Improvised Log Cabin Quilt Finished

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This quilt grew out of an advanced case of clutter frustration. I was tired, tired, tired of having bags of scraps sitting all around my quilting room. I swore to myself that I would get rid of all the scraps from at least one of these bags. The red bag was my starting point because I like red and Valentine’s day is coming up.

I took all the scraps that were a couple of inches square or larger and made them into improvised Log Cabin blocks, using a stitch-and-flip method. I really loved the results. But how to use them in a quilt? Here’s my solution:

I made a tall column of the improvised blocks and flanked the blocks on both sides with a subdued white print, which I stippled to give it an interesting texture.

The red and white palette make me think of this quilt as a Valentine’s quilt, although it doesn’t have any hearts anywhere.

Here’s the whole quilt seen from above:

 

Here’s some more detail of the red blocks:

And a view of the folded quilt:

So how did my clutter reduction go? I do have a lot fewer red scraps (although my scrap bag is by no means empty.) And I made a quilt I really love. This is the first really modern quilt I’ve ever made. Of course, I had to buy the white fabric because I didn’t have a large enough quantity of white print. But I’m going to make a second quilt from this same basic design that uses only fabrics I already have on hand. I’ll post that one when it’s through.