AUTUMN TERM 2025

You have the choice of three types of project this term - a Log Cabin design, a Gradient Ladder and a festive table runner or placemats. Within each of these, there are opportunities for your own design choices.

As soon as you know that the course is right for you sign up straight away with The Settlement as places do go fast.

Log Cabin - For Beginners and Beyond

The Log Cabin quilt pattern is one of the most easily recognised of quilt designs. Similar designs have been found on ancient Egyptian mummies and in an English quilt predating 1830. Early Log Cabin blocks were hand-pieced using strips of fabrics around a central square. In traditional Log Cabin blocks, one half is made of dark fabrics and the other half light. A red centre symbolized the hearth of the home and a yellow centre represented a welcoming light in the window. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, many Log Cabin quilts were made by the foundation method using wools, velvets, satins, and other non-traditional fabrics Variations of settings appeared with names reflecting the themes of the times. The White House Steps, Court House Steps, eight-sided Pineapple, Barn Raising, and Sunshine and Shadows are just some of the hundreds of name and pattern variations. It’s virtually impossible to run out of ways to make beautiful Log Cabin quilts. Over the last 10 – 20 years people have become even more inventive, creating curves from the straight piecing, cutting curves into the “logs” themselves and working around irregular blocks – setting the Log Cabins free!

Gradient Ladder - For Confident Beginners and Beyond

Explore tonal movement through structured piecing. Create one (or more) small wall hangings each approx. 8” x 12”

This technique is inspired by the work of Brenda Gael Smith, specifically “Sea Change: Whale Tracks” Looking at the photographs of this piece and also other pieces in her Marine series, I could see that she almost creates ladders to link the different strata and that the quilting is dense and very textural.

You might want to make three of the same design, use similar shapes but different colour families, or the same colour family but use different piecing.

Seasonal Threads: Quilt a Festive Table Runner or Placemats - For Beginners and Beyond

Join us in creating a beautiful, Christmas-inspired table setting using traditional quilt blocks and simple piecing techniques. In this relaxed class, you’ll stitch a runner or set of placemats perfect for adding handmade warmth to your festive gatherings.

You can make the six designs, or one, or any number in between. Make them as place mats or a table runner.

Please have a look at the videos below to see examples of previous students' work.

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