Old Made New Again
Posted by Deirdre Quirk on Jun 30th 2015
Cabin Fever, the latest book by Natalia Bonner and Kathleen Whiting, offers twenty quilts (each in three sizes!) that are modern, graphic interpretations of the traditional Log Cabin quilt pattern.
As Bonner and Whiting say in their introduction, “Early Log Cabin blocks were hand stitched and made on a foundation. The center block was red, which represented the hearth of the home. The logs, or strips, were then placed in a sequence around the center block. Generally the logs were light and dark fabrics, which represented the sunny and shaded sides of a home.” Most people believe the Log Cabin pattern originated in Civil War-era America; however, the origins may be even earlier than previously thought.
There are British examples of Log Cabin pattern quilts found that predate 1830, but the truly amazing examples come from ancient Egyptian tombs, where small animal mummies were found wrapped in linen fabrics with patterns nearly identical to those of the classic Log Cabin pattern.
The ancient origins of this pattern are a testament to its truly timeless nature, and the collection of beautifully designed, clearly laid-out, and easy-to-make quilts in Cabin Fever are the perfect way to update this pattern for the modern home.
Cabin Fever is now available on ctpub.com and can be purchased here.
