Giant Log Cabin Quilt Tutorial

Last week, I made Ring Around the Rosy, my first Giant Log Cabin quilt, and it was so fast, I turned right around and made another one!  This time though, I took pictures along the way so I could share the method with you.

I love quilts with lots of fabric variety, but that means that I have lots of fabric leftover sometimes.  That was certainly the case here.  You'll probably recognize these fabrics as the same that were in wild thing's birthday quilt, Sailing at Sunset.  They were already cut and just sitting in my fabric cabinet, but I left them there until after giving wild thing his quilt, so I wouldn't spoil the surprise.  Now that he has his quilt, this fabric was fair game!

I've seen Giant Log Cabin quilts before, but this is a little different, in that I'm using different fabrics to make up each "log strip" rather than one continuous fabric.  For me, this means that I get to use a much wider variety of fabric, and the look is more random, which I love.

Start by cutting a single square, any size you want.  For this quilt, I cut my square at 6.5 inches, but for Ring Around the Rosy I was using fat eighths, so I used a 9 inch square.  Cut the rest of your fabrics at a uniform width and arrange by color for easy grabbing.

In both of my Giant Log Cabin Quilts, I used 4.5 inch strips.  Fat eighths work great here because you can just cut them in half lengthwise!    The strips can be varying lengths.  Keep in mind that this log cabin design is really just a piecing method, and if you choose shorter pieces, as I did here, it won't look as much like a traditional log cabin block.  That's okay by me!  I happen to love the look either way- sometimes you just have to use what you've got in your stash!

Begin piecing your strips around your center square in a spiral, log cabin style.

When you sew a piece that is longer than your block, just trim it off- simple!

When you get to a side that is longer than any single strip, just quickly grab and piece a few together.  Just take a look at the fabrics they will be against, and try to choose contrasting ones.  Don't stress too much about it, the quilt will look great as long as there's some variety!

Keep on sewing around and around, and watch your quilt top form in minutes!  Now, inevitably you'll piece a few strips together and they won't quite be long enough.  Oops!

No big deal!  Just add another piece and keep on going!  Sew to each side until you reach your desired quilt size.  Just be sure that you have equal strips all around the center square, or it won't be centered.

There are lots of variations so you can make it your own!  Here are a few-

*start with a rectangle instead of a square if you want a rectangular quilt

*vary the width of the strips- this would be a cool use for a jelly roll!

*vary the width of the strips from layer to layer

*vary the size of the center square, or make the center square a pieced block

*vary the fabrics, but make each layer with fabrics in the same color family

*purposely add strips unequally around the center for a modern, off-centered square

This quilt is so speedy and so forgiving, it's easy to adapt to whatever fabric you happen to have on hand!  This is a fun, no-stress quilt!

Have quilty fun!