A Finish To Show You

  
Log Cabin quilts, old or new, always get my attention.  When I was sorting things for the sale last spring, I came across this little log cabin piece which measures 29″ x 29″.  I made it 30 years ago and it was one thing I knew I couldn’t sell.  I quilted it with semi-straight lines and bound it.  Here’s another shot taken straight on of this barn raising arrangement of blocks.

  
And now the secret behind the quilt.  I used one piece of pink and blue madras plaid along with a bright pink center.  Thirty years ago we were in our madras phase and we used  woven plaid in just about everything.  Our very first kit was a plaid kit of 9 pieces of madras measuring 9″ x9″ each.  Mom loved packaging these plaid kits!  I searched high and low for a leftover piece of this exact plaid but did not find it.  This plaid I’m showing you is very close.  I cut the blue strips from the blue areas of plaid and the pink strips for the other side of the block.

  
Here is a close up of some blocks.

  
I think it’s almost magical the way the colors are woven and shaded within the pieced block.  The strips were cut and  the blocks were pieced randomly to get this effect.

The two little Bulldogs, Susie and Chester, went home this morning — they were such good little dogs and they came to love me but they were overjoyed to see their mom and dad.

   
 

18 thoughts on “A Finish To Show You

  1. Diane

    Those little Bulldogs are so cute. Have you seen the Grumpy Puppy? Such a cutie! The Log Cabin is beautiful. Thanks for showing it up close. The shading is great. Ohio Stae Fair this week. Our grand daughter won Outstanding of the day with her Chinchillas and we saw an hour old calf!! Fun day.

  2. Mary Says Sew!

    Love the quilt! We could spend our entire quilting lives doing nothing but log cabins, and never run out of possibilities!

    I suspected you’d used plaids and/or stripes. Very Kaffe Fassett-ish!

    This could be the (re)start of a whole new trend….

  3. sandra

    I loved the quilt.It is a good time to take another look at plains.Thanks for the idea.Take care.

  4. Carolyn Boutilier

    Love the log cabin quilt. very interesting as how you did the strips. It is fun to see the pictures of your farm and animals.

  5. Synthia Noble

    Your log cabin quilt is lovely! No wonder you wanted to keep it. I’m impressed with the way you used the madras plaid…….so clever.

  6. Ann s

    OK, I have a madras kit from you, just like you described! I even know where it is in my “collection”! Let me know if I need to send it to you. Gladly will!! I made one of your awesome delectable mountains sweatshirts from one of those too! I loved that pattern! Made many sweatshirts and my mother still wears a couple of them. Those were the good old days!

  7. Felicia Hamlin

    Wow Mary, I love your quilt! It is outstanding! i don’t totally understand your explanations, but I love the effect.

    I too have a colony of phlox and I feel bad about digging it up, my tiger lilies keep appearing, but it is nice to have that pop of color.

    Have a nice week, Felicia

  8. Louise SS

    Beautiful quilt!!! I saw a very pretty madras fabric in Paris many years ago and so regret not buying it, I was being cheap…. Still think about that fabric. Now I buy when I see something I like! That is not a good thing either…

  9. Michele

    Mary, you take ‘random’ to a totally beautiful level!! I’m envious. I can see why you couldn’t part with this beauty (and I don’t even like pink 🙂

  10. Vickie Devore

    Such a beautiful quilt! and basically one fabric (other than centers). Definitely a treasure to keep and hand down. Love you stories. Thanks for just being you!!

  11. Bernadette Jackson

    To anyone reading this post — when you create a log cabin block, do you use the “papers” that are available to assist with the piecing? I believe they help to make sure everything lines up well. Anyway, I will be starting a log cabin in about the next month, and I wondered if using those papers is beneficial. Apparently, you stitch right thru them and break them away when the block is complete. The needle perforates them, so they are easy to remove. Thx.

  12. Launa

    Love the madras plaids…….and the way you cut your strips…so unique and lovely.
    I can well understand why Susie and Chester enjoyed their stay with you, Mary. What a darling pair.

  13. Diane Meyer

    Mary, I also have some of those madras fabrics that I ordered from you. I have some of the wrapping paper, too. It is brown with a log cabin design on it. I really like the quilt you made.

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