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: