Artful Homemade Quilts Have A Way

[freedombecki]

Added 38x4 more light and dark strip sizes this morning, but didn't quite make it to the bottom of the pile. It looks so easy when I post picture, but doesn't show the 99% perspiration nor the 1% inspiration that it took. Of course, my little traipsing all over the net looking for green log cabins and procuring ones (a few of which are shown above) that are classier than this little humble quilt will ever be was totally fun for this quilter.

 

[freedombecki]

Some of today's went onto the scanner to show the reverse side. Not sure whether they'll be in this or the next message.

OK, they're out of numeric order, but the first one may likely be the reverse side so anyone who quilts can see which way the pieces got pressed, always from inside the center avocado greensquare to its outside over both light and dark sides. Each square shown at this point has nine log pieces, and the finished square may have either 13 or 17 log pieces, depending on... what I decide to do next. Some artists have their whole completion written down in stone and ready to complete, but I am vaguely thinking that if 13 logs are done, I can use 35 of the 38 squares in an arrangement of 5 by 7 squares. This will likely confine the choices to being either a dirty windows arrangement or a fields and furrows.

Since it's St. Paddy's Day in March, eh, Fields and Furrows it will be.
OK, 35 of the squares must be pleasing. 5 x 7=35 13-log squares will be needed. I have a pile of leftover squares, and someday, I'm going to make a crazy log cabin quilt. With 13 logs yielding a 7.5" square that finish to seven inches, the quilt will measure around 35 inches across (5x7) and down (7x7) will be a horizontal measurement of 49". Since I have batting for a 42x54" top, 3 inch strips when added will make the quilt 40x54", exactly, so that works for me.

 

[freedombecki]

And the final 3 squares that were ready to show when I started posting this afternoon are:

 

[freedombecki]

Sometimes I wonder if Sunshine ever finished her reds tablecloth or got to work on it in the bad weather that has been so prolific this year. I know health issues often require extra exertion that walking and exercise are, so often spare time becomes a toss up between keeping the hands busy or collapsing in exhaustion into the respite of a nap. Most people have the energy of kids until they're 60, but if autoimmune disorders are one's fate, it can be a life sentence of wheel chair living, the balancing act I do between nutrition, meds, and getting up and down the stairs, or CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) that spoils outings, parties, gatherings, and even attending church services when stress is present. Staying indoors a lot causes a deficiency of Vitamin D3, which can also bring on CFS or even a little depression in some people. CFS seems to be my anathema, and it's a real bully. The only thing it beats is depression, but since I accepted my limitations, I find joy in beating the pain of fibromyalgia, and I find that joy every day. It's the only reason I can sit and enjoy sewing so much--the thought of the recipient not having to have cold toes on a cold winter's night keeps my spirits very, very bright. So the 98% perspiration has a joy effect, and sometimes I think that by giving them to someone who'll never know me, I get more out of it than the little warm toes a quilt bequeaths to its owner.

Well, it decided to rain today, but it's warm and dry, and I'm looking at the prettiest green square, which I placed on top, to remind me there's a lot more to do before I sleep.

 

[freedombecki]

The 9th log row was finished on all 38 squares, and log rows 10 and 11 were all sewn on asap after that. So below is just one of the 38 squares that are now 6.5" square each.

Off to take a long winter's nap because it sure isn't spring around here, and fibromyalgia has a way of acting up in chilly weather. It's gonna be 25 degrees tonight. I'm a little tired of it freezing in March after the hot summers we had two and four years ago, respectively. I'd rather be sweating, that's for sure.

Everybody wear long-legged jammies and snuggly slippers who was made to submit to Old Man Winter's last fist shake (I hope) until he goes back to his arctic circle in hopefully the near future. And don't let the bedbugs bite. ​

 

[freedombecki]

I thought of [MENTION=21954]Sunshine[/MENTION] when I saw this unbelievable but beautiful quilt online:

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Jour de Semaine Charges by Gyöngyi Váradi​

Shown at the Hungarian Patchwork Society.​

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Seen at Jan Shultz's Quilt Chat blog.​

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What can I say, but 'oooo, ahhhhh! 'I love it! ​

​

 

[freedombecki]

The Fields and Furrows Smoking Green Log Cabin is going into its completion stage of having three rows with five squares apiece joined with four left in the 7.5" unfinished stage.

Let the pictures speak for themselves:

 

[freedombecki]

I love this quilt. The work was 10 times better all the way through than ever before, and I just love the way it looks. Sorry some of my pictures are a little light and others show darker. I have a mind-of-its-own scanner that cost under $30 when it was new. You get what you pay for, but that low price spurred me on to replace my 3rd HP that broke down after one year. This one is starting its second year, but after the ink ran out, I just use it to scan stuff now. Hope the next 4 rows come out well. the 5x7 arrangement will yield a 35x49 inch quilt, and a small border will widen it, but I can't make it too much longer. *sigh* Well, who knows!

The third picture is reversed to show the wrong side to those interested in how quilt blocks are pressed outward and the joining blocks, I always open to press on the reverse side. My old machine quilter at the shop was very picayune about going through extra layers of dense fabrics, and I hated to stop for threads that snapped because of a hefty seam allowance, so I learned the hard way to open seams and keep thicknesses to a minimum. It seemed it was more forgiving of log cabin quilts done that way, and I quilted probably a hundred log cabin quilts on that machine at one time or another of the hundreds I produced on it. Now, someone else has to quilt them, because I have difficulty standing in one place on bad fibromyalgia days.

Have a great day, everyone! Every day I finish a quilt is a good one, and I hope this may be that day!

 

[freedombecki]

Done! Finished up yesterday evening.

Will be gone for a few days. My grown son and daughter are getting here in an hour or so...



Here are 3 pics of the corners. One really didn't come out well, no sense in posting it. The Green Log Cabin is arranged into Fields and Furrows arrangement, and it measures about 42x54" give or take a couple of inches in any given direction. It misses being a perfect rectangle by 3/4" on one side. It's my fault for trying to make a slightly short border longer. I may yet fix it if I have time. Oh, wait, YIKES! I don't have time to do anything but run in circles!

 

[freedombecki]

It was a happy family day today. I'm so proud of my kids for coming to help when they were needed. They've been wonderful, and I'm so grateful they came.

Here are a few items found from surfing quilts the other day. Some of them weren't exactly log cabins.

 

[freedombecki]

While my son was at home, he fixed some computers that had stacked up, so reviewing quilts on the old computers was a lot of fun. Even so, it's never enough to just see quilts you'd forgotten about, it spurred an all-day lookup of log cabin quilts, and some just are so dear, so I saved them, rewrote titles to put them near the top of the heap (place a "!" with a space after it on this computer, and it comes up before "A" if things are alphabetized in your folders resulting from "My Pictures" files.

Here some of them are, the best of the best, well, the ones I just couldn't get out of my head, anyway, showing how subjective loving quilts can be:

 

[freedombecki]

Also hard to scrub from the psyche today was this one from squiltz:

And the task she used to "bind" the quilt in hand crochet would prolly be liked by one of our contributors here of her lovely handwork:, and she said:

In order to add crochet to the quilt edge I first machine top stitched around the perimeter of the quilt (stitch-length 5 and using strong thread). Then I was able to ease a very small crochet hook into the gap left by the stitches to make a foundation crochet row to work from. This step is not for the faint-hearted. The only reason I survived it was because I wanted to brag blog about! squiltz: Pastel Hand Quilted Log Cabin Edge

You should see her other quilts--they're each a master work in themselves, I kid you not. Her "blog" deserves a good inspection, imho!

 

[freedombecki]

It's hard to believe the trees are actually are log cabins, but they sure are! I bought a log cabin quilt book on account of this Bing! contribution, and all of them are awesome.

The Strawberry-colored log cabin was just a pleasing color today as we anticipate strawberries coming into the market for the next few weeks. They're so good and have so few calories if you learn to eat them without sugar. We're having to learn to eat a new way since my husband's diagnosis of borderline diabetic. He's already trimming down. I couldn't believe it. Him. Watching it.

The Boardwalk-style quilt is similar to one of my designs of yesteryear that I named "Bridge over troubled water," and which may be owned by my son, seems to me.

 

[freedombecki]

Wow, I've had this one saved for a year, and just found Dunster's Storm at Sea Quilt, at a best-ever quilting board. Recommend for those who truly love the art of beautiful quilts!

She arranged it as a Storm at Sea Quilt.

I had seen another drawing someone named "Log Cabin Variation" (below)

 

[Mr. H.]

I really like this one...

http://www.usmessageboard.com/attac...e-quilts-have-a-way-streetboard-log-cabin.jpg

 

[freedombecki]

I really like this one...

Thanks, Mr. H. It reminded me of a quilt I designed called "Bridge Over Troubled Waters. All I have is a truly not very clear picture. I think I gave it to my son because he likes the color blue. The difference it is on point, was very difficult to make, harder to teach other people who liked the quilt and wanted to make one just like it. *sigh*

 

[freedombecki]

This Charity quilt was assembled to this point of being about 30x45" by last night and will hopefully have something green around it by nightfall:

Downstairs 1
Downstairs 2
Downstairs 3

(Downstairs 4 is at the USMB Coffee Shop)

 

[freedombecki]

Finished measurement was around 42x54, give or take a couple of inches. It was finished day before yesterday, maybe?

 

[freedombecki]

Scan 1 and 2, I made six 15-1/2" blocks for a toddler or crib quilt for Charity bees early this morning from some old red log cabin blocks I made for a giant quilt before I gave up machine quilting. I still have enough for another quilt.

Wonder if a similar pinwheel quilt can be found anywhere. Found it on bing!

Mine is to be called "Paddy's Red pinwheel quilt"

 

[freedombecki]

Just before lunch, I got all jazzed about the next quilt, which will be a single Irish Chain using some cute froggie light background overall. Here are the 3 sample quilt squares that got completed before we left for nearby Denny's. I was proud of my husband for settling on a diabetic-friendly lunch of their avocado and chicken salad. We each saved little pieces of chicken for Miss Music the small black lab who is still our puppy after 5 years.

You probably will have to click on the thumbnails to see the little froggies.

I'm only making mockup squares to keep the fever up to get quilts done. I have to do the Paddy's red pinwheel quilts tomorrow from getting into the Single Irish Chain, but I can't wait, I'm telling yas!