Vintage-inspired Log Cabin Quilt

You may remember a few weeks ago I started a vintage-inspired Log Cabin quilt. Well, she’s done!

I’ve been so excited to show her off in all of her glory, but I’m sorry to say the pictures don’t do it justice.

Part of the problem is that this is the biggest quilt I’ve made in a while! It finished at 80″ x 80″. It’s hard to get a good photo of a quilt that size. (I realize I could put it on my bed, but then I’d have to do too much cleaning to take a pretty picture 😉 so this is these are the best I’ve got for the moment.)

I thoroughly enjoyed making every last block of this quilt. There’s something I really love about making log cabin quilts. I think they’re one of my all-time favorites.

I ended up making a square quilt this time – 80″ x 80″. I thought about making it bigger for a bed size quilt, but had decided the purpose of this quilt is for carrying around for whatever sounds fun from Sunday naps to picnics outside. Also, this one is all mine. I mean I’ll share it sometimes, but it’s mostly for my own pleasure.

I finished my blocks at 10″ x 10″ making 64 blocks altogether. You can read more about the size strips I cut as well as tutorials for making your own Log Cabin quilt blocks here.

We’ve had such cold, rainy weather for the past few weeks so I’ve been waiting for some sun to get pictures outside. I also wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous blossoms that have come into bloom over the past few days, so I tried to get a decent full body shot, but as you can see, my valiant quilt holder’s arms had to really stretch to even get it this wide. So it’s not the best picture.

(Full disclosure: also, our neighbors were in their front yard and I was feeling like a dork, so I kind of rushed it. We may need to try again. My husband – to his everlasting credit – is the best sport. It’s only me that has the dork complex.)

While as much as I love the overall look of the quilt, it’s actually the fabrics up close that I love the most. Log Cabin quilts are so much fun for going all-out scrappy. They’re great for actually using your actual scraps too.

As I mentioned previously, I went “controlled scrappy” on this one, sticking to a pastel palette with fabrics that are vintage reproductions or the like, for the most part.

I cut up years worth of stash favorites for this quilt and it was so much fun to finally put them to use. Why do I wait for the “perfect time” to use stuff? I finally decided this was the perfect time. I think I need to make more perfect time quilts.

I once heard Jen Kingwell teach that the best quilts have over 100 different fabrics. There’s something magic about them .  I fully agree and I think I can safely say this one meets that criteria.

I was also fun to throw in some of my own fabrics for this quilt. Prints from my Gretel collection fit the palette just right. I also used the pink gingham with daisies as the backing fabric and the red heart stripe on the bias as the binding. Worked out pretty perfect.

So there she is (this quilt is totally a ‘she’) in all of her glory. Melissa of Sew Shabby Quilting did the machine quilting for me with the allover Little Flowers edge to edge design. I love that it give it lots of all-over texture, but the curves of the flower petals give it some softness.

UPDATE: I finally got some pretty pictures of this quilt with the orchard blossoms near my house.  You can see more of those “Springtime in the Rockies” shots here. 🙂 

Have a wonderful Easter weekend my friends!

 xo