Log Cabin

I attended a great workshop back n the 80's conducted by Barbara Macey. Many new approaches were completed in the workshop using the various techniques. The one I most favoured was where you fold the strips in half ( iron them) and sew down the middle and fold back and iron in place. These strips were sewn on a pre drawn grid on calico fabric (pre washed and shrunk). It made a solid foundation for the quilt blocks which were then sewn meticulously together in the true Barbara Macey style.

What impressed me most was the fact that the sewing of each block did not let you take the needle out and you sewed, twisted and turned until the block was complete!

What a time saver, however ALL strips needed to be pre measured and cut to length and placed in the respective order.

The best part was if you made a mistake you discovered a new layout or design you may not have thought f in the first place!

This is the best part of making quilts. The unknown and the surprises that happen along the way!

detail:

I used red and green 100% head cloth/cotton and red polyester to get 2 different shades in the design. I don't think this photo does the full justice of the colour combination.

Detail of same:

Note the different fabric textures used.

This is a scanned copy of a print which is the only record I have of this log cabin wall hanging in the same series. It was sold to someone in Sydney and I only discovered this photo recentyl. It is so important to photograph all your work. With digital cameras today this makes the process so much easier.

This is a detail of the above.

In the design process I played around with strips of colour and placed them together on a piece of black fabric (background) and stood back to view the order. After I was satisfied with the order I stitched them down roughly, pinned the template to the pin board and began to cut and sew to my hearts content. Here is the sample.

Another quilt I used a piece of fabric I was going to make a skirt from. I decided to use all the skirt fabric together with black headcloth until it was all gone. This determined the number of blocks and the way in which I placed the blocks together. Quite plain really but it hangs proudly at the entrance to my home and many peole have asked how this quilt was made and why so much black fabric. Each if us have our own appreciation of art and design so I dont really answer - just smile.



Long Triangles

This was the first quilt I made in the solid colour series using plain fabrics sourced by post from a shop in Sydney as there were no patchwork shops in Hobart at the time. I eventually bought a meter of each of the solid colours and have built a huge collection that I still have today (2011).

The Long Triangles quilt was machine pieced and hand quilted. I used one of my standard triangle templates as the quilting design. Not sure how this came about but I think one of my sons placed it on there during the course of the making! ( He went on to become a Graphic Artist !)

Detail of same quilt:



Japanese Inspiration

Some  years I went to see an exhibition of a woman who made amazing jackets using Japanese ikat fabric. After the exhibition I asked her what she did with the off cuts.  We agreed on a price for me to purchase her offcuts and every month for about 6 months a supermarket plastic bag of offcuts would arrive! What joy that was and I was so thrilled as each bag was a complete surprise. I cut the pieces into triangles where I could and long strips for log cabin where possible and began cutting and shaping more quilts.

The first quilt I made was using the strips in this hexagonal pattern combined with a metallic grey fabric. While making the quilt a small red piece of fabrics appeared on the quilt by mistake so I decided to use this in the quilt as well.

Here are a couple of details of the same quilt:

Then I made a jacket based on the kimono shape. I had no idea of how to make this jacket but here it is.

Then another quilt using the scraps cut into triangles. I enjoyed the challenge of using mixed fabrics and texture.



Details of that quilt:



Red Triangles

This is the first of the folded triangles series. It was an experiment and I went on to make the Golden and Blue Triangle quilts.

 



Blue Triangles

This is another quilt in the same series of the folded triangle technique. It is small er than the yellow one but from memory I think it was the first attempt. All the blue fabrics were collected from friends and some selected quilt shops. There wasn't the Internet in those days and many fabrics I had to buy from small patchwork shop in Sydney or Melbourne. It was such a long process as you either phoned or sent a letter requesting "samples" of the blue colour range. Many shops were well organised and had small plastic bags full of solid colours they would post in the mail to you. I would play with these small swatches for hours and then ordered what was required by mail. How times have changed now.

This is a detail of the same quilt:





Golden Triangles

This is one of a series of the last quilts I made around 1990. It appeared in an exhibition in Canada and featured in a Japanese Quilting Magazine that same year.

this is a detail: