Hello, Bees! I hope you're all having a great year! I've loved making each and every one of your blocks (even though I know I haven't been the most timely about my posts or my trips to the post office 😬), and I'm excited to see what you whip up for me!
Last year (geez, where did the time go?) I participated in another quilt swap and got a bunch of these lovely bookcase quilts. I want to get the quilt up to around a throw size, so I'm hoping you all will help me make a few more.
I am a lifelong book-lover and my shelves are always stuffed to the brim, so a bookshelf quilt has been a goal of mine for a while now! I'm really excited to see how this turns out.
Size
My current blocks are all around 10 1/2" tall (unfinished), so please target that height for your blocks as well.
The width on these blocks is pretty flexible, so if you want to make several skinnier blocks with a few books each instead of one square/rectangle block, that's fine! Just please make sure the total width adds up to at least 10 1/2" as well. Feel free to go over that width too!
For the individual book size, I just ask that you not go bigger than 2 1/4" wide for a single book. I do love a big book myself, but I think the proportions start looking weird above that.
Background
Please use a solid black fabric (or as close to a solid black as you can get) for the background. Most of my current blocks have Kona Black as the background, so if you already have some in your stash, that would be a bonus! Otherwise, any very dark grey or mostly-black print would work great. If you want to use a few different black-looking fabrics within the same block, that's also fine.
Colors/Fabric/Content
There are very few rules with this block! Go as scrappy as you like with the fabric. I would love for the blocks to be a reflection of the quilter who sewed them, so feel free to put some of your personality and your own creative touch into it.
If you want to get creative with putting additional items on your block or putting your books in new orientations, feel free to do so, but honestly I'd be happy to just get blocks with a whole lotta regular upright books. Whatever you want to try out!
I only ask for no religious or overly patriotic fabrics or themes in your block.
Tutorial
There are several tutorials out there for bookcase block, including here on the Stash Bee blog! A couple I liked were this one from Emily in 2016 and this one from Adrienne in 2022 (which doesn't have the background pieces but has a lot of great ideas for putting together book blocks). This tutorial also works too! Basically any tutorial you find when you Google "bookshelf quilt block" will probably be fine, just remember the 10 1/2" height restriction and the black background.
Thanks in advance! I look forward to seeing what you all come up with!
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