Fairhope Log Cabin Quilt

I have finally completed my log cabin quilt made from 3" blocks.  I started this quilt 3 years ago.  It was a perfect take-along project to be made when we were traveling in our 5th wheel trailer. I always take my 1936 Singer Featherweight sewing machine with me in the trailer.  It is small enough to sit on one corner of the dining table in the trailer without getting in the way.  I only needed to take two medium-sized bins of scraps - one bin of light scraps and one bin of dark.

This project began in December of 2009. I was in no great hurry to finish, and I had no idea of what size it would be when I started.  I simply enjoyed making the little blocks.  Many of my winter friends at Coastal Haven RV Park in Fairhope gave me small scraps that were leftover from their sewing projects.  The pieces in this quilt are so small that most people threw that size scrap away. The blocks finish at 3" and have 17 logs per block, so the logs were only about 1/4" wide.
I finished piecing the quilt last winter and added a red inner border surrounded by an outer border of log cabins.

In July I finally got around to choosing a backing and basting the quilt. The backing is a dark blue with small bits of orange in a honeycomb type of pattern. Most of you know that I am a self-taught quilter, so some of my techniques are a bit peculiar, but they work for me, so I don't care about their peculiarity.  Since I am not good at free motion quilting, and this quilt required close quilting because of all the seems. I made a tissue paper pattern with my Baptist Fans quilting pattern. I pinned the pattern sections on the quilt and followed the pattern.  Naturally, things would shift a bit, and the pattern tore occasionally as I sewed, but it gave me enough guidance that I was able to sew a fairly regular baptist fan. Here is a picture of part of the pattern as it is laid out on the quilt.

I was only able to quilt about an hour a day because wrestling with this big, heavy quilt on a home sewing machine caused some shoulder and back strain. Little by little, I was able to get the quilting finished. While the quilting took me about an hour to do one row of fans, it took another hour to pick out the tissue paper.  Most people would not have enjoyed that part, but I was in no hurry, so picking out the paper pattern didn't bother me. I was enjoying my journey.

Once the quilting was finished, I made my quilt label, and I chose a solid black binding.  Using the Perfect Binding technique taught to me and the Coastal Haven ladies by Mary Lawrence of Magnolia Springs, Alabama, I was able to easily and smoothly attach the binding.  I put the final stitch in on November 1st!

Almost everyone who has seen this quilt has asked what I am going to do with it.  The answer is very simple. Since it was made in the 5th wheel, it will be used in the 5th wheel. I suspect I will take many afternoon naps under this quilt which will be on the couch in the 5th wheel's living room.
Another frequently asked question is:" What will you make now?" The answer is: Bonnie Hunter's Pineapple Crazy from her book String Fling.
Another often asked question is: "How many blocks are in this thing?"  The answer is: 504 blocks each with 17 logs which equals 8568 pieces!  Yep, that is a LOT.