Log Cabin Quilts - Basics and Beyond

For the past year my sister and I have been working on our 3rd book, Log Cabin Quilts – the basics and beyond. The quilts are made, the instructions are finished and all has been sent to the publisher. One of the most exciting parts of this process is to see what the book cover will look like. To sell the book quilters must first be enticed to pick up the book and look inside to see the contents. It is the cover that provides this enticement. This cover is spectacular...it is sure to tempt quilters and then some.

Our overall concept in writing the book is to have it become the "go to" book for making log cabin quilts from the most basic to the creative and innovative. 

In the chapter on basics we present seven classic settings for log cabin quilts that come from traditional quilts. We researched antique quilts to find these settings. Some of them you will be familiar with and others are not seen as often. The two most popular settings are straight furrows and barn raising. This is the barn raising setting.

Last year at Quilt Festival two of my good friends, Gyleen Fitzgerald and Beth Ridder volunteered to make a quilt for the book. Gyleen made a Courthouse Steps using her own hand dyed fabrics. Beth took up my offer to send fabrics from my stash to make a quilt design I selected. I asked her to make the barn raising and here is the result. Beth is a fantastic longarm quilter and the quilting is phenomenal. 

In the Stepping Out chapter we present ten contemporary settings for arranging log cabin blocks. All of the quilts in the book can be made using the Log Cabin Trim Tool and the Log Cabin Trim Tool Two. We also give cutting instructions to make the blocks without the tools. The book has photo lessons showing how to make the basic log cabin block so a beginning quilter can enjoy sewing this popular quilt.