Building a Log Cabin

I have a special project in the planning stage, building a king size log cabin quilt for someone special.  In researching this old traditional block I found the center color is very significant, its considered the center of the home.  Red is for the heart of the home and yellow is for the light of the home.

Working in my EQ7 I played with colors and layout

Red

Yellow

I know the log cabin block is not very modern looking and modern is my thing,  To bring it to a more modern look I will be making a block that uses 2 1/2" strips on one side and 1 1/2 on the other making the color side thicker.  I am not sure what the blue center would stand for, anyway that is what I am going with.

 

 

Chocolate & Cream Log Cabin Block

 

I looked for a few weeks for fabrics that had the look and feel I wanted.  After seeing all the modern ones I found what I wanted for the browns in another section by Judie Rothermel for Marcus Brothers called Civil War Peace and Unity.  I went with medallions because I didn't want flowers, of course I have to throw in some solids just because. 

 

I am still playing with the layout but this is kinda what I am thinking currently, one block done only 99 more to go.

 

Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts and Freshly Pieced

time to sew,

 

Pam

Stuck on this quilt

Is it still a WIP if I can't figure out what's wrong to start working on it again?  I started this quilt many months ago, I love the fabrics and I also love the idea of this pattern by Sew Kind of Wonderful.  Now as you may be able to tell I really want to work on it but there is something about it that doesn't seem right.

Each time I unroll it in an effort to work on it I just feel something's off.   When I sent the above picture with this question to my daughter she suggested I start by removing one of the fabrics,  she said the stripe was distracting.  

That was more than a month ago and I'm itching to work on it, I'm not one to have multiple outstanding projects laying around.  I discussed it at last weekends guild meeting, it was suggested by one I take a rotary cutter to it and slice it up its fun, say WHAT?  Chopping it into an abstract doesn't work for me although I appreciated the feedback.  To be fair I have never posted pictures of this anywhere so unless you know the pattern called Metro Rings it's just an open question.

 

After I finish each project I unroll it for a couple days to ponder what to do next, take it apart, make changes or keep going.  Then a bit sad I roll it up again and start something else, I'm so glad I made my design board with 2 layers, I do believe out of site is out of mind so I always roll it so I can still see the pretty fabrics peeking over the top. Maybe after this project I will decide what to do, off to work on the Michael Miller Challenge.

Linking up with WIP at Freshly Pieced

I am also linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts by my blogger friend Lorna, her message today is inspiring especially if you have ever joined an on line contest. 

Avery Quilt Label

The first labels I put on my quilts were handwritten with a Micro pen or machine embroidered on my home sewing machine.  To change things up I decided to try computer generated/printed labels, the possibilities of designs are endless.

I asked friends and fellow quilters if anyone used them and if so what brand of printable labels they used, I received a couple of different options.  The first one I tested was an iron on product, by Avery.  The material is fabric on one side and a heat activated adhesive on the other.  

Once printed I took it to the sewing machine to add on some fabric to give it a little extra something.  The quilt I was putting it on was all inset circles, I wanted this to be round and be a pocket.  I ironed the label onto some of the binding fabric as a backing and also added a binding all around. 

So my thoughts on the Avery product is it prints clearly, easy to use but a little stiff.  The fact that I like my labels to be a pocket worked out

Time to sew,

Pam

Follow me buttons, HELP

I am basically considered NEW at blogging having just celebrated my one year anniversary.  With this I recently added follow me type buttons to make connecting easier for everyone who visits.  I didn't add them when I first started, at the time it was more like a journal for my quilting journey.  I knew I was being seen by the public by the comments and total page views counter.  I was more interested in the content of each post than who was following, figuring this all out takes time.  Since I love to follow several blogs and clicking those buttons was the best way for me to find my favorites I decided it was time. 

I added bloglovin first,

It was a natural button to add as I post via blogger.  It was easy and I made sure I filled out all the profile information.   I then added Google+ as it was so popular on other blogs.  Seemed easy enough until I recently found out after another viewer sent me an email this broke my connection with blogger making me come back as no reply. NO!!!  I want to be able to reply to visitors, so today I went in and in trying to correct it I think I broke my bloglovin button.

Back to the internet to find out how to fix it, in the meantime I apologize for those of you trying to reach me by replying to a post.  You can always email me at SewingWilde@gmail.com

back to the internet
Pam

Circles and Matching Seams

When I found this fabric I knew I wanted to make something different.  It would be a quilt that I didn't cut  up into tiny little pieces and put back together.   I know this is what we quilters do yet I couldn't bring myself to disturb all the flowers in the main fabric. 

I decided to create negative space with circles, if you've never done them before I found wax paper to be the easiest method.

I used a protractor to make the circles for this project, you can use anything including dishes, jar lids, whatever is handy.  I was careful to cut them out with long scissors to avoid jagged edges, a smooth edge is very important.

Iron it to the back of your main fabric, shiny side down.  If you have trouble keeping it attached pin the corners, it won't be on that long. 

Cut the circle out carefully if you want to be able to use the fabric on the inside.  I found using a rotary cutter to make a 2" slice then finishing the cut with scissors, allowed me to use the scrap circle for another project.
 

Make small clips around the circle, be careful not to cut into the sewing line.  Leave 2-3 threads, don't worry it will turn.

Turn back the clips making a smooth circle, turn your fabric over and press again. Look at it from both sides to make sure the shape is what you want, make adjustments if you need to.

Use fabric glue around the circle, put a small dab on each clipped piece.  I did half at a time folding the new fabric (black) in half to make sure it was all smooth. Press and let dry.  I use Aleene's, it drys clear without being stiff.  Be careful not to get it on the good side of your fabric, if it happens remove it with a wet cloth before it drys.

At this point you can remove the wax paper.

Trace the circle line you need to stitch on with a removable pen or marker, the pressing line no matter how sharp will not show while stitching.  

Sew the circle, press on both sides with a hot iron, trim the extra fabric around the circle to one quarter inch. As you can see my fabric during stitching is about 1/2" to keep all of the presser foot on fabric.


The glue worked so well I used it again when I wanted to match up the lines I cut into the circles reversing the fabric from black and white to blue.  



I did it again to seam the background fabrics together so I wouldn't lose any of the beautiful flowers.  I folded and pressed one side of the fabric first, lined it up where I wanted it to be, then dab dab dab added some glue to the folded side of the fabric. Putting them together I added a few pins being careful not to put them in the glued seam.

Once it was dry the two pieces were stitched together just as I would using pins, worked perfectly!  You can barely see the seam and after quilting may disappear completely, well almost.



Here is a small picture of the quilt, it is about 40" x 45"  I can't wait to start quilting this one.

time to sew,
Pam