19.4.15

wildflowers log cabin quilt



Along with bears and bunnies, I burrowed deep during snowy winter and kept busy with log cabin blocks, Kalyan's old shirts mixed with fun fabrics from stash resulted in this patchwork quilt.


It is loosely based on wild flower theme. I picked a bright orangey red and a mossy green flower print from Heather Ross, Far far away collection for the center squares. 


For almost a month, I did nothing but taking shirts apart and cutting them into 1.5" strips. I had also cut lot of strips from fabrics which reminded me of things Kalyan likes. As I kept making the blocks I had to make a hard decision and leave out a bunch of strips due to their busyness or odd color.


When I had enough blocks I started to lay them out on the design wall and realized some of the dark fabrics I used were making the quilt too dark and not so cheery as I hoped. So I remade 20 blocks and seam ripped dark sections of another 10 blocks as it seemed a waste to remove them completely. That also tested my patience ;)


I wanted to make this quilt light and airy to be able to use in spring and autumn, so I tried a new batting (Fairfield Nature-Fil) 50% bamboo and 50% organic cotton, it is really soft and light weight., and a breezy double gauze fabric for the backing. This print is Fuccra by Nani Iro. I didn't have enough of it, so I combined it with a playful animal print by Mico's designs for the back.


The flowery gauze on the edge makes me think of rainy days when leaves are shining with raindrops and tiny flowers are at their brightest. A wild boar and piglet print was begging to be included, so I sneaked in small pieces into the binding. These two fabrics are Japanese import by Kobayashi.


I thought I chose a simple pattern for practicing long arm quilting, but the smooth curving loops proved tricky with no place to pause when I needed to loosen up and relax my shoulders. The curves I did are not so smooth or shapely, but I was relieved that at least the lines didn't run over each other where they are not supposed to! Quilt size is 72" x 90".

A big Thank you to Elnora and her wonderful IG friends for hosting this lovely Scrappy Log cabin quilt along! ( ' u ' )

✿ Have a Happy Spring  ✿