Log Cabin Quilt

Kate, I'd probably go with 1-1/2 inch strips to make a 13-1/2 inch finished block. As for colors, if I asked DH, he'd probably say blues or blues and browns. I'm picturing fall colors, though - maybe a brick or burnt orange color for the center square with off-white and gold-yellows on the light side and dark green and browns and reds on the dark side.

Kate's got a fella, Kate's got a fella! Atta girl, good for you. Meanwhile back to the log cabin. Just standard autumn colors is always good for log cabins, and red + green is quite dazzling and not girly. A little different would be marine blue, beige and ivory. You'll want to think about technical stuff such as mattress drop and will it be used 'just for display' or actually need to be wide/long enough to be a comfortable quilt. Consider carefully what you see him wear; that should give you some clues about his preferences. (Mr. Esther *hates* brown and if you made him a quilt with brown in it, I'm certain it would be neatly folded and put in the top shelf of his closet.) When you're putting your logs together, be sure to put thread on your bobbin. Ask Leslie. Polly

"Kate T." I've never made this quilt and need some help.

Here is a log cabin quilt I made several years ago:

IIRC, the blocks are 10 inches. That was a good size, big enough that I did not need to make a million blocks but small enough that there was some "play" in making a design.

OK, I just looked at the pattern

and found that the blocks are 12 inches.

When I look at log cabin blocks, it seems that some are disporoportionate--logs being too thick for the size of the block. It is, of course, in the eye of the beholder. Probably also depends on what kind of design you anticipate creating with those logs.

Have fun!

Mary "Kate T." wrote:

I did 12 inch blocks -- 1 1/2" unfinished strips I believe. Lots and lots of ways to lay out the blocks for a wide variety of patterns. You can see the one I did in my webshots albums -- Kathy's Quilts (see link below).

If you do a Google Images search (or search webshots or any other album website) for log-cabin-quilt ... you'll get lots and lots of pictures to give you some ideas!

Just be prepared for lots of cutting and lots of sewing. One reminder -- always be sure to square up your blocks before putting them together. With all those seams -- actually finishing with an actual 12 1/2 inch unfinished block that is square was rare -- at least in my experience!

I've made probably twenty log cabin tops. It's my 'go to' pattern when I want to do a quickie top.

I use a 12 in. finished block with logs that finish at either 1 in. or 1.25 in. wide. I actually prefer the looks of a 1.25 in. finished log. I draw out the block, figure the dimensions of each log and make a test block to prove my measurements. Then I cut all the logs at once- cutting 8-12 thickness of fabric at a time... using a brand new rotary blade in my 45 mm cutter, of course! First cut the strips then cut the lengths to size. Cutting that many layers at once is not for the faint of heart and requires concentration and lots of muscle- you do NOT want to make a mistake in measurements nor let your rotary cutter run amok!

Some folks sew each round of the blocks to a long strip of fabric and then cut the blocks off the strip- rather than cutting the strip of fabric into sections for each round of logs. I don't like that long strip method because if you get off size on something then you don't know until all the blocks are done and they are all over the place in size. If you pre-cut the logs and they don't fit together correctly you know some thing is wrong and you can fix it before the error starts multiplying itself. Also, after the first few rounds of adding logs to the block, you always add the next log on the side where you stitch across two seams. Only ONE side of the block will have two seams, so you cannot get confused on where to add the next log if you keep that in mind.

I had making log cabin tops down to a science- years ago I could start with pulling fabrics from my stash, cut, sew and assemble the queen sized top in fourteen hours working straight thru! Polly refers to the time I was sewing the last round of logs on 120 log cabin blocks. I finished the last log on the last block at 4 a.m.- after working on them all day and night. I went to fish the chained blocks out from behind the sewing machine and found out I'd run out of bobbin thread on the second block and had 118 logs sewn to the blocks with no bobbin thread.

I cried.....

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Oh my goodness, how I love Leslie. So glad she's here to make your logging easier. She's so right about: cut your strips to exact lengths so you'll know every time that your logs are staying true and even. If you place a strip and it's not crossing TWO seams, you're in the wrong place. Thread on the bobbin is not optional. Mary's log cabin tells you that you do NOT have to be limited to solids. Prints, patterns, plaids (if you dare) are so much more interesting. Polly

"Leslie& The Furbabies in MO." I've made probably twenty log cabin tops. It's my 'go to' pattern when I

I'm certainly not the expert, I've made one log cabin. But it was really fun, and I thought it turned out well for a guy quilt. The blocks were either 8 or

8.5 IIRC. I just went through and chose all the darker shades I thought I could get away with. They were 1.5 inch strips. But not solids, there was prints, florals, plaids, too. It was very scrappy. I have a pic "in progress" but don't have one of the finished quilt. Here's the link My aunt has made several ofEleanor Burns' pattern, with 2.5 inch strips. Six different fabrics, all coordinated. They are lovely and very quick to finish. Each one looks different because she put the blocks together in a different way. They are 12 inch blocks (I think).

I am ready to do another one too. Can't decide on the fabric either!

PS, and OT: Kate, were you the one who was asking about the Seamline marker? Did you ever get one?

Sherry

Forgot to say this: I mentioned I was ready to do another log cabin and hadn't picked out the fabric yet. I was actually thinking about getting kind of wild and crazy and using batiks. Wouldn't that be pretty?

Sherry

Oh so many responses and I hope I can answer them all. First of all thank you all for jumping in with answers to my questions.

As fer bein' my feller, I kinda adopted him.

I was thinking of doing the 42 inch strips but Leslie I want to thank you for saying to cut the logs to the length called for in the pattern. Instead of fussing with the long strips I can cut one strip the for the desired length then cut individual longs the width I need. That way I can concentrate more on keeping the scant quarter inch seam than fighting with several blocks sewn wrong at once.

I've been drawn to the barn raising layout since he is building a log cabin and I could name it "cabin raising, a new beginning". And now to the colors, Well Hum-m-m-m.

I do have some orange for the center block. Its not the zinger bright orange nor is it burnt orange. It is from some ombre fabric I picked up a year ago. The ombre goes from very pale orange to dark orange.

Got to go look at the patterns to see which block pattern I like.

Another question, should I press the seams open or not. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.

Kate T. South Mississippi where it is 29 degrees and getting COLDER.

I have happily done a couple of log cabin quilts and all three of them came out with finished squares of 12'' and lots of 1" or 1-1/2" strips. That gives you the look of lots of logs in the block whereas if you use 2" finished strips you get fewer logs in the 12" block and it tends to be a bit clunkier in appearance, at least to me. Not that that is a bad thing, if that is what you are trying to do, though. The quilt I am now almost finished with, is the log fence pattern, from the Barbara Brackman Civil War quilts album, which I used larger strips that are laid in strips and alternated at 90 degrees. The nice thing about log cabin is that there are so many variations in the layout that you could probably spend a lifetime doing them all. Color choices, I think, will depend on the intended layout as to which will want to be featured; color or pattern of placement. Isn't it always so, in most quilting that comes out looking good? I agree with the Autumn colors mentioned above, with beige's and creams and off whites for the lighter colors. Yum, Yum! John

Kate, another decision you must make before you begin is the *number* of blocks you'll need. It is big fun to play with the blocks and arrange them until you decide which is the most wonderful - but it would be So annoying to need just one more block or one more row. Polly

I have happily done a couple of log cabin quilts and all three of them came out with finished squares of 12'' and lots of 1" or 1-1/2" strips. That gives you the look of lots of logs in the block whereas if you use 2" finished strips you get fewer logs in the 12" block and it tends to be a bit clunkier in appearance, at least to me. Not that that is a bad thing, if that is what you are trying to do, though. The quilt I am now almost finished with, is the log fence pattern, from the Barbara Brackman Civil War quilts album, which I used larger strips that are laid in strips and alternated at 90 degrees. The nice thing about log cabin is that there are so many variations in the layout that you could probably spend a lifetime doing them all. Color choices, I think, will depend on the intended layout as to which will want to be featured; color or pattern of placement. Isn't it always so, in most quilting that comes out looking good? I agree with the Autumn colors mentioned above, with beige's and creams and off whites for the lighter colors. Yum, Yum! John

I would press the seams toward the center.

Julia in MN

Howdy!

R/S

Howdy!

Indeed, Sherry.

The striking contrast in your LC is gorgeous.

R/S

The final design is important as well - if you want to do a 'barn raising' layout you need an EVEN number of blocks across and down to keep the pattern centered. On the other hand you can have a lot of fun using ODD numbers of blocks to make an asymmetric layout. I did one like that a number of years ago - I was inspired by an article in QNM.

As for sewing it together - if you are doing a scrappy quilt it's just as easy to cut a bunch of strips the correct width from the different fabrics, sew them on, and then trim them off, one side at a time. Just stop when the block is the size you like. Final size adjustments are tweaked using the border width.

Log cabins are one of my favorite designs!

Allison

Polly Esther wrote:

With respect Allison, it is the easiest block in the world to get to come out the wrong size; and not cutting the strips to the right length just contributes to the ease with which it can be done! In fact, though I wouldn't suggest it to most people, I make all my log cabin blocks using paper foundation! It is all too easy to spot a 'trimmed to size' block, because there are hundreds of strips all the same width.

I love the idea of an asymmetrical design - must think about that! . In message , Allison writes

Howdy!

Me, too, Allison: LC is one of my favorites. I like to cut strips from a few dozen fabrics, lay them all in baskets (lights here, darks there), sew & trim, as long as the strip lasts, trimming again after each round (simple-simple). For scrappy I stick strips in a bag so I don't know what I'll put out next; lighter here, darker there, just enough contrast to matter to me. LC=EZ

I rearranged the corners on the Star so they were all the same; it hangsin the dining room.

R/Sandy

Howdy!

Using the 12.5" ruler, I square-up the block throughout the process, to make sure it doesn't get off track. By cutting long strips at the beginning, I have less to cut during the piecing. You have much more patience and skill than I to use the foundation piecing method. I've seen your work in Paducah, Pat: excellent! ;-)

Happy New Year!

R/Sandy - my process produces more scraps.. and that's good!