New pattern coming

Hello everybody!

This spring and summer, with everything going on, I did not have much chance to set up my sewing machine on our kitchen table like I usually do. My oldest had taken over the table as a work-from-home office during the day. And in the evenings I was just too tired to set up anything... and then putting it away again, too.

Instead of sewing I spent plenty of time sitting behind the laptop, in any spot in the house that's available on the day, I might add. So now I am - finally - working on the pattern for my curved log cabin.

Pin basting for quilting

I worked out fabric amounts and cutting instructions. The order of sewing has been described with plenty of diagrams to explain it all. It isn't a difficult pattern, but it needs to be clear, right?
There will be a colouring page, too.

At first I was making it too complicated for myself. Don't we all do that? My mind was (and still is) whirring with all kinds of variations, fabric options, size changes etc. But I finally realised that including it all was the way to sure madness, so I have focused on what is really important: Writing the pattern clearly. I'm leaving the variations for another time...

So now I am rewriting, and making it (hopefully) good enough to send out into the world...

Almost done!

Sandra

Playing with Log Cabins

This post is part of the Finish-A-Long Q1 tutorial week. 

In this post I'd like to show you what fun can be had with the humble (and dare I say it - extremely traditional) Log Cabin block. Don't believe me? Read on!

- EDIT: I am currently working on the pattern for the curved log cabin (see below). Keep an eye on my Patterns Page -

Some quick basics

Many beginning quilters make a log cabin block. Sometimes they are part of a sampler, sometimes they are made into a full log cabin quilt. While it is a relatively easy block, it can create many different quilts. A basic log cabin block has rectangular strips (logs), added around a square centre (hearth) in one direction (in this example anticlockwise), often with one half of the strips dark and the other half light:

Joining the blocks in a simple straight setting can already result in many different quilts:

But a log cabin block is way more versatile than this!

Well known variations

Variations on a simple log cabin block are common in traditional quilting. Courthouse Steps and Pineapple are well known blocks which are variations on the Log Cabin:

Courthouse Steps (left) and Pineapple (right) blocks

Lesser known variations

My second quilt ever (ages ago!) was a log cabin quilt. Not a traditional one repeating log cabin blocks over and over, but a sampler log cabin quilt. It included the above-mentioned traditional blocks as well as some variations that are not as common. Cornerstones anyone? Or corner triangles?

These blocks formed my first log cabin quilt:

Next, what if...

You may all know this of course, but the real fun starts when you start asking "What if..."

So, what if... you make the logs on one side larger than those on the other side?
When the logs at the "dark" side are wider than those on the "light" side, the hearth is being placed off centre:

Log cabin (left) and offset log cabin (right)

And what if... the logs on one side (here the light side) are getting wider towards the outside of the block while those on the other (dark) side are all the same?

Yes, the hearth is not only off centre, but the log cabin block forms a curved shape! Imagine the layouts you can make with that!!

Combining some of these options I've been sewing blocks like these:

Which would have made (and still will make) a lovely baby quilt if only I had finished all the blocks (!!):

Or some other layout possibilities for a larger quilt:

Can you tell yet that I am rather obsessed with log cabin variations these days?!

Improv or liberated log cabins

The block structure lends itself very well to improvisational piecing, too. How about not keeping to the dark/light separation? Logs of different widths? Adding the logs not always in the right order?

Here's one I made a while ago and it combines all of the above broken "rules". It even includes small bits of selvedge (saying "Silver Lining". I thought that was lovely but probably it's just part of the fabric name). It is on my Finish-A-Long list since it is still only a "flimsy":

A couple of blocks from this quilt:

 And what about this block? If you look carefully you can recognise the log cabin structure:

It is part of this quilt top, all blocks are cut at the same time, log cabin in stack and whack style, then set on point:

If you've stuck with me this far, you deserve a medal! So I leave you with a last image of a quilt top which shows what you can do playing with log cabin blocks in black, white and grey. This one includes slightly offset blocks as well as straight blocks:

So, not quite a tutorial, rather a taster I suppose... I hope you have been inspired and maybe consider to play with log cabin blocks. I am sure not finished making them, though first I may have to finish some of these tops into quilts, really.

If you want to see more log cabin ideas, have a browse of the #logcabinquilt on Instagram. With more than 12k posts there are bound to be some photos to inspire.
I also know of a SAL (sew along) going on right now, too, check out #sunnylogcabinsal, they have a lot of ideas for log cabin blocks, and a quilt made up of one huge block... (tempting)!

Well, I've kept you long enough. More tutorials in the coming days:

• April 2, 2019 - Sandra of Studio Sew of Course - Playing with Log Cabins (here!)
• April 3, 2019 - Sarah of Cedar Fork Stitches -  Easy Gingham Potholders
• April 4, 2019 - Sharla of Thistle Thicket Studio -  Easter Bunny Zipper Pouch
• April 5, 2019 - Nicole of  Handwrought Quilts - How to Bury Your Thread Ends

And don't forget to link up your Q1 finishes, the linkup is HERE.

In the coming days, weeks, months, I will be busy making more log cabin quilts... and maybe finishing some, too. I hope to keep you up to date on that, I may have to add some to my Q2 Finish-A-Long list...

Also, linking up with Mini Archie's March Furtle Around the Blogosphere, because those log cabin blocks is what I've been working on for the last weeks (and weeks...) and not much else. My furtling comes in when I root around the blogs that are linked up as well, seeing what others in the blogosphere have been busy with...

Sandra

Snow days

As you probably know, I live in Ireland. Which means mild, wet winters and cool, wet summers.
To be more specific, I live quite high up in the south of Ireland. A bit less mild and wetter than the very west or the south coast in winter, and a bit cooler and wetter in summer. We have some snow most winters. But not really like we have had the last few days.

This time, the whole country got snow. So much snow that a red weather alert was called for the whole country. Schools closed, universities closed. Libraries closed, shops closed. Before that the shops ran out of bread and milk. Fortunately, being at risk of bad weather most winters, we always have the freezer well stocked up.
We are now four days since the bad weather started, and the red alert has become amber. It has started thawing slowly (and it snows again). The traffic is still limited to farmers, mostly on tractors.

But it is still pretty out in the garden. 

We are comfortable, warm and dry, and we have plenty of food, though milk is running a bit low.
The best thing: I have been sewing. If it continues this way, I may have a finish before the snow is forgotten! Fortunately I obtained fabric before the snow stopped postal deliveries, and it is perfect for the sashing of my log cabin quilt.

So now the top is sewn together, and I am stitching up the backing, using up some coloured leftovers from the front to make it big enough.

A silver lining indeed...

Sandra

Log cabin being built

When I wrote my last post I wasn't sure what I would be working on first. There are just so many lovely projects in my Finish-A-Long* (or WIP, UFO...) list!

It turns out that I have spent the most time with the log cabin blocks.

On my Finish-A-Long list it looked like this:

fabrics pulled

mock-up of a block

mock-up of how blocks would look together

In practice I went for wider strips, and more variation in the width of the strips. I took out some of the fabrics from the initial selection as well. And I have ended up with this:

I hope you get the idea, a grey day is not the best for sharp photographs indoors, unfortunately!

I am still debating what to do with the blocks. Initially, the idea was to just stitch them together, but I feel they need some calming, so I am on the lookout for a fabric to sash them with (I have an idea of what I want, just need to lay my hands on it). I really love the colours, and it was such fun to sew the log cabins. Just sewing on whichever next strip I fancied, and sometimes sewing them in a different order than is usual for a traditional log cabin block, made this a pure joy to make! Only now I feel I have been too irregular and have ended up with chaos.

Lesson learned: If you want to end up with "irregular" you have to have "regular" as a basis.

No harm, I am sure it will end up being just perfect, and probably a bit bigger than I initially thought as a bonus.

Back to sewing now, of course! I have another project to be working on...

Sandra

*wondering what the Finish-A-Long is about? See my Finish-A-Long page.
  And of course,
     WIP = Work In Progress
     UFO = UnFinished Object

Sometimes you need a push...

... to get things done.

It is shameful of course, I have not been posting anything at all for MONTHS. A dear friend across the pond has even emailed me to see if I was okay?! - thanks for your kind concern, Lara! -

I really have no excuse, apart from not being able to sew for a good while with a hand that was slowly healing (and still is, I am rather impatient with it). It meant I did get into a habit of not sewing, and not walking either (this winter was so wet I almost could have rowed down the garden, but that's not quite my thing!), and therefore not blogging. And everyone ever trying to break a habit knows that it can be hard to do, especially if it's a bad habit!

So even with my best intentions as mentioned in this blog post, I didn't do much for months. Until last week...

I was asked to give a presentation of some of my work for the Cork branch of the Irish Patchwork Society (my local quilt guild). With a week to prepare I said "yes", of course. And then I panicked a bit...

And then I got sewing!

These stack-and-cut improv log cabin blocks have been lying around for almost two years. High time to do something with them!

auditioning a setting fabric

Previously I had decided to use the lime fabric for the alternate squares, but now I changed my mind. However, it meant that the dark red fabric in the blocks fell away against my chosen setting fabric:

the dark red and the brown are too alike

Action was required. Rather than choosing a different fabric again for the setting squares, I decided to add an extra strip to the log cabin blocks where the dark red was placed at the outside edge:

sewing on extra strips

trimming the excess

squaring up the blocks

And when I gave my presentation to the guild, I included this top:

And if you are interested to see what else was included, the recap post from the Cork IPS website has a slide show of my presentation.

I'll be off to do more sewing now - of course!

Linking up with the Ad Hoc Improv Quilters.

Sandra