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:

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.)

Nat and Stephanie's Wedding Quilt

When Patrick's friend Nat found his lady love in Stephanie to wed, Fay and I knew we had to make a quilt in commemoration.  For the front we chose a 'turning twenty pattern' and picked out black and white prints with a splash of red.  We tried to pick out prints that seemed.. Nat-ish.  For the back... it had to be something Monkey.... why.. because of a company called  Ximian.  And because monkeys are cool.  Mostly because monkeys are cool.

The Front as held by Patrick

A close-up of the front:

A close up of the back:

....notice monkey fabric and monkey embroidery done by Fay....











And lastly a snippet from Nat and Stephanie's wonderful Email of thanks:

" Well we finally had a chance to take the quilt out and take some pictures with it. I can't tell you how much we love this thing. It's so beautiful. I've slept under it several times already. It's really true that a quilt makes a home.

For the picture we wanted to try to find a location that would match the beauty of the quilt, so we took it with us on our hike today, in the low mountains of the pre-Alps, at the very southern border of Germany.  The lake behind us is the Tegernsee."

And what post would be complete without a picture of the lovely couple. They sent us three, but the above is by far my favorite:

First Quilt

The story:  When my mother in law Fay came for her first visit to Alabama she brought along some quilting notions with the idea of teaching my husband and I how to quilt.  We did a Ricky Tims quilt that came together beautifully and I was hooked!

I will post a picture of this quilt here

We then all went fabric shopping and I saw a picture of a quilt that I really liked in one of the stores and Fay made a pattern similar to it and we purchased fabric to make it.. and well the rest is history!  I didn't take any pictures immediately and it hung on the wall of our first home for 5 years!  Unfortunately during it's last washing ti didn't hold up so well. Not surprising since my seam allowances were all over the place and I never quilted it more then making a few straight lines.  So I have it folded up now in my closet to one day be patches and fixed.  When I get a chance I will post pictures of this quilt in all its faded glory.

A picture of this quilt here: