4160 pieces
It really did start on a whim in 2006. It seemed like a good idea to try to use up a stash of 1″ – 1.25″ strips of fabric. Of course, once I started, people started giving me some of their scrap strips of fabric. At the end of the project I probably have more scraps than when I started! It was exhibited at the Virginia Quilt Museum in 2011 and the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in 2012.
The blocks are 4″ log cabin blocks. I worked out the layout in EQ5 when I started the project so I knew ahead of time how many all dark, all light and dark/light blocks that I needed. It was foundation pieced. I got really tired of making log cabin blocks but I’m glad I persevered.
I agonized a lot over the quilting and thought that I needed to do something intense because I had put so much time into the piecing. My friends convinced me otherwise and they were right. I did a simple cross hatch through the center of the blocks in red thread. It contributes to the graphic nature of the log cabin but doesn’t complete with the piecing design. I love it.
The back is a hand dyed wide backing that I dyed some time ago. I thought I had dyed another backing for it but couldn’t find it…..until I was nearly done with the quilting! This one works just as well.
