Sew a Mini Square in a Square Log Cabin Quilt Block

My log cabin quilt block obsession has grown both larger… and smaller!

The log cabin was the second quilt block that I ever learned to sew (everyone’s first quilt block should be the Nine-Patch!), and it’s remained my absolute favorite. It’s the kind of block whose versatility works for both newer sewists–wonky pieces are absolutely acceptable here!–and advanced sewists who want to experiment with color, value, and dimension.

My current obsession is mini quilt blocks, and I’m loving one specific type of log cabin quilt block, the square in a square subset, for highlighting a fussy cut center piece. The pieces around it, while constructed in the traditional log cabin way, make a series of frames that further highlight that piece, similar to the concept of highlighting the red “hearth” piece in the center of a traditional log cabin quilt block.

Even with this very simple block pattern, there’s a lot of scope for the imagination. I wanted something summery, so I’m playing with yellows and oranges, but there’s an infinite amount of variety of color and width to be played about with here.

Here’s how to make these mini square in a square log cabin quilt blocks:

Materials

You will need:

• fabric. Even though it’s a bit of a waste of fabric, depending on what width I choose for my log pieces, I’m cutting all my fabric 1.5″ wide and then simply adjusting my seam allowance to get the finished width that I want. My narrowest log pieces will be .5″ wide, so for those I’ll also be sewing with a .5″ seam allowance. The pieces that I want to end up 1″ wide will get a more traditional .25″ seam allowance.
• measuring, cutting, and sewing supplies. I LOVE a clear, gridded quilting ruler for precise measuring and cutting. I cut the strips with a self-healing cutting mat and rotary cutter, and I fussy cut the center square using a pair of sharp sewing scissors. To make the fussy cutting even easier, I recently splurged on a piece of gridded plastic that I could use to make my own cutting templates. It’s NOT eco-friendly, but I love it and I’ll use it forever! For machine sewing, I like a narrow, sharp needle and matching thread. And like it or not, you have to have an iron!

Step 1: Cut the pieces.

Above, you can see that I’ve got my colorway figured out and my pieces chosen. All the strips are 1.5″ wide, and the center block is 1.5″ square. The little heart in the middle is just .25″ square, so I’m going to aim for all my finished logs to be .5″ wide. That means that all my seam allowances will be .5″. It’s overkill and don’t tell the quilting police, but just between us, I kind of love piecing with a wider seam allowance. It always feels so much easier for my fumbly fingers to handle!

Step 2: Frame the center piece.

Line up the seams of the first log piece and one side of the center block, wrong sides together. This first log piece will be the shortest, and although you won’t be able to tell by more than the lines of stitching, since all the pieces of this frame will be the same color, I nevertheless like to place it at the bottom.

I don’t like to start my stitching at the very edge of the fabric, because I can’t figure out how to keep the fabric from bunching at that edge when I do (let me know if you have tips!), so I like to offset the log pieces and then trim the extra away after sewing each seam.

Sew the seam, then use your sharp sewing scissors to trim each side of the log piece to match the edge of the center piece. Unfold and finger press the seam to whichever side you prefer–for this project, I’m pressing the seams open, but again, I think that’s something that I don’t want you to tell the quilting police that I do…

Above is the block that I sewed from the right side. You can tell that the top left is a little uneven, and if you want you can trim it down so it’s perfect again before you continue sewing.

Do I want to, though? Nope!

Here’s the block from the back side:

One piece of advice that I did receive once upon a time, and that I DO follow, is to iron quilt blocks from the right side, not the wrong side like in the photo above. I don’t know why that is but I do it anyway.

Sew the next three log pieces just the way you sewed the first one, continuing to border that center piece.

Each time, you’ll trim the log piece to match the two sides of the block, then iron the seam open (or to the side you prefer!) from the right side:

Remember that you can always trim the block to the correct size, so I don’t think you should get too fussy if one of your seams is a little imprecise. These blocks are tiny!

Your complete frame will look like the photo below:

Notice that you can see the lines of stitching for each piece in the frame, but that won’t really be visible if you’re not looking at it with your nose two inches from it like we are right now.

Step 3: Continue piecing additional frames.

Add as many additional frames as you want to this log cabin quilt block. I kept up with the .5″ seams for this quilt block, and you can see in the photo above that it’s definitely added “dimension” to the quilt block, but I don’t think it made it too bulky. I think I’m going to use these quilt blocks for coasters, anyway, so a little more thickness will just make them more absorbent.

I think that it looks the nicest to continue rotating the blocks and adding pieces in the order that you started with the first frame. So if you went clockwise like I did in the above photo, keep going clockwise! And even though we’re still looking at it with our noses two inches from the block, I think the stitching in the frames already looks less obvious, and it will continue to fade into the background the more frames you add.

Here’s my finished quilt block, below:

Instead of adding another frame with that 1.5″ strip I have there, I’m going to use a different piece of that fabric to sew a back-to-front binding when I turn this, and several of its identical friends, into coasters.

But the world is your oyster when you’re choosing what YOU want to do with your square in a square mini log cabin quilt block! You could make a zippered pouch, or a needle book, or a quilted postcard, or gather it together with 359 more mini quilt blocks and make a whole quilt top.

Let me know what you end up making--you know I'm nosy like that!

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