Check Out
1-800-356-4219
sales@electricquilt.com

You are here: Home > Community > Lessons > Lesson List > Twisted Log Cabin

EQ Lessons: Drawing a Twisted Log Cabin

by Andrea Poulimenos

For a Foundation Block that will make you truely dizzy, try the Twisted Log Cabin. In this lesson we will be drawing these blocks entirely from scratch!

We are going to start with what I am going to call a "Twisted Log Cabin 5."

Setup

1. Open EQ and start a new project.
2. Name it "EQ Lesson-TwistedLog".
3. From the WORKTABLE menu, choose Work on Block.
4. From the BLOCK menu, point to New Block, and click on EasyDraw.
5. From the BLOCK menu, choose Drawing Board Setup.
6. Enter the following for your settings:

   Snap to Grid Points: 20 horizontal, 20 vertical
   Block Size: 5" horizontal, 5" vertical

   Snap to Grid Points are important when Snap to Grid is enabled. These grid points "pick up" the lines when you draw. Setting the horizontal grid points to 20 on a 5" block means we will have a grid point every 1/4". If the length of your block were not divisible by the number of grid points you set, you would notice that the lines would "jump" or "snap" to the wrong places.

7. Click OK. Now the box you draw in is a 5" square block.
8. Do you have rulers along the sides of your worktable? If not, from the VIEW menu, choose Rulers. This will put a check next to Rulers to make sure they are turned on.

   WOW, I think we're ready to draw.

   Note: For my wonderful "Advanced Drawing Tool" Users out there, turn on Snap to Grid and Snap to Node only.

Square 1

9. On the right toolbar, click on the Line tool . I've found that it is easiest to draw these blocks by drawing the largest, tipped square first.
10. Draw a square with lines in the following places:
    

    Start Point		End Point
    	0" in, 3" down		2" in, 0" down
    	2" in, 0" down		5" in, 2" down
    	5" in, 2" down		3" in, 5" down
    	3" in, 5" down		0" in, 3" down

    
    

    Believe it or not, that's the most difficult part of the drawing. The rest is just connect the dots.

    When you're trying to figure out where to draw the large tipped square, try Andrea's Hokey Pokey directions... "go two steps in." So... going clockwise around our 5" block, we went 2/5 of the block in and drew a line in, the same distance, on all four sides to form the square. On a 7" block, go 2/7 in. On a 9" block, go 2/9 in. If you understand this part, you've conquered the battle.

11. On the right toolbar, click on the little black square in the bottom-left of the Edit tool . This will make the Edit pop up palette appear.
12. Click on one of the four lines you drew, to select it. (It will be a darker color when selected.)
13. In the box next to Partition, click the up arrows until it reads 5.
14. Click on the Partition button. This will partition the selected line into 5 equal pieces.
15. Click on the next line with the Edit tool. Partition it into 5.
16. Repeat for the other lines.
    

    Now we're going to draw another tipped square within this one. The last part of Andrea's Hokey Pokey directions are "go one node in."

Connect the dots

Note: Advanced Drawing Tool Users can turn off Snap to Grid once the first square is drawn, to limit the chance of lines snapping to grid points instead of nodes.

17. On the right toolbar, click on the Line tool .
18. Draw a lines clockwise from the first node to first node. (Red dots in the picture.)
19. Click on the little black square in the bottom left of the Edit tool .
20. Click on one of your new lines.
21. Partition should still be set at 5. (If not, change it to 5.) Click on the Partition button.
22. Repeat for the other "new" lines.
    

    Guess what? It's time for connect the dots again.

23. Click on the Line tool .
24. Draw lines clockwise from the first node to first node.

Your choice

25. Continue partitioning your new lines into 5 and connecting the first nodes of your new lines, until you have enough patches... or until you've had enough. (I usually get tired after about 6 or 7 partitions.) When you are much further into the drawing, you may need to use the zoom tools to zoom in on the nodes. Do this to make sure the lines are connecting to the edges of your tipped squares and not grid points near by.

Did you know that if you accidentally miss that itsy-bitsy, teeny-tiny, little black square in the Edit tool, that there is also another way of bringing up the pop up box? Left-click on the line to select it. Then right-click and choose Edit, to bring up the pop-up box.

Note: You may want to do the "double save" if you plan on making an extremely complex block. Half-way through your drawing, click on the Save in Sketchbook button then from the FILE menu, choose Save.

Work Backwards

So I bet you're wondering why I had you change the block to be 5" x 5". Well, besides the fact that your first square had endpoints at the inch marks on your ruler, we actually have 4 more lines to draw.

26. Click the Line tool on the right toolbar.
27. Draw lines in the following places:
    

    Start Point		End Point
    	0" in, 3" down		1" in, 0" down
    	2" in, 0" down		5" in, 1" down
    	5" in, 2" down		4" in, 5" down
    	3" in, 5" down		0" in, 4" down

Color

28. Once you have enough patches and the final four drawn, click the Color tab at the bottom.
29. Select a color in your Fabrics palette and click on the patches to color your block.
30. Each time you create a great coloring of your block, click on the Save in Sketchbook button .

More Blocks

As you've learned, the basic pattern for creating Twisted Log Cabins is the following:

1. Choose a number (ours was 5) and set your block to be that size. (Grid points should be divisible by the number you choose. For 5, you could choose 10, 20, etc.)
2. Draw your first tipped square "2 steps in."
3. Partition the sides by your original number (block size).
4. Connect the first nodes.
5. Continue until you're tired of partitioning and connecting the dots.

6. Twisted Log Cabin 10	Twisted Log Cabin 20

   Draw your last 4 lines. They go from the corners of your first square to the points "1 step in."
7. Color.
   

   The higher your number is, the tighter your design will be. (...and the more you will need to use the zoom tools.) Check out the difference between a block partitioned by 10 and a block partitioned by 20. Both blocks have the same number of patches.

31. Try creating one or more Twisted Log Cabin blocks. Start from Step 4 at the top, but choose a different "magic number" and its corresponding settings.

    Magi #	Block Size	Endpoints of top-left line (1st square)	Partition by...	Connect your "first nodes"	Working Backwards: Endpoints of top-left line (outside 1st square)
    		"2 steps in"			"1 step in"
    6	6x6	(0",4") to (2",0")	6		(0",4") to (1",0")
    7	7x7	(0",5") to (2",0")	7		(0",5") to (1",0")
    8	8x8	(0",6") to (2",0")	8		(0",6") to (1",0")
    9	9x9	(0",7") to (2",0")	9		(0",7") to (1",0")
    10	10x10	(0",8") to (2",0")	10		(0",8") to (1",0")
    11	11x11	(0",9") to (2",0")	11		(0",9") to (1",0")
    12	12x12	(0",10") to (2",0")	12		(0",10") to (1",0")
    etc.

Making a Quilt Design

32. From the WORKTABLE menu, choose Work on Quilt.
33. From the QUILT menu, point to New Quilt, and click Horizontal.
34. Click the Layout tab at the bottom.
35. In Number of Blocks, set the number of horizontal and vertical blocks you want in your quilt.
36. In Size of Blocks, set the width and height of your blocks.
37. In Sashing, slide both width and height to 0.00".
38. Click the Layer 1 tab.
39. Click the Set Block tool on the toolbar at the right. The Blocks pop-up palette will appear.
40. In the Blocks palette, click on one of your Log Cabin blocks to select it.
41. Your block may be a line drawing. To change to a colored version, click one of the right two arrows under the large picture inside the palette. When you are satisfied with the coloring you chose, position your cursor over an empty square in your quilt.
42. On your keyboard, hold down the CTRL button.
43. Click to set that block into every square of your quilt. Release the CTRL button.
44. Click the Symmetry tool on the toolbar at the right.
45. Position your cursor over one of the blocks in your quilt.
46. Hold down your keyboard CTRL key and click on your quilt to see 16 different versions of your quilt.
47. Click the Paintbrush tool on the toolbar at the right.
48. Recolor patches or entire blocks as necessary.
49. When you are happy with a design, click the Save in Sketchbook button to save a copy of this quilt.

Play with the color and rotation of your blocks to find or create interesting patterns. Look for swirls, stars, ribbons, or any other designs that pop out of your quilt and say "color me!" Don't forget to save each copy to your sketchbook.

For instance, here's a sailboat I just found:

Sample Quilt Designs

Example 1: Block with 2 colors and a black center square. It's the same quilt both times... I just used the Swap tool to exchange one of the colors for black.

Example 2: Block with 3 colors and a black center square. It's the same quilt both times... I just used the Swap tool to exchange one of the colors for black.

Example 3: Block with 2 colors and a black center square, but only 1 swirl is colored this time. Use rotation to achieve this effect.

Example 4: Quilt with 6 colors and black center squares. The picture is a bit small, but each reddish side is a different fabric. I just set the block straight in the quilt, used the ALT key and a white fabric to color the 4 points of the star, and the ALT key again to color the other patches a dark color.

Examples 5, 6: Have fun designing... anything is possible.

50. To print out a block, click on the Select tool . Then click on one of the Twisted Log Cabin blocks.
51. From the FILE menu, point to Print, and click on Foundation Pattern.
52. Click on the Options tab.
53. In Block Size, enter the size you wish to make or put a check next to "Size from Quilt" to have it the same way it is in your quilt design.
54. Other important options you may want to consider:
    
    • Seam allowance - put a check next to seam allowance to add a 0.25" (default) seam allowance.
    • Mirror - put a check next to mirror if you want to print out a "flipped" version of your block.
    • Line thickness - click the arrow next to the line to drop down the line thickness choices. Click on the line you want.
55. Click Print.

That's it! I hope you had fun drawing.