Using scraps to sew off the end of a "regular" project keeps the thread from tangling and knotting when starting a new seam. Originally I sewed onto a scrap (and threw it away) but eventually realized that a scrap block seam serves the same function AND finishes an extra top before you know it!
In the past I made little nine-patches but about two years ago I returned to log cabin blocks as my leader/ender project. And not just log cabins, but half-inch logs. Crazy.
I haven't paid much attention to them; simply set them in a bin. During a bout of cleaning last week, I pulled them out. What a huge collection - so many that I considered making a bed quilt. Finally decided they worked better for baby quilts. That's helpful; several are needed soon.
Every different corner a block has increases the setting variations that can be made. Part of the reason log cabin is a perennial favorite is that it has four different corners. Here are some of the variations I laid out on the design wall.
These Streak of Lightning variations use some "all light" blocks to create more open space.
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| Streak of Lightning variation, log cabin blocks. |
By rotating every other row of the layout above, I created this triangular setting. (Definitely making this one!)
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| Triangular rows variation, Log Cabin blocks |
More Streak of Lightning variations.
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| Large asymmetrical streak of lightning log cabin variation. |
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| Streak of lightning log cabin variation 2. |
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| Chevron log cabin variation. |
Medallion variations:
An inner border of "light only" log cabin blocks surrounds the center star.
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| Medallion log cabin with lone star center. |
The star is rotated into a Sunshine and Shadows variation.
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| Medallion log cabin 3. |
A bit of zig zag on this outer border differs slightly from the previous one.
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| Medallion log cabin 2. |
A log cabin heart.
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| Log cabin heart set on a background of "light only" blocks. |
There are enough blocks to make five baby quilts.
I finished a
Sunshine and Shadows log cabin and a
Barn Raising log cabin a while ago. It's time for a different leader/ender.
Another trip to San Francisco, another tour. This time, we walked around Telegraph Hill. These 1937 apartments are decorated with raised plaster called sgraffito (yes, same root word as graffiti) by Alfred Du Pont. An outline of California appears behind the image of Califia, the mythical queen of the island of California in a Spanish novel from 1500. It was so popular that when the first explorers mistook Baja California for an island, they could think of no better name for the land.
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| Sgraffito of Califia on the Malloch Apartments |
Lauren Bacall's character lived in one of these apartments in the 1947 film, Dark Passage, with Humphrey Bogart.
Around the corner are these gorgeous Carpenter Gothic homes. The middle is a former grocery store. The lavender one (then painted dark brown) starred in The Streets of San Francisco with Michael Douglas. The lower floors of all the homes were added when the city paved the streets. Can you believe how much paving lowered the street? And it's still so steep, it's scary.
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Carpenter Gothic houses near
Union and Montgomery streets, San Francisco. |
Of course, loads of blooming plants wherever you turn.
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| Hydrangeas on the Filbert Stairs. |
Enjoy the day, Ann
