Faded Red, White and Blue Log Cabin Quilt

Last week our delivery of Snowberry by 3 Sisters for Moda Fabrics arrived.  I have been waiting with baited breath for this beautiful collection, as I've been planning a red, white and blue quilt for my conservatory.  I've also been saving fabrics from my stash and cutting snippets from the shop, in readiness for the project.  

I wanted my quilt to have an aged, antique feel, so I've gone for faded reds, cool blues, duck egg blue and soft ivory and I've picked fabrics from across makers and collections.  So in addition to the Snowberry, I've added in some French General and Minick and Simpson all by Moda, plus a healthy dose of Lecien from the Durham Quilt Collection and Kate Greenaway and some pretty duck egg blues from Elm Cottage by Windham.  From my stash again there's a mix of Moda and Lecien from collections dating back quite a few years.  I don't know about you, but it's so easy to hang on to your favourite fabrics and be reluctant to cut in to them isn't it, but this project is just a perfect opportunity and I will get to enjoy them for many years to come!  Whilst I'm aiming for an aged, antique feel, I still wanted to keep the quilt feeling fresh so I've also included some sweet red text prints I'm loving the edge that they give to the quilt!

Each log cabin is made up of a traditional light and dark side, but by the very nature of the fabrics I've chosen it's not one of high contrast, but when there's a few blocks together I think this will show up nicely.  I've also decided to have a red centre to each of my blocks, which symbolises the hearth of home and for this I've chosen Faded Red by French General...it's absolutely one of my favourites ever!

Each of the log cabins starts of with a centre square and I have chosen to then construct my log cabin blocks using the same method as I did HERE, rather than pre-cutting the pieces for each block to size prior to sewing.  There is something very liberating to this process!  So effectively what this means is, that other than cutting the centre square (a) to size at 1 1/2" square, the remaining fabrics were simply all cut into strips measuring 1 1/2" wide by the length of the piece of fabric.  I then divided them in to lights and darks. Than at random, I chose a dark fabric strip (b) which I sewed using a 1/4" seam allowance to one side of the fabric square (a), then trimmed away the excess and then finger pressed the seam towards the dark strip away from the centre square.  Then rotating clockwise, I added a second dark fabric strip (c) followed by a fabric (d) light strip, then a second fabric (e) light strip and carried on as shown in the picture below.... repeating two darks, followed by two lights.  The finished block measures 9 1/2" square.  Once I sewn the whole block I then gave it a good press.

This is what the back of the block looks like....

To help with the randomness, because actually I find doing random really hard.....I found it useful to put the remainder of the strips that I cut off as had sewn them in to two new piles (one dark and one light) and kept sewing log cabins blocks until I had used all my fabrics and then I started again.

As to how big the quilt be.... at this point I don't really know.  I'm just going to keep sewing for the time being as and when I have a moment, in between other projects.  It really envisage this project being good for when I want to sew, but I don't really have the brain power or energy to sew a project that needs a great deal of concentration...do you know what I mean?

I shared my completed blocks earlier this week on my Instagram and Facebook feeds and I was completely blown away by the response ..thank you so much!  I then had quite a few emails asking if there would be quilt packs...thank you again!!  So, as I am unable to do exact replicas, I had great fun creating an 'inspired by' bundle, which are always so much fun to do....... here's what it looks like.....

Thank you again for all you lovely comments, it really is a complete joy to be able to share my creative endeavours with you and also to receive your orders at Pretty Fabrics and Trims.  Thank you so much!!  

Have a super weekend and Happy Stitches!