Patchwork (or) Pieced Quilts Archives : Indiana Quilter 40

LOG CABIN IN THE FALL WOODS (another log cabin quilt)

Fall is my favorite season and the only one I really decorate for. I believe that is one reason I go to Maine every September – the colors are so brilliant – the blue sky, the leaves, the ocean water. I thought it would be fun to make a log cabin quilt in fall colors. Here is the start of my “Log Cabin in the Fall Woods” quilt.

Red and gold leaves for LOG CABIN IN THE FALL WOODS — Stock photo from Pexels

Basic directions:

I started to make a fall themed log cabin quilt from my fabric stash. The goal being to not buy any fabric to make this quilt top. It was not hard to find the right red, orange and purple scraps and cut them into the correct sizes and shapes:

4″ center squares (dark red)

2.5″ strips (purple and orange)

When constructing the blocks, I only did two rounds instead of my normal three. When sewing two of the sides of the block are in one color (orange) and the other two in another color (purple). There is a total of 36 blocks to make this square quilt, or six rows by six rows. I like keeping the math simple.

I cut many strips to start and ended up cutting more to complete the blocks. That really is fine, I am trying to use up scraps.

36 blocks done:

When the 36 blocks were complete, I set them together in what is called the Sunshine & Shadow setting or the Dark & Light setting. Whatever the name, it gave a different look to the purple and orange blocks. I only recently realized how many ways the log cabin blocks can be put together to make designs.

36 blocks sewn together for LOG CABIN IN THE FALL WOODS

At this point, the top for “Log Cabin in the Fall Woods” is 68” square and needs a border or borders to complete. I lost interest and moved to another project. This project got hung on a hanger in the closet to be finished another time.

Adding the borders

I added more of the leftover strips to make the border to finish this quilt top. There are 5 borders to make the quilt the size I want.

Starting closest to the blocks, first border is 4″ in red print. The second border is leftover 2.5″ leftover purple strips. The third border is leftover 2.5″ orange strips. The fourth border is leftover 2.5″ purple strips. The final border is 4″ wide and a leaf print with metallic highlights.

Completed top for Log Cain in the Fall Woods. — Here is the completed top for Log Cabin in the Fall Woods

A completed quilt

The quilt was machine quilted in a large stipple design. The machine quilting was completed in May 2020 by RLM.

Finished size is 88″ square.

The backing is a solid purple sheet.

I did not buy any fabric for the quilt top. It is made of scraps or from fabric pieces already in my stash. Goal reached !!

Backing and machine quilting design. — Backing with quilting design showing.

Completed Log Cabin in the Fall Woods quilt. — Yeah! The completed quilt.

Another fall log cabin quilt – https://indianaquilter40.blogspot.com/2009/10/log-cabin.html

Another log cabin – https://indianaquilter40.com/hot-chocolate-and-peppermint-quilt/

PLEASE NOTE:
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

The Mystery Quilt Continues

Mystery clip art — Source: Bing clip art

I decided to do the mystery quilt that Bonnie Hunter put out on her blog during late November 2020. My goal was to complete each part as the directions came out every week. Real life put out some bumps and I am behind, so the mystery quilt continues…..

If you missed my previous post on this mystery quilt, please go here. In that post, I showed photos as I completed making parts 1 – 6.

I am not going to give details or sizes because you should to go to Bonnie’s website to get the complete directions. At some point this design will be put into a PDF pattern she will sell.

Fall color leaves — Source: Bing clip art

And the mystery quilt continues…..

Now I am in part 7 which is putting the components from the previous parts into blocks and sashing to complete the top for making the Grassy Creek Mystery Quilt.

The Main Blocks:

The first step in this part was making these Ohio Star blocks to be the center of the main blocks.

Ohio Stars for the center of the mystery quilt blocks.

Then adding the triangle components to the sides.

So the center block is complete. There is still the sashing and secondary blocks to make from the parts.

The sashing:

Sewing the gray strips together to make the sashing was easy but to me the most time consuming part of the entire process. For part 7 the red rectangles were added to each long end.

The final components to put together are the remaining flying geese blocks, HST, and red rectangles into a secondary block. This is where I am as of this morning – still needing to add the yellow and gray HST:

When I committed to doing this mystery quilt, I involved another quilter who had never done anything by Bonnie Hunter or a mystery quilt. She was not sure about it but was willing. Her top has been completed for 3 weeks because she had way too much fun using scraps and piecing an unknown design.

That being said, for those of us who get bogged down in a design, someone else just flies through it and is done. Usually other quilters say that I am the one flying through the piecing of a quilt top – not this time.

So….just keep at your project, enjoy, and complete. I have not given up or allowed myself to work on another quilt top. This one will not be a UFO.

NIGHT FLIGHT (or a Flying Geese quilt)

Flying Geese is a well known and much loved block among quilters. The pattern is fairly easy to make and can be arranged in other ways beside the traditional Flying Geese quilts. I like darker backgrounds, and thought that “Night Flight” (or a Flying Geese quilt) was a good description of geese flying through a night sky.

According to some books in my personal library, this setting is called “Dutchman’s Puzzle”.

All the “geese” in this quilt are Jinny Beyers fabric that I had a stash of. Add solid black fabric for the background. I put a lot of hours into this quilt and it was finished from start to finish in 2008.

Making the “Geese”:

For this quilt, I started with 5″ squares. I drew a line diagonally and then sewed a generous quarter inch on each side of the line to make 2 half square triangle (HST) pieces that I matched and sewed up the center to make each “goose”. Yes this is a time consumptive, but I prefer the accuracy and less stretching of the triangles.

In order to put the design together, I simply laid the pieces out like a magazine photo I had seen.

I used to spend a lot of time working with triangles, but over the past 10 years or so I have gone to using the half square triangle method because of the accuracy, and the way triangles tend (for me at least) to really stretch out of shape, which is means a lot more squaring up to make the blocks fit.

When I show other quilters how to make these Flying Geese blocks, I use this method. The size can be adjusted easily to any size triangles desired.

Backing and Machine Quilting:

The backing is not a match to the front at all. In fact, I think it is a super ugly fabric (my own opinion). This fabric was on sale for a great price and is good quality cotton. Another plus is that it was on hand. The budget would not stretch enough to cover another back, and the machine quilting.

Finished size is 100″ square.

Machine quilting is an all over cloud design by RLM in July 2008.

Binding the quilt:

The binding is 2.5″ strips cut from the leftover Jinny Beyers fabrics. It is sewn into a long strip, and ironed in half (1.25″). I machine sewed the raw edge down on the front, flipped it over to the back and hand stitched down.

Here is another view of Night Flight (or a Flying Geese Quilt) completed. The black background makes the “geese” shine.

Challenge yourself:

Pick a simple pattern like this one, and adjust the size to what you would like to work with. Work through the pattern using the photo of the quilt you chose as the guide. Most of all, have fun.

Here are two links to other info on Flying Geese quilts –

https://indianaquilter40.com/the-great-migration-quilt/

https://indianaquilter40.blogspot.com/2010/04/flying-geese.html

PLEASE NOTE:
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

TRIANGLE CHARM QUILT

TRIANGLE CHARM QUILT – So my quilting buddy (SB) and I had the brilliant idea to do some charm quilts using the same fabric packs, but we did different patterns or ways to put the charm pieces together. I simply took my 5″ squares and made half square triangles from them. I added enough “charm” pieces from my own stash to make the top big enough to suit me.

The green sashing and brown posts were out of my stash. I just wanted someplace for my eyes to rest and all those triangles were busy.

I pieced the Triangle Charm Quilt top during March to May 2002. It was fun, and it was fun to work with some different fabrics I would not have bought otherwise.

I kept track of the charms by keeping the fabrics in baggies by main color. Since the point of “charm quilts” is to only have one piece of each fabric in a quilt you will want to find a way to know what fabrics you have already used.

The definition I found for charm quilts “…when quilters make a charm quilt, no fabric is used more than one time in the quilt“.

This was machine quilted in May or June 2002 by RLM.

Finished size is 83″ x 82″.

Other charm quilts:

https://indianaquilter40.blogspot.com/2011/08/2000-millennium-charm-quilt.html

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/how-to-make-a-charm-quilt-4145708

I encourage you to do one charm quilt in your quilting journey. They can be as simple or complicated as you want, but it is a good excuse to use fabrics you would not normally use.

I Spy Log Cabin Quilt

I pieced the 36 blocks for this “I Spy” Log Cabin Quilt while in Maine during September 2017. The scraps are bright, cheerful and fun. The variety of novelty fabrics make it even more interesting – there are all kinds of things to “spy” including: corn on the cob, Snoopy, Minions, cats, rocks, cars, planets, etc. All the fabrics in these blocks came from my scrap bin.

Each center block was a 3″ square sewn into a half square triangle (HST). The fabric strips were 2.5″ wide and as long as I could cut from each scrap. The exception was the outside border which was cut 4″ wide.

The borders also include more strips sewn long-way instead of the usual piano key type border. This was a quick way to finish up the quilt top and allowed me to use up a few more scraps. (Did you notice the mistake? One side has only one strip of scrap border instead of two like on the other sides).

This quilt was a Christmas 2017 gift for my daughter and grand-daughter. It makes a fun way to snuggle and play “I Spy” with the various fabrics. The backing was purchased by my daughter and is a peacock theme.

All cotton fabric and poly batting.

“I Spy” Log Cabin Quilt was machine quilted by RLM in November 2017 in an all over stipple design.

The binding matched the outer border. Machine sewn to the front and hand sewn on the back of the quilt.

Finished size is 96″ square.

My conclusion:

I admit it – I was super slow to figure out how much fun Log Cabin quilts could be. The blocks can be set different ways depending on how the quilter wants the finished quilt to look. Log Cabin quilts can be scrappy or planned or even planned scrappy. There is simply no limit to what can be done with this pattern. Try the Log Cabin design out and see what you come up with. Have fun.

For more ideas about Log Cabin blocks and quilts:

https://indianaquilter40.blogspot.com/2019/08/purple-without-apology-log-cabin.html

https://indianaquilter40.blogspot.com/2009/10/log-cabin.html

https://www.freequilt.com/logcabin.html

https://indianaquilter40.com/lettuce-be-berry-christmas-quilt/

PLEASE NOTE:
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

SUNNY TUSCANY 4 PATCH QUILT

Left-overs, left-overs…..what to do? I tend to cut out quilt pieces and not seriously count, which can and frequently does mean there are left-over pieces after a quilt is finished. That is how Sunny Tuscany 4 Patch Quilt happened.

I cut many, many 4″ squares from blues and yellows to make French Country Life. When it was completed, I had stacks of blue and yellow squares left-over.

Quilters are great at recycling, re-using, or re-purposing to complete our quilts.

Making this easy and beautiful quilt:

Starting with the 4″ squares, I sewed them into four patch blocks (2 blues and 2 yellows.

Yellow and blue four patches with sashing and post.

The red strips are 2.5″ and the posts are 2.5″ blue blocks.

I surrounded the completed blocks and red sashing with a narrow (2.5″ ?) dark blue and black checked border. Then a 4″ floral border to complete.

two borders: blue checked and yellow floral.

Basically the quilt top was half cut out with all the 4″ blocks on hand, so I only had to cut the sashing, posts, and borders.

It went together quick and easy.

The backing is a black and white floral print that I had yards and yards of and wanted to use.

The binding was a dark blue with small white print design. I use 2.5″ cut, which means 1.25″ binding once it is ironed in half and sewn onto the front of the quilt. I hand sewed it down on the back of the quilt.

RLM machine quilted it in a swirly design.

Finished size of the Sunny Tuscany 4 Patch quilt is 88″ x 88″.

Other 4 Patch ideas:

This would be an easy quilt to make with the squares a different size (larger or smaller). It could also be done by using strips sewn together and then cut into squares.

The sashing and borders could also be adjusted in width to suit you.

Explore, be creative, and have fun with your four patch quilt project.

PLEASE NOTE:
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

AM I READY FOR A MYSTERY QUILT?

"It's a mystery" clip art — Source: Bing clip art

I fully intended to do a totally different topic for this week’s post. However, I got distracted by a call to a quilting buddy and now I am looking at a mystery quilt idea. Am I ready for a mystery quilt?

Current mystery quilt thoughts:

My quilting buddy does mystery quilts on an annual basis. She was all excited about this new mystery quilt that Bonnie Hunter is doing for 2020. So of course I had to look at it as well.

I am not a big fan of mystery quilts. “Why?” you ask. Because I am very visual and I like to see what I am making. Guess that takes all the mystery out of it right? Yep, I am being a party pooper for sure.

I have done a few mystery quilts in the past. Like this one in 2009. Then there was this one in 2006.

After looking at the design and the colors I am going to give this one a try. I love autumn colors and this one is very much autumn colors: red-orange, orange, gold, green (bright?), gray, and neutrals.

Colorful fall leaves in mystery quilt suggested colors. — Source: Bing clip art

I think there is enough in my fabric stash that I won’t have to actually purchase much, if any fabrics. I am trying very hard not to buy any extra fabrics this year, but to use what is already on my sewing room shelves and in the scrap bins.

Choosing fabrics:

I set the timer for 20 minutes and picked these fabrics from the stash. If I am not careful I will overthink any given task. Surprisingly, I did not even open the scrap bins!

I am happy with the fabric choices. Am I ready for a mystery quilt? I feel inspired by the colors and am sure willing to try the Grassy Creek mystery quilt by Bonnie Hunter.

The directions say she will be taking down the free pattern and turning it into a PDF pattern to sell on Feb. 12. I will change the links below after she posts the pattern for sale.

Mystery quilts are way out of my comfort zone. However, trying and learning new things is how to expand my (and your) horizons.

Learn and have fun:

Quilters, as 2020 finally winds down and we look forward to a brand new year, let’s try something new. Maybe it will be a mystery quilt or a new technique. Maybe how to use a new gadget. It might even be a fabric that does not match anything in your stash. Expand your quilting horizons.

And most of all – have a fun time with your quilting obsession.

Part 1 Update on 12/9/20:

All my Part 1 pieces are sewn and ironed. For details, please see the mystery quilt directions here.

Part 1 of the mystery quilt is complete. — Part 1 complete

Part 2 Update on 2/13/2021:

I left this part for the last one to assemble, but it is finished today. I am excited to start putting the pieces together for the top.

Mystery Quilt - part 2 — Part 2 complete

Part 3 Update on 12/24/2020:

All the pieces for Part 3 are sewn and ironed. For details, please see the mystery quilt directions here.

Mystery quilt part 3 complete. — Part 3 complete

Part 4 Update on 12/28/2020:

I completed the part 4 of the mystery quilt. See here for details on sizes and amount.

Mystery quilt part 4 is done. — Completed part 4 blocks

Part 5 update on 1/4/2021:

I am almost keeping up!! Here is part 5 complete. I am loving the fall colors. I have run out of gray fabric. Gray has never been a color I use much of, but this mystery quilt uses a lot of it.

Here are the directions for part 5.

Part 6 update 01/31/2021:

These strips took me way longer than normal – work has been crazy and it has really slowed down my quilting time.

Mystery quilt - part 6 - with corner triangles sewn on.

Here are the directions for part 6.

PLEASE NOTE:
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE THE PROPERTY OF INDIANAQUILTER40 UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

PLEASE NOTE:
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

“LOVE AMERICA” QUILTS

I am a proud American, and I love to quilt. Tomorrow is election day. I will share some patriotic quilts for the shear enjoyment of living in America. No, the USA is not perfect, but it is a wonderful place and my home. So here are some “Love America” quilts.

Quilt Show 2014

These are some patriotic quilts I saw at the AQS quilt show in Paducah, KY in April 2014. And more quilts from that show.

"LOVE AMERICA" QUILTS - eagles and flags. — Paducah Quilt Show 2014

America - flag and soldiers. — *Paducah Quilt Show 2014*

Red, white and blue with stars. — *Paducah Quilt Show 2014*

Crazy quilt blocks

Our great country is a land of immigrants and a “melting pot” of cultures, traditions, languages, and races. We have a rich heritage and people from around the world continue to immigrate here. For those who come legally, work, and contribute to your community – thank you.

I made this lap quilt many years ago because of a piece of fabric that I purchased and then did not know what to do with. The USA is a lot like the “crazy” blocks of this quilt – all mixed together, but beautiful. “LOVE AMERICA” QUILTS come in all designs and sizes.

"LOVE AMERICA" QUILTS — American Melting Pot – see here: https://indianaquilter40.com/american-melting-pot/

Pre-printed “cheater” quilt blocks

I am a big fan of George Washington. No, he was not perfect, but he was a man willing to risk it all for “birthing” this country. I choose to concentrate on the good things he did in life.

Founding Father quilt. — “Founding Father” quilt.

Another George Washington themed quilt that uses the remaining printed square from the above quilt.

Prayerful Leader quilt. — “Prayerful Leader” quilt. See: https://indianaquilter40.com/prayerful-leader-a-george-washington-quilt/

I like to use pre-printed blocks in quilts. They are fun to work with and come in so many different themes. Over several years I purchased patriotic “cheater” blocks. This quilt is named “Freedom” and is the pre-printed blocks mixed with strips of patriotic fabrics.

“Heart of America” made from one panel and some patriotic fabric.

Heart of America quilt. — “Heart of America”

Border prints

This quilt is named “Flags & Teddy Bears” because of the border print. It was a fun and easy project to make.

Our great country was “birthed” through the Christian values and hard work of people willing to take the opportunity provided and make something of it. The opportunity to excel is the same for all of us – what we choose to do with that life chance is up to each individual person. The results are not the same or equal, but we all have the opportunity to attempt equal results.

I hope you enjoyed this “LOVE AMERICA” QUILTS show. Patriotic quilts come in all designs and sizes. Have fun and make a quilt to show your American pride.

PLEASE NOTE:
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE THE PROPERTY OF INDIANAQUILTER40 UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

SIMPLY SQUARE FROLIC

I found this drawing on Pintrest and thought it would be an easy way to use up some more of the scraps. There were no measurements with the drawing so I could make up my own. I named the pattern “Simply Square Frolic” because it seemed to fit – at least in my mind.

I already had a box of 3″ squares cut out and so this is a way to use them. The 3″ scrap squares are sewn into rows of 6 squares (5 rows) with 1.25″ strips between the rows of squares would make a 16″ block. I decided to do mine in red, blue, and beige squares with solid white strips between the rows.

The blocks go together easily and it is really nice to find a use for more scraps. I have decided to make a total of 12 blocks (3 rows wide x 4 rows long) which will fit nicely on the wall in my dining room.

3 rows of 3" blocks sewn together without the white strips. — Three rows sewn together

Here are two completed blocks sewn together. It’s always great when the math works and the blocks fit!

Two completed blocks sewn together - SIMPLY SQUARE FROLIC

For now, this wall hanging top is set aside to complete another project. With all the seams, it will definitely be machine quilted.

I can see this pattern “Simply Square Frolic” working for other color combinations or even just total scrap.

Some other ideas for easy quilts that use squares:

https://indianaquilter40.com/french-country-life

https://indianaquilter40.com/amish-4-patch-doll-quilt/

PLEASE NOTE: ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

BASKETWEAVE NINE PATCH

Waste not, want not or so we are told. The Basketweave Nine Patch Quilt is a classic example of not wasting those pesky scraps that keep filling up a tub in my sewing room. This is a super easy pattern to do and can be adjusted for any size quilt. If you have not made a quilt from this pattern, let me encourage you to do so. It is easy to make and can be adjusted to any size strips you want to use.

Too many scraps….

I saw this pattern in some quilting magazine back in the mid to late 1980’s while living and working in West Germany. I thought yippee!! A great way to use up some of these scraps.

Here is a pattern for this quilt if you want easy to follow directions: https://www.quilterscache.com/B/BasketWeaveBlock.html

Obviously even then, I had a real problem with scraps!

Various colored fabric scraps in a pile. — Oh those scraps……..

I understand that rotary cutters were available by this time, but I had not seen one yet, so I actually cut all those pieces out by hand with scissors! It made for sore hands. Plus the issue of keeping those sharp scissors out of the little folks reach since I generally sat at on the floor to cut my fabric and they were playing around me.

Bolts of fabric and a pair of scissors. — Source: Bing clip art

So I eventually cut enough rectangles out for four queen size Basketweave Nine Patch Quilts that were completed over several years. It’s ok, you can say and think that this poor woman had a serious problem with fabric addiction. You would be sooooo correct.

Easily adjusted to the size you need

In the first photo, the quilt has blocks made of 9 “Roman Stripe” patches. I don’t remember the exact size but the three strips sewn together were the same length and width. Just alternate them as shown in the clip art below when sewing together.

The next step was simply adding solid black sashing between the Basketweave Nine Patch Quilt blocks. The post was a square the same size as the width of the sashing. I believe the sashing was 4″ wide, which would mean the posts were 4″ square – obviously this was a personal choice size wise and could easily be adjusted to fit any size quilt.

The top was finally put together in early 2007 and machine quilted by RLM the same year. It was given to our son M. for Christmas.

The same pattern, but totally different fabric choices and way blocks are put together can be seen here: https://indianaquilter40.blogspot.com/2009/10/roman-stripe-table-runner.html

https://indianaquilter40.blogspot.com/2011/11/roman-stripe-charm-quilt.html

There are some good links on the below post for other ideas to deal with scraps. Have fun.

https://indianaquilter40.com/are-you-drowning-in-scraps-too/

Come on….make a scrap quilt

Scraps can be so much fun to use and the ideas are are numerous as the quilters who have those ideas. Go ahead, bring out all those scraps you have stashed in boxes and bags and give a scrap quilt a whirl. Quilts made with scraps can be addictive – who knows, you may never make a planned quilt again. Have fun.