Modern Log Cabin Quilt finish 2014

I began the year 2014 with a quilting theme, the Log Cabin. It is a very traditional pattern I have always admired so when I got a request for a tiny 4 inch log cabin block from my modern quilt guild to add to a member's new baby quilt I thought it was time for me to try log cabins in my own quilts.

the first four inch log cabin block for the guild's baby quilt.
The finished quilt with baby Vivian can be seen here: Jessie Aller's Flickr

 I also listened to a new thing called a Webinar presented to the Modern Quilt Guild which said that modern quilt design is full of neutral areas that work against bold new colors. Naturally, orange came to mind as my favorite bold color to begin with and I found this red, orange and purple mixed print fabric really appealed. I also liked the notion of using mixed whites and neutral colors that almost blend to be one tone but are not quite a solid field. At first I just played with the colors and fabrics learning how to build the log cabins and what contrasts I liked making in the combinations.

I used oranges and purples to build a series as well as white and off white with gray. As I worked with the blocks and learned the formula it felt like I had too many different colors in my blocks. I eventually  pulled out the purple and orange log cabins and kept making those 5.5 inch squares until I completed enough to build the smaller "log cabin quilt" I finished in May...

 Determined to create a large quilt with this log cabin theme I held on to the gray,

mixed whites and orange blocks and experimented with scale of the strips in the blocks. Instead of just one inch strips I began making a mix of one, two and three inch strips to achieve a larger block scaled to assemble together in an improvisational group. At this stage the felt wall was really important to lay out the various blocks and see where I was headed before I began assembling the different blocks into an overall design.

Along the way I discovered an antique quilt on Pintrest which was called a Triple Bar Log Cabin.  This one appeared to be a slightly rectangular shape and I began using it in an off shoot to keep having fun. I played with a broader spectrum of colors which cried out to me as the orange, gray and mixed whites project was accumulating enough blocks to cover a queen sized bed.

antique triple bar log cabin quilt photo from Pintrest 

My first triple bar log cabin block using a red-orange center to represent fire in the hearth.

This triple bar log cabin finish I called the Cantilever Cabins quilt thinking of the cool new buildings that use prefabricated rectangular cubes or steel shipping containers stacked up to make buildings in modern architecture. It was a very colorful finish that really tickled my fancy. To do the hand quilting I used some near matching multicolor pearl cottons to add an extra layer of color. The neutral blocks really added a modern feel to the finish as the Modern Quilt Guild Webinar had instructed.

Still I had this big set of blocks waiting to come together and I plugged along playing over and over with the various ways to combine the quilt blocks and create a modern design. It is a real struggle to set these designs and commit to the arrangement. The variations were only limited by my own taste. In the end I had too many blocks and pulled some blocks that didn't fit in well, out. This became another kind of Neutral block with pink log cabin quilt. The Untitled Log Cabin creation was fun and finished next as I got closer to the big quilt finish.

All along the queen sized finish was getting closer. It was time to make up my mind how big and how the layout was going to be set and sewn down. On the felt wall I tried symmetry then asymmetry... square and rectangular formats all working around the one big orange and gray block  from the beginning seen in the center below. 

I decided on a big 88 inch square format to fit my sleigh bed. But I wanted to add lots more orange-gray blocks to the mix feeling for a need to see more color in the large field of paler neutrals. It is filled with rich wool batting and backed with a white on white print then hand quilted with ecru pearl cotton #8. That means it was going to take a while to complete. Once I determined the shape, all three layers went together fast and the quilting spiral was marked in a day. It was ready to begin the hand quilting. Using a hoop of 18 inches I find it is easier to do the center sections where grabbing by hand alone is a little difficult.   As I work the lines of quilting towards the edges I abandon the hoop and just hold the three layers with no frame. 

Lucky for me that the summer wasn't hot as it usually is, so I could endure working under all that wool and cotton fabric for long evenings in front of the TV. In the end I added a binding of orange and made a white label for the back. Now I am having difficulty photographing such a big quilt at home. I need another DC Modern quilt guild meeting at the large Arlington Library where we made finished quilt photos last year using our professional photo set up to get a really nice finished quilt photos for our portfolio and blog posts. In the meantime here is the quilt pinned to my bedroom felt wall and a few other detail finished quilt photos... 

With this quilt I think I am about to finish the log cabin series but there are still some strips of orange and white laying on the pile of left overs I cut so who knows maybe there is another little block or two of log cabin waiting to find form. That fire red orange color is a recurring theme in my quilting work. The hand quilting was done in a squared spiral beginning in the biggest orange block radiating out to the edges at two inch row intervals. 

Last night we slept under the orange explains it quilt  and the big log cabin seen in this photo. It was toasty warm with the layers of wool and cotton piled high. Ending the year of log cabins I am ready to move on to something with a new challenge. Curves are calling to me to come play in 2015. Happy new year! 

Jessie's Jasmine Tea, Quilt revealed

I finished a second quilt recently. It was inspired by Jessie Aller's Jasmine Tea fabric line for In The Beginning 2012 from a bundle of 8 fat quarters she put together for a DC Modern Quilt Guild prize I won last February.

I added a snow white Kona (from Elle)  for the sashing and a very pale warm gray solid background. Plus there are a few scraps of darker gray fabrics to work with Jessie's white fabric prints that got lost beside my pale background fabric. I tried to make this a very light and feminine quilt, considering the source of my materials, it seemed the right thing to do as a tribute to the lady I admire very much for her talents and kind personality.

 I chose to use a traditional pattern known as the Churn Dash block. I still wonder what a churn dash is, does anyone know? My guess is that the top of the butter churn had a frame to support the round wood and add stability to the part where the plunger handle which goes in and out, up and down... which may give it the shape and name. That is just a guess.

The delight of the google age for me is entering an obscure question and finding out the answers! I just looked up butter churn dash and discovered images of the part called the "dasher" which is what makes the cream into butter. Most of them are simple crosses attached to the end of the plunger. I am not sure how that became the design for my quilt block but it is interesting to consider. Now that I am happy about that new butter churn dasher information. Let's look at the new quilt.

My embroidery label on the white with gray dots selvage edge exposed to show the label on fabric

close up detail of the Perle yarn in rose pink hand quilting

81 x 58 inches finished measurement 

gray on white printed back with a beet red and hot pink print as the final binding frame.  

quilting pattern of diamonds and smaller squares to break up the grid

This was a very fun quilt to build hope you like it. 

here you can see some of the different gray background fabrics

Orange Explains it, quilt revealed

close detail of hand quilting with ecru pearle threads 

"Orange Explains It" queen size quilt finished 

 Since April 4th of this year I have been working, playing and enjoying the building of an abstract improvisational quilt top in orange with a few neutrals, mostly grays and browns. I was inspired by two things:
1. A visit in Washington DC with the Gee's Bend quilters of Alabama.
2. The scraps of orange and gray fabric that were given to me at a DC modern quilt guild meeting.

scraps of orange gray and brown first gift 

more orange from the scrap swap meet 

DCMQG members at the Gee's Bend event 

Gee's Bend quilt detail 

table view of Gee's Bend quilt 

close up of the quilting from Gee's Bend quilt 

Nice detail of Gee's Bend quilt 

Lady in purple suit with pearls and the younger one in Pink sweater set both from Gee's Bend who shared their quilting stories and songs with us. 

Elder Gees Bend quilter with the US Postage stamps commemorating her communities quilts 

my first try at using the orange gray and brown fabrics in an abstract improvisational block

At first I played with the fabrics on my design wall, not sure what I was going to do with them. Pretty quickly a block style began to emerge. It's all rectangles from strips of any fabric that was a little like orange. I chose many fabrics ranging from reds to yellows in the spectrum of orange.  It's interesting how colors that look a little orange alone when placed next to other oranges becomes a new hue, usually yellow or red. I used what I understood to be the Gee's Bend design formula of going with my natural inclinations to work up more and more new blocks until the whole was big enough for a queen sized bed.

blocks arranged on the design wall to try and find a way to assemble them into a solid quilt top

Soon after I added it all up with hand stitched quilting using a #8 pearle thread in ecru and bound the edges with a dark chocolate brown. It's bold and bright in the end a very unique piece.

orange quilt top takes up the whole living room spread out on the floor to baste

detail of hand quilting using pearle #8 ecru

adding a dark chocolate brown binding 

 Then I chose a pair of contrasting blue and white prints for the backing that I was saving because I loved the prints. I worked on a label at the summer meeting of DC Modern Quilt Guild in the Botanical Gardens on the national mall.

top with label turned up 

simple blue and white for the backing to cool off those hot oranges

This quilt was one of the must fun to make because I only had to follow my inner voice the whole way through from start to finish. No fussy cutting or pattern making was needed the biggest challenge was arranging all my blocks to fit together into one huge block. This artistic way of working is just one of many I plan to use in the future.