Sunday, January 17, 2021

Log Cabin :: Kick Off!

Again this year I plan on using my stash.  Last year was a stash busting year where my focus was on prints.  I still have plenty of prints left and they will make it into a few stash busting quilts throughout the year.  Now it's time to hit the solids!

I mainly buy solids when I buy fabric and I've been steadily building my color stash so I have all the options to draw from.  From light to dark and everything in between.  I never really 'got' there and found that I either buy certain colors too often and rarely buy the colors I need to fill out the rainbow!  So, I've given up and given in!

Amazingly I don't blow through my fabric very fast.  With all the quilts and things I make my stash stays plump.  I chalk that up to my preference of using scraps or as many colors as I can in one quilt.  A piece here, a piece there.

This year will be different...I'm going to change my thought process and quit skipping over certain colors because I love them too much!

With all that bluster here's my first attempt!


Purple.  Log Cabin.  Negative space.  Modern.  The design is a remake from my 'Quarter Turn' quilt that was featured in Quilts & More magazine.  The magazine quilt used 18" blocks, but for the remake I'm using 12" blocks.  Same concept, different layout.  


With my purple stash screaming out to me, I carefully choose a handful of colors that I thought would make a statement.  I'm not one to buy just one brand of solids.  I tend to buy colors that I'm feeling at the time!  Although Kona cotton tends to be my first choice only because they are readily available.  That was true once.  Nowadays there are several manufacturers to choose from that have every color imaginable. 


What do we have?!  Kona Regal, Free Spirit Orchid, Kona Heliotrope, Cotton Supreme Lilac, Kona Velvet, Moda Aubergine, Moda Amelia Purple and Cotton Supreme Verbena.  All the purples!  

One time I made a quilt with purple that had an off-white background and after washing it I discovered some of the darker purples had bled.  This time I took the darkest shades and washed them twice.  I'll do the same thing with the background fabric when it arrives.  Hopefully I won't have any issues with bleeding fabrics!

With this design there are five (5) log cabin blocks that are identical and one that is the oddball.  After cutting out each log the piecing went together quick and was pretty painless!  

When I started I knew I wouldn't have enough yardage for the background.  One of the pitfalls to buying 1/4 to 1 yard cuts!  I have plenty of yardage in grey, off white and white...just not purple!


Now I wait...patiently?  Not really!  I'm working on another log cabin quilt.  I couldn't help myself!  This one will be with solids in three (3) different block sizes and it'll fill up the entire quilt.  I won't have to worry about not having enough background fabric!  

I'm pretty sure I'll have the second one finished before the first one.  Which is pretty ironic since the first one about as simple as it gets!

LINKING:

16 comments :

  1. Log cabins are so fun and quick to make! What a range of purples you have!

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  2. Just beautiful! I didn't know you made a pattern for this. That's interesting because I made a quilt that looks very similar to yours. I created it for my MQG chapter's challenge, and it hung at QuiltCon 2020... and amazingly sold to an Australian, Tara Glassonbury. I sure know what you mean about using solids. I bought more than 100 yards of solids in 2020! They're all Painter's Palette solids, most of which came from a shop in Orlando that's had a sale on it for months: www.thequiltplace.com. It's been a fabulous way to build a color library when you consider that solids at $5.96 a yard are MUCH less expensive than prints. Well done on using a gorgeous array of purples!

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  3. When I first started sewing many years ago, I had no idea what fabric was what. If it went well with another fabric, I used it. I just made sure the fabric type (cotton, poly, etc.) was the same, at least most of the time. Anyway, all those purples are playing together nicely. Will be fun to see this finish!

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    1. I know exactly what you mean of being oblivious to what fabric was in the beginning! Thankfully I had my daughter to steer me in the right direction for the most part. I don’t know when I’ll get this Log Cabin finished…waiting on background fabric! I will have the second one finished well before that happens!

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  4. This is going to look amazing! Great selection of purples!

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  5. How fun to sew something all in shades of purple! I have a drawer full of solid scraps, but as often as I sort through them I can never figure out a way to use them in some coherent design. So, I pull out a little bit for one project and a little bit for another. I really admire your use of solids, Jayne!

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  6. Have fun using some of your favorite solids, Jayne!!

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  7. nice! I'm a huge fan of log cabin blocks. looking forward to seeing all of this evolve

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  8. Love the purple colours. Can't wait to see more.

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    1. Hopefully it won’t be long! Once I get the background fabric and wash it 2-3 times first it’ll take no time at all to assemble the top. It’s amazing how much dark purple fabric bleeds!

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  9. I love that you've made a supersized block for the backing - it is all looking very effective with the shades of purple - great job!

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  10. This is going to be beautiful! I like to hear how you buy fabrics - its all so cool to hear artists thought processes! What really impresses me is that you know the names and makers of your fabrics.. mine go in a pile and become *purple* ha!

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    1. I learned a long time ago to write the name of the color and manufacturer on the edge of my solids with a sharpie. There were several times I tried to match a color and had no clue what it was!

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  11. I don't have nearly that many purples in my stash - purple and red are colors I don't tend to purchase apparently. And heliotrope - what a great name. I look forward to seeing more of this and where the next version takes you, too!

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  12. The purples are great! Log cabins are favorites to do.

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  13. If only I had a variety of solids in my stash like you do! You are using one of my favorite colors so I will be back to check out your finish of course;)

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