Thursday, November 7, 2024

Sloggin' Through Logs

There are not many blocks that I despise making as much as log cabin blocks.  Yes, they add a traditional look to a quilt.  Yes, they are great stash-busters.  But for me they are a boring pain to make. Not to mention difficult for me to make square.  However, I soldiered on with the uneven log cabins in Shadow of the Bear yesterday.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I don't have the pattern/instructions for the quilt I started in 2022, yet I have decided to make the quilt, if only an abbreviated version.  All I have is one page, a page that shows log cabin blocks.


You can see that to make the uneven log cabin blocks it uses a combination of 1-1/2" and 2-1/2" width strips.  So I began to make blocks with the dark strips in the wider dimension since I already had 14 blocks made with the larger light area.  But look at how I made those blocks two years ago:


At first I thought I could/should mix the two together, but the newly made blocks just look clunky with the others.


While cogitating on what to do, I noticed that page of instructions specifies only 8 blocks of each yet, by my count, I need at least 14 of each!  If I make the quilt smaller, I could get away with fewer ULC blocks so I will make at least enough of the alternate blocks to finish the center section.  

At least, that is today's plan ...


7 comments:

  1. I always liked making log cabin quilts and have one planned sometime soon :)

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  2. Making log cabin blocks is not my favorite thing to do, either, but I do like how they look. Pop on some music or a good book and plug away. :)

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  3. Hope you're making good progress on those log cabin blocks! They not my favorite block either, but I did make a log cabin quilt when I had a broken wrist a few years ago. Simple was good at that time - I just needed to sew! Just keep thinking of your end goal - finishing up a UFO!

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  4. Your log cabins look great. You wouldn't think it would be that hard, but for some reason I really have to concentrate making log cabins. And I struggle to make them square!

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  5. I don't think I've ever made a real log cabin block. With all those strips, I can see where it would be hard to keep them square. At least you are back to stitching and giving your brain a work out on how to finish off that UFO. That part has to feel good after the last few months out of the sewing room.

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  6. I made a set of log cabin blocks earlier this year. I cut the logs to size rather than sew first/trim later. The hard part was placing the logs in a consistent direction.

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  7. Don't you just hate when you put blocks away without a pattern or a plan? I know I'm not a fan of finding that kind of mystery in my stash!

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