The Log Cabin Quilt: Pieced and pressed

It feels like it has been a long time coming and I know that I still have a way to go.  Nevertheless I cannot help feeling that I have crossed a personal rubicon this evening.  I have finished piecing the log cabin quilt top.

The top is now 42 inches wide and 56 inches long.  I think this will be a decent size for a cot plus a little bit of growing space.

I finished the borders on the Singer 201K.  I am still quite new to the treadle but I managed the long seams reasonably well.  The large level workspace is a bonus.  I only had one sticky moment when I upset the apple cart by letting the machine run backwards.  Result?  - Great wads of top thread knotting up on the underside of the work - this is to be avoided.  I had to stop, cut the work from machine and unpick the mess before I could continue.

So now it is time to think about putting the 201K to bed for a little while and introduce the Singer 401G.  That's the machine I am going to use to straight-line quilt this project.  But for now I think I've earned a beer.

The Log Cabin Quilt: Every Last Scrap

A long break from sewing over Easter but I am back in business now with a borrowed camera.  Last time I said I was nearly out of white fabric to finish the piano key border.  After another frantic search through the scrap box I turned up these.

They are the cuffs from one of my old shirts.  Most of the shirt has now been turned into log cabin blocks and piano keys.  Each cuff is double thickness so, between them, there is quite a bit of fabric here.  The middle piece of fabric is in fact bias cut interfacing so it will not be used in the quilt.  I will save it just in case it can be used for something else at some point.  The dark line on the fabric nearest the camera is actually the table showing through a very worn strip.

The cuff has yielded five more piano keys for the border.  I could only get two out of the piece with the worn strip.  I pressed and spray starched the fabric before cutting out the piano keys.

I have one more cuff to "process" and if I run short again I still have the collar as a last resort.

This is how I have decided to solve the problem of my corner stones.

I am happy with this effect.  It feels like these are going together more easily than mitred corners (which I used on my first ever quilt) and I like the way that the stepped strips continue as a variation on the log cabin theme.

I am setting myself the personal target of having this quilt top finished by the weekend.

The Log Cabin Quilt: Sashing and Border update

Here are the log cabin blocks pieced together in the sunshine and shadow setting. All the paper foundation has been removed [with the help of TMB - thanks!] and the narrow red sashed border added.  I think I like it... 

Spot the toe of my carpet slippers! 

Production has switched to the 201K.  The 28K's bobbin ran out on Saturday afternoon and I already had a class 66 bobbin wound with white thread.  The large level work space of the 201K's cabinet made the long seams more manageable. Does anyone else ever switch machines part way through a project?

Here is the quilt top a few minutes later with the first long side of piano keys added.  The border has been pressed and the quilt is making me smile.

Next job is to make another long piano key border for the other side but I may get distracted working out how I am going to handle the corner blocks.  I'm not sure I have the strength for mitred piano keys.

New Shirt Pattern

Hello.  I would like to start today's post with a big thank you to Muv and Peter for posting links to my blog on theirs.  This has led to record number of page views, new followers, and some great comments.  Thanks to everyone who has stopped by and especially to those who have left comments or decided to join the blog as followers.

With all this excitement was there ever a worse time for my poor camera to die on me?  Well with me planning to show you all how the borders for the log cabin quilt are coming along with I should say NOT!  With the MOT paid for and road tax just around the corner I'm not sure when a new camera will be on the cards :0(

I think I'll have to dig out the cable and do some experiments with my phone to see if I can produce any pics to keep the blog going in the meantime.  Keep watching

In other news I now have a shirt pattern.  I've been inspired by Peter's use of this pattern

I've never made a shirt before but I think it's time to take the plunge.  Or it will be when the log cabin quilt is finished.  I like all three versions shown on the pattern envelope.  My head has been turned by view B which has tucks on the front yoke but I will try to make the short sleeved version.  I'm a bit scared, as a beginner, of cuffs and plackets.  I've got some cheap nice lightweight cotton shirting for a muslin.  Let's see how that goes.  With a bit of luck I might have a new shirt in time for my holidays!

Piano Keys Quilt Border

I have made a start.  Here is the first section of the border I am preparing for the Log Cabin Quilt (two pattern repeats so far).

Piano Keys Quilt Border for the Log Cabin Quilt

I just wanted to get a bit done as a sample.  The keys are cut at one and half by six and a half inches so finish up the same width as the strips in the log cabin blocks.  I rather like how this is turning out so far.

I am not sure how much of this I am going to need yet.  I need to park the piano keys, piece the centre section and add the narrow sashing.  I wonder if The-Much-Beloved will allow me any sewing time over the weekend.

The Log Cabin Quilt: Progress

Here are the log cabin blocks I have made laid out on the sitting room floor.  No design wall for me.

Log Cabin Blocks

Now when I started piecing these I didn't really know what I was making.  I started the green log cabins as an experiment in paper foundation piecing.  I have now made 24 log cabin blocks. That's four blocks in six different colours.  Having done this I feel that I have made as many log cabin blocks I as would like to for the time being.  I think I am tired of sewing, fabric I can't see, through a sheet of paper.

Each of my 24 blocks will finish at seven inches square so at the moment I have a potential width of 28 inches and length 42 inches.  I think I have two options.

1. make another 24 blocks and to create a quilt top 42 x 56 inches
2. take what I have and use borders to bring the quilt top up to a similar size

I have decided that I am going to go with the second option.  Thinking about borders and my small fabric stash some kind of pieced 'scrappy' border is going to the answer.  I used piano keys for the border on my first ever quilt and enjoyed making them and the finished look of them.

Having looked at the scraps I have available I think I am going to use the red from the middle of the log cabins to add a narrow sashing border around the outside of the 24 log cabins.  Then I am going to use strips of the printed fabric, alternating with strips of the remaining white, to make the piano key border around that.  I am hoping that the red will frame the  log cabins and that the alternate white strips will prevent the outer border from over powering the centre blocks.  We will see.

Chain Piecing with the Singer 28K - Note the seam guide set for a scant quarter inch

Here I have started chain piecing one and a half inch strips to make the border.  This is the first time I have used this technique and I like the way it seems to save time and thread.

Pressing Chain Pieced Piano Keys - please excuse my ironing board cover.

These piano keys waiting to be snipped apart and trimmed open.

Making a decision about where this quilt top is going next has reawakened my interest and excitement in this project.  I am already thinking about what style of quilting will suit this patchwork.

Saturday Shopping Spree

I haven't done any sewing since Thursday but I have been planning and shopping.  Next best thing?

A few weeks ago my oldest old friend told me the fantastic news that she was expecting her first baby.  Wonderful news for her and just the excuse that I've been looking for to make a cot-sized fence rail quilt.

I had stumbled across a free pattern at Victoriana Quilt Designs a few months back and stored the idea in my memory bank for later.

I imagine something bright, fun and cute but not mawkish for a baby quilt and as we don't know what type of baby we are expecting I am steering clear of pink flowers and Disney Princesses.

I was thrilled to find these fabrics in the shop that is never knowingly undersold.  I spotted the owl print first and fell for it.  I've had a bit of a thing for Owls for ages.  I think it goes back to childhood memories of Blackberry Farm, Winnie the Pooh, The Sword in the Stone and Clash of the Titans (the original one with Larry, Maggie and Burgess).  Wise nocturnal birds seem to me to be appropriate to watch over infant sleep.

The bright yellow leaf print was next to catch my eye.  The yellow is a spot on match for the yellow on the owl print and the leaf is stylistically similar on both fabrics.  I toyed with a few options over the the third fabric.  I wanted to bring out either the red or the blue from the owl print.  I saw some blue with irregular yellow dots that I liked but the yellow wasn't quite right and then, a few bolts down the rack, I spied the petrel blue version of the yellow leaf print.  I hummed and hahhed a bit over it.  I didn't want the thing to look too leafy but The-Much-Beloved and the staff helped me make up my mind.

The pattern I intend to make calls for three fabrics; a dark tone on tone, medium tone on tone, and a light print.  I think I am near enough on that one.

I have one or two things to finish before I go at this project hammer and tongs so I guess I can enjoy the smell of new fabric for a few days more before I get down to washing and preshrinking the new yardage.