Cabin Fever

The Log Cabin is one of my favorite quilt block patterns. It’s such a grateful block; easy to construct but very appealing. It can be made with basic piecing techniques or with paper foundations. It has no diagonals and no Y-seams. And yet there are an infinite number of setting variations. It’s a wonderful way to use up long, skinny fabric scraps. One of the first quilts I finished was a Log Cabin quilt. It was done in scrappy reds, greens and creams with little black appliqued tear drop shapes that were meant to look like watermelon seeds. I’d originally intended to use it as a picnic quilt. But after I sewed on all those little melon seeds by hand, I just couldn’t bring myself to lay the quilt out on the grass and spill mustard on it. I’ll probably do it someday. Maybe. Just not today.

Butterfly

This little six-inch butterfly is a pattern from the 1930's, but the fabric is very modern. I used scraps from a quilt top I made last year for a dear friend. It’s from Moda’s Soiree line by Lila Tueller. I bought a jelly roll to make the quilt top, and all my leftovers are tiny triangles. I’ve been thinking for some time about making a lap quilt or wall hanging out of butterfly blocks, and so I made this practice block to see if I liked the pattern. Most of the other butterfly patterns I’ve been looking at are appliqued instead of pieced, so this one has my early vote. I love to watch butterflies flying. They never make a beeline anywhere, because they don’t use their eyes to navigate. They smell their way along, following invisible wisps of aroma.

Capricorn

Capricorn is the strangest of astrological signs. Sometimes it is depicted as a goat, but more often it’s seen as the front half of a goat and the rear half of a fish. What a sad combination! Goats’ hooves were designed to leap nimbly over rocky hillsides. Fish tails are brilliant for underwater manuevers. But together they could only encumber and frustrate their owner. Today’s block, also called Capricorn, has a similar problem. It’s half eight-pointed star, half checkerboard. As if it can’t quite make up its mind. I’m not completely happy with the way this one turned out. If I’d used a fabric with a stronger value for the star, the checkerboard might disappear. If I’d chosen a bolder color for the squares, the star might be invisible. Instead I used two medium prints, and the whole pattern dissolves into an ambiguous mess.

The Water Bearer

Once there was a servant whose task was to carry water. He had a pot hanging from each end of a pole he carried across his shoulders. One pot had a crack that leaked water so when it reached its destination it was always half empty. The cracked pot was deeply ashamed of its flaw. One day as it was being refilled it apologized to the water bearer. “Replace me,” it said miserably, “With a new pot you’d waste less water.” The water bearer lifted his full pots. As he walked, he pointed out the lovely flowers along the way. “Have you noticed,” he said to the cracked pot, “they only grow on your side of the path? It’s because you water them every day. If not for your crack there might be no flowers here at all.”

“I give unto men weakness that they may be humble...I will make weak things become strong unto them” - Ether 12:27

Christmas Star

You probably weren’t wondering, but there are 297 shopping days left until Christmas. I’ve already started my Christmas shopping. No, I don’t mean my after-Christmas shopping. We always buy cards, ornaments, gift wrap and the like when they go on sale after the holidays. If it’s something that will store well and I know I’ll want it next holiday season, it just makes sense to buy it when it’s 50% off or more. But last week it occurred to me that it will be my turn to give to my oldest sister this coming Christmas, and that the one thing I want to get for her might be hard to find in time to ship. Unless, of course, I buy it now. So I actually started my Christmas shopping in February this year. This Christmas Star looked so complex I almost gave up on it. I’m so glad I didn’t.

Sagittarius

The name Sagittarius means “archer.” It is usually depicted as a centaur with a bow and arrow. It probably doesn’t mean anything, but the archer has his arrow aimed directly at Scorpio. Those born under the sign of Sagittarius (they’re called Sagittarii, but I have trouble saying it with a straight face) have birthdays between Thanksgiving and Christmas. New York mayor Ed Koch was a Sagittarius. He was famous for saying, “I’m not the type to get ulcers. I give them.” Mark Twain, another Sagittarius, once said, “Actions speak louder than words. But not nearly as often.” Harpo Marx was also a Sagittarius. He didn’t say much. But his brother Groucho said, “Outside a dog, a man’s best friend is a book. Inside a dog it’s too dark to read.” And another Grouchoism: “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.”

Harvest Star

Ten years ago in Adams County Ohio, Donna Sue Groves painted a quilt block on her barn to honor her quilting mother. Her neighbors quickly joined in and added 19 more blocks to their rural landscape. Now there are hundreds of “quilt barns,” in Canada and the US. On americanquiltbarns.com you can see photos and plot maps to visit them. Most are traditional patterns hand-painted in bright colors on 8'x8' squares of plywood which are then prominently displayed on barns. Others are painted directly on the walls of barns themselves. If you wanted to paint a barn quilt block, which would you choose? A Harvest Star might make sense. It would probably be easier to paint than to piece. I constructed mine with a pinwheel center instead of 45-degree diamonds, partly because I don’t have diamond templates, and partly because I’m not fond of Y-seams.