Logcabin quilts...

One of my favorite quilt patterns is the log cabin.  There are so many variations for setting the blocks and it can be done either scrappy or not!  Though I have to admit...I love the scrappy best!

This circa 1870 quilt is from Pennsylvania.  The red centers are wool.  The blocks are set on point creating alternating dark and light bands.

This all cotton quilt top has a similar colorway but is turn of the century (1900)  is much different in scale and setting...

This is part of an earlier quilt purchases from the Maryland's eastern shore (folded in quarters)

It isn't in the best of condition (ok...poor condition) but I loved the hst's used for the centers and the pieced borders.

Here is a top purchased in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  The colors are so Penn!  Using log cabins as part of a "four patch" design is unusual.  These fabrics are difficult to date as they were printed for a long timeperiod.  I'd say this was circa 1900...

Not scrappy but still fun.

Below is a crib quit done as one large uneven log cabin.  It looks like it may have started with an orphan block and just grew!  This came from Pennsylvania circa 1880.  I've made a reproduction for it for my sister.  A fun project.

This is one I made using repro-fabric scraps from other projects.  I has the traditional red centers for the blocks.

It has piano key borders on two sides which used up even more scraps and gives my Dh a hint on how to lay it out on the bed!

Sometimes you don't have to make a whole log cabin block...the little color study below uses a quarter log cabin block.  The center block is a hst and takes a bit of planning...the inspiration came from the antique hst quilt.

Here is another quarter log cabin in a different setting...and king size...

This blue and yellow design below is from a Kaffe book..

A more "controlled" scrappy.  It takes more planning than the other log cabin layouts.  Again I used the left-over strips to make a border.

This little quilt was made up from scraps and donated...a good use for orphan blocks!  I always end up with a few extra when I make log cabin quilts!

And even smaller...this is about 16x16.  I stitched it up during a snow storm.  Lesson learned - don't hand sew on paper!  Duh!  Also learned however, that log cabins can be made really tiny!

Guild Donation Quilts

Each year the guild I belong to makes a quilt to raise funds for Camp Rainbow - a medically supervised summer camp for children with cancer and their siblings.

Even with a large group of quilters working on the quilt it takes a year to make one.  This is our quilt for 2015.  So far about 30 members of the guild have worked on it.  Deadline to finish is October!  Looks like we'll make it (isn't that a song title?!)  But because a group is working on it together we can take on a challenging quilt!

This is the quilt we will draw for in September.  It is a Piece of Cake design.  We have found that bed size applique quilts tend to raise the most money for the camp.

Though this pieced batik quilt did well in 2012.  This was based on an article in Quilters Newsletter on how to do a group pieced quilt.  I'm still not a believer.  It is much easier to put together blocks made by a group that are appliqued!

from Blackbird designs...

These quilts also give an opportunity to go out into the community at the art and the Home and Garden show to raise awareness of the guild.  We always end up with a few new members after these events.

I like how different the quilts are from year to year...(I made the cherry block that year!)

This is another Piece of Cake design.  Since the guild has been doing this for about 15 years many folks search us out at the Arts in the heart festival each September.

Prairie Flowers by B. Brackman

I need to scan in the earlier photos of the donation quilts so we can have them all in one place.  I wish we had kept better records of how much we raised each year.  I guess I could go back through the check registers...what chore!

And just in case you are wondering...yes, I buy lots of tickets to each quilt and no, I have never won one.  That doesn't stop me from trying though!

Back on my feet...

I know I've been "off the grid" for a bit.  Can you believe I had a computer accident?  Well maybe not on the computer but getting up from the computer.  I didn't get up very well at that.  I spilled backwards and gave my head so much of a whack that I haven't been able to do much.  But all is better now....

my $1 bag from an estate sale....

So much to cover...

I got cleared by my doc so I am headed up to Charlotte for the AQS show this week.  I will be doing hanging appraisals.  Which basically means appraisals on quilts that are in the show and the owner requested an appraisal.  This is my first time doing this at an AQS show so I'm a bit nervous about the mechanics of it all...let you know!

So my DH has done gone out to some estate sales for me the past couple of weeks to check on quilts and sewing related items.  Sometimes it makes me laugh to hear his description of a quilt and then see the actual quilt.  for instance he called and told me there was a Polka Dot quilt...so in he comes with a 1930's hexagon mosaic quilt!  (tiny pieces too!)

  Maybe now that he is retired more of the quilt terminology will rub off on him!

We have had a good summer (though hot!)  A couple years ago we stopped using pesticides on our property (except for fire and hills which is a granular application specific to the hill.)  Anyway, this year we have had a wonderful array of dragonflies during the day and fireflies at night.  Really quite magical.

Of course Watson and Dobby don't always agree...they spend hours chasing the large dragonflies around the yard!  They sleep well after the chase!