Week Seven of the Civil War Blocks

For this week, allowing everyone to take a breath and relax, the block is Log Cabin. I thought this one would have no hidden problems and I set off to my Saturday Sewing meeting with my bag full of grey and blue fabrics.

Decisions, decisions, I could not come up with just the one block. So first I made this one because I wanted to follow my personal rule and use the one common background fabric even though this block really has no opportunity to have a background fabric.



And then I made this one because I really liked that fabric with the large paisley that I used last week:


I am trying to keep to the pattern as provided. I cut my strips at the suggested 1 7/8" wide and sewed them up. The size came out pretty much exactly to the 8" finished block.

My friends at the gathering today gave me permission to use that center fabric - we had discussion about whether or not I could use fabric that showed the Statue of Liberty, the Capitol, or even the Stars and Stripes since what the fabric showed was not relevant at the time of the Civil War. But we all decided I could go ahead.

So now I have another extra block. My philosophy is that it may well prove beneficial to have an extra block or two "up my sleeve" when it comes time to set these together. And, since a block a week for a year will yield 52 blocks and a standard setting of 7 blocks wide by 8 blocks long needs 56 blocks I will be needing a few extra anyway.

This project is giving me a lot of enjoyment and I am excited about it. The Saturday postings that Barbara Brackman publishes provide me with an interesting read. Hopefully you too are enjoying following along.