Log Cabin Quilt Top

As I mentioned recently, I'm taking a bit of a break from sewing clothes. But I seem to be incapable from taking a complete break from sewing. So I've been putting together a quilt top for the past week (despite the fact there is a queen size quilt in my sunroom that is still waiting to be finished). I've wanted to do a log cabin quilt ever since I started quilting in 2003. I did a sampler quilt for my mom that year and one of the blocks was a log cabin block. I've loved so many log cabin quilts I've seen in books and magazines. And they are so simple to make.

A month or so ago I was going through my fabric stash and pulling out blues and greens that might work in a quilt together. I added orange for the middle squares for a bit of pop (and to represent the "fireplace" in the log cabin—these squares are traditionally red). After relatively few hours of rotary cutting and chain stitching, I had 25 log cabin blocks.

One of the nice things about this pattern is that the block placement changes the look of the quilt quite dramatically. The problem, then, is making a decision. After trying various arrangements, I realized that some of my blues and greens were not distinctly different enough to make certain block arrangements really work. So I settled on making diagonal stripes with them.

I probably would have been more thrilled with this if I had gone out and bought some more of the brighter blues and some more true greens, but I really wanted to use up stash fabric (and boy did I ever do that). At some point I'll quilt this on my friend's mother-in-law's longarm quilting machine, but since I don't have a particular purpose in mind for it at the moment, it's not a top priority. I think once it is quilted I'll probably like it more. Or maybe it will end up on Etsy.

The next log cabin quilt I attempt will have far greater contrast, skinnier logs (these I cut 2" wide then the seams brought them down to 1 1/2"), and smaller (but more numerous) blocks. Live and learn.