Log cabin pillows

This is my first attempt at patchwork, log cabin quilting and it's not as easy as it looks!!!  I learnt a few things along the way thanks to a lovely mum at preschool.  Firstly I had my stitches set too small and straight line quilting is actually quite difficult for a beginner as the block stretches and my fabric was moving all over the place, you can see how wonky it is.  So next time I need to pin like crazy and cut my backing larger to allow for this, I'll also purchase a walking foot for my machine so the fabric feeds through evenly .  Madeleine is chuffed to bits with it though and hopefully Olivia's will turn out slightly better.

Here is Olivia's which turned out slightly better, I stitched around the panels of fabric which stopped the stretching and was much quicker and easier.  However I do think the straight lines on Madeleine's look much nicer, just need to work how to do them properly.

I just wanted to add all my resources just incase they help someone else.  So I followed this video for a log cabin block and what I liked about this is you just make it up as you go along and no need to measure out strips.  

I also borrowed her book from a friend and found it very useful.  She has some great tips, one particular favourite was storing strips of fabric in ziplock bags and label them accordingly to size, 1inch, 2inch 3 inch etc....

Susan Beal

The other book I borrowed is this one and it had some really great tips for the quilt stitching as well as step by step instructions on how to put your quilt together.  

Elizabeth Hartman