Happy Monday, everyone!! It’s another beautiful, hot and humid day here in the south!! As I am writing this post (on Saturday), we’re supposed to have a high of 97 degrees, and we’re under a heat advisory from 9 AM to 9 PM – whew!! ? Let me just say, I will be staying inside today unless I just HAVE to get out for something!
Today, I help kick off the My Favorite Quilt Block Blog Hop, hosted by Carla of Creatin’ in the Sticks! Thanks, Carla, for hosting this fun event!
When I signed up for this blog hop and started thinking about my favorite quilt block, I couldn’t pick just one! There are so many I love, so I decided on a combination of two favorites!! I’ve always loved logs, and of course there are stars!
I will start by showing you the first log cabin quilt I ever made. I was trying to remember just when I pieced this top and have decided it was somewhere between 1986 and 1991. I have no idea the exact date! I know my daughter was very young and I’m pretty sure it was prior to my beginning nursing school. At any rate, I had Eleanor Burns’ book Quilt in a Day: Log Cabin Pattern, and a desire to make a log cabin quilt! I’m not saying Eleanor was pulling my leg <smile> but I did NOT finish this quilt in a day! This was the first big quilt I ever made. It took a few weekends, but I eventually got it completed. I dug it out of the closet this morning and was quite surprised that it was still in fairly good condition – meaning it might just get quilted now! LOL I draped it over my design wall and here is the center. There are more borders not shown as it actually was made for our king size bed. The colors certainly date this quilt!
I recently purchased the book Extraordinary Log Cabin Quilts by Judy Martin. So I decided to use a pattern from it. The quilt I really love is called Main Street Log Cabin, of which a small bit appears at the top of the cover. However, I did not want to make the whole quilt, so I adapted the pattern using EQ8. I love this program!! While on our weekend getaway several weeks ago, I found the perfect fabric at a shop I visited on the way home, Cotton Blossom Fabric Shoppe in Ridgeland, MS. I love Island Batik fabrics and unfortunately, none of our fabric shops carry it. So when I find it, I buy it!! Otherwise I have to order online, which is fine, but I really enjoy “petting” the fabric! ?
Judy gives excellent instructions on cutting and fabric requirements for the quilts in the book. Since I made mine smaller, I used EQ8 to guide me with the fabric requirements. Basically I made multiples of four separate blocks from the book and a variation of a saw tooth star block for the center.
I forgot to take a pic of the block that bridged everything together, but you can see it below as I was putting it together. Let me just say that cutting 16ths of an inch with a ruler only having 8ths of an inch markings can be quite challenging! fun!!
And here I present the flimsy, Cabin Star! The hubs makes a pretty decent quilt holder! ? Sweet Chloe wanted in the pic but I managed to edit her out! She is pretty much a camera hog! ?
I have some more purple fabric and may decide to add a small border around it. I’m having trouble deciding how to quilt it though. Any ideas? I welcome your comments below.
Quilt Stats: Cabin Star is made of 21 blocks for a current measurement of 40 x 40 inches. Fabrics – Island Batik Paisley Dots in teal(ish) green and purple (except for the logs in the center star). The center log fabric came from my stash and loved the way it pulled the purple and green fabrics together. The background fabric is Island Batik Foundation Neutrals Almond. You can’t really see it in the picture but it has swirls of soft color in it. I just love this background fabric! Cabin Star was pieced with Aurifil thread and my Pfaff Creative Icon.
Lessons Learned: The hubby makes an excellent quilt model! Chloe loves the camera. Cutting 16ths is pretty much guess work when you only have a ruler that measures in 8ths. If I find Island Batik fabric in a shop, I buy it! While I still love some of the blocks I loved 30 years ago, my color preferences have definitely changed, and I think my piecing skills have improved dramatically!
Thanks SEW much for visiting. You can find the schedule of bloggers for this week on Carla’s website, Creatin’ in the Sticks! Please take a some time and visit my fellow bloggers on the hop today. They are:
Words & Stitches
VroomansQuilts
PamelaQuilts
Songbird Designs (you are here!)
Days Filled With Joy
Quilted Delights
I hope you enjoyed seeing my favorite quilt blocks and projects! Until next time…
The log cabin is one of my all time favourites too! I have a marvellous book somewhere called Not Your Grandmother’s Log Cabin that I want to make lots of things from. Love your project, thanks for sharing. xx
Really enjoyed seeing your modified version of this quilt. Log cabin blocks are so fun and versatile!
That is beautiful! My first quilt was a log cabin too! same book!! too funny! I might do matchstick quilting in the outer borders, Feathers in the Purple Border…. and maybe Split feathers in the white – in the center… I would hope it would come to me as I am quilting!! Good luck!
So beautiful, and not your typical log cabin. Thanks for sharing!
Love how you’ve combined two beautiful blocks!!! Just gorgeous! xx
I love your Butterfly log cabin–I recently purchased a log cabin ruler and plan to experiment!
Good combination of the 2 blocks.
Love a good log Cabin. Thanks for sharing.
I love your choice of a fabric block. I love them too but after quilting for three years, still haven’t made one yet! What’s up with that??? I love your totally unique version of a log cabin. WOW!
Great arrangement for a log cabin block!
Beautiful log cabin – my favorite block as well!! The curves are amazing!!!
I like log cabins, too, and your older one definitely should be quilted. The thing about quilts is that even if you can date them by color and fabric, they are still pretty in any time. The second one will be dated in a few years, too, but it will still be as beautiful as ever.
I love both your log cabin quilts! The newer one is very modern and definitely has the WOW factor ♥ I plan on ordering the same quilt book to make a smaller version for me! I try to make a wall hanging for my entryway every other month — this would be perfect!
I too love batiks ♥♥
Great idea. I did a different thing, but also log cabin and star.
The Log Cabin block was one of my first blocks I made when learning to quilt. It drove me nuts, but also helped me get introduced to the wonky side of quilting and my tendency to make wonky my “style”! Any quilt with purple is eye-catching to me!
Beautiful quilt
My first quilt was the quilt in a day log cabin. Mine is tied. I can so relate to the color thing.
I love your new log cabin! The colors are fun and it has a really modern look.
What a beautiful quilt! So much work! Your quilting skills are excellent!! So sorry we didn’t get to see Chloe. I bet she’s a cutie!
I love how you can get so many different looks from one block. Your quilt is beautiful.
Cabin Star is beautiful! Believe it or not, I have yet to make a Log Cabin quilt. It’s somewhere on the list!
I love what you’ve done with the log cabins and stars!
LOVE! THANKS FOR SHARING!
Oh, wow! What a winning combination!!
I recently quilted one of my early, if not the first quilt I paper pieced. It is interesting looking back and seeing where you started and where you are today. Both quilt are gorgeous.
The log cabin quilt is timeless and I like the colors.
Oh my! This is amazing! I’ve made a log cabin, and that was a long process at the time. You do amazing work!
Love your bridges between your blocks. Sew creative. If I were quilting this on my home machine I would straight line quilt. I would divide in four quarters, starting with a cross through the middle. Then I would SITD the sawtooth star around the purple background square. Then I would straight line outward though the center of the bridges strips, starting on one edge of the corner toward center, turning 9o degrees and sewing straight to the other side of the corner. Hope this makes sense. I can see it in my head. However you finish it the quilt will be stunning. Thanks for sharing … 🙂 Pat
Log cabin is so useful and so beautiful. You have really combine the block in so many marvelous ways. I love your quilts.
Wowser. Beautiful block and quilt. I sure hope you enter this in a quilt show. Absolutely amazing. Stunning!
Wow, what a cool pattern! And your color choices really make it pop. I’d be inclined to quilt a different motif in each color, but sorry, I don’t have a motif suggestion! I am still learning how to make those decisions more quickly. Thanks for sharing!
I love all the purple and how it looks wavy…beautiful quilt! So many little pieces, but you really did a great job. Your first one is pretty cool, too. Thanks for sharing!
Wowzers, Brenda, wow. I love it so much. I really love the first quilt too. Time to quilt them. They will be show stoppers for sure.
Wow, this is a beauty. love the detail. Of course your original is a very pretty quilt and really will appreciate being finished and out of the closet.
I greatly dislike hot weather. I live in Northern Virginia and we do get very warm days.
Summer is not my favorite season.
I love your favorite quilt block. This look is sensational
This is a beautiful quilt top!
My first quilt was was a log cabin and that block has remained one of my favorites ever since.
I’ve never seen the log cabin technique used in such a unique way. What a striking quilt!
A beautiful curvy log cabin!
Beautiful colors! I love that border and how everything pops!
I also love log cabin and star blocks. They do go well together.
For quilting I definitely would use something curvy. Do not use straight lines on this beautiful quilt. Isn’t it amazing what a log cabin quilt can make you see anything but logs. You did a great job. Cheers to your hubs for his quilt holding ability 🙂