A Mini Finish.

Kind of on a whim at the beginning of the year I joined the Sew Can She Mini Log Cabin sew-a-long.  A quick SAL that only last until January 29th; the goal of which is to produce at least one 4 1/2" Log Cabin quilt block. A perfect project!

Some years ago I was going to attempt a queen size Log Cabin quilt but (thank goodness) was talked out of it by a friend and quilter. She didn't actually say "don't do it". What she said was......"hmmmm that can actually be a somewhat difficult pattern". Since she is AMAZING and accomplished as a quilter, I took the hint and passed. So glad I did because at the time in my sewing it would not have been a positive and I most likely would have never finished the quilt.

This mini quilt though would give me a good run through of what I needed to to make a larger one in the future.

I have long had a fascination with the Log Cabin pattern. There is something very distinctively pioneer about it. Something rugged, solid and sturdy. Like it will last. In today's throw away age this particularly appeals to me.  My inner traditionalist really comes out with this quilt pattern. At my core I believe it should be finished with solids. They can be any color, light and dark but must be solid. While I have seen many stunning Log Cabin quilts made with gorgeous fabrics, mine needed solids. Since this year I am attempting to sew sthrough my stash and already had a small tub of solids set aside for a project, it was easy to get started.


The cutting was not very difficult but took a bit of time. I did figure out a way to make it faster as I went along by not trying to be so precise and squaring things up later. I chose a George Mendoza print from 2009 for my tiny 1 1/2" centers. Love this line, even if it is older. And if you don't know the story behind the artist you might enjoy reading about him!

Center blocks

A good tip on cutting the strips for the logs is to cut on the lengthwise grain instead of across the grain. Even woven fabrics have a bit of stretch on the cross grain. Your fabric will be a lot more stable lengthwise making it much easier to keep your logs from getting wonky and helping with your precision.

For piecing, a scant 1/4" was used. I really wished for a straight stitch plate for my machine which is so helpful in keeping lightweight fabric from bunching down in your needle plate. But, I resolved to NOT spend money on my sewing for one month so had to find a different way. Another problem on a scant 1/4" can be that your fabric is not on top of both feed dogs. A simple and FREE solution for both possible problems is to use a "starter fabric". Once I got going I then just chain pieced everything.

Fabric was so lightweight that it kept wanting to bunch up even with my small hole 1/4" quilting foot. This technique kept that from occurring.

After every log was added I square up the block. This was pretty tedious but necessary for a nice square 4 1/2".

One family liked this one!

2 family members liked this one!

Then lay out and sewing the blocks together. My lay out went pretty quick as I already knew what I wanted to do with the blocks. A small mini quilt to give as a gift for a wall hanging.

No ones first choice.

The final design all quilted up. Quilted all the seams to make a pretty design on the back. 

Very happy with the way the quiltlet turned out. And completed before the deadline. :) :)