Shot Cotton Week: Day 3

Sometimes I have an idea in my head and I set off sewing, hoping my head will tell my hands what to do. The featured quilt today was a fun way with the traditional Rail Fence block. I wanted the colors to "float" around in the white/cream and have a sense of a modern quilt.

Here is a quilt I made 10 years ago with the same concept, but using a black and white print. I never did get a border on this. I sent it to a friend to machine quilt and she donated it to a local charity. But you can see how those bright colors "weave" in and out of the black print.

Crayon Logs: 2010

I used those Artisan Cotton fabrics to recreate this, but this time with a white background. The logs are 2-1/2" x 6-1/2" strips (3 logs in each block). Then they are turned 90 degrees to each other. It almost looks like a weaving.

I was happy with the center of the quilt, but I got stuck with the borders. I started pulling fabrics from my stash, for some reason thinking I should use some dotted print. The quilt center is 5 blocks wide by 6 blocks high.

Crayon Logs quilt center: 30" x 36"

First two borders being auditioned - uh, oh! Not sure about this!

Then, I said - OK. Let's go with the one on the left. I cut four borders and sewed them on and I knew it JUST WASN'T RIGHT! What did I do? Oh, yes I did!

Crayon Logs with the WRONG borders!

I love my seam rippers. They take me where I know I need to go (even when I wish I hadn't taken the path I did). Rip, rip, rip! Start again!

I pulled out some more Artisan Cottons and pieced an irregular outer border. I put another row of white/cream around the center so that all the colors FLOAT. What do you think?

Crayon Logs with new border and striped binding

This way the solids (shot cottons) do all the work. That dotted border fabric would have stolen the show. I'll be back tomorrow for another quilt (or two) made using these shot cottons.