A Simple Guide to GO! Northwoods Medley

Hi everyone, it's Bea again from Beaquilter.com. I'm here to show you how I made this fun Log Cabin in the Woods quilt (42" x 42").

 

I made this with a lovely Fat Quarter (FQ) Bundle by Robert Kaufman (and yardage for the borders).

 

You'll need 9 FQs for the logs, then 3 for the backgrounds and 3 for the Woodland creatures (greens and browns).

 

Here are the dies I used:

The GO! Log Cabin 12" Finished Square

 

The 6½" square die which is Shape #1 from the GO! Qube Mix & Match 12" Block.

 

And the GO! Northwoods Medley and the matching embroidery files.

 

I also used Steam-A-Seam Lite and stabilizer for doing the machine embroidery and then ¼ yard for inner border, ½ yard for outer border and ½ yard for binding, batting and backing.

 

Here's How I Made It

First, I found the solids in the bundle and picked three for the Northwoods die.

 

Then, I cut out 3 of each to fit the die and ironed on Steam-A-Seam Lite onto the back of each one.

 

Then, I cut out 3 of each. I split it up and did the tree first (all three), then the moose and bear together, so the fabrics wouldn't overlap on the die. With my GO! Big it was a snap to do!

 

Then, from the FQ bundle, I found 3 of the lightest fabrics that would be great for the backgrounds and I cut out 3–6½" squares from each using the Die #1 from the GO! Qube Mix & Match 12" Block Set. (You COULD cut more from each FQ, but I felt like it would mess up the look of the quilt). Either way, 9 total squares.

 

Here's the backgrounds with their Northwoods shape on top.

 

Since I was machine embroidering, I ironed stabilizer onto the back of each square, too.

 

Then hooped more stabilizer and centered the square in the hoop. The first part of the embroidery is an outline stitch line for where the appliqué will go.

 

 

I then fuse/iron it down with a small craft iron (my big regular iron doesn't fit into the hoop).

 

Then it stitches the appliqué down and adds eyes (how cute!!).

 

The embroidery file includes 3 different stitches for the appliqué, which fit perfectly with my quilt design, so I did one of each!

 

Here's all 9 blocks done with the appliqué.

 

Next, I picked out 9 FQs that are darker than the background and matched the colors (there were some orange in there I left out).

 

Next, I got out my log cabin die. This part is a bit tricky, as I'm NOT using the whole die, but it works out perfectly!

 

Folding each FQ in half so it's approximately 9" x 20" (the long side), I laid it over half the die where the 12-9 logs are and cut out 2 from each FQ (the double layer cuts 2).

 

I turned the die when I put it thru the cutter so the die goes first and not the fabric.

 

Here are the pieces cut out.

 

With the die still upside down (for me it was), I laid the fabric overlapping JUST #6-8 logs, so about ½" on the side with 1-3 and a little bit over on the halfway point of the die, again it worked out perfectly!

 

Not much waste at all!

I cut out all 9 FQs like this. You'll only need 6 of the 6½" and 12½" logs cut. It's just easier to cut it all out like this at once. (The directions for using the 1½" strip cutter is part of the pattern.)

 

Now you are ready to sew the blocks together!

I started with a center block right sides up and facing me and added a 6½" log to the left, and ironed the seams OPEN throughout.

 

Then, I added a 7½" log to the bottom, then the right, and an 8½" log to the top,

 

and continued on with another round.

 

When the 3 logs were added to all sides in a counter clockwise order, the block measures 12½".

 

I made all the blocks the same in how I sewed them together and paid no attention to what colors went where. I tried not to have the same fabric touch each other on the blocks, but didn't care later on when the blocks were sewn into the quilt top!

 

I sewed the blocks together so the Northwoods creatures would be diagonal, and also since I did one of each appliqué stitch, I had those be different in each row as well. A few of the fabrics touched each other, but I think it's just the charm of this funky random log cabin quilt!

 

I made the borders from the 1½" strip die and the 2½" strip die.

 

I quilted the log cabins sort of in the ditch, then outlined the Northwoods creatures and kept outlining until it filled in the block. I also added bubbles on the inner border and a sort of flame leaf design on the outer border.

 

A fun and fast quilt to make! The bear, moose and tree are just so cute. Can you say that about animals? Well I guess I just did. ;)

Try it out!