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When the theme for this month’s QuiltBlockMania was announced as “book”, I immediately thought of The Book Block, a pattern by the late Christine Thresh. Be sure to see the blocks presented by the other designers at the bottom of this page.

The Library Quilt

The basic “Library Shelf” book block was designed in 1994 by Christine Thresh for members of the Quilters’ Bulletin Board on America-On-Line. It was 12-inches by 7 1/2-inches finished and meant to be embellished. Twenty-four quilters traded blocks and made bookshelf quilts. Every quilt was different because the quilters stocked their “shelves” in their special ways and used different fabrics to “build the case.”

Betty Reynolds made the quilt below from donated blocks using this pattern. She donated the quilt to the New Mexico Library Foundation for their 1997 fundraising campaign. It was later raffled and won by a charter member of that foundation. It raised more than $2000.

This quilt is made up of blocks by:

Top row: Nancy Slavitz and Patty Perry (Toronto, Ont.)
Second row: Jean Foglein (Gondola Point, NB), Lisa Fry (North Carolina), and Brenda Suggs (Virginia)
Third row: Connie Jo Ozinga (Seymour, IN) and Cindy Borodkin (Gambrils, MD)
Bottom row: Chanin Rivenbark (Raleigh, NC) and Betty Reynolds (Socorro, NM)

Here's a closeup of Brenda Suggs' block. — Here’s a closeup of Brenda Suggs’ block. The orange cat was fussy cut from a piece of fabric and appliqued by Chris Thresh.

Lost in a book is the best place to be found

Can you make a library quilt? Or perhaps just a book block for the front of a bookbag or other craft? As you can see from the block above, it’s just a matter of finding fabric that would make a good book binding. In my free bookworm block below, I used map fabric, Nebraska State fabric, patriotic fabric and even a scrap of batik. I thought about using a selvedge to represent a magazine but couldn’t find one I liked.

Bookworm Quilt Block — This is a 12-1/2″ (unfinished) block.

The block Chris designed used books that stood upright. The width of each book varied, depending on the title of the book. She also offered the design of a leaning book, so you could add an aquarium, a plant, a picture, or whatever you like.

How about a jar of buttons?

Photos in Library Quilt — from Pinterest

You can easily personalize your library quilt by adding titles that the person liked, embroidery, lace, or handkerchief elements, or even pictures. Here is an article on how to create Photos on Fabric.

I am deliberately not giving you a block pattern because I want you to explore your creative side. Don’t let the pattern decide the size of your book – let the FABRIC decide.

Here are more ideas, both from Pinterest. These look like the books were actually created in rows. Unfortunately, neither picture had a link so I can’t refer you to their makers. Darn! But they do give you an idea of how you can create your own library quilt.