Cabin Raising - A Log Cabin Quilt Story

Once upon a time a community of LeClair's got together to make a log cabin quilt.

The quilt was cut and started at house₁ in Alabama. Brought to South Dakota for more work. Then mailed to house₂ in Alabama to be admired, used and displayed.

 "PURPLE GOES WITH EVERYTHING!"

"A touch of purple 

in quilts that you sew 

make everything special

as you already know!"

 "Pieced by Christine, Patrick

and Fay LeClair" 

"Quilted by Fay LeClair 2010"

The quilt has so much blue and purple in it that while there are plenty of other color strips I think of this as primarily a blue log cabin quilt. That being said the Pink totally stands out in the pictures doesn't it?! The log cabin quilt block has a long and varied history. The most traditional blocks have the center square being red to symbolize the hearth fire in the cabin and one side of the block being dark fabrics and the other light to symbolize the night and day, or good and bad of life. I've even read stories of the center block being made black as a way to help slaves searching for freedom during Americas Under Ground Railroad days. Here is one of the many many fascinating articles out there regarding quilting history and the log cabin block in particular: http://www.womenfolk.com/quilt_pattern_history/logcabin.htm

Back to my quilt (smile)

One of the aspects that drew me to this pattern, and gave Fay pause as teaching me how to make this quilt would be time consuming for her, was that the blocks are pieced together at the diagonal with smaller cabin blocks along the edge.

We've placed the quilt into our guest room and are eagerly awaiting our first guests to come sleep under it. Which should be in about an hour :) The bedroom set in that room comes from Patrick's maternal Grandparents and dates back to the 40's maybe. Thus my modern take on the log cabin quilt fits well in our little suite.

Do you think our quests will find sleeping under the quilt an inspiring experience? Perhaps they will have dreams of working the underground railroad. At the very least I think our dear quests will find themselves having a cozy nights sleep.

... lastly I think I will be making a pillow shame for that little white pillow someday soon. I'm thinking a cabin block on an angle framed by lots of white ... But we'll see!






Finally, here's another one of the squares close up:

A Proposal

December 2006 found Patrick and I in SD visiting his family.  As most of you might know, my MIL Fay is the person who introduced me to quilting and has been a wonderful mentor and source of inspiration.  Well, in Dec. 2006 during that visit Fay showed be how to make a flannel quilt where you basically quilted as you went along.   The end result is a quilt that is ever so cuddly and warm. (Instructions can be found here  for the general idea if not pattern of my quilt).

Anyway, on December 27th Patrick and his sister Cassandra decided they were going to go to Panera Bread to get some work done (both college professors) and I and Fay were going to stay at the house to work on the quilt.  WELL, the sneaky devil decided that while they were out he'd take Cassandra with him as he went to get me an engagement ring (squee!!).

So picture this with me. I'm set up sewing at Fay's machine. I'm wearing sweat pants and a t shirt and my hair is a mess, and Patrick comes in sooner then I expected and asks me to marry him without any preamble. Now Patrick and I had been together for sometime now so I thought he was speaking in a more general way. I don't look up from sewing and said 'sure' (sure?).

 Patrick, somewhat with his thunder lost and somewhat amused by me.  Told me to look over and down. ....
I did and (!!!)
...he had a beautiful ring out and he was ACTUALLY asking me and not being rhetorical!


Thus I did stop sewing :) Said yes of course. Admonished him for not asking me in more of a romantic manner. And 4 years later a couple of days before our 'engagement-versity' I am more in love with him than ever before.

maybe I should have fixed that corner before I photoed this...

PLUS I have this wonderful flannel quilt (which i did finish) that I think of our engagement every time I look at it. IF there is a fire in the house, you can be sure I'll be grabbing that one as I flee.

3 Ladies wrapped in blankets

I know it isn't perfectly squared up.

And if I had a better photo, you could see that the feet are perhaps 'less' then what they should be.

But this was my first applique.

And perhaps that is why I easily look over its little defects and think instead these are what gives the piece personality.

I love the colors I chose. 

Purple!

I love that on the 'red' lady I got the stitching along the blanket trim to look frayed like a true blanket.

I love that the background fabric gives just the right feeling of sand.

I love that finally sucking up my fears regarding applique, that I sat down and just did it. Starting me on a journey that has really added to my quilting experience.

Personal growth, check! 

But perhaps the part of this applique I love the most?  Is the pleased look on my mothers face last Thanksgiving when I presented it to her as her birthday present.

As they say, priceless.

The Design Process

So I had 7 left over squares from another project that I haven't posed about yet.  And I love these squares. (love!) ...but I haven't enough fabric to make more(sad face) and for you non-quilter-readers out there, 7 does not a quilt make!

So there I sat this morning, playing with different layouts for them ... maybe making a couple pillows from them, played with adding strips or other blocks to make it a small quilt ... but none of it was (just) right.

Then I realized I should think about the blocks not as the central point of the quilt design, but instead as a part of the whole.  Duh, I know. I picked out two fabrics that are in the blocks and one other, a beautiful Kona Gray color that sets off all the other colors.

Steps:

1. First I got to drawing ... I started out by drawing a 5 X 7 grid. Then I picked 7 squares of the grid to subdivide and match the squares I had been playing with.
2. Then I took a red, gray and a blue pencil and I started to fill in the grid.  I wanted to challenge myself to not just immediately use lots of gray so I right away colored in a big block of red and a big block of blue.  ...that left me with a grid with a big red block and a big blue block and 7 multi colored blocks!
3. Finally, I had fun and mixed them around and ended up with this:

I love it.  Once it is sewn i may decide to make it bigger / more lap quilt size. Although this would be a good baby blanket size, and it has lots of stimulating contrast.

Here it is all laid out on my design wall.


What do you think?

I think ... I'm going to switch two of the upper right hand blocks (see picture to the left).

 Here's an updated picture with some of the blocks switched around to the right




This the beauty of the design wall fyi, I can play with the layout easily before I start sewing!

Three layers of magnet paint. Some super strong magnets.  And we have ordered some steel trim to put around it that will be even stronger so I can hang heavier items.

... to be continued...

My version of a Bear Claw Quilt

Perhaps the best quilt I've done to date!

So I started working on this quilt some time ago and as is my typical fashion I worked on it steadily with little sleep for a couple of days. Got the majority of it done. And then sat on it for a long time.

Then I finished piecing it together. picked out my back fabric.. and got frustrated again and sat on it some more.

Finlay I sent it to Fay when Patrick went for a visit and she sandwiched and quilted it ever so lovely and sent it back. WITH some binding started because she knows how I am :)

Then i sat on it some more because it was so pretty I was afraid I would ruin it when binding it.

Can you see the amazing quilting?

BUT last night I took the plunge.  Motivated by the fact that it is getting colder and my dear Patrick was shivering at night I thought to myself, perhaps I should just bite the bullet and finish the quilt So I did. and it is lovely.


Patrick helped by organizing my fabric for me which kept me staying at the machine.  I love that he is ocd about things like I am sometimes :) But not all the time :)

One thing i did on this quilt that I have not really done much before is I wrote a little quote along one edge.  Not sure how long it will last but I think it is a nice touch.




"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake."

I did a strip of "meandering squares" at one end of the quilt with scraps of fabric left over. You can see them in the picture to the right there.  I can't decide if I like this strip better at the top or bottom when laying the quilt on the bed.  But I'm glad I added it as I think it adds a bit of a modern twist to the overall design. Plus I loved that fabric and how many different ways I cold combine it all together.

Oh, The quilt is a little larger then the standard queen size, but I folded it up a bit a the top cause I hate tucking in the quilt in the tiny space between our mattress and the foot board :)

Life is good, and our bed is warm. Pat has stopped shivering.

(Like the pillows?  Patrick brought them back from India some time ago, also the purple Sari hanging on the back wall.)