Here I go again, too much information for one post. So I’m splitting it up.
On Sunday I went to the exhibit The Log Cabins of Donald Judd. Wow! Luke mentions that people will be overwhelmed, I was in a good way. The quilts are amazing, the way he hung and displayed them is new and unique. He likens the experience to walking through a Richard Serra Sculpture, he is right, but this is better, it’s fabric, not iron.
Aside from the works themselves, Luke is a delightful young man. He was more than happy to talk about the quilts, he also has great fashion sense – note those shoes!!! Only to be found in DTLA, perfect for the ensemble.
Let’s start with a traditional basic log cabin quilt. This layout is called Courthouse steps. If you look in the lower left corner, you will see the standard log cabin block. Starting with a red square – signifying the center hearth of the home, strips of fabric of equal width are built around it, two sides light, two sides dark. Then you play with the layout of these blocks and here is one version.
Side by side, on the left another very traditional layout of the log cabin block. I probably did this myself on my first log cabin quilt. On the right, Op Art! Those four large blocks are built the same way, but the width and layout of the colors has changed, and so has the effect of the quilt.
Here he has taken that idea to one large block. This is a close up, because the strips get so long and wonky, the quilt won’t lie flat – that is the nature of this one. A word about the fabric, Luke buys old clothes and sheets by the pound at Goodwill and uses as much as he can. I love how the pocket remains from this shirt. This isn’t an original idea, but it’s fun to see whenever a quilt maker veers away from traditional quilting cottons. Also, as the strips get longer, each one is composed of many fabrics pieced together.
Here we have the Richard Serra affect, creating a spiral of hanging quilts to walk through. First you see the fronts, then go around again looking at the backs. 
The hearth is centered, the strips are of equal width, but he has played with the placement of darks and lights.
I know this block well – Log Condo, this is what he taught us at Quiltcon. We used these dimensions, in a later post I’ll share that block. I love how the red is playing a more dominant part in these quilts.
Instead of the block being a square, how about changing it to a rectangle?
There is a lot of play where the light and dark strips are very different proportions. As well as using the Courthouse steps layout or simply stacking the blocks.
The other other Leah is studying a quilt. A nice thing about this show, Luke had no problem with us touching them – which is something every quilter wants to do! The fabrics have already been through a lot – it’s not like we’ll destroy them. Although these are displayed as art, they are quilts that Luke sleeps under. I get frustrated when the art world treats ephemeral art like an Old Master. Sorry, some things need to be preserved and others, not so much. 
Luke is bridging art and craft so well here. These quilts live very comfortably in both worlds. So here is our Log Condo block again, look closely, the block itself is a square, by alternating colors and placement we no longer see the square. The batting is wool, which is much lighter in weight than cotton. One of these days, I will use wool batting as well.
Log Condo again, this time the darks and lights do not switch places. The block with the narrow light and wide dark was used in the previous quilt – to a very different affect. Luke is also an architect – it certainly shows!
That’s it for the first installment. Another post tomorrow.
The diversity of the logcabin is inspiring. I have used wool batting several times and like it very much. It gives the quilt a cozier, softer feel.
Wow, seriously wow. Thanks for sharing. PS smiled at your comment about veering away from traditional quilting cottons to using old clothes, surely reusing old clothes is where patchwork started?
No, that is a myth. Speaking specifically about American Quilting – it came from England where whole cloth quilts were the fashion. Then with availability of printed cottons from India, the idea of Broderie Prese came into fashion, cutting out the images, usually flowers and appliquéing them on the quilt. The original America quilts were made by wealthy women in the cities (sort of like today). The Album style quilt became very popular – think of the intricacy of a Baltimore Album. Then like many other things, quilting trickled down and originally women would save scraps leftover from making clothes – so these were ‘new scraps’. Further down the chain, people used discarded clothing. As for blankets to keep warm – the idea of creating a sandwich and holding it together with stitches is old and exists in many cultures. So if it’s just warmth – you want the biggest pieces of fabric possible. The actual act of piecing a quilt was a luxury for most. Of course in harsh cold winters the quilting bee offered the blessing of comraderie – but it wasn’t the necessity of a warm blanket. It was a creative outlet even then. Gee’s Bend Quilters are very important – but they didn’t invent quilting – they adapted with what they had.