I’m so excited to share this finish!

Ta da! I’ve dubbed this design Circus Log Cabins, for the stripey log style that reminds me of circus tent stripes. I started sewing blocks for this on a whim, inspired by log cabin blocks made for a bee quilt. My multi-colored scraps were begging to be used. I don’t think I’ve ever used them so successfully!

Yep, this quilt totally exceeded my expectations! The palette is perfect for summer. Each block made the collective group happier and happier still.

As the blocks grew on my design wall, I fell in love with a square layout. I adore how the light/dark contrast makes mountains and valleys. A square layout makes four perfectly framed low-volume on point squares. At first I had a 4 x 4 block layout, but that resulted in a too-small throw quilt. Rather than add another batch of normal blocks and throw off the center, I developed a border solution. The custom border keeps everything nicely centered and allows for the four large red squares at the corners, to punctuate the design.

It’s so fun when you come up against a design problem and find a way to solve it that makes the quilt even better! The border is easy to sew and uses up scraps leftover from block sewing. Could it get any better?

My quilt backing began with that long piece of blue floral fabric. It’s a fabric used in scrap form on the quilt front, so I thought it would be fitting to use up my remaining yardage on the back. The other three fabrics are chosen to coordinate with the floral print. It’s funny that the pink stripe is a Tula Pink Tent Stripe print. Ha! Definitely meant for my Circus Log Cabins quilt.

She’s quilted with the lovely Bread Basket design and bound with a red and cream print, which I thought might tie in with the red log cabin centers. In practice it’s a bit too light to visually connect to the log cabin centers, but I still like how it turned out.

Yep, this one was a winner! It was no-brainer sewing, used up tons of scraps and allowed for low-stress fabric play because of the infusion of solids. I guess the design is a hit too, since it was purchased by a reader in advance of completion! Thanks, Laurie.

All signs point to: Quilt Along!!! Pencil Circus Log Cabins in on your calendar for January. We can kick off the new year together by busting some scraps in a fantastically easy manner, if I do say so myself. I already look forward to sewing another.

xoxo,

Rachel