Below is one of forty quarter log cabin blocks that I finished last night for matching queen sized quilts for my two nephews. They are 17 and 15 and a half years old (the boys, not the blocks). The older is just becoming an Eagle Scout, the younger is on his way (hence the center square), their family has a lake cabin where bears are often seen (the bear strips) and I live in Florida (the sea turtles). I plan on using the light blue fabric in the blocks (sort of cave drawings) as 1 1/2" (unfinished) sashing between blocks and will be using the bears and fireworks as borders. The blocks are about 16 1/2 " unfinished and will be oriented in sets of 4 with the centers pointing together which gives a really neat large block appearance, two in the upper half and two in the lower half. The fifth row (center quilt) zig-zags the blocks. I did it on a full sized that I have pinned and am waiting to quilt, and it has a neat look. The nephews' Qs will be long-armed at a LQS.
This got me to thinking..... I like working with simple squares and strips. I like patterns, but, as with these quilts, I also like to take parts of patterns and make my own arrangements as well. I enjoy the Eleanor Burns' chain-sewing method and will use this on some patterns that call for seperate piecing (why would I want to seperate piece when you can assembly line - which comes out more uniform for me?) I don't plan on doing paper piecing or applique. I do my cutting, sewing and quilting while at the kitchen table watching TV in the family room. My patterns, such as Turning Twenty that I start next and the quilts I've pictured on other threads, are great beginner patterns. I've done flying geese, the pieced stained glass quit,etc. and will challenge myself with a few more involved patterns. But, I find the simple patterns and the no patterns, like some of the recent scrap quilt ideas on threads, relaxing.
So, I'm a lazy quilter, I guess. Don't judge me (LOL)...... everyone has a reason for doing what they do in quilting and mine is to decompress. So I guess that y'all will have to put up with simpler blocks if I ever join any swaps.
