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Just as architecture has changed from the original log cabin to our modern 21st century homes, quilting has made the same transition. Traditional log cabin quilt blocks can easily be made modern with the help of our guest. Please welcome Natalia Bonner, who is a self-proclaimed quilting addict. Welcome to Sewing With Nancy, Natalia. Thanks, Nancy, I'm happy to be here. My spin on the log cabin block is to use dramatic colors and sleek lines. Let's start with "Downtown Cabins," a great quilt for a beginner. Start with your favorite colors, cut strips, and begin sewing. Using large pieces makes it easy to assemble. "Cabin Fever Quilts," that's what's coming up next on Sewing With Nancy. Sewing with Nancy, TV's longest-airing sewing and quilting program with Nancy Zieman

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Clover

making a difference in sewing, quilting, crafting, and needle arts for over 30 years. Amazing Designs and Klass Needles. During this first episode, we'll be showing you four different variations of "Cabin Fever," and, as you noticed, we're going to be working with Natalia's quilt called "Downtown Cabins." Very bright colors, or blocks, I should say, that are showcased in white, set off in white, and this concept is going to be used with all the variations that you'll see in this episode. Now, Natalia, you like to cut all your pieces. Yeah, I do. And that really makes it easy for piecing, starting with a 3 1/2" square in the center. And the logs are? They're all 2". 2" on each side. So you can see how they radiate out. When starting, she's going to meet the side log to the center of the section, and going to be chain stitching as many of the yellow and gray combinations. You're just going to do two to show your guests. Yeah, so we'll just start.

machine whirring

Clover

I'll use a 1/4" seam allowance. I think you kind of use a scant one, don't you? I do use a pretty scant 1/4". Whatever you use, just be consistent throughout. Exactly. So, just chain stitching as many together as you'd like. And then pressing. And we always usually press toward the darker side, or this way, toward the logs. And just press on both sides, and then after you've done that, one, two. Natalia, like I do, you like to press it flat first. Yes, I do. I like to set the seams and then then press it open. And then we'll just add... Then I'll come back and add the second side. Precision, I see. You get them all lined up. Yeah, I line everything up before.

Nancy laughs

machine whirring

Clover

And you can sew on air, if you want. "Air" meaning without fabric between the two. It really doesn't hurt your machine at all. Yeah.

machine whirring

Clover

So, now two of the four sides have been added to the center, and soon you'll see side three and four added. And then, it's just going to keep building and building and building to make it the right size. What I found interesting, Natalia, is that all of the blocks that you have featured in your quilts are one size. Yes. I like to keep a standard finished 12" quilt block. So, basically, all of the blocks throughout the quilt are going to finish at 12". So, then you rotate these, and add blocks to the opposite ends. Do you ever find you need to trim anything as you're... Yes. Sometimes, if your 1/4" isn't the perfect 1/4", it's fine, and where these blocks are all the same block repeating, that's fine. Just square everything up at the end. Wait until everything's done. So, press. Press flat, press it open, or press to the side, I should say. Yeah, press to the side. To the dark, I prefer to press.

iron releasing steam

Clover

And one more. Here we go. So, the color combinations that you'll see in today's program are really fascinating brights that partially make it the contemporary look. And you'll notice a lot of use of white in Natalia's quilts. That's kind of your signature, isn't it, Natalia? It is. I feel like that's kind of my modern thing is that I like to use... work with a lot of whites.

sewing machine cuts threads

Clover

So, after, while she's pressing, I'm just going to show you what's going to happen with all of these blocks. Now Natalia has added-- I should show you this one-- has added four sides to the block. Then, the next side that she'll be adding will be the yellow. So, it adds to the north and south, and then, to the east and west side, and then, finally, will be the white added. And the white, in this instance, you can see frames the quilt. And you don't have to use all one color. Obviously, it makes it much more interesting with the combination of the bright fabrics that we have here. And then, after you've stitched them all together, we'll show you how they place together, and since the blocks are set on point, on angle, we'll show you how to cut the blocks so that they all nest together just perfectly. So, to make the "Downtown Cabins," you'll be creating many, many blocks, but usually blocks you think of putting them square in your quilt, but yours are set on point. Yes, we've set this one on point and also made equal numbers of the light-bordered quilts and the dark. So, let's see that because we didn't show you the dark ones. Here are the light ones. You can see that yellow one that we just created. And then, the dark with white in the center and the gray on the outside. And that has a nice intersection where they're met. It does. They meet together really nicely. But they also-- It creates a lot of texture in the quilt just by that simple fabric placement. That's kind of the modern portion of it. Let's lay this quilt out, or, let's begin to do it. Okay, so we'll put the grays together. Yep, line your grays up. Line your yellows up across, or your white, yellow, and pink. Now, because it's put on point, we look back at the quilt, you'll see that Natalia has cut her blocks in sections to get an edge on all four sides. And you're going to have to do some creative cutting. Not exactly in half. You're right, Nancy. We won't want to cut them exactly in half because if we do we're going to lose our center points. We don't want to do that. So, with your ruler, you're going to align the 1/4" seam allowance right at the point of the quilt block. And as we follow it on down, I'll get it lined up for you, Natalia, so that it's again way at the bottom 1/4" off, and then, cut. Now, don't despair. We will save this block and make pillows. And Natalia has made really great looking pillows for this, as you can see in this display shot. Then, we'll look at our quilt that we have here, and you can see how the sides-- I'm not sure if this is laid out-- I have this folded wrong, but here, let me flip this around. I think I did it incorrectly, but... If you can look through the middle... Mm-hmm, you'll see they line up. And then, at the top, there are the almost half blocks. Yes. Little half block plus on the top and then on the sides. So when you piece this together, you sew in... Rows diagonal. Diagonal rows. We take one last look of the "Downtown Cabins," and you can see the great quilting. You used a linear design. I did. Gave it more of a modern feel. And it just flows and makes a great texture. From a simple process of quilting around the center, you have a very contemporary look. Remember the last time you had your eyes dilated for an eye exam? Your eye pupils went from small to large in just seconds. That experience caused Natalia to create 12" blocks with three strip sizes, gradating from the small to the large. This may look tricky to stitch, yet it's a great pattern for even beginner quiltmakers. It is. Yes, it is, and we'll take a look at the quilt you just saw close up. Now here, we have one row with a small. And there are actually? There are actually three rows of the small, three of the medium, and two of the large. And this is in the coverlet size.

There are three sizes of quilts you can make

coverlet, throw, and... And the baby size. And the baby size. We have the big one. And honestly, Natalia, when I first saw this quilt, I thought there was a lot of sashing between the blocks, but they're all 12" blocks. Yep, 12" blocks, no sashing. One, two, it's just the size that you used of the white in this instance, of course, of all the shades, but there's one consistent measurement. That's right. In this case, the plum, the purple fabric always will stay at 2 1/2" inches. So, let's look at another color combination and how this was assembled using the same technique that Natalia showed you earlier to assemble. And the center, in this instance, is smaller. Yes, that's right. Here we're going to start with a 2 1/2" square. This is the smallest size option then we'll add 2 1/2" squares, continue to build upon that. And the interesting thing is that the blue or the center, the middle section, will always be 2 1/2" strips. That's right. And when it's pieced together, this is what it would look like in this color combination. Again, use of white is very predominant in your quilts. Yeah. And then, let's go to the medium size and your center. So, for this one, we're going to use a larger center. We're going to use a 4 1/2" square. Okay. Then, we'll add 2 1/2" strips again to create the medium-sized block. You can see how they meet together. They nest together well. And then, finally, we have... Like Goldilocks, we have three sizes. And this one has a larger-- We're peeling this off. Here we go. I think we have one piece missing. There we are. 0r, maybe two pieces. Anyway, the center is, in this instance... This time, we're going to use a 6 1/2" center, which, again, is going to make our white smaller. So, if you get the finished white and lay it at the bottom, you can kind of see the options. How it just builds and gradates. Dilates down. You don't have to always use the white as the outside. That's right. So, I've created these samples just to show some color options. So, for this version, very similar. White on the outside. Blue and green. Then for this medium sized, I used the purple fabric as... where my white fabric is. So, this would create a really dramatic opposite effect. Much different look. And then, this is the largest block, and for this one I used white for my center. So, there are many options. So, if you get cabin fever to make a quilt, you don't have to use one pattern. You can use many different fabric combinations. Pull out your favorite scraps or use an interesting fat quarter bundle to make this fabulous quilt. Fabric choice is the key. Be sure there is a lot of contrast between the dark and light fabrics to really make the pattern pop. Now, Natalia, you named this quilt... "Dazzle." "Dazzle." It has a lot of dazzling effect. If you first look at this, you may not be able to discern where the block is, but let's show our viewers where it is. And here you go. You can see the center, much like the square within the square, the log cabin effect, but how the very interesting blocks nest together once four pieces come together is really a brilliant design. So, we're going to start by using the same concept that we've used for the other two patterns in today's program by sewing the logs to the sides and the top. And that's what we have in the next block. Then we'll move to the second. We have our center block put together. Then we're going to take our white strips, and we're going to snowball the corners of these white strips. Now, notice the sides are all the same length. Yes. So, don't get confused thinking these should be longer because they all need to be this exact size. So, we'll place our fabrics right here on these corners, and, remember, we're going to use our darker prints here to create the secondary pattern. And all four of these would have corners placed in. And look at this interesting design because here is what we're going to be stitching. And you can see, as I'm stitching right now from point to point across the corner, and this is called... A snowball. A snowball effect. So, after you've stitched opposite ways, then you're going to do some trimming and pressing. Yes, we're going to take this and we're going to trim. Trim about a 1/4" on the outside, make sure you trim on the outside, of that seam. So, we'll trim both sides. It's an easy way to do a half-square triangle. Now we're going to take this, and we're going to go over to our pressing board, and we're going to press. Again, I like to set my seams. So, I'll press like that first, and then press towards my dark fabric.

iron hisses steam

There are three sizes of quilts you can make

And when Natalia brings this back, she would sew two on each side, as you can see here that we have the strips on each side, and then to create the ends, the north and the south, and the east, and-- or, the north and the south, before sewing it together, you'd sew squares. And make sure-- These actually need to make sure that they are the lighter print fabrics here. Don't use the dark fabrics. And here you have the block, and that's a very dazzling effect. Thank you. These elongated framed rectangles look like a stretched log cabin quilt block, but, really, they're made from two identical 12" square blocks. The two-color palette emphasizes the graphic nature of the block, but you could easily introduce a wider range of color for even a greater quilt drama. You know, quilting is about drama, and this has it, Natalia. It is. And if we look at this quilt, it's folded in half. It's a larger quilt than what you see, but here's your block. And you've just used different widths of logs, and then, to get the stretched look, as you've named this quilt, "One Block and Then Another." That's right, Nancy. And the reason that I made this into 12" blocks, even though it looks like it should be a 12" by 24, is because I wanted this off-set look, but didn't want you to have to make two different blocks. Very smart. Very, very smart. So, you get the drill, right? But here, instead of having a square... That's right. We're going to just add to the sides this time. So, the top and bottom. Mm-hmm. And then to one side. We're only going to go around three of the sides instead of four. So, the width of the strips is also different. The top and bottom have a narrow width. Yes.

On the top and bottom

we're going to use a 1 1/2" strip;

The ends

we're going to stay with a 2" strip. So, as you add piece by piece, you can see, yes, just the same way, just that chain piecing. Even though we're showing you one block, you'd add on the sides. So, 1 1/2", 1 1/2", and then... 2" on top-- 2" on the end. At the end, I should say. And then, this is what it looks like. And if you get the hang of this, you can just keep on going. So, show the next stage. Yeah. So, we'll just continue to add. We'll add opposite colors.

So

light, dark, light, dark. Continue adding. And with that 1 1/2" width and 2" width, it starts to stretch out that block. That's right. That gives that stretched look, especially when you put two blocks together. And because, Natalia, we have same number of stretches, but you started with a little wider center so that it ends up being square. This doesn't necessarily look square. It doesn't. Oh, no. Here we have another color combination. Here, I brought another color option just to show you a brighter version of this same pattern. So, this is... becomes the finished end piece, and as we place it back up on our quilt, you can see how that is positioned. And then they rotate. You can certainly... Rotate every other block to get it. You can see how they meet together. So, what a great design, and it certainly puts a new twist on working with that old-fashioned log cabin quilt block. Quilters do more than sew blocks together to create quilts. Quilters around the country raise awareness, education, and funding for the Ovarian Cancer Research Program. I'd like you to welcome Venetta Morger, a member of the steering committee of the Ovarian Cancer Awareness Quilt Project. Venetta joins us via Skype today from Houston, Texas. Welcome, Venetta. Good morning, Nancy. It's a pleasure to have you with us and to share this interesting program, an online funding program for the most important, a very important cancer research program. And you have been involved for many years. And why don't you give our viewers just a little summary of the project. Okay, thank you very much. I got involved with the Ovarian Cancer Quilt Project here at M.D. Anderson about five years ago when my youngest sister-- I'm one of nine siblings-- My youngest sister was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at age 40. Now, prior to that, 35 years ago, my mother died from ovarian cancer, and we didn't realize that there was a genetic mutation. Sure. So, wanting to get involved with finding more answers for my sister, I came to M.D. Anderson and wanted to see how I could get involved to make a difference for my sister, and to make a difference for other women around the world. And this is a great funding project for M.D. Anderson's ovarian cancer project, and 100% of the quilts that are sold online, 100% of the funding goes to this project, which I think is admirable. We're really excited that through the work of the volunteers, and then, with the department here, the Gynecologic Oncology department, and the Medicine of Reproductive Health, we're able to fund 100% of the monies that we raise with the Ovarian Cancer Quilt Project directly to the Blanton-Davis Ovarian Cancer Research Program, which makes a huge difference in the funding that we're trying to raise to be able to have better detection of ovarian cancer, and hopefully for a cure. And you have, every two years, you have the online quilt auction. This year, you happen to have 180 quilts from 33 states are represented, quilters from 33 states. And, you know, that's a great project. On Sewing With Nancy, we like to give information, and how people can quilt and sew, and when they can go to NancyZieman.com and find out more about this project, but, also, we want to do awareness because awareness is part of your trifecta. You want to have awareness, education, and funding. And awareness for ovarian cancer, would you like to review some of those symptoms? Because sometimes they go unnoticed. Yes, you know, Nancy, oftentimes, there are really vague symptoms that most women really experience from time to time in their lives. So, we recommend that either they go make an appointment with their general practitioner or a gynecologist. And some of those symptoms are bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, and urinary symptoms, like urgency or frequency. But we're not talking about just an occasional... Sure. Feelings of these symptoms. It's really if you feel these symptoms for two weeks or more at any period of time, you need to make an appointment with your doctor. Now, I did not know all these symptoms so I really appreciate knowing them, and also, passing these along to our viewers. But our viewers can help by-- They can make quilts. Any size, correct? We're going to see some quilts that have been donated-- from large to small. We've been really lucky that since 2008, when we started our first online quilt auction, we have had donations from almost every state in the Union, and around the world and different sizes, varying from modern quilts, traditional quilts, art quilts, famous quilters. We've also been fortunate that we've had a number of fabric companies have donated fabric to us so we can use in making the quilts for this auction, like Cherrywood fabric, Moda, Blank fabric, and recently, we've gotten donations from the Denise Urban fabric line. So, we feel very, very fortunate there are so many-- Well, you know. There's so many generous people that are in the quilting world, and we're just so thankful for them all. Well, Venetta, this has been enlightening to see how an online quilting auction can take place. Our viewers can find you online, and we'll direct them to NancyZieman.com where they can find the link to the Ovarian Cancer Research Project, the Online Quilt Project. I'll be tuning in when that happens every two years, and I thank you for joining me and we wish you success in your fund raising. Thank you so much, Nancy. It means a lot. If you'd like to learn more about the Ovarian Cancer Online Quilt Project at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, you can go to NancyZieman.com. Thanks for joining us. Bye for now. Natalia Bonner and Kathleen Whiting have written the book "Cabin Fever," which is used as the reference for the modern log cabin designs featured in this two-part series. It's $19.99, plus shipping and handling. To order the book, call 800-336-8373 or visit our website at SewingwithNancy.com/2917 Order item number CT11102 "Cabin Fever" book. Credit card orders only. To pay by check or money order, call the number on the screen for details. Visit Nancy's website at NancyZieman.com to see additional episodes, Nancy's blog, and more. Sewing with Nancy TV's longest-airing sewing and quilting program with Nancy Zieman

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