email you my Skype address – I’d LOVE to have a chat!
I’d have to ask my kids, as I can’t remember mine! But if I skype you first, you will have it anyway.
Yes, that seems reasonable. We’re off to bed now, as it’s 11.30pm. Maybe tomorrow? We’re 8 hours ahead of you.
So much love and thoughtfulness went into this quilt….. that’s what makes it so special! Your niece has a very awesome aunt.
This aunt had loads of fun making it, and a great niece to make it for!
I think I’ve used up all the positive adjectives already. Too much splendidity 🙂
Gosh, thanks! 🙂
Looks FANTASTIC!! Great job 🙂
Thanks, Kate, I’m very happy with it!
Love it, Kate! Nicely done.
Thanks Pat, great to hear from you!
Ah, there you go. Every bit as beautiful as I knew it would be! Love the edging around the border.
A scrappy border was obviously the answer after I’d tried and discarded a couple of solid colour options. And I had plenty of scraps to do it with!
It has been fun watching the bookcase quilt grow, and great now to see the finished product. You are a kindred spirit–projects in the wings, always.
So true. My ability to make sadly cannot keep up with my ability to conceive a design or foolishly promise a quilt I don’t really have time to make!
This turned out so well. I know it will be loved.
I waved goodbye to it this morning, and hope that it will arrive in a more timely fashion than her suitcase!
The bookcase quilt is beautiful!!!!! You did an awesome job.😄
I don’t know what is going on with my computer and then I may have touched a wrong something 😕. All of my comment was supposed to be together.
Doesn’t matter, I got both comments! I’m glad you like it. Hopefully I’ll get round to doing an informal tutorial for it in the next few months – I say informal, because everyone will want to do something a little different to make it more personal.
Congrates!!! It´s a lovely quilt!
Thanks, Gun, I’m so pleased with how it turned out.
I’ve missed a few posts, and now see those owl-ends turned out great! You do work small miracles at that sewing machine. Sure hope your work is appreciated by the recipient!
🙂 I’ve had no complaints so far!
Oh, Kate! It turned out really cute! She should enjoy every minute of looking at it, or wrapping it around herself!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
It’s going to become her universal mat/blanket, for everything from adding an extra layer of warmth to doing yoga on it in the park!
It turned out great and I’m certain it will be loved for a very long time.
Thank you! I shall enjoy seeing it in its new home when I visit her in February.
The back fabric is a lightweight linen print that had been pillow covers that I opened and cut into 9×10 blocks and sewed my scrap strips on to, hence no batting. This morning my granddaughter said that if I was to stitch down each side of the seam it would be pretty like that when I asked her how she thought it would look 😊. How do I send you a picture
I think you’ve solved that problem – I have an email from you to answer!
Another great finish 👏
Thank you, and straight on with the next quilt before I lose momentum!
Very clever idea!
Glad you like it, I had a lot of fun with this one.
A wonderful heirloom to enjoy before handing it down to the next generation. Congrats, Kate.
Thank you – I hope it gets well used and loved so it’s nicely battered by the time it comes to hand it down!
Absolutely brilliant!!
Thanks, Avis, I value your opinion very highly!
I value seeing your posts pop into my reader and I’ve just realised why I keep missing them….I’ve just had to “follow” you again! How can that happen?
It happens all the time to me, and I’ve given up wondering why! Glad to have you back…
Now I’m wondering “Who else am I missing?” nice to be back 🙂
I check every so often by clicking on the images in my sidebar which link back to the blogs. If I spot any posts I haven’t seen, I know the link is broken and I reFollow.
another work of art ! maybe you could enbroider your name and the date you finnished on it like painters do ?
There’s a label on the back: I print them as transfers onto fabric, and then fill out the name of the quilt, the date, the new owner, etc, and attach them to the back of each quilt.
I hope you make the labels so that they can still be read in hundreds of years !!
I would like to think the quilts will last that long, but I don’t know for sure. Hopefully the labels will last too.
Just wonderful. 🙂
Thank you so much, I really appreciate all the kind and enthusiastic comments everyone has sent. It’s on its way to her by courier, and I’m crossing all digits that it won’t go by the same route as her suitcase!
That is lovely!
Do you have a trick to deal with all the loose tails of thread? Do you try and quilt as much as possible in one go so there aren’t so many? It is the thought of having to deal with them all that puts me off slightly!
Thank you! Regarding loose ends: My own preference is to trim them as I go. My sewing machine has a ‘knot-off’ button which creates a (mostly) buried knot on the back, so when I pull the quilt out from under the foot, I can straight away clip the thread close to the fabric and it’s safe. I do miss one or two, but I have a strong light that I can shine sideways on to the quilt which throws up the loose ends quite clearly so I can deal with them.
Ah, I see. Mine also has such a knot-off button, but I never quite trust it!!
So long as you don’t actually cut the knot off, I’ve found it quite reliable!
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