Donnerstag, 12. Mai 2016

Log Cabin Book as a Bookmark



With quilted bookmarks I combine my love for books and my love for quilts.
Books and quilts have so much in common, I think!
Don't they both tell stories, 
aren't they both a product of individual manual and intellectual work,
don't they both benefit from the richness of history and tradition,
- and don't they always go a step further,
don't they both want to make you feel good and to inspire you,
and isn't it one of the highest pleasures to enjoy a book while wrapped in a handmade quilt?

Here I tried to go a step further:
I use the most famous and the quintessential design of a quilt pattern - the "Log Cabin" - to outline a book in an object that can to be used in and with a book: a bookmark.

I think that the Log Cabin motif is a pretty good one to go with the process of reading a book: 
the yellow or red center squares are always meant to represent the light and warmth of the hearth in a cabin, which shines out to the person outside and beckons to him or her to come home or to be a welcomed guest.
A book does just the same to me!
And aren't the best stories told at a fireplace or some other place that feels like a warm and cozy place to relax?

The light and dark shades in a Log Cabin quilt are meant to remind you of the sunny and shady sides of the house, which are both welcomed depending of the time of day and year,
and by the same token there is no good story without light and shadow, and:
the light that comes with the wisdom of a good story is always able to illuminate brightly each and every darkness! 

This here is some kind of a Log Cabin pattern, there are several versions and variations, this is just one possibility to make a block:



For my book in this bookmark I used some characteristics such as bright and dark scraps in a construction with "bricks", and a yellow or red center square, and I tried to use that all in a form that hopefully resembles a book…
I had some trouble with the geometry and the perspective here, but that's what I had been able to do so far.



Here is a very good article on the Log Cabin pattern:
http://www.womenfolk.com/quilt_pattern_history/logcabin.htm

The book shown here is by Jennifer Chiaverini,
"Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker"