zozee

I am about to embark on making my first log cabin quilt for my younger sister's 50th birthday. She happens to live in a Kentucky log cabin (her dream home) that's just as comfy as can be.

The colors of her main living space are mixed browns, creams, bold red accents, some black. She loves horses (and has two) plus dogs and cats. I want to make an everyday, hard-use quilt, not a wall hanging .

Here are the givens:

1) Deadline: Thanksgiving (when she'll be here, and when her b'day is)
2) Type: log cabin
3) Size: Approx. 80x92 (her wingspan + 12", and height +24") for covering up on her couch
4) Colors: Browns, creams, red, black
5) I'll be using the Creative Grids Log Cabin Trim Tool so that I don't have to cut anything exactly, beforehand, except the center square. It's the 6 and 12" ruler: I'm pretty sure I'll make the 12" blocks but am open for discussion on that.

My question: What's your suggestion for how to organize the fabrics? I know that lights and darks must be separated. Beyond that? My centers will all be the same red, but I have a wide variety of browns, and a small variety of creams thus far.

Most LC quilts I've noticed lend themselves to square quilts, but I've seen rectangular, which I find most practical for covering up oneself. Any particular arrangement of blocks work better for a rectangular LC quilt?

I've put this off after cutting many strips a long time ago. Mostly it's because I'm not thrilled with earth tones except in the fall, but here we are--it's fall and her big 5-Oh is coming up. I really want to do this for her. Besides, it'll be her first birthday since we lost our mom, and I know that my first one (this past August) was really hard. She's gonna need extra comfort, so isn't a quilt just the thing when a real hug isn't available?