Lesley from the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild Scrappy Bee is making a bookshelf based on a tutorial from Don’t Call Me Betsy. Deciding what to make to sit on the shelf was a challenge for me. In her sample, Lesley had a paper-pieced teacup on her books. I love tea, and a teacup would have been one of my first choices. As that was off the table, so to speak, I took a look at my own bookshelf to check out my knick-knacks.

I noticed a couple of things: one, I prefer for my books to be arranged tallest to shortest within a genre; two, my husband does not share that compulsion. I decided I wanted to do a Rubik’s cube, but wasn’t looking forward to the plethora of Y-seams on a 3-D cube. Flat face it would have to be. I’m nerdy enough that I arranged a cube to use as a guide, based on solid colors I had in my scraps.

I wanted to keep the cube to scale visually, so I had to cut 1″ blocks, for 1/2″ finished blocks. Never would I have imagined that I would be piecing such itty-bitty blocks, nor that I would do them well. My friend Nikki suggested I hand stitch black around the cube, and I think that really makes it pop.

There is more white space in the finished block than I realized when laying it out, but it’s an opportunity for interesting quilting in the negative. From the group’s postings on FB, Lesley’s bookshelf will also have flower vases, glasses and a lamp. I’m happy I was up for a challenge on this block, and I believe I will feel the need to make more Rubik’s cubes in the future.

Lesley’s bookshelf block, with Rubik’s cube to show scale.