log cabin quilt Archives

Posted on May 29, 2020December 18, 2020 by kustomkwilts

Cabin Fever Quilt Pattern

Today is Cabin Fever Release Day! I’m so excited to share this modern log cabin quilt with you today, as it’s a design I planned out about two years ago. It’s always difficult to be patient waiting for this day! The PDF and print versions are now available :)–and a limited amount of kits.

Cabin Fever PDF Quilt Pattern

Cabin Fever Print Pattern

Quilt Kits!

The inspiration for this quilt came from a few things…even though the name conjures images of being stuck inside. (Which, admittedly, we can all probably relate to currently.) First, I wanted to make a quilt that came together fast and looked great with solids or prints. I like to try out new quilting motifs, and this quilt is so much fun to practice on. Secondly, our daughter was one at the time. A lot of times, I felt the repetition of house chores and potty training (who was I kidding? She still wears a pull up to bed sometimes–and I’m fine with that 😉 made me a little cagey. So I jokingly named it Cabin Fever. The geese represent breaking free from routine and they’re ridiculously fun to quilt.

Detail of ruler work quilting on brightly colored cabin fever quilt

Funny enough, I didn’t realize how appropriate the name would be at the time, but here we are!

The Cabin Fever quilt instructions come in two sizes, baby and throw. These quilts go together really quickly, and they’re a nice break from traditional block-based quilts. The pattern comes with some fun and easy tips for making flying geese quickly.

Tula Pink Solids / Kona Cotton Equivalents

This colorful version is one of my favorites. I’ve been using all Tula Pink solids and stripes to work on another quilt, and I stumbled across a perfect stack of colors just as I was about to make an all blue version. Sadly, after I made it, I realized the Tula Pink solids can be a bit hard to find, so I matched them closely to Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton Solids. Thank goodness for color cards! I quilted the outer border with some ghost geese to make it appear the entire border had flying geese. Then I did some fun ruler work in each strip of color. I love how the straight lines pop so much on solids! This is the baby version, which measures 52″ x 52″. It’s a really nice size, and I use this one to cover up on the couch while I english paper piece.

Cabin Fever quilt made from bright rainbow colors in log cabin style

color chart detailing fabric names and amounts

Blue & Grey Cabin Fever

This colorway is the very first one I had planned out but didn’t end up making until just recently. I love how the brightness of the blues contrast with the darkness of the grey. I haven’t decided just how to quilt this one yet. Some nice ruler work and custom quilting would really pop against those solids, but I have a new edge to edge design I’m itching to try out. This is the throw size, which measures 81″ x 81″.

blue log style cabin quilt with grey in between each color

chart detailing blue fabric names and amounts

Peaches and Pinks Cabin Fever

This was the very first Cabin Fever Quilt I made. I mixed in prints with Kona cotton solids, but I’ve added a color chart in just solids. The great thing about Robert Kaufman fabrics is they generally use the names of the coordinating solids in a lot of their prints. It’s easy to mix and match prints from different collections to what the coordinating solid would be. This is another throw size.

chart detailing fabric names and amounts

Ruby Star Society – Clementine

Have you seen Miss Melody Miller’s new collection for Ruby Star Society called “Clementine”? I love it so much!! She’s a wizard when it comes to color, and these ethereal pinks and blues are insanely good together. I used Rashida Coleman Hale’s Speckled as the sashing/background fabrics. My daughter Gemma saw me putting this one together and claimed it before I could say no. I let her pick out a color of Shannon Cuddle. Her favorite color is pink, so it was a no brainer. And then she got to pick the edge to edge design that I quilted. They’re subtle, but they’re little heart rainbows. This is the softest quilt, so cozy and squishy.

cabin fever quilt hanging from the top of he picture in pinks and blues

I can’t wait to see what fabric collections or solids you guys pick for your Cabin Fever quilts! I love seeing the amazing different quilts that y’all make and the incredible fabric selections you make. Have fun with this one–I know I do 🙂 If you want to see more of the photos I’ve been posting of Cabin Fever, you can head over to Instagram and check them out!

woman sewing together a blue version of the quilt at the sewing machine

colorful flying geese lined up on a cutting mat with trimmings

-Joanna

Posted on June 29, 2018June 21, 2018 by kustomkwilts — 2 Comments

Wonky Logs Quilt Release!

Who loves free quilt patterns?? I do! Today is the release day for the Wonky Logs Quilt Pattern (if you subscribe to my newsletter, you got access early!), and I can’t wait to share it with you!

I don’t know about you, but when I started sewing a few years ago, I had absolutely zero intention of ever making clothing. The thought of doing so actually made me break out into a cold sweat. (I promise I’m getting to the quilt–hang in there for just a hot minute!) I can still remember sitting on my mom and dad’s bed, worrying over a dress pattern that my mom desperately wanted to make for me. We (I say we, but I was mostly there for moral support 😉 had managed to cut the pattern pieces out of the flimsy tissue paper, and pinned it to the fabric that was destined to be the dress. I honestly can’t recall what happened after that, but I don’t think were able to finish it. I remember the feeling of frustration and not understanding the horribly written pattern that was intended for beginners. It was even more frustrating because my Mamaw was an excellent seamstress, and my mom didn’t inherit those skills, or really want to. Her calling is gardening and home making, and she does it all perfectly. My point in telling you this story is that it left me with a bad taste in my mouth for sewing. I didn’t attempt any kind of sewing related feat, with the exception of cross stitch, for the next 20 years.

Some angled straight line quilting on my Wonky Logs Quilt

Fast forward 20 years, and I’ve gotten the basic knowledge down of quilting. I joined a modern quilt guild and went on a retreat where many of the members were making their first (or second or third) garments. I decided they could have it and waited another couple of years before finally sewing my very first School House Tunic by Sew Liberated. It wasn’t pretty, but I wore it with so much pride, you’d have thought it was Chanel (the pattern is great–it wasn’t pretty because my fabric choices were A-W-F-U-L). That feeling of accomplishment and pride–isn’t that what we all get when we complete a new challenging project? I want to encourage you to broaden your horizons and challenge yourself to take on the sewing tasks you think you’re not good enough for. That’s how I felt with garments. And now I am obsessed with sewing my own clothing and clothing for my daughter and husband. I’d like to help you get there.

Okay, that was a long intro, but I needed to tell you WHY I wrote the Wonky Logs Quilt pattern. It’s free. It’s fat quarter friendly! It’s a quilt pattern you can put together with your serger.

WHAT??? Yup. (Don’t run away just yet–you can piece it with your sewing machine too) If you don’t have a serger, no worries. You can still use the pattern with a traditional sewing machine and a 1/4″ seam allowance just like normal. If you DO have a serger, and it’s sitting in the corner of your closet with old raincoats and Halloween decorations, then it’s time to pull that puppy out and dust it off. Give it a little cleaning, find the manual and give it some oil, if necessary. Think of this quilt pattern as your gateway pattern to garments. You can still have fun picking out your fabrics and making a really gorgeous quilt, but you can do it while getting to know your serger a little better. Starting to work with “wovens” with your serger will take a lot of the intimidation out of it because your fabrics won’t be stretchy like knits are. I’ll be posting more on some fun garment construction and sharing some tips with you along the way, but for now–grab your free copy of the Wonky Logs quilt pattern and gather your fabric and have fun!!!

Posted on March 15, 2012February 4, 2018 by kustomkwilts

Wedding gift

This is one of the last quilts I finished for a very close friend for her wedding gift. It is the log cabin design, called “Barn Raising” and can be arranged in a variety of ways to make different designs.