I took a day off from work this week. You know that employee vacation day issue where you have to use it or lose it. Well, what better day off then to take two of my boys for lunch? Afterwards, I went back home to sew a bunch of blocks for charity!! It was the perfect day to get busy cutting, pressing and finally, sewing some charitable blocks. 

Cynthia recently began a Compassion Quilt charity which I talked about in a recent blog post. Every few months, she asks for blocks to be made and sent to her. She chooses the design, colors, and size but you get to pick the fabrics. She stitches our blocks into wonderful quilts and donates them to local hospitals. Helping her charity is a wonderful way to give back to others, learn new skills and use up scraps. This time she has asked for curved log cabin blocks. Please check out her cleverly-named blog, Quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com for the cutting instructions and other details.

I’ve always loved anything log cabin but a curved one is new for me! What was I waiting for!!?? These beauties make such a cool design when placed next to one another.  If you’ve ever made a classic log cabin, you know there’s some preparation needed to precut your strips.  This block design has a different width for the dark strips and light strips. It’s not what you usually do for a log cabin so pay attention. 

Update: the photo below is from Cynthia’s blog and it shows many of my blocks, with some others, in a full quilt. Look at what a gorgeous finish she made!! The blocks all play nice with one another!! I love it Cynthia!!! What a terrific comfort quilt that makes for someone in need!!

Here are some tips to help with this or any other scrappy log cabin quilt. 

1. Whenever making a log cabin, you want to use fabrics that will show the best contrast. Avoid using dark fabrics with lots of white areas in them. Use your darker colors to keep the contrast most apparent. Cynthia asks for white, but I’m using off-white and even light grey, all of which work fine. Anything that reads as nearly white will work for the low volume fabrics. 
2. If you have the patience, iron and starch your fabric before you cut your strips. It helps you when sewing the logs together. Once you’ve cut the strips, you need to then be careful to “Press” and not stretch the fabric while ironing. You need to have the strips cut accurately, but the colors won’t matter once it’s all combined. Put a few of these together and you will see how the design looks curved, despite only sewing straight lines. It’s one of those quilting magic tricks that feels so special. 
3. I suggest you cut and sew one block first before precutting more strips. My brain had me messing up the widths before I saw how the whole thing goes together. Somehow, once we make one block, the muscle memory gets planted for us to cut more accurately. 
4. I tried not to repeat a dark fabric in each block, but the low volume prints were fair game. If I used the same low volume print twice, I didn’t worry about that. I tend to overthink my quilts and that’s not always a good thing. Get strips cut to the different lengths, put a lettered label or tag near each one and just go for it.  In the end, it all works. 
5. Don’t plan to cut the small 2.5″ square “A” pieces separately. While cutting your longer dark strips, use up any extra end pieces to make those small “A” squares. 
6. Remember that your low volume pieces are only 1.5″ wide, except for one “A” piece per block. It’s easy to get into a groove and forget that there are two different widths for these log pieces. (Yes, I did cut a few wrong when I zoned out.)
7. Your blocks must measure 11.5″ unfinished. Be sure to play around with your 1/4″ seam allowances to get the right finish. I had only a few issues and then went back to readjust. 
8. Have fun!!

Here is one block on the wall. I played with the design and could already see the possibilities. I can’t wait to see what Cynthia pulls together for these beauties. This is just one block sewn (unfinished at 11.5″.)

Here are several blocks put together and you can see the curvy design starting to go off the side. 

Finally, below are 12 blocks that I sent to Cynthia to help her get started. They arrive after Christmas and hopefully she will be able to start pulling these into finishes. I don’t envy her all the work. These are the times when having a long arm can really help to polish off gorgeous quilts. If only…maybe one day I’ll get one. 

That’s all I’ve got. I’ve already made 6 more blocks since these. I hope to complete them before the new year. However, please note that Cynthia is accepting these blocks until the end of February 2024. Look over your scraps and see if you want to join the fun. 

May you all have an enjoyable holiday with your family and friends. Happy New Year and let’s hope that 2024 brings more peace and calm in the world. 

Linking up to: Oh Scrap, Midweek Makers, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished or not Friday, Brag About Your Goodies, Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, My Quilt Infatuation: Needle & Thread Thursday.