library quilt – betukbandi

Long ago, I saw a delightful ‘Library at Night’ quilt on Pinterest; the quilter was not mentioned. I had been wanting to make my version of it ever since, and got an opportunity when my late cousin’s wife requested a quilt for her three-year old granddaughter AS! I suggested this idea to her and she loved it. I took her list of the books she would like AS to read and got working.

I searched for original/ classic or most popular editions of these books online, so that I could make the spines authentic. I started by painting these.

Spines painted to match original and early editions

His Dark Materials trilogy has cutouts of the letters.

I soon discovered that this was going to take forever, so I switched to printing the spines on fabric.

The Lord of The Rings Series is printed; so are the books immediately above these.

Once all the titles were done, I had to decide which characters would come alive at midnight in the library. Again, searching the illustrations in the books and their covers gave me the material needed. Here is a look at some of them!

Mother Goose was the first to come up.

Some collaged figures and other print-outs…

Mr. Darcy is my favourite! Catherine was also good, I thought.

Manderley up in flames from behind those huge wrought-iron gates…

You get the general idea! Finally, all the books and their sleepless characters were ready to be put together.

Experimenting with placement of the books

Once that was done, I raw-edge appliqued all the pieces to the background, shelf by shelf. Then came the quilting. I decided on a wood grain for the wooden book-shelf.

Here is a look at some more of the characters, now quilted.

Some more characters who emerge to have a midnight bash!

Any guesses which book is flying open under the Brown Bear and Sam I Am?

My cousin wanted some Indian classics, so the Mahabharata and Ramayana were a must! From the Mahabharata I chose Draupadi appealing to ShriKrishna as she was disrobed, while the flute and peacock feather on the top shelf represented Him.

I even made a gold-framed portrait of my dear cousin, the little recipient’s grandfather, to be placed on a shelf in the quilt. But his wife wanted it for herself, so it became a gift for her, instead.