Hi everyone, After 2 years :roll: I finally got my log cabin quilt top pieced.

Any ideas on how to quilt it. I figure stich in the ditch. But I am open for any other ideas

I hand quilt in a frame. Haven't figured out how to post a pic of it but hopefully this weekend I can get a pic for all of you.

Thanks for any help.


Annette (Coal Miner Wife)

If it is square and flat, you can quilt it any way that you like. :wink:

When I hand quilted a log cabin I just did a straigt line down the center of each log strip. I started ¼" down from the seam and ended ¼" from the next one crossing under the layers to get to the next strip all the way around. (I tried just quilting straight through all the seams, but it didn't look good and I hate to do the stab stitch) It was straightforward, but it looked nice and you could at least see the stitches.

I saw a Log Cabin quilt at a show that was quilted with a circle on the block. They started in the center with a small circle then echo quilted it out from there. Each block done individually. Very effective when done.

A spiral in the block looks good, too.

Hi, Annette, I was thinking about your log cabins as I was looking at Alex Anderson's book, "Beautifully Quilted" this afternoon. Amongst her many "Guidelines" she says:

"It's okay, and in fact perfectly fine, to cross over seam lines of pieced units."

and:

"It is nice to mix geometric lines with soft, curved lines. That is why you will often see gridded backgrounds used with fancy motifs. They work well together and act as complements."

So really, anything goes, and you can mix it up. I suppose the best quilting design is the one we will actually do, isn't it? I became a big fan of the turkey tracks/crows foot stitch when I needed to finish a quilt in a hurry. I learned it from our friend Sara Vincent here on the board: http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/1753.page

Also I read in Ruby McKim's book recently about string-pieced quilts that are simply quilted with basting stitches. Because they are mostly seams, I suppose! And you know what? I bet they are beautiful!

Ruby also says, "The design of your patchwork will largely determine the design used in quilting. Angles with angles and curves with curves, does not always hold true as most piecing is angular and much quilting is curves. Large plain blocks make the major demand for ornate quilting, while the converse is comfortingly true. That is if your piecing is elaborate the quilting may, yes, must be simple!

Happy quilting, Annette, and do let us see! Love from Marcella

Thanks for all the replies so far. All are great ideas..
I love the sprial idea but don't know how good I would be at doing that. :mrgreen:

Marcella's Idea is also something to think about.

Really all are great. I just didn't want to do the stich in the ditch things. Sort of boring. :)

Thank you all for your ideas hopefully I will get some more.

will try to post a pic later>

Thanks

Annette