Pineapple? Log Cabin? Courthouse Steps?

Now that I discovered a great selection of lights and darks for the Nature's Neutrals quilts...the ideas started.  Stick with that quilt pattern?  Make a log ...so many ways of designing log cabins!  And I have Judy Martin's log cabin book with even more ideas!  Courthouse Steps?  I really like the Small Steps quilt by Jo Morton in American Patchwork and Quilting, Dec. 2010.  And my friend Audrey sent me some very inspiring pictures of her pinepapple quilts!

Small Steps by Jo Morton

Many of the fabrics in my dark/light piles are wovens, and as I've already learned, they can be a bit unruly.  If I were to do a pineapple quilt, it would be 8" blocks so I could paper piece them onto water soluble paper stabilizer.  If I do a log cabin, I'd be checking for straightness, carefully, and often! I've started cutting everything into  1 1/2" strips, and a few 1 3/4" strips (for potential centres) and that's a start. If it's courthouse steps, I'd stick with the 1 1/2" strips as 1`strips, as in Small Steps, are just too small for the wovens.

Pineapple Greens, Penny P.

One thing that is keeping me from the pineapple idea, is I have stashed away a bundle of green batiks...it would make a fantastic two colour pineapple quilt, which was my thought I purchased the bundle.

I could stick with the Nature`s Neutrals, but the organization part is still bugging me, having to keep the same fabric for all four rounds around the square.






In the meantime, I made a couple of not-quite Funky Chickens!  from Sindy R. at Fat Cat Patterns.  I reduced the size to 6``, used wool and  hand blanket stitch.