I think the main reason my projects don't find there way here is that I just don't stop and take pictures like I used to.  In May, I made a fabric basket for a friend's birthday.  The pattern was from Anna's book, Handmade Style.  I was so happy with how it turned out that I snapped a quick pic with my phone and delivered it right away.  Later, I thought I would write a little post about it and then realized that all I had to share was this. One lonely photo.  With this in mind, I took some time to photograph a couple of quilts I made last fall.

I could make log cabin quilts for days.  This one is a baby size quilt made from one giant log cabin block.

One half is a light weight chambray, the other half is a split of ice dyed cottons in greens and purples.

The back is a print with indigo stripes on a off-white background.

The pattern for this quilt is Vast from Jeni's book, Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle.

It's made with some of my favorite ice dyed cottons and a mid-weight chambray.  The back is a gold and black print.

I think this quilt looks brilliant with all the lichen on the wall.

This was one of the those quick projects that took me ages to finish.  The colors are not ones I usually work with so I had a difficult time deciding how the blocks should work together.  I shuffled them around so many times.  I kind of hated it and then I loved it.

The heart of each log cabin block was part of a panel that I cut up and then edged with wonky bands of tone on tone orange, green, blue, and gold.  The orange is a cross hatch print, while the others are silhouettes of leaves.

The extra spaces around the blocks and the binding are a coordinating brown print that I think looks like little bees buzzing around, but is actually tiny airplanes.  I quilted it with gold thread in vertical straight lines.

The back is big, wide bands of the coordinating colors that I used on the front. 

I think it makes for a great baby quilt.  I'm happy that in the end I powered through and kept working on this one.  It would have been a shame to let it sit on a shelf unfinished simply because it was bit frustrating in the middle of making it.

It will be listed soon.

Big quilts are tough to photograph.  I have used this spot in the past for big quilts.  The steps are a big help, but the wind can be a big problem.  I love the small feet trying to hold the corner from blowing back on this one.

Thankfully, just when we thought all hope was lost, we stopped at the park.

This quilt was two years in the making.  The calicoes are from Liberty Lifestyle's Bloomsbury collection.  I fell in love with them the first moment I saw them.  As a child of the 70's, I was raised on calico.  My mom made dresses with pinafores for me that were a blend of Little House on the Prairie meets 1970's bold.

calico dress

Once I picked out the fabrics, the pattern was an easy decision.  I love log cabin quilts.  From traditional to wonky, they let simple blocks shine with all the different options for layouts.  Plus they are a part of my history.  Around the time that picture of me, along with my brother, in our finest 70's looks, our new log house was being built.  I grew up in a log house.  It's an L-shaped ranch style, but it's still a log house.

Log cabins have become my comfort block.  As soon as I finish one, I want to make another one.  Which is good because it took a whole lot of blocks to make this quilt.  The back is pieced with brown florals and paisley medallions.

I used flannel instead of batting for a lighter weight, but with as much fabric as is used in a quilt of this size, there's not a lot about this quilt that is light weight.  I used a heavy weight pearl cotton in ivory to tie the layers together.  It's already on the bed and I should add, over the bed.  It pools onto the floor around our full-sized bed.

This is one of those projects that I thought might never be finished.

I am so happy that it finally is after all this time.

My sewing machine (Pearl) sits behind our front door.  I realize this sounds crazy, but generally, the only people who come to our front door are the types who want to talk politics, or sell me cookies so it isn't as much of a pain as it sounds. So I have my little corner of the cottage to set up my ironing board next to my machine and stitch.  Sometimes when Cj is bored, because he's used up all of his computer time, he comes and sits across from me and asks things like...

"Hey Mom, how's Pearl doing?"

"What are you making today?"

"Who is it for?"

"What's for supper?"

"When are you going to make my quilt?"

Almost two years ago now, he sat down with me at the computer to pick out fabric for bed quilt.  He loves helicopters and cameras so this echino line was the perfect place to start.  He asked for school busses too and I had to add the frames because he has a sneaky habit of watching his reflection in people's glasses.

A year ago, I pieced the top. It's made up of 30 wonky improve court house step blocks and framed with grey sashing.  But then I was distracted by life and even with the occasional reminder of "when are you going to make my quilt?", it sat in a pile.

Finally this October I got my act together and here it is.

I love it and even more important, he loves it!

It is quilted with grey lines 1 inch apart through the print blocks on the vertical and with accents of orange quilting on the horizontals.

The back is pieces with a mix of solids and some bits of left over echino.

He is thrilled to finally have his very own handmade by Mom quilt on his bed.  I'm left with feelings of satisfaction until the question "what's for supper?" pops up again.

Here's my dad's Christmas present. All of the prints, except for the red center prints are from Windham Fabrics The Brick House line.  The solid black is also from Windham, but it's from the Gee's Bend line.  The red and black print that is at the heart of some of the blocks is something special my mom picked up at the Museum of the Fur Trade's shop.  It's a reproduction of one of the five fabrics that William Clark took with him as presents for the Indian tribes he met on the Lewis and Clark expedition.

I love this quilt - the color, pattern, prints, the wool quilting, the whole thing, love love love!

I chain pieced the log cabin blocks.

Chain piecing sped up the process since there were so many blocks.  The pattern is Straight Furrows, from the book, The Classic American Quilt Collection - Log Cabin.  Yes, the price on that link was right!  I paid a dollar plus shipping for my copy of the book.

Here's the back of the quilt.  It's pieced with large sections of the fabrics that I used on the front.

I quilted it in a diagonal pattern through the heart of each block.  I used aurifil 12 wt wool in ivory.  It wasn't trouble free because the thread split on me a few times, but I found if I lengthened the stitches, used a 90/14 quilting needle, and kept a steady speed I had much better luck.

I love the fuzzy look of the wool thread in this quilt.

It adds a sort of homespun feel to the project.

I know some people would probably want to avoid that, but I say enjoy what you are making.  I like fabric - modern, reproduction, print, solid, whatever - I love all of it!