Country Cabin | a free pattern!

Allow me to go back a few months to my time in Minneapolis. The first session of the first day of my very first quilt market was a "schoolhouse" session by none other than designer extraordinaire Bari J. Bari was debuting her new fabric line "Country Lane" and, though I had already been following Bari for a bit on Twitter, we hadn't really connected personally before market. Fortunately, I was sitting with Scott Hansen who was already a Bari-buddy, and he brokered an introduction.

Country Lane really made an impression upon me upon first sight. I was really drawn to the classic combination of navy blue and red, and the touches of aqua, violet, and gray lent the collection a traditional yet unique personality. So imagine my delight when Bari asked me if I would like to sew something up made from the line to share with all of you.

I have to admit, I had something totally different in mind when I received the fabric -- namely, a doll quilt with some raw edge applique. However, with the fabrics in hand, I decided to go in a different direction. They begged for something more cozy, traditional, and comfortable. I decided to make a doll quilt constructed as one giant log cabin block.

But why stop at a mini quilt? I had enough fabric to keep going and make a nice-sized lap quilt. This 40" x 44" quilt would also be a perfect size for a baby quilt, or even a wall hanging. (Mrs. QD and I are considering hanging this over our bed!)

And I wrote this tutorial with all of you beginning sewers in mind. With no matching seams and very forgiving measurements, it doesn't get any easier than this.

Here's a shot of the final quilt:

And here's the pieced back that I made. I actually love the back of this quilt nearly as much as the front!

So, do you want to make a Country Cabin quilt with me? You'll need a few cuts of fabric that span the full 44" width of a bolt of fabric. (In other words, fat quarters wouldn't work too well here.) Depending on how many different fabrics you want to use, 4-6 1/2 yard cuts of fabric should suffice. A few 1/4 or 1/3 yard cuts would work, too. Again, just be sure you have at least a few cuts that have the full 44" width of the fabric intact.

The quilt is constructed of a single center square and 32 strips, or "logs". I cut my fabrics as I went, but I know that some people like to cut all of their fabrics up front. If that is the case, here are all of the cutting directions:

Center square: 4.5" square

A1: 2.5" x 4.5"

A2: 2.5" x 6.5"

A3: 2.5" x 6.5"

A4: 2.5" x 8.5"

B1: 3.5" x 8.5"

B2: 3.5" x 11.5"

B3: 3.5" x 11.5"

B4: 3.5" x 14.5"

C1: 1.5" x 14.5"

C2: 2.5" x 15.5"

C3: 1.5" x 16.5"

C4: 2.5" x 16.5"

D1: 2.5" x 18.5"

D2: 3.5" x 18.5"

D3: 2.5" x 21.5"

D4: 3.5" x 20.5"

E1: 4.5" x 24.5"

E2: 4.5" x 24.5"

E3: 4.5" x 28.5"

E4: 4.5" x 28.5"

F1: 2.5" x 32.5"

F2: 2.5" x 30.5"

F3: 2.5" x 34.5"

F4: 2.5" x 32.5"

G1: 1.5" x 36.5"

G2: 1.5" x 33.5"

G3: 1.5" x 37.5"

G4: 1.5" x 34.5"

H1: 3.5" x 38.5"

H2: 3.5" x 37.5"

H3: 3.5" x 41.5"

H4: 3.5" x 40.5"

Quilt assembly:

Starting with your center square, attach piece A1 to the right side of the square. Sew the pieces together with a 1/4" seam.

Once the pieces are sewn together, press the seam away from the center square. For the remainder of the quilt, you will always press the seam towards the piece that you just added.

Moving counter-clockwise around the center square, add piece A2 next. It should be sewn to the top of the center square, with the seam pressed towards piece A2.

Moving counter-clockwise again, piece A3 should be sewn on to the center square next.

Piece A4 should complete the first round of logs. Now you can see that the 'A' pieces represent the first round of logs, the 'B' pieces represent the second round of logs, etc.

Here is the quilt top with the second ('B') round of logs attached:

With the third ('C') round added:

You get the idea! Here's a picture of my completed quilt top, before the basting, quilting, and binding steps:

I free-motion quilted the entire quilt in an all-over meandering stipple. I am a huge fan of using striped fabrics as binding, so I made sure I had set aside enough of Bari's stripe print to bind my quilt.

As I mentioned earlier, I joined a few of my leftover 44" wide pieces of fabric to create a really nice pieced backing. This quilt has already been claimed by my 6 year-old daughters as a cuddly movie-watching blanket.

So what do you think? Interested in making a Country Cabin quilt? If so, please let me know -- I'd love to see it. And a BIG THANKS to Bari J. for letting me create something with her beautiful new line, Country Lane!