Improv Quarter Log Cabin

Early last year, I shared an Improv Quarter Log Cabin block tutorial on the Seattle MQG blog, and considering it's a block I am really fond of and keep coming back to, I figured it was high time to share it right here.

We used black and white prints with a white solid, so the instructions are written accordingly. Obviously, you can change things up according to your preferences, including fabric choices and number of rounds, even block size. But this will get you going on the basic block.

Begin by cutting a squarish shape from the black and white fabric, about 3 1/2″ square, i.e. it shouldn’t necessarily be a square but close. Also cut several strips of both fabrics, 1 1/2″ – 3″ wide. Feel free to slant the strips or you can wait to give it some wonk when you trim each row before continuing on.

Suggested strip lengths:
2 each of white solid: 6″, 8″, 12″
2 each of each print: 8″, 10″, 14″
Or you may work with WOF and trim as you sew.

Sew a white strip to the left of the square; press and trim along bottom edge. Sew a white strip on the bottom of the square; press.

Continue adding rows, alternating solid and print. Trim left edge and bottom each time before going on to the next round.



Keep an eye on how your block size is progressing as you go – it might make a difference how much you trim or what size strip you use next. The final block size should be 12 1/2″ square. When you square it up, though, feel free to give it some wonk.

Here are the two quilts the guild made with these blocks:

Blue Trimmed Cabin

Fade to Black

You might remember I also had Faith Circle of do.Good Stitches use the block to make Quartersaw, which we finished early this year.

And, I've been working on a scrappy improv log cabin quilt for most of the spring and summer, and finally have it done! So stay tuned.... I'll be sharing that next!

A Little Punchy

Yeah, I wasn't overly thrilled when I saw that this month's Mighty Lucky Quilting Club
challenge was totally applique. But after reading through Sarah Fielke's "Favorite Pieced Blocks as Inspiration for Applique," I was not only intrigued, but interested enough to start in on a plan.

I had just randomly purchased some Kona Punch, and just for fun, decided to build my project around that. The green and aqua were unidentified stash finds, and of course the background is from Latifah Saafir's Grafic.

As much as I whine about applique, it's not that I haven't done it. In fact I've made at least two large quilts in days gone by that were completely applique. But seriously, it's been years.... and for some strange reason, as much as I used to enjoy that kind of slow stitching, these days I'm inclined to sew much faster.

But that wasn't the assignment here, now was it? Applique was the name of the game, and I started in with the method I'd used years ago - drawing shapes on my fabric, cutting a rough 1/4" around them, then pinning to my background with short pins, with the intention of folding under along those lines as I stitched.

But I'd seen daughter dear do something different when she appliqued, and in conferring with her, was reminded to reference Carolyn Friedlander's Savor Each Stitch: Studio Quilting with Mindful Design, and there Carolyn suggested machine basting 1/4" from the edge of each shape, and then turning under 1/8" as you stitched. Similar but different and to me, new-fangled and worth a try. Since I'd already marked and trimmed my shapes though, my measurements weren't quite like Carolyn's this time, but I tried the general method at least.

I chose to remove my basting as I sewed on each shape, and without those little pins, the whole piece was very comfortable in my hand as I sewed. The finished piece is 17" square, just like my other Mighty Lucky challenge projects. A slightly askew quarter log cabin block, with logs separated somewhat, I quilted it with an equally wonky quarter-log cabin design. 

Though overall a pretty simple little quilt, it was a very good reminder to me to keep trying new (and including old) techniques in my work. And that applique? Thanks to a recent road-trip where I couldn't access my machine at all, I found it most enjoyable, and much like riding a bike....

The Desire to Make

I totally blame my recent research for tomorrow's issue of The Scrap Basket. Yesterday when I had a couple of hours to sew, I glanced at the scraps covering my design wall, at the stack of modern-minded hexies piled on my ironing board, and even at 2 wips in the closet, you know, the kind with deadlines. But what I was really itching to make was a quarter log cabin block. A quilt full of them would have been better, but that wasn't going to happen in the time allowed, so I settled for 1 block.

Working from Heather Jones' Half Way Home tutorial just up on the Robert Kaufman website, I literally pulled from the scrap basket as I began to sew, seeking a very neutral palette and as many linen-cotton blends as I could dig up.

When the block was done, it measured only 9"x12", yet I had the urge to just quilt it up and make it into a mini quilt. Why not? So I gathered a handful of Aurifil 50wt threads - a variety to make things interesting - and got started. When a project is this small, even matchstick quilting takes almost no time at all.

I bound this little one while watching TV last night, reflecting on how satisfying a sew it was. Not preplanned in the least, but out of an impulse to make grew an inkling of a project, which soon materialized into something small yet fulfilling. How good can it get?