What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I’ve returned to regularly scheduled programming, which means I’m back to my drawer of silk fabrics. Over the years I’ve bought all sorts of silk, augmented with 1960s/70s era dresses discarded by a theater’s costume shop and men’s ties. Because the silks range from tissue thin to heavy, I’ve fused backing onto many of them so they are easier to use.

So far this year I created my fantasy village from silks.

A few years ago I developed pieces made of silk ovals sewn together, then layered with wire and cording. Most of ...

Love the first Log cabin design this mid week!

I think I should go through this project files and draft pieced blocks based on some of these designs … I think it just might work very well with at least some of them.

Another interesting design.

I am thinking that all these designs are interesting, and they could all be done with half square triangles replacing the quilt designs, though I would use some bigger triangles whenever possible.

It will be interesting seeing how they come together as quilt designs. I admit to being totally addicted to drawing both new pieced ...

This Mid Week Retreat post is a bit late. I don’t often pre-program blog post by more than an hour or two, but I was going to be absent from home for a week, spending time with a group of quilters, and for that time, time meant nothing to us. In preparation I set up not just the five days of retreat but an extra few days to cover the rest of the month of May. Well, not quite the rest of the month. When I reached the last day of the month I did a post without any ...

One hundred and forty four identical blocks, …

twist a few around for a new design, …

then turn them all inside out for another design …

repeat over …

and over.

This project file could go on forever, but I like more block variety.

Oh, dear! I only turned one block half way round in the fourth design, and so the same mistake appears twice!

More Log Cabin designs, mid week, next week!

Lots of piecing, followed by lots of applique.

Love the design above.

I haven’t opened this project file for years, and the fabrics are dated, but I learned early on as a quilter that the colours don’t really matter if the contrast works. The contrast in this file isn’t perfect either, but the design is appealing despite that.

Sort of turned the design of the centre inside out and I still love it.

The four extra blocks with applique make it an even better design. I have decided not to spend hours changing the fabric choices in ...

I have not seen many pink Log Cabin quilts. Most seem to be much stronger colours, but I wanted to try designing some with pretty fabrics when I started this project file.

The name followed naturally as there is a tiny town in Australia next to a salt lake which is often without water, but when it does have water the lake is pink. The town is Lochiel, and the name led to some young farmers making a monster from old tyres. Unfortunately, the monster lost it’s head due to vandals, and now there is a more permanent metal ...

The Log Cabin project file was one of the early files I opened just for this blog.

I am still amazed at the number of designs I found over 15 years ago, though I am not very impressed with the colour choices I made back then. My thinking was that not too many people would like the colouring enough to steal the designs and claim them as their own. I have since played with the colours in some of the old files and made them more attractive but some of them have too many designs to sit and recolour.

I ...

Three different colorings of the basic Log Cabin block used in this project file, the half and half light and dark block, plus all light and all dark.

The first design has 16 all light, four all dark, the rest half and half.

The second has just four dark blocks.

Twelve dark, twelve light ….

… eight all dark.

Sixteen light and four dark in the last design.

Challenge for me … I have been avoiding having multi coloured blocks, but sometime between now and Christmas I will add green and white blocks to the red and white, all red and all white ...

I think the first design for this week’s mid week Log Cabin retreat should be ‘Spider in a Spin’

Interesting, but not as much fun as the first design.

I like the corners in the third, but think they would be more appealing with all dark in the absolute corner.

A nice one above.

Another nice one to finish this week’s escape from the madding world.

That is all for this week, more Log Cabin designs mid week, next week.

Interesting design.

Same layout, same fabrics but different blocks.

Log Cabin quilts in old favourite layouts with good use of colour and contrast always catch my eye, but with the same care in choosing fabrics and mixing up the blocks you can create totally new designs.

The one above is very interesting.

The one above is almost a very common layout of 64 identical blocks, but it creates a different look with 16 blocks turned inside out.

That is all for this week, but mid week, next week there will be another selection of Log Cabin quilt designs to challenge ...

 I have been finding myself with lots of time to sew.  

And I have been spending it trying to finish as many projects as I can.

I finally finished sewing up the blocks for this scrap quilt.  Then I immediately loaded it onto my longarm and quilted it.  

A very interesting design for any time of the year, in any colours too.

A nice neat and tidy design.

Same design, with a little bit of extra colour.

With only three logs on each side of these designs they still have a lot of impact.

The last design for this week, and I like the addition of the little bit of red, but I still forgot to turn one block ninety degrees!

More Log Cabin designs, mid week, next week.

 This week seemed to fly by so fast.  I feel like I should have a lot more to show for it - but this is all the scrap sewing I did.

I made this single 16 patch block for a future donation quilt.

The red fabrics look sparkly!

I already have far too many Christmas decorations but I really want to print a whole heap of quilt designs to use on Christmas trees, and as banners.

Perhaps I will have to cull some of my Christmas stash so I can add new bits to the collection.

In the meantime I will have to finish putting up some of my favourite decorations today.

At least i have posted all the Christmas mail.

More Log Cabin designs mid week next week.

Too much dark, though if it was on a bed a lot of the dark would be overhang or scrunched up at the bottom corners.

Interesting.

My first thought when I opened up this design, which has been locked away since it was created about five years ago is that it looks like something a computer programmer would use to illustrate some new program.

The blocks used in these designs include Log Cabin, Courthouse Steps and Curved Log Cabin (or Thick and Thin, TNT)

Christmas must be coming … I see bonbons in the last design in this weeks Log Cabin ...

I rather like the first design, though I think I would like it better on the floor than on a bed.

Very interesting.

What if I change the light fabrics to dark and vice versa, and change a few blocks.

The design is much lighter, but with dark lacey bits.

What if I add four dark blocks ….

Interesting, but not better than it was.

I think the last one is my favourite design this week, but there are many more designs in this project file for future reference.

Seeing them all together makes it easy to see the changes I ...

 There have been a few questions asked in the comment section that I thought I would answer in a post of their own.  I will try my best to address them here.

I like it! Colours are not great, but the contrast is fine.

Reminds me of the things they put up and call wind farms.

My favourite for today is the one above.

Don’t know why I saved the design above, but perhaps it was because I thought I could spend some time playing with the corners to make the overall design more interesting.

If you enjoy quilting there is an opportunity to play in the big yellow space.

More Log Cabin Quilt designs mid week, next week.

I share a lot of Log Cabin variations, and this project file is the most basic of them all.

The same block repeated over and over again, twisted and turned to create different designs.

I love some of the very basic traditional layouts, but it is so easy to place a few blocks inside out to create something different.

Even if you use exactly the same fabrics as others to make the blocks, you can make your blocks into something different.

I like the last two most of this week’s Log Cabin designs.

More Log Cabin designs, mid week ...

A few all dark, or all red, blocks, the rest are standard Log Cabin blocks, and are all made using the standard pieced Log Cabin construction methods.

The second design has some all light, or white, Log Cabin blocks, and a totally different arrangement of the blocks.

The third one has quite a few all light/white, there are four dark/red blocks, and 40 light/dark combination blocks to create another totally different Log Cabin Quilt design.

The design above are all identical pieced Log Cabin blocks, but they have been twisted and turned to create something totally different ...