Wonky Log Cabin

Have you ever had a project just begging to be made? When I designed my spoonflower fabric, I was really just interested in designing a line of fabric - so I hadn't thought much about what I was going to do with it. Then, last week some time, I saw this tutorial posted on WhipUp about wonky log cabin quilts and I loved it - a quilt design with structure, but allowing for lots of freedom and improvisation - which is about the only way I quilt.

I was already wondering what to make of my new fabric and this seemed like the perfect project for it. My fabric was inspired by things I love in my little house - and if you've ever seen our little house it's a pretty wonky cabin. (I'd love to show you a picture of my living room with the windows that inspired the fabric, but I just can't get the lighting right - so this is a shelf in my kitchen.)


We rent our house from some friends who own the gorgeous historic home next door. Our house was the slave cabin. It often reminds me of the Quilts of Gee's Bend, because it's made of mismatched windows, and there's hardly a right angle anywhere. But it's also got nice wide trim, big open rooms, and large windows that fill it with light.

We plan to leave this house in the next few years when we're ready to build our own. We're eager to have our own home, but we will sure miss this one. So what a great way to honor our first home by using fabric designed from it and a quilt block perfect for it!

I wanted to make the center of each block be white, so that they would resemble the windows that I love so much - but then my mom called while I was sewing. She told me that traditionally, women would put yellow or orange in the center to represent the homefires burning. What a great idea! Women are so smart. So I had to use that, too.


I cut a bunch of strips of coordinating fabrics and kind of loosely grouped them. Then I arranged each block as I sewed. Very improvised.


Next I squared up each block at 15" with white on the outside. I thought that might help unify them when I put them together (someday, eventually, later). I hadn't planned on using so much black, but it just seemed to work, so I'm going with it.

The only problem is that I don't really have time to make a quilt right now. As usual I have about eight other projects going. So I thought I would just try to make a couple or so blocks each week, and put them together eventually someday later. My goal is to post at least two blocks each friday. A flickr search shows lots of great wonky log cabin blankets (way better than my skill level), so I made a flickr group. Please share your blocks and quilts!