building a log cabin

The log cabin quilt square is one of the easiest to make and one of the most popular quilts in America. 

Building the square starts in the middle with a red square, which represents the hearth or heart of the home, then start laying the strips or logs around the center square to build the cabin.  Traditionally light colored strips on one side for the sunny side of the house, dark on the other for the shady side of the house. 

Once you get the individual squares constructed, there are hundreds of ways to put them together to design a quilt. 

The log cabin quilt is part of American history in more ways than one.  During the Civil War quilts were used as signals in the Underground Railway, leading slaves to safety.  A log cabin quilt hanging on a clothesline meant that house was a safe house.  Other quilt patterns had other meanings.   

Also during that same time, this pattern was very popular in support of Abraham Lincoln, being raised in a log cabin, the quilt represented the pioneer spirit of America.

So get your scraps out and give it a try!  Be a pioneer, make a quilt square, turn it into a Christmas ornament for your tree or a wall hanging like my wreath above.