Here's the scoop, I had 9 or 10 different fabrics in the blue and gray family and cut strips of assorted widths (.75 inch to 2.5ish inch). I did improvised log cabins that were all unique. I just kept adding rounds until the blocks were 15-16 inches square. Then I added 4-5 inches of the the outermost fabric to the blocks, half of which were blue and the other half gray. (The middles were always blue or plaid gray and varied in size.) This allowed me to checker gray and blue in the final layout.
Once I had 18 of the big blocks, I cut them in half...
And then into quarters...
I wasn't concerned about getting the cuts even, as I cut down each of the 72 smaller blocks to make sure that the corners were all 90 degrees and that they all had identical measurements. I used varying angles to cut down the blocks, so the log cabins lines are not squared to the blocks, and makes the blocks a tiny bit wonky.
Lastly, there was the layout... I just started putting blocks on the floor, making sure that the 4 similar blocks made from each large log cabin were spread out.
Below are pictures of this in 3 stages. You could certainly recreate log cabin square throughout with 4 different blocks, but I only included a handful of full squares, and the others are pieces and parts of the larger squares.
My final quilt was approx 70" by 80"
I used Warm & Natural batting for the first time and I'm very happy with the shrinkage. (It also hides some of the big goof-ups that occurred during the top stitching! I really need a better system for sandwiching)
This does follow some of my "Man Quilt" rules, as it was an anniversary gift for some friends. I wanted it to be something the husband could also appreciate. The colors were picked to correspond with their Dallas Cowboys themed tv-room, but the quilt is varied enough in color that it would work in other rooms too.
So there you have it, a "Disappearing" Log Cabin. I think it has a bit of a 3D effect, and it is just the kind of modern-meets-folk that I was hoping for!
