Veronica Greenslade from the Lewes Sewing Bees has made this completely gorgeous Log Cabin Quilt in Liberty. Last year I asked the Lewes Sewing Bees if they would make some summer blog projects and they didn’t disappoint. So, I thought I’d ask them again. This is the first of the beautiful things that the Bees have made.
Veronica talks about her quilt here.
Why did you choose the fabrics?
“I chose the pinks and greens because I thought they would make a fresh yet warm summer quilt to use in the garden, thrown over a bench or as a picnic quilt. When I saw the various staff selection fat quarters I thought these were perfect. I chose Sara’s, Hils’s and Claire’s. It really takes the hard work away as these bundles all blend and tone together. I then added the Moda neutral jelly roll you stock as my contrast light fabric for my chosen design, which was a log cabin quilt.”
Is this your first Log Cabin Quilt?
“This was my first log cabin and I had a look in a few of my quilting books, and discussed with friends, to decide on size of blocks. I love the simplicity of a log cabin quilt, with its central red or pink square as the heart of the home. Once the strips are cut it grows quickly. The designs can be formal and particular in colour and fabric choices, or more free and gentle as I chose mine to be. I kept my layout traditionally simple but of course log cabin blocks can be laid out in a variety of ways to give different effects.”
I love the way that you have combined machine and hand quilting – did you find this easy to do?
“Once the blocks were pieced together I machine quilted to stabilise the quilt. I then embarked on my favourite part of making a quilt which is to hand quilt the individual blocks. I used a valdani variegated thread to give texture to each blocks. I also like to use coton a broder threads.”
Do you have any top tips for hand quilting?
“The more you hand quilt the better the quilt ends up feeling and looking I think. I get into a gentle rocking motion with my needle, doing two or three stitches at a time and always use a leather thimble!”
I love this quilt so much. Veronica chose a couple of fat quarter bundles from the staff selections. She used Sara’s selection, Hils’s selection, Claire’s selection as well as a neutral Jelly Roll.
Heres a picture of Veronica’s quilt in her garden. It’s going to look beautiful as a garden based throw.
Thank you so much Veronica for making this gorgeous quilt. I love the combination of machine and hand quilting with different threads. I can’t wait to tell you about the rest of the Lewes Sewing Bees projects over the summer months.
