Wonky Log Cabin Block Tute - NYC Mod Quilt Guild Bee

   

Hi, Chris here, catching up with my NYC Mod Quilt Guild Bee Blocks - this one's for September and our Queen Bee is Andrea Deal of Gotham Quilts.  

If you haven't heard of Gotham Quilts yet then do check out their website - it's a brand new online fabric store owned by my two friends Andrea Deal and Ivete Tecedor, based in Manhattan but shipping internationally.

Not surprisingly Queen Bee Andrea picked some pretty gorgeous new fabrics for her blocks with her whole store to choose from!   

Forest Frivolity, Moonshine in Strawberry by Tula Pink for Free Spirit

Stitch Circle in Candy by Michael Miller

Chicken Coop in Egg Blue by Joel Dewberry for Free Spirit

Mini Confetti Dots in Cantaloupe by Dear Stella

Stampede Lawn, August in Mint by Sarah Watts for Cotton+Steel

Our instructions for the block:

"do a 12.5" wonky log cabin variation like the one pictured... . I have a cool new Tula Pink print for the feature fabric, but don't feel like you have to use it in the center. ... ".

I choose two images from the Tula Pink fabric and fussy cut them - first the tent as the central starting point for the block

and a long strip that included the two pink deer.

Time for the my Wonky Log Cabin Block tute -
click the image below to take you to the tute I wrote for the June 2014 NYC Mod Quilt Guild Bee Block.

I've used exactly the same process to make this latest block.  The only thing I did differently this time that I don't normally pay attention to was keeping the fussy cut central Tula Pink tent section totally horizontal to the finished block.

This was simple to do, I just made the block larger than necessary and then using the grid on my cutting mat and my long quilting ruler made sure this section was horizontal by wiggling the block between the mat and the ruler to line it up perfectly before trimming the block back with my 12.5" square ruler.  Wishing I'd taken a pic of how I did it now :(

Oh dear, yet another block that I wish I didn't have to hand back!  I'm particularly enjoying how I've cut away a lot of the pink round of fabric so you only see a really small section of pink down the right hand side of the block.  The trick is not to worry about cutting away a fair amount of a strip you've just sewn on - it's the best way to get large sections and unusual angles within the block.

I just love making wonky log cabins - anything that doesn't involve measuring and yet looks so precise in the finished piece is okay by me.

Two final questions for you:

1: How do you like your log cabins, wonky or straight?

2: Have you visited the Gotham Quilts online fabric store yet?

As always you can check out all the blocks that our Bee make for Andrea on my Quilty - Wonky Log Cabin Pinterest Board - I'll add more pins as each person in the Bee posts photos of their finished blocks and you can see my NYC Mod Quilt Guild post here too.

And you can click this link to see all of my NYC Mod Quilt Guild Bee Blocks and Challenge Blocks/Quilts.

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Wonky Log Cabin Tute: My NYC Metro MQG Challenge Block

   

My June Challenge Block for the NYC Metro Mod Quilt Guild is a Log Cabin - Wonky Or Not.  

Rules for the challenge:
finished trimmed block is 12.5" square
the centre of the block has to be red

I'm going with a wonky block.  I've photographed each stage and created a tute to share with you -  there's no set sizes, just go with it until you reach something large enough to trim at 12.5" square. 

I started with a centre red square - you can start with anything and it doesn't have to be a square.

I keep my scraps in boxes organised by colour, so I decided to work in this colour order Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Aqua, Blue, Purple, Pink to create a rainbow block - of course, you can do anything.

Using a 1/4" seam I chose a piece of fabric from the orange/yellow box and sewed it to the red square.

Then I pressed the seam to one side.

Next, I trimmed off some of the fabric I'd just added to make a straight edge in line with the original red square - you can see how I've cut it in the pic below.

 Then I added a red/orange solid along the newly created edge of the red square and the orange/yellow fabric.- as always with a 1/4" sewn seam.

Once sewn I pressed the seam to one side.

Below you can see how I trimmed the edges away again - always a straight edge but it doesn't have to be at a right angle (90 degrees) to the adjacent edge - if you want a wonky block then create as few right angles to the centre red section as possible.

This pic shows how I've added a pink/orange strip on the third side of the red central square and I've pressed the seam to the side.

And I've trimmed it along the fourth edge of the central red square, in a straight line ready to add fabric to finally enclose that central section.

And the red centre is now enclosed.

And trimmed

I continue clockwise working my way around and around the centre square adding strips and trimming them straight - but don't forget, not at right angles!

Here you can see me moving from yellow to green and sewing the 1/4" seam.  I didn't have a long enough scrap for this side so I sewed two pieces together to create a longer strip.

I carried on adding pieces clockwise in this way until the block was more than the required 12.5" square.

Be sure to use different strip widths and angles each time you straighten the pieces, this is what gives you the 'wonky' effect.

As the block got larger I tried to centre the red central square where the two 6" marks cross on my cutting mat.  This allowed me to keep the block centred although the lines weren't parallel and showed me how close I was getting to creating a 12.5" block.

Once the last strip was added to take me over the 12.5" square I trimmed the block back to the correct size.

And here's my finished Rainbow Wonky Log Cabin block

So simple and it's lovely to work quickly without worrying about measurements.

Click here to see other log cabins on my Quilty - Liberated/Wonky Log Cabin Blocks Pinterest Board.


I've used this tute to make another NYC Mod Quilt Guild Bee Block - totally in love with the fabrics.  Click the image to read more:


I was delighted to discover back in May 2015 that the Emerald Coast MQG were using my tute to make their June 2015 Block Lottery Wonky ROYGBIV 12.5" Log Cabin blocks.

At the July meeting the blocks were won by Wendi and passed to Mary McFarlane and here's the quilt Mary's made with them - I love that she's sliced the blocks it makes me feel like we're just peeping at sections of them through windows.

It's such a treat for me when I hear stories like this - thanks, Elaine McMichael for sharing :D

Click these buttons to see more of my NYC Mod Guild blocks and my tutorials

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

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