Sunday, 9 December 2012

Bookwraps - again

These little gems are very seductive. They can be made in an afternoon; use very little fabric; can be made from the offcuts of previous quilts and allow one to go to town on embellishment!
So this week I have made 2 from the pieces left over from the Full Circle quilt I made earlier this year. The piecing was done, so I only had to find sections large enough to cover two of my stock of books and get quilting and embellishing! I find this very therapeutic, as the pressure of working on a piece that has to be exhibited is absent and therefore the ideas seem to flow more quickly. Am I alone in finding that once engaged in making a piece for exhibition my confidence diminishes and ideas dry up - just too much riding on it I think. So progress on pieces that I have deadlines for are happily put to one side to indulge in some simple frippery!

Machine embroidery stitches; French knots; scrapbook brads; one of kind buttons and  bright hair bobble elastic all adorn the silk of my Full Circle off cut.

Similar techniques with spacer beads from a defunct necklace look good against the yellow silk and very heavy knots on the spotty fabric plus African Fabric Shop beads to finish the front. What post covers for a shopping list notebook!
I have one more small piece of Full Circle fabric left, I'll try and get a notebook cover out of that as well!
As the completed Bookwraps come to me, I have the privilege of seeing all the stunning creations first hand rather than just on Bookwrapgems@wordpress.com . There are going to be some very lucky punters at the Festival of Quilts Tombola at Birmingham in August!
The winter edition of the Quilter's Guild of the British Isles carries an article showing how to make a simple Bookwrap and a flyer giving lots of details about how to take part.