Drunken Log Cabins

Even though I have only been quilting barely over 2 years, I am impressed how many scraps I have already  amassed.  They are good for appliqué, funky adlib borders, bottled rainbows ,  miniature quilts (not my thing) and patterns like log cabins.

There are a variety of log cabins, from the traditional, through pineapple, through wonky.  However, while cruising around in Flickr, I found another take that creates something like a Drunkard’s Path. The maker was trying to recreate the Subway quilt made by a respected Japanese quilter Kumiko Fujita.  She figured out the pattern and drew it using the table function in Word.  Well, I can do that.  So I did.  What fun!  Basically, the logs of one half of the block are half as wide as the other side. I didn't make it nearly as fine as her's, but I think it works anyway.  Somewhere in her blog is a discussion of how fine you might go to create the roundness.  The center block in hers was one of the wide colors, but I chose to use a half square triangle.  It’s easily paper pieced (I did it with freezer paper, as usual!).  My pattern creates a 6 inch quarter block plus ½ inch seam allowance.  This link will get you to the PDF file, if you want it. 

 Basically, pick 2 color families and then values within the family from your scrap heap.  Piece four quarters either going light to dark or dark to light in values. Then play with arrangements.

 I liked the cross arrangement for my first block best, but may mix the arrangements up.  I basically intend to make these as I collect a lot of some colors.  When I have enough, I’ll put them together in a quilt.  It’s really fun and quick!