Not your grandma's log cabin!

Some of the most intriguing quilt designs come from taking a classic block and doing something unexpected with it Melanie Greseth and Joanie Holton had a great idea--they combined the super-colorful prints of Greta Lynn's Bright Idea collection with the traditional log cabin block, and then added in plenty of white space.

The result? A traditional-meets-modern quilt that's a breath of fresh air!

"Bold & Bright" by Melanie Greseth & Joanie Holton,
made by Jennifer Green and machine quilted by Sheri Zalar;
featured in Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting May/June 2015

What drew you to the Bright Idea fabrics?

They are so playful and bright and fun! The primary colors are fun to work with, the stars have a different feeling than the typical red, white and blue stars you usually see.

 

Tell us about the blenders you used.

We mixed in the Fleurish prints—the colors work so well with Bright Idea, as we needed something vibrant to play off the brights. Because these prints have a little bit of a wavy stripe to them, they’re not as harsh of a stopping point; they have more of a tonal effect, which acts as a resting point for the eye.

How did this design come to be?

We really were trying to do a modern take on the log cabin block. We played around with a lot of different layouts, and it really started to take form when we didn’t have rows and rows of the bright log cabin. The blocks needed space between them so they could get their full effect—otherwise it just became a mush of color. As we started playing with the sashing/lattice between, it gave each Log Cabin a windowpane effect that we really liked. 

This must have been fun to quilt, with all that white space!

Our longarm quilter did such a fabulous job! She quilted it with a firework effect, which really worked well with the stars and zigzags of the fabric.

What do you like best about Bold & Bright?

This really was one of our favorites. It just gave such a fun balance to that modern quilt idea, but still a lot of old-fashioned quilting in there with the piecing of log cabins blocks. It’s such a perfect marriage of traditional and modern quilting. 

Click here to see the Bright Idea fabrics.

Click here to see the Fleurish fabrics.

Click here to learn more about Melanie and Joanie.

Click here to find the kit for Bold & Bright.

Click here to find the digital pattern for Bold & Bright.

Click here to find Love of Quilting.