Thanks to Uppercase magazine, I have a new design crush:  Margo Selby.  She designs fabrics, rugs and other textiles with rich color and crisp geometric textures that spark my creative juices.  I so enjoyed reading the article about Margo in Uppercase, as well as studying her works shared there.  Of course her website showcases even more.

When paging through the magazine, I photographed spreads which particularly inspired me.  This is one favorite, which I immediately wanted sew.  I love how the colors graduate subtly along the sharp stair-stepping stripes.  The regular light and dark accents punctuate the design gorgeously.

Hmmm - - - I could construct something similar as a quarter log cabin quilt block, with multiple stripes for each log.

Let’s give it a go!  To begin I sort scraps into color groups by tone:  ruby reds, burgundy reds, orangey reds, etc.  I want to work with scraps as much as possible for the colors, while the white accent stripes can be mainly cut from yardage.

Getting started is awkward.  Is this the right idea, I wonder?

But as I build layer upon layer of this quarter log cabin block, I grow only more excited.  I like it very much!  And, I love that I am sewing my string scraps.  I am allowing the scraps to determine the width of each color stripe, which is so deliciously efficient.  Only the white stripes are kept intentionally thin at about 1/2” finished.

An hour and a half later, my test block is done!  She is a 12” finished block with burgundy and peach colors, accented by white.  I love it, but when I step back I realize that it doesn’t have exactly the effect that I wanted.

Comparing this block to Margo’s artwork, I see the trouble.  I used only 2 fabrics per log: one color and white.  As a result the colors seem to be floating on a white background.  Margo used 3-4 colors per “log”, which gives the logs themselves a striped feeling.

Ok, next block with 3 colors per stripe!  I am curious to see what happens.