Sisterly love...

My sister loves my hobby.  And I love my sister.

Last year she asked me if I would make her a quilt for her bed.  She has a king sized bed.  We talked about designs; we talked about colour. She wanted shabby chic and she wanted something traditional.  "How about a log cabin?", I suggested.

I played in EQ7 (Electric Quilt design software) to give her somewhat of a visual of what I was thinking (top right block is turned the wrong way in this diagram but this will give you an idea of what I was trying to accomplish).  She loved this one.

Then the journey began:

A little shopping!  I started at The Cloth Shop in Vancouver at Granville Island where I found some fat quarters.  What a wonderful day that was.  My son was at the medical day unit at Children's Hospital for the day so I decided I would walk down to Granville Island (with that store in mind of course) and then I took a taxi back to the hospital before we headed back to Victoria.  Sometime thereafter I ended up getting more of the shabby chic fabrics from Satin Moon Quilted Garden.  I did use some stash as well.  The scrappier the quilt the more charming, I think. Even though I used yardage I really tried to mix up the colours to provide a scrappy feel.

I used the Accuquilt Log Cabin die for cutting and I LOVE IT!  It reduced the cutting time by a big chunk and saved my shoulder from a lot of pain from too much rotary cutting. 

The logs are 1 1/2" wide and I used all of the logs except the longest one.  I set those ones aside  in the event that I needed a few shorter logs that could be subcut as needed to complete my blocks with enough colour variety.

And now for some sewing...I used my treasured featherweight for piecing.

This quilt took me a few months from start to finish with one interruption to work on a wedding quilt with a deadline in July.  But when all was said and done, I surprised myself at how quickly this quilt went together.  I know I gained some valuable time by using the Accuquilt die for cutting the fabric.  Chain piecing helped too.  I sewed inside.  I sewed outside.  I used my clothesline as a design wall (that was a fun day) as I put my rows together.

Once the top was done I sent this quilt out for long arm quilting by Theresa Harbidge and then it was back to me for binding.  I love the binding process.  I just have a label to do and then it will be off to my sister.

Ta da!!

I love my hobby too, because it allows me to give gifts of love to others. There you go little sister!  All yours!


Until next time,
Mavis