Precarious is my January Island Batik challenge project. The challenge is to make something “scrappy”. A very dangerous thing to challenge me on. My default style is somewhat scrappy and asking me to make something scrappy will result in something truly scrappy! We have a tonne of books at home. Some are on shelves and some are stacked on the floor. Way more books than we have time to read. Only my fabric stash comes close to our book stash. Precarious represents both kinds of stacks.
The inspiration for this quilt comes from a YouTube video from Missouri Star Quilt Company. This is a really nice and easy pattern made from jelly rolls or just scraps. It makes multiple stacks and the stacks sway about in the same way because the quilt is assembled in rows. Go ahead and watch the video linked above. I really like Jenny’s videos and this is a really good one. See the partial quilt on my design wall.
It just didn’t look scrappy enough for me. I cut of the long strips and rearranged them for a more improv look. Here is another design wall shot. I had fun playing with the shape of the stacks and the color placement on the design wall. I have some more in-process pictures and I may make a mini-tutorial on how to organize scraps to make this quilt.
I made three stacks of varying heights. I tried to keep the colors and offsets quite random but couldn’t resist a slight gradation in values from dark at the bottom and light on top.
For quilting, I first stitched around each “book” and then quilted a large scale feather going from bottom to top. I filled the remaining area with a swirl-feather motif.
I used Island Batik white as background and Hobbs Cotton batting with scrim.
I used three Island Batik cuts for the backing. Two are from Island Batik foundations – Beaujolais and Eucalyptus. One is from the Kaleidoscope collection from 2019. The colors and prints are so lovely and I didn’t have the heart to cut them up.
This is a fun, clever quilt! Love all the colors, and the quilting is fantastic!
Love your scrappy quilt! And the quilting, oh my, the quilting is absolutely wonderful!
Happy Quilting! 🙂
Good Morning Vasudha! This has to be one of my very favorite quilts. Not just of your quilts but of all times – e.v.e.r. My sister was a voracious reader and she had stacks of books around her at all times. I had to move her a few times, and books are not light. She would have adored this quilt, and I would have happily made one for her! I just may make one just as a remembrance, so thanks for the inspiration. Your quilting is really beautiful as well – it certainly enhances the piece so nicely. I can’t gush enough about this quilt, so I’ll stop. LOVE IT! ~smile~ Roseanne
I love the way this came out! So playful, and the quilting is drool worthy! Have a fantastic day.
That is spectacular!! the quilting is amazing!! Kind reminds me of stack of books waiting to be read!!
What a fun quilt! My books and fabric are likewise in a precarious state.
This is a great scrappy finish and I love the quilting.
Those stacks of fabric, I mean books, are just delightful! I have had stacks like that and really love the way they look in this quilt. Congrats on a great finish.
I really like your Precarious stacks of books! A fun quilt,
Neat! I love how you quilted it!
This is so much fun! I loved it before I knew it represented precarious stacks of books, and now I love it even more! Great pattern for scraps and I love all the colors.
What FUN you had expanding that design!! LOVE your quilt (and the quilting, too!)
Lovely design!
I’m back to that your for linking up to Put your foot down.
Great title for this interesting modern quilt.
Vasudha, Thank you for linking to TGIFF!
Aptly named…. and I like the subtle colour graduation too. Another very nice project Vasudha, thanks for joining Colour & Inspiration Tuesday.
Once upon a time I saw a bookmark that read – “Every night I go to bed with a new one”.
This quilt is for book lovers and book hoarders alike and reminded me of that bookmark 🙂
Love the quilt and the gentle gradation of values is an added bonus. Hugging you at Quiltcon was one of the high points of my trip 🙂
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I was just passing by but had to stop and comment. Your stacks remind me of books. If I didn’t have shelves my books would look like that!