Saturday 6 December 2014

Log Cabin Wreath

A few weeks back, I  saw a picture on the Quilt Now Instagram feed with the most fabulous wreath quilt on it.  When Quilt Now issue 4 came out, I discovered the pattern was by the lovely Jessie and I knew I had to make it.  Its a beautifully simple idea- sixteen log cabin blocks and a little careful colour arrangement for those squares to form a circle:


It took a little time to get the colours and contrast balanced and although it looks scrappy, there was some planning involved so that certain prints were spread throughout the quilt and the levels of contrast maintained in the right places.  It's a smallish quilt- about 43" square and I was able to use my stash with minimal extra shopping- just some new emerald additions: 


All the background fabrics had a white base.  I find white fabrics relatively hard to find- I have an excess of creams, but few whites.


I stuck to spiral quilting using my downloadable printable spiral starter to get the quilting going.  I printed this on very thin cheap paper, cut to size, pinned on and tore off.  The method is here.  For quilt basting, I starch the quilt front and back so they are very flat and stable. I then use Rita Red Pepper Quilts basting tutorial and follow it precisely- I find it very successful, even though I hate basting quilts.  I also use a Kwik clip- an invaluable tool, your fingers will thank you profusely. 


I had  a few problems with my  machine foot and the quilt bar so instead I used a small ruler and my trusty, much used Sewline fabric pencil  to follow the spiral.  I made dots approx. 4" ahead of where I was sewing.  I looked to the dot as I stitched, just like a ballerina looks to a constant location for multiple turns, I looked to the next dot rather than at the sewing foot and this helped the flow of the stitches.   It's not perfect but it's perfect enough for me.  Spiral quilting is one of my favourite ways to quilt.  To make it denser, I sewed a second spiral within the first so the final quilting lines are ½" apart.


I decided to round the corners  to echo the curves of the wreath.  I did it the same way as I did on my Wonky Circle of Stars quilt.  I glue basted my bias binding- see here for method.  The stamp is as far as quilt labelling goes for me- just a reminder of when it was made!  I use a Versacraft ink pad.


I added a quilt sleeve so I could hang the finished quilt on the wall.  I ended up using the sleeve as a way to push drawing pins through fabric and into the picture rail whilst keeping the quilt away from the pins.  A little adhoc but it has worked.


I am so happy with the result, a very happy winter quilt indeed!  Thankyou Jessie for great pattern, I would love to have though of this.

sib blog

26 comments:

  1. The quilt is gorgeous, and I love the way you have quilted it. Thanks for the quilting tips too. x

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  2. Oh, I love it! I wondered if I can get an issue in the states? i have been wanting to make one! I love the spiral quilting and also the candy cane binding! Did you cut the binding in bias cut? The round corners are Lovely!! Happy Holiday!!

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  3. You may not have thought of it, but you certainly implemented the pattern beautifully. I can certainly see why you fell in love with it because I have too! I may just work on Christmas stuff all next year, I have been inspired by so many beautiful projects! And thank you, thank you for explaining what you did and giving tips for other sewers so they can be successful, too., I read blogs to learn and be inspired and I love it when they do both, just like you did today! Which makes me want to go all negative on Instagram that so many bloggers seem to be turning towards, but I won't. I'm already too long, as usual, and it's going to be a great Saturday for everyone! No room for negativity. Thanks again for sharing your wreath - it's amazing! Magistra13 at yahoo dot com
    Beth

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  4. Hi!!! Wow!!! It is awesome!!!! Love the quilting!!!! Love all of it!!!!!

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  5. Beautiful Kerry! Happy Holidays!

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  6. Looks absolutely wonderul, Kerry! I love all the details, colors, prints, quilt edges - everything.

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  7. Looks great Kerry :) Such a clever pattern!

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  8. Love your version of the pattern and I especially love the dark navy blue background with red and green Brids . Do you know what that bird fabric is? I must make this quilt for next year.

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  9. This is absolutely amazing. Love it! X

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  10. It's wonderful Kerry! Love the perfectly balanced scrappyness of it all :-)

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  11. Sweet pillow ~ the log cabin is so versatile and I just love this one ~ especially the striped binding!
    Thanks for the link to Jesse blog ~ she's got lots of great inspiration!

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  12. Absolutely gorgeous! Love the colours you used!

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  13. I generally dislike Christmas decorations but this has been literally the first Christmas sewing to catch my eye in years! I generally start spiral quilting with a free motion foot then switch after the first miserable bit.

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  14. This is beautiful - I would love to make one like this for next year x

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  15. It's beautiful and I love the little stamp detail too!

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  16. It's such a great idea for a Christmas wall hanging, and I love your candy cane binding

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  17. Gorgeous Kerry! I love Jesse's deisgn too, such a clever use of log cabin. I love the swathes of turquoise on yours and the curved corners are genius!

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  18. That's absolutely stunning! I loved the pattern just from the front of the magazine, and your version is just gorgeous. Thanks too for all the links - I think I'll be bookmarking this post for future reference :)

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  19. I can't stop looking at all the details in your wreath. It's so beautifully done -- and the binding is just perfect. Wonderful!

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