QAF Block of the Month

November 2004

Cabin

8 1/2" (unfinished) (8" finished)

November's block is a very simple house block that I adapted, and I am calling it a Cabin because it is so easy, AND because it is the first of a two-part pattern that Shaka and I dreamed up together just for fun. Our little holiday gift for you!

The pattern is Cabin in the Pines. December's BOM will be a forest of pines and I think you will find that really fun too. After you do the BOM's you might want to make more blocks just for your family's own Cabin in the Pines.

This CABIN block looks fabulous all done in plaids. You will need dark plaids for the roof and door, a medium for the body of the cabin and a lighter for the windows. You could also reverse the values for the cabin and windows...it could be dark inside!

What you are going for here is the 'lodge' look, warm tones, comfy look. You don't actually have to do it in plaids, but if you have greyed country toned fabrics, they would be great too. You do need to make sure you have some value change between the cabin and the windows, and the roof. My test block has a black plaid roof, a gold and black (with a line of green in it)plaid cabin, and yellow plaid windows.

This is a good block to use those plaid FQ you collect from time to time! Be sure to wash your fabrics first as some of these dyes do tend to run, and the fabrics do shrink. Another good place to pull fabrics is from your scrap basket!! And, of course, except for the roof, from your strip swap strips!

For each block:

Cut (1) 1 1/2" strip of CABIN fabric across the width of the fabric (or 2 strips from a FQ)

Sub-cut the following from this 1 1/2 " strip:
(4) pc. 4" long
(4) pc. 1 1/2" square
(1) pc. 2 1/2" long (for this piece, you will now trim off 1/2" along the long side, so it is now 1" x 2 1/2"

Cut (1) piece of ROOF fabric 5" x 8 1/2"

Cut (1) piece of DOOR fabric 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"

Cut (2) pc. of WINDOW fabric 1 1/2" x 2"

To Assemble Block:

First, looking at the picture of the cabin, above, lay out all your fabrics as the shapes appear in the picture. Isn't this fun? Just like a puzzle! First you will sew the little 3-piece vertical strips that the windows appear in. Press away from the windows. Next you will sew the strips that appear on either side of the windows, for both sides of the cabin. Sew the cabin strip on to the top of the door. Press all of these patches well. Now sew them to each other, so that it looks like the cabin without the roof. Last, sew on the roof. You have just 'built' your first cabin!!! Square it up to 8 1/2" inches and you are finished!

Now, that took about 5 minutes! You have time to make a lot of cabins to enter in the BOM lottery!! You may make up to 3 of the same fabrics to enter.

Here is a little wall hanging with the cabins. Next month we will show you the whole Cabin in the Pines!

© 2004 Mary Evans