Why not choose a line from a favorite book to inspire your next quilt? Here’s my quilt, Goodnight Moon, from the book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, inspired by the line, “In the great green room there was a telephone” I’m sure many of you, like me, could recite most if not all of that book from memory if it was one of the bedtime stories you read to your children each night. Children’s books are particularly full of inspiring word pictures (and they have fantastic illustrations as well in case you need a little extra boost of eye candy to feed your muse.)
I love Clement Hurd’s charming illustrations, especially that stylish old phone, the kind with the real dial for dialing (no buttons or voice recognition!) and that wonderful curly cord. As you turn the pages it really does get darker and darker in that quaint little house. Here’s my fabric interpretation of that phone.
I also like the line, “Goodnight nobody. Goodnight mush.” That always made me smile. Hmmm … I wonder what a quilt about mush would look like?
I went to see the movie Up with my nephew. There was a short movie in which the person gets a old fashioned telephone receiver attached to his head. My nephew immediately said "bluetooth"!
Laura,
You are right that there are many wonderful children's books to choose from- I am going to make a panel quilt with Brown bear, brown bear pieces- I am a kindergarten teacher and use this particular book each year with my students.
There are also many lovely children's stories that are about quilts. One of my favorites of quilt picture books is The Quiltmaker's Gift and its companion The Quiltmakers Journey.
Margaret Wise Brown is also one of my favorite authors. She did a lovely story called The Runaway Bunny- Some others include The Important Book and The Golden Egg Book. She wrote under other names and wrote a number of the Little Golden Books. Unfortunately, She died quite young of a stroke or aneuryism in her late forties or early 50's. The world lost a great talent. She wrote in the late 40's and early 50's so it is interesting that her books continue to be so well loved – a tribute to her timeless themes and simplicity. Your phone quilt is really lovely.
Regards,
Anna
Interesting quilt, I love picture books and use them in my classroom quite often. I teache 6th and 7th graders,you'd be surprised to know that that age group likes to be read to. there are many ways to be inspired by picture books. I like yours! =-)