Bookcase Runner

Now that winter is upon us, it's time to catch up a bit on the past summer's projects, starting with this small quilt that I made as part of the Modern Quilt Guild's Michael Miller Challenge.

When we first received the fabrics for the challenge (a set of six fat eights), I wasn't too sure about the prints. The fabric that really caught my attention was the solid coral, so I decided to base my design mostly on that one bold colour. I used a nice warm linen as a background, and added a small pop of each print. I think the concept of wonky squares within squares worked out really well.

With the front being rather minimalistic, I had a lot of fabric left over. The best way of using prints that were so different from my usual aesthetic seemed to be as a backing, that no one would have to see if it didn't work out. With a bit of improvisation, I came up with this, and I'm surprised how much I like it!

There's nothing very complicated about the improv technique I used, but somehow it mixed the bright prints up just enough to make the whole thing look really fun. For the most part, these aren't fabrics I would have chosen on my own, but I'm glad I got a chance to experiment with them and be surprised.

I quilted the whole thing with straight(ish) lines, and found it was pretty much the exact right size to display on the end of a bookcase, so here it is brightening up our library: