Sep
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The Log Cabin Quilt
Filed Under Trends
The Log Cabin Quilt design is among the most popular and easily recognized of all quilt patterns. Beginning with a center shape, usually a square, the traditional design is made by sewing strips in sequence around the sides of the square, varying the values between light and dark.
Quilters have long considered this pattern the quintessential American design. The pattern represents log cabins on the prairie with red center squares for the hearth, representing the “heart” of the family. Light values on one side represent the sunny side of the house, or the “good” times: the birth of a child, weddings and other happy times. The dark values on the opposite side for the shady side of the house or the more difficult, challenging times in family life.
The heydey of the Log Cabin Quilt in this country was in the third and fourth quarters of the 19th Century, corresponding to the widespread trek Westward after the Civil War. The Log Cabin, in all its variations, is one of the most popular pieces of quilt history.
A baby quilt using the Log Cabin pattern in the “Fields and Furrows” layout, combined with the Attic Window motif, includes an animal character in the center of each block.
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