The new Trixie fabric collection from Heather Ross is now shipping. Hooray! Given that it is finally available in stores, I wanted to share the quilt I made for the look book. I think this is the fourth quilt I’ve made for one of Heather’s fabric collections and it’s so fun each time.
The Trixie collection is named for the cute little mouse featured in the fabric. In addition to Trixie, there is some gingham checks, florals and strawberries as well. I’m very smitten with Trixie and I think you will be, too.
For the look book, Heather asked me to make a wonky log cabin quilt using the pink, purple, orange, red and yellow colorways. Shockingly I had never made a log cabin quilt so I was more than game.
The pattern for this quilt is available for sale if you want more specific instructions. You can visit the Windham website where you will find retailers that are carrying it. I did not write the pattern and haven’t seen it – I simply provided my notes to the pattern writer – so I can’t speak to specifics in the written pattern, but some of you have messaged me directly asking for more info so I thought I would give a few tips and tricks.
Heather wanted a large quilt which made it quite the project to tackle. Each block is a finished 12” and I made the quilt 96” x 96”. That requires making 64 total blocks. That’s A. Lot. Of. Blocks. You can make it smaller, but in order to get the repeating pattern it limits your size options a bit.
Note: Most of the images you will see are photos I took before it went to the long arm.
This quilt is not all Trixie fabric but also has solids from Marcia Derse’s Palette collection. There are pinks, purples, reds and yellows to coordinate with the Trixie fabric. To get the log cabin look, I used varying shades of gray and white as well. I also mixed in the white and peach mouse print and the peach floral print to add some additional variation to the white and gray solids.
You could eliminate the wonky part and make this a standard log cabin quilt if you wanted. It would definitely take less time than making all those wonky cuts, but if you do want a wonky version, this is how I did it:
I cut some pieces in each block at an angle but it’s mostly made of curves. Some have slight curves and others have more obvious curves – it’s your personal preference.
If you are unfamiliar with sewing curves, there are lots of YouTube videos that will show you how. Don’t be afraid to give them a try! The nice thing about these wonky curves is that you really can’t screw them up. If one piece gets really narrow, don’t worry! You can make it up later with a wider piece.
While each block in this quilt is different, there is some consistency in all of them. Let me explain.
Like I said, the finished blocks are 12” or 12.5” before sewn together.
The block pattern calls for a specific number of pieces in each block. I stuck to that number for each block but made the curves in each piece different. That provides a bit of consistency and, most importantly, makes it easier to have each block be about half low volume fabrics and half dark fabrics.
You can fudge the 50/50 low vs. high volume fabrics a bit, but you don’t want to stray too far from being half and half or it won’t look wonky but instead will just look odd.
As I finished making each block they were not perfectly square. I made them each around 13.5” (give or take) and then used a 12.5” square ruler to square them up. I highly recommend investing in the square ruler, whether you are making a wonky version or even a straight-line version. It is a lifesaver.
My only other tip is to find a large space to lay the blocks out as you go. I really had to step back and see the whole thing as I was going to make sure I had the color and fabric variation just right. And I still feel like I missed the mark a bit! It wasn’t until the very end that I decided I used too much bright yellow fabric. I wish I would have used about a third less.
I would add one other note about the fabric direction in each block. Some people are sticklers for having the fabric all go in the same or “right” direction in a quilt. I am not one of those people (most of the time). I kind of think that a quilt will be viewed from all different angles while it’s being used so it doesn’t matter if your fabric is all going in the “right” direction. Just my two cents, but you do you.
So that’s it. If you have any other questions feel free to comment and I will try to reply.
And if you want to see the entire Trixie look book and the other quilt projects you can check it out on Windham’s website here. There are some amazing quilts made by my very talented quilting friends. Go give it a look.
