Ooh Lucky Baby Log Cabin

When I received an invitation to a baby shower for my goddaughter, I kinda knew I'd need to go shopping for fabric. I definitely wanted something girly. In a perfect world, I would have ordered some mermaid-themed fabric, but time was short, so I chose from what my local brick-and-mortar had in stock. Luckily, it was some very fun stuff. Here's what I brought home:

• Alexia Abegg's Ooh Lucky Lucky Mini Dot in Lucky Pink 
• Plus Alexia's Ooh Lucky Lucky Good Luck in Lucky Pink 
• Miniatures I Heart You from Love Letter by Whistler Studios for Windham Fabrics
• Tula Pink's True Colors Tent Stripe in Poppy
• Kitty Litter in Watermelon by Pammie Jane

Once home, I added in some Kona Carnation from stash, since the pattern I was using called for six fabrics. The pattern, Quilt As You Go Log Cabin by Jera Brandvig @quiltingintherain for Pellon, is one I've made before, though this time I made a couple of changes. 1) I did not do QAYG because I knew I wanted to quilt it with a serpentine stitch; and 2) I made it just a bit larger by adding two more strips, for a final size of 38" x 42". Regarding the focus fabric, the Good Luck print with multiple 'charms?'.... I loved that it had a pig on it! My goddaughter has always loved pigs and even has a pet pig, so that was a fun connection. AND the fabric was perfect for leading the pink theme.

For the backing, I used the Tula Pink stripe, and for the binding, the mini dot.

Such a simple but satisfying pattern. Of course, I needed to make a fabric gift bag to put it in, but forgot to take a photo. Oh well, the quilt was very much appreciated, and I loved to be able to make it and gift it to welcome a sweet new baby girl.... also, my first quilt finish with my new Janome.

Block Studies Collective | Log Cabin

November was my second month participating in Tara Faughnan's @tarafaughnan Block Studies Collective, and I was pretty pleased we'd be focusing on the log cabin block. Except the focus was on a unique shape, actually a courthouse steps variation, and the construction was done with a new-to-me technique for foundation paper-piecing.

To be honest, Tara provided numerous templates for us to try, but this 5" x 10" finished rectangle was my favorite, so I just focused on it. 

After making the first block, I made the second with an eye on the first, knowing I'd use them together, and I wanted them similar yet different. Once paired up, I bordered them with the darkest solid in the palette, Kona Everglade.

I wanted to make a finished project with this piece, and in a perfect world, I would have stretched it on a frame. But instead, I decided to quilt the border with coordinating thread and make a pillow.

The end result is stuffed plump with that pillow form, so you can barely see the quilted border. OH well! It makes me happy, just the same.

Log Cabin

You may have caught a glimpse of the Dropcloth Log Cabin sampler I've been working on when I shared my recent Aurifil Artisan challenge, but I'm back to share the completed sampler. 

I may be just a tiny bit disappointed in my execution of this one. Not because of the sampler itself, nor the beautiful Aurifil 12wt threads I worked it in. That all has been great, and I'm really pretty sold on using the 12wt for embroidery. 

But if you look close, you may be able to tell that the center log cabin is stitched in two colors. The contrast doesn't show as much as I thought it would, and I probably should  have taken it out and redone it. But instead, I just continued with stitching.

I tried a variety of stitching in the various log cabins, and as usual, choosing which stitch and which color to stitch as I approached each new section. My disappointment lies in making all but the center log cabin just one color. I'm not really sure why I didn't try out several log cabin variations and stitch more sections in multiple colors. Seriously, I may need to stitch another Log Cabin one of these days to try that out. But still, I did enjoy stitching a nice variety of stitches.

And otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed the stitching and am ready to move on to a new sampler and an expanded selection of 12wt threads. I'm excited.

Variations

Last month when I took our guild's Traditional Variations class with Cheryl Arkison, I didn't really plan on starting a new quilt. I mean, Cheryl even said as much as our session began - we were there to play, with no end result necessary. But whatever, right?

During class, I played with scraps, and that continued over the next few weeks until I just had to pull from stash a tiny bit to finish some of the larger blocks. Not quite sure why I was so liberal with the block sizes, but that was part of the fun. They ranged from 9" x 15" to 20" x 21".

So somewhere along the way, I decided to create a lap-sized quilt, and at 54" x 65", it's pretty perfect. For a backing, I was really happy to find that the good-sized piece of Denyse Schmidt's Big Dot from her  Franklin line coordinated nicely. To bring it to size, I added Lori Holt's Cross Stitch, one of her backgrounds, some scraps of which are in my blocks as well.

Quilting was a simple diagonal grid, and for binding, I cut from a leftover piece of Carolyn Friedlander's Doe wideback - that thing has been a part of several of my quilts - I just can't seem to use it up!

Anyway, this one was really satisfying fabric play, just as it should have been.

The RAY Quilt Plan

I was mulling over what could be my next quilt project and up popped the announcement of Carolyn Friedlander's RAY quilt along. Perfect! It is fat-quarter friendly, so I can dig into my CF stash, it's simply pieced, and after finishing my Siddi quilt, I've been thinking I might like to hand-quilt again, and this project could be it.

photo by Carolyn Friedlander; used by permission

Inspired by the classic log cabin, Carolyn offers three variations of the RAY quilt, all of which I love, though some lend themselves better to fat-quarters vs. yardage - definitely some options. Carolyn's #1 version - the version I think I've settled on - is pictured above. For mine, I pulled a mix of 13 Carolyn Friedlander prints from a variety of collections [Architextures, Carkai, Friedlander, Instead, Harriot, & Collection CF]. Joining them will be one coordinating solid [Kona Blueprint] and a couple of Kaufman Essex cotton-linen blends [Essex Yarn Dyed in Cadet & Yarn Dyed Homespun in Indigo], Manchester Yarn Dyed in Royal, also by Robert Kaufman and finally, a woven from Diamond Textiles, Crossed in Night.

So I was thinking I may sew ahead just a bit so I can get to hand-quilting, as that will take the most time. But then just as I was getting ready to post this morning, I realized Carolyn had shared a YouTube video on making a plan as well as a RAY quilt inspiration board, so I'll be looking at those before making any firm decisions. But things are percolating, so we'll see where that takes me.

Begin with Red

It's just the way I am. Before a big event - happy, sad, or just plain fun, you'll find me a little restless. I've gotten used to it, and it really isn't that bothersome now that I recognize it, but that's exactly how I was feeling the day or two before I left for QuiltCon. What settled me, was being able to sew.

And what I was inclined to make was a log cabin that began like so many others before it, with a red center. The photo above is how far I got getting my nervous energy out. Then I added to it once I got home (below).

At first I started quilting a different design in each section, but that got old quick, considering I was using my walking foot, and before long I switched to larger-scale designs that went a little quicker.

What I ended up with was a single 46" x 52" log cabin 'block', pieced and quilted on my whim, and finished with just a smidge of matched binding.

Nothing fancy but it was just what I needed.

{pause}

You guys. It was three months after submitting my article to Curated Quilts that I held Issue 2 in my hands and saw my Creative Reset project in its pages. It was immensely satisfying.

When I was asked to create a tutorial for one of my pincushions from last summer's pinnie parade and list some tips on reviving creativity, it felt a very natural request.... something I was totally comfortable creating and writing about, which isn't always the case these days. And truly, an improv log cabin block has been one to call to me over and over again.

So if you happen to get a chance to read the article, know that you are receiving a part of me. The ideas I share are exactly what I do when I find myself in that unsettling place. And though these improvisational pincushions were the result this time, the same processes have led me to equally satisfying places and got me going again at other times. Ie. they work for me.

Gee whiz. I kinda keep forgetting that my Steeped in Tradition also appears in the Gallery section of this issue. Considering this quilt was sold at QuiltCon in 2016, it's always good to see it again!

If you have yet to explore a copy of Curated Quilts for yourself, consider giving an issue a try. I've found it to be a beautifully published and inspiring quilting journal. And I'm pleased to have had a part in it.

Hewn

Remember me telling you about Curated Quilts, the new quarterly quilting journal coming out soon? Well one of the features in each issue is a mini quilt challenge. For the second issue, the call for log cabin quilts has been announced. In fact, the deadline is coming soon - October 1!

I can't honestly say that what I'm submitting is quite the result I may have gone after if it hadn't been for the traveling I've done the last several days. Ie. I knew I'd be away from my machine for a while, and the week waiting for me when I returned didn't guarantee much sewing time either. So when I managed to get a quilt top done before I left, I knew the only logical way to proceed was with hand-quilting.

Which is all fine and good. I've had plenty of experience at it back in the day, but lately not so much. And with the use of both Art Gallery denim and Essex linen in the piece, the thickness varied quite alot, and my stitches were kind of wobbly and uneven. You know - a very handmade look. The best part, though, was the thread I used - Aurifil 28wt #2625 (Arctic Ice). It was a first for me, as far as hand-quilting goes, and it stitched oh-so-smooth.

By the way, the backing I'd found in my stash was pretty perfect, I thought. In person, the colors really mesh with those of the required palette. Which reminds me - there was a required palette! What I saw in the photo posted was gray, tan, coral, gold, and pink. I read somewhere that the gray was really 'a soft navy', which is why I chose the denim. At any rate, it was a really captivating palette for me, and very enjoyable to work with.

One other little issue, though, was that I took the opportunity to use a machine I was quite unfamiliar with to sew on the binding. Don't get me wrong - it was a delight having a brief sewing spell in a borrowed (with permission!) sewing room, but it was kind of like sewing in Greek - none of the buttons were familiar, and I wasn't about to switch out the walking foot, thus my seam allowances weren't as precise as normal, and that resulted in a bit of bunching in the finished binding. In an odd sort of way, maybe that just adds to the wonky log cabin and the imperfect quilting, eh?



Whatever, it was a very enjoyable sew and gave me some hand-stitching for the car ride. Finishing at 15" square, it's the smallest quilt I've made in a while, and I confess, that was a bonus. Perfect it's not, but who ever said it all had to be? ....Exactly.

Linking up with Curated Quilts' Call for Entries - Log Cabin Mini Quilt.

Log Cabin Petite

As often happens as I'm pulling my newsletter together, I happen upon a design I have to explore further. This time it was the Quilt As You Go Log Cabin by Jera/Quilting in the Rain, posted on the Pellon site. Luckily, there was a brand new little boy that needed a quilt, so I headed straightaway to pull some fabric.



I haven't done alot of qayg, but it was perfect for this little quilt. As Jera described, it was "one form of 'quilt as you go' where a quilt is pieced directly onto one big piece of batting." Of course since the finished quilt measured just 33" x 36", it wasn't that big, which made it very easy to handle.

After sneaking a peek at photos baby's mama had posted on facebook, I had a hint at an appropriate color scheme. And I don't expect many of you to understand, but boy I enjoyed sewing with brown! It's been on my list for a while now, and this little quilt reminded me I need to set aside time to do it again soon.



Quilting was all done with irregularly spaced straight-lines in Aurifil 50wt 2370 [sandstone], a color I hadn't used before, but it added a softness to the browns while still tying in those greens.



Once the quilted top was done, I basted it to its backing and it didn't take too many passes to secure it. Jera provides a suggested quilting diagram and it worked perfectly.

So as this little quilt and its predecessor wing their way to their new homes, there's just one more baby quilt to make, then on to that Christmas sewing!

Archipelago

Definition #3 according to Merriam-Webster: "a group or scattering of similar things" .... which is exactly what I set out to create in my latest quilt. What led me to even think of Archipelago as a quilt name was my use of Bahama, one of the Free Spirit Designer Essentials, as my background fabric. I intentionally opted for a color outside my norm, and it was an enjoyable diversion.

A modern interpretation of the very traditional log cabin block, this quilt was made intentionally as an entry to 2017 QuiltCon's American Patchwork & Quilting Nine-Patch Challenge. Whether or not anyone else thinks it qualifies as a nine-patch remains to be seen, but meanwhile, its blocks were exceedingly satisfying to make and the finish pretty darn close to what I'd had in my mind's eye when I began.

The one frustration - and there certainly was one - was the quilting. Measuring 75"x88", this quilt was bigger than I was comfortable with to quilt as I'd originally hoped - something with alot of turning that echoed the mood and shape of the blocks. My second idea was to free-motion quilt it, still with that echo in mind. But within 15 minutes of that, I could feel the stress rising dramatically and knew I wasn't up for what it would take - or do it well. Fast-forward through several tedious unpicking sessions, and I got back to it, this time with an angled grid that I felt pretty good about. I usually quilt much denser, so I'm not real keen on the looseness of the fabric in some portions of the grid; yet on the other hand, it fits the scale and odd angles of the blocks. I used Aurifil 50wt 5006 (light turquoise), a lovely shade that is visible enough while still nestling in discreetly.

Finished off with faced binding, I'll honestly say though I'm very pleased with the result, I'm glad it's done. Though piecing the blocks was quite fun, this one reminded me that a discomfort quilting larger quilts still exists. oh well.

 This quilt was on my Q4 FAL2016 list!