Creating a Log Cabin Quilt Block

The absolute easiest way to accomplish this is with a rotary cutter and it’s matching board and ruler.  These tools are certainly your friends when you need things to be perfectly straight.  Step one is to cut all of your materials – your center square or rectangle, then three or four strips of each of the materials you will be using.  Then lay out your materials in the order they’ll be sewn together.  You’ll be starting at the center and working outward from there. If you are not sure in what order the fabrics will be sewn, once everything is cut, you can lay them out around the center piece until you like what you see.

Starting with the center block, line up and sew the first strip to it making a 1/4 inch (.6 cm) seam.  Lay the piece down on your cutting board and cut off the excess of the strip even with the edge of the block.  Iron the seam away from the center. 

Using the same log (strip), align it exactly with the bottom of the piece you just sewed.  You want it exactly even with the center block edge.  Sew it using a 1/4 inch seam as before.  All of the strips will be used twice.  Cut off the excess and return the unused portion to its pile. 

Take the next log and align it exactly with the third edge of the center block, sew it with a 1/4 inch seam, cut the excess, press the seam away from center, then align the same strip with the fourth edge of the center block and repeat.  You’ve now gone all the way around center with fabric in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise fashion.  It doesn’t matter which you choose, but you must continue around in the same direction until you’re all done.