Sunday, January 20, 2013

Back to the Bookworms...

Since I'm running away from a frustrating project, I had to get comfort from my Little Bookworms blocks which are a joy from start to finish.


When I last checked in, I had completed Peter Rabbit, Fancy Nancy, and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  I've finished up 3 more since then and am already working feverishly on the next batch.  Without further ado, here are Pinkalicious by Victoria & Elizabeth Kann, Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney:





I've tried to match colored corners to the illustrations, but its not going to be possible for every single one.  Still, I've liked adding some of the novelty prints of Sarah Jane and Lizzy House here and there - just enough to get a peek of a Peep or a bicycle or some toy rockets.


And of course some pretty florals and ginghams for little Half-Pint Laura.


I already have big plans for the back that include an adorable discontinued bookshelf print I found online...but one thing at a time.

Since it's fairly obvious that I'm not using licensed prints, I wanted to share how I'm making these blocks.  I'm taking digital pictures from the books that I found online (or in one case where I couldn't find anything, scanning an illustration straight from the book) and printing them out through my inkjet printer on printable fabric.  I go through the instructions for pressing so that it becomes colorfast, then sew away!  The texture of the fabric is slightly stiffer than regular cotton, but I'm dealing with smaller squares framed in regular quilting cotton so its not an issue.  All of my character squares are slightly different sizes, but I add my white fabric on all four sides as a border and then trim down to 8.5".  Then it's off to the colorful converging corners!

I'm assuming that because I'm making this for use in my own home and my own girls that this isn't any kind of copyright issue, but I'd be curious to hear reader's input on it or if you've done anything similar for personal use!  It would be pretty cool to be able to turn around and make more of these for other book-loving families out there, but if I ever did make one to sell, I'd seek out regular licensed character prints and fussy cut those.  But I'm getting ahead of myself...better just finish my own first!

So even though you can only see bits and pieces, here's what the bigger picture is going to look like...loving it!!

Back to the sewing machine - Charlie and Lola are calling me...

Linking up with:

Plum and June

Fresh Poppy Design
 
WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

13 comments:

  1. What a great concept. I love it!

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  2. What a great concept. I love it!

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  3. I love it! I can't wait to see this all finished. I bet this is going to be awesome.

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  4. Wow, this is amazing! Little House in the Big Woods was one of my favourite books as a child. I love the idea, and it's been executed really well with the corners all bright :D
    Visiting from Fabric Mutt

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  5. What a lovely idea to capture favourite reading books! Fantastic. Visiting from Fabric Mutt x

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  6. This is such a cool idea! I love hearing about your process for creating this quilt, and your girls are sure to love it!

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  7. This is adorable! What a family treasure this is going to be!

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  8. Now that is a great idea. I had no idea that there was such a thing as printable fabric - do you need special ink? Its a feb way to make something so individual and exactly to your liking.
    Deby @ so-sew-easy.com

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  9. What an amazing quilt, and great idea! Don't quote me, but as long as you personally aren't making a profit from the quilt, it's find to use and share. I'm pretty sure that once you buy licensed fabric it's OK to sell too, because you've already paid the designer by buying the fabric.

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  10. As an elementary teacher with a Master's in Reading, I've been wanting to make a quilt of my favorite children's books. I like your idea of focusing on the main characters and building the blocks/quilt around them. I look forward to seeing the completed quilt!

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  11. I love how these are coming together, especially the secondary pattern that is coming through!

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  12. I was wondering how you found those cute book pics Steph. I thought you had found some awesome fabric that no one else had discovered yet! It's a fabulous idea. I have only ever used the printable fabric for a bag I made with photos of my kids on it and had never thought of doing this.
    Have you ever tried the inkjet transfer paper in the same way? At least I think that is what it was called. It was a lot cheaper than the printable fabric but I haven't tried it yet and I'm sure it's lost under a pile of crap somewhere :)

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  13. WONDERFUL CONCEPT! IT IS JUST A WONDERFUL QUILT! LITTLE HOUSE IS MY ALL TIME FAVE SERIES! LUV THE LAURA AND CHARLOTTE BLOCK! AWESOME!

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