Stitches in Play

easy-peasy log cabin variation

In 2009 I posted a simple method for piecing log cabin  quilt blocks using strips of fabric cut salvage to salvage.  Fabric is cut AFTER it is sewn, eliminating the measuring and precise cutting of dozens of fabric peices.  This week I'm applying my same easy-peasy log cabin method to another variation of the log cabin block.  

1.  Cut strips of fabic salvage to salvage.  These strips are between 4 inches and 6 inches wide (depending of how much I had of each fabric).  

2. Cut a center square (this red one is 9 inches x 9 inches)

3.  Sew any strip of fabric to one side of the square.  

4. Press seam flat.

5. Cut strip fabric even with center square on the top and bottom.   

 

6. Rotate center square 90 degrees.  Sew another strip of fabric.  Press seam flat. Cut fabric strip.  Repeat.  (For this quilt top I used the same fabric for all 4 sides to form a square pattern but you can use different fabrics to create a more traditional log cabin design.)

Still working on this quilt top, just adding one strip at a time when I have a minute.  While Zoe the dog seems to like this piecing method she would rather I stop sewing altogether and scratch her belly - go figure!

Note that if your strips are not long enough you can simply sew two shorter strips together to form one longer strip. 

Let me know if you have have any questions.  I'll show my progress and the finished quilt in future posts.

seeking flow

“Most of us spend many hours each week watching celebrated athletes playing in enormous stadiums. Instead of making music, we listen to platinum records cut by millionaire musicians. Instead of making art, we go to admire paintings that brought in the highest bids at the latest auction. We do not run risks acting on our beliefs, but occupy hours each day watching actors who pretend to have adventures, engaged in mock-meaningful action.

This vicarious participation is able to mask, at least temporarily, the underlying emptiness of wasted time. But it is a very pale substitute for attention invested in real challenges. The flow experience that results from the use of skills leads to growth; passive entertainment leads nowhere. Collectively we are wasting each year the equivalent of millions of years of human consciousness. The energy that could be used to focus on complex goals, to provide enjoyable growth, is squandered on patterns of stimulation that only mimic reality.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi  Excerpt from Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Spent time this week clearing out the things that get in the way of play, imagination, creativity and peace of mind.  Now we have the room find flow through engaging in activities that bring us joy and challenge us.