Cabin Fever: Log Cabin Quilts Gone Wild

Found on Ebay

We've been looking at the log cabin block for a couple of posts now. What we've learned is that even though it's made with rectangles and straight seams, it functions visually as a half square triangle. But what happens when you walk past that?

Good Gracious is it Monday Already by Pamela Thiele

You get some very wild geometric quilts that are modern as can be.

Modern Log Cabin Showed by Christina  Quilts Blog

Part of that comes from the willingness to be wonky and unexpected.

by Cath Hall at Wombat Quilts

To use really different colors in  different ways,

by Amanda at Three and Three Quarters

to Fussy Cut,

Pattern From Fons and Porter

Or really thinking differently about your placement,

You'll find the log cabin block is as wild as your imagination.

Designing Ways: Half Cousins, Log cabin and Half Square Triangles

half square triangle

 Last time we talked about the log cabin block functioning as a half triangle block. We're going to show you how that works.
We have our half triangle block. It's the building block for many more complicated block, but for now we're going to call it a quilt block on it's own. It's 2 45 degree triangles sewed together.

log cabin

Here's our log cabin. No triangles in sight. Instead it's made of straight rectangles.But the effect is so similar that you can use them interchangeably.


How does that work in a quilt block? You can take any quilt block and swap a log cabin block for a half square triangle. Really!

Straight Furrow half square triangle

These lay outs are both called a straight furrow pattern
Here's a classic half square triangle version,

Here's the log cabin version.

And just if you thought they didn't mix, here's a quilt using both.

Functionally they are absolutely interchangeable.

That means that any pattern using half square triangles can instantly become a log cabin, or visa versal

Here's several examples

Barn raising hst

Barn raising log cabin

Ohio Star hst

Log Cabin Star
How can you choose?Here's a comparison.

Half square triangle                         Log Cabin

Bias pieces                                     Straight grain piecing

Quicker piecing                               Easier piecing

Graphically simpler                         Graphically complex    

Can you make a mistake? Don't be silly. It's all part of the fun dance of design.               
       

Cabin Fever: The Very Variable Log Cabin

Log Cabin Pattern from Generations Quilt Patterns

The log cabin block is one of the most classic building blocks for quilters ever. And it's a wonderful optical illusion. It's made from straight, squared off strips sewn in straight lines. But because of the color choices, it gives us a great half square triangle look.



Which means that any block  you can make out of half triangles, you can make with log cabins. With no triangles.

Why? it's all in the color choices. Actually what makes the biggest difference is contrast. There are two sides to each log cabin block. They can be divided into bright/pastel

Amish Country Lanes Quilts

color/neutral, dark/ light, 

Capital steps
www.quilt.org

or bright/dull contrasts. But to get the triangle illusion, you need a strong contrast between the two sides.

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Log Cabin (Courthouse Steps variation), Maker unknown,

Once you've got a set of log cabin blocks you can play like a kid with colorforms. They can make just any half triangle block you want, without that pesky, bias, stretchy seam.
We'll look more at some of the very cool things you can do with log cabins in the next couple of posts.