Curved Log Cabin Block

Here's my first block.  It is 9" finished.

 

My original plan was to make one of the quilts from Extraordinary Log Cabin Quilts, by Judy Martin.  But the more I looked at the designs, the more intimidated I became.  And I wanted to use my Fig Tree Quilts stash, which wasn't going to work for my two favorite designs from the book, Grandpa's Log Cabin and Main Street Log Cabin.  So I decided to try a more basic curved log cabin instead.

Thank you, Internet!  How did we live without Google and Pinterest?!  I found cutting directions for the block from Quilty, as well as this video tutorial with Mary Fons on YouTube.

Just one problem!  The cutting directions are incorrect!  The longest log cut from print fabric should be 8.75", not 8.25".  Unfortunately, I found this out as I was sewing my first block, AFTER I cut all the pieces.  I now have 80 cut pieces that are too short and I already cut almost all the fabric I have in my chosen color combination.  I can always trim down those too-short pieces to work in other positions in the block but I cannot magically add half an inch.  Very upsetting.  I did manage to pull together 50 of the 80 pieces I need from the fabric I still had in the basket but have to figure out what to do about the remaining 30 pieces.

Other than that one rather major problem, the blocks are going together beautifully.  I like this method of cutting all the logs to size.  While I spent a lot of time cutting upfront, the blocks will go together pretty quickly now.



A New Project From The Magic Basket

We've had a rough winter so far in my neck of the woods:  snow, ice, sleet, more snow, more ice, slush - in a word, YUCK!  Not the kind of weather for driving 40 minutes to the LQS for supplies. 

So I decided to skip over my Hawaii quilt project for now (for which I need additional yardage) and instead, turn to a project I could start with what I have on hand.  After checking my Pinterest to-do list, I settled on a log cabin design using fabric from the magic basket, aka basket of a thousand quilts. 

The magic basket is where I've been keeping my stash of Fig Tree Quilts fabrics.  This is the collection of fat quarters and other pre-cuts I bought over time and put away because they were too pretty to use.  Then a couple of years ago, I resolved to use them, calling it my Fig Tree Harvest.  I've made six quilts so far but the level in the basket hardly appears to lower.  Does it have magic properties?  Now I call it the basket of a thousand quilts. 

Anyway...On Saturday, I started pulling fabric from the stash, pressing, and cutting.  I'm using the Marti Michell method, where you cut each log to size.  This is in contrast to the Quilt in a Day method, the technique I used for my first log cabin quilt, where you sew long strips of fabric, trimming after sewing to get the correct size. This method worked fine for me the first time I used it, for a very simple log cabin with large blocks (it was the first quilt I made on a sewing machine; my prior projects were from the dark ages of hand piecing), but the second time, with narrower logs, the blocks did not end up all exactly the same size.  So I'm trying the cut-to-size method this time.  It is a LOT of cutting!  By dinner time on Saturday, I had the light strips cut and have been working on the dark side strips today.

This print from the Fresh Cottons collection is my inspiration for color for the quilt. 

 

Back to pressing and cutting.  I'm almost done and want to get to the sewing part!  Can you believe I've used almost a whole bottle of spray starch on this?

 

I'm joining Kim's Scrap Basket Sunday with this project.  Go take a look at the other scrap projects.

 

 

 

White Christmas

 

It's Valentine's Day but the weather here on Main Street looks more like Christmas! 

 

So it is only fitting that I finished the Christmas Quilt of 2014, aka Christmas Trellis.  I even pieced the back (a Nancy Halvorsen fabric from the 2012 Christmas collection) and it is ready to go to the quilter. 

 

 



I'm looking forward to starting a new project this weekend.  I have a couple of things in mind; what I select depends on the weather because for one project I need to make a trip to the LQS for additional supplies.  Stay tuned!

Horrible Miscalculation

I'm not a big sports fan but I enjoy watching the Olympic Games.  Every fourth winter, I hunker down for a blitz of snowboarding, cross country ski races, speed skating, and figure skating (especially figure skating).  And I always have some hand sewing to work on, during the talky bits or between races.  Always... until this year.

This year, I miscalculated badly and failed to line up a handwork project.  I had some things in mind but did not put them into action.  My vacation ate into the time and then I had vague thoughts of perhaps having some bindings to sew down.

So now I sit here, watching the races and the performances, with nothing in my hands.  I'll have to give myself a manicure instead.

 

 



Taking Shape

I made lots of progress on my Christmas quilt over the weekend.  We've had great quilting and sewing weather lately, cold and lots of snow, best to stay inside.  Earlier, I showed you what one block of this quilt looks like:

With18 blocks finished, you can see how the design comes together.  (The blocks are not sewn together yet.)

 

 

Unfortunately, the design wall I made out of insulation board and batting got ruined while in our basement over the Christmas and New Year's holiday.  I was storing it down there to get it out of the sewing/guest room during my Mom's visit and left it there while on the trip to Hawaii.  While I was gone, we had the hardwood floors in the first floor of our house replaced.  The process dislodged a lot of dust and gunk from the basement ceiling, now all firmly lodged on the design wall's batting.  Yuck!  I'm going back to the design bed, using a white flannel sheet spread over Miss Main Street's bed.  With her away, I won't have to pick it up every night in order to sleep in the bed so it should work out better than it did before.  

 

Back to the quilt in progress...the design is from Modern Bee by Lindsay Conner. 

 

 

  

Friday Find - Bark Thins

It's been a long time since I found something worth sharing as a Friday Find but do I ever have a treat for you today!  You know how it is, quilting and chocolate - perfect together!  Well, this product, Bark Thins, is perfect in my book.  They even call it "snacking chocolate."

 

I was introduced to Bark Thins in the Costco in Lihue, Hawaii.  I'm not a Costco member (there isn't a store near me) but my mother is and we went there to pick up the makings for breakfasts and a few dinners in our Kauai vacation condo.  We saw Bark Thins stacked near the checkout and bought some to try.  My introduction to the product was via the dark chocolate, pretzel, and sea salt flavor and wow, super yummy.  The chocolate is good quality, dark chocolate but not bitter, and the pretzel addition gives it some crunch. 

 

Once back home, I had to figure out a source of supply and found my original as well as other flavors on Amazon.com.  My new love is this dark chocolate with pumpkin seeds and sea salt.  Plenty of antioxidants and other good stuff in there, not to mention it is the best tasting thing I've had in a long time!  It is a bit pricey on Amazon but a pound bag was less than $10 at Costco so try there if you are a member.

 

I was introduced to another taste treat in Hawaii:  dried mango. I love mangos but had never had the dried version before.  Mmm, good!  Amazon stocks several brands; the 7D brand is the one we had in Hawaii and the ABC Stores site sells it too.  I brought a small supply home with me but will need to stock up soon because Miss Main Street took most of it back to college with her. 

 

But life is not all about snacks here on Main Street.  I've been busy trimming my blocks.  My next step is to assemble the quilt top.

 

 

Is January National Re-Organization Month?

Because, honestly, I think it must be official!  Stores like Walmart and Target are having specials on plastic storage bins, The Container Store is sending me near daily emails with organizing tips, whille quilt bloggers de-stash, refold fabric, and straighten out their sewing rooms.  Okay, the bug bit me! 

First, I reorganized our spices and herbs.  You know, all those tiny bottles and cans from McCormick (and others).  We once had a nice spice rack but it held a too limited array of spices and took up too much kitchen counter space, so I had been keeping all the containers in three shoe boxes in a kitchen cabinet.  A trip to The Container Store later and those boxes are stacked in the cabinet using a wire cabinet shelf and most-often-used items and odd size bottles are on a spinning turntable, all in less space than before.

Second, it has been unusually cold here in NJ, meaning we need hats, scarves, and gloves when outside.  We keep them in a small chest of drawers in the foyer.  It's handy and has plenty of space but as I was digging through, looking for my warmest gloves, it became obvious we had become hat and glove pack-rats.  A quick sorting weeded out the single, unpaired mittens, gloves from Miss Main Street's elementary school years that will never fit on her hands again, and a couple of hats that went with snowsuits from the same era.  With fewer items to stow, it was easier put everything away in an organized fashion; one drawer for each person, what a concept!  It will be faster to find those gloves next time I need them.   

While it is tempting to tackle my sewing room next, I think I'll let it wait.  It's even more tempting to sew.  So, back to our regularly scheduled activity.