Half Hexagons from Jelly Rolls

Donna Crow's Half-Hexagon Quilt

Denniele and Donna have been making half-hexagons out of Moda Jelly Roll strips.

Donna used Arnold's Attic, my late 19th-century reproduction line from last year. The strips are 2-1/2" wide.

Using a 60 degree ruler you cut half hexagons and sew them into strips. There are no Y Seams if you use this method.

Denniele developed the technique for a class.

 "We used a 60 degree triangle ruler and painter's tape.  That way you can make your hexagons any size.  I am working on one for [my granddaughter] made from a honey bun.  It may be for her doll! "

Half Hexagons by Denniele Bohannon

Denniele used a Jelly Roll from Civil War Homefront, a mid-19th-century line from a few years ago.

"After the hexagons...I wanted a small border to stop it visually and also to make the edge straight for the border...so I played until it worked."

And speaking of half-hexagons I've been collecting pictures. Here's a quilt from about 1875 from Laura Fisher's online store.

Notice the half hexagons as background to the farmstead.

And the upside down cow

See more pictures of the Monumental House Quilt by Sally Goforth of Weymouth, NJ at Laura's store here

http://www.laurafisherquilts.com/shop/Quilts/19th-CENTURY-QUILTS/p/MONUMENTAL-HOUSE-ANTIQUE-QUILT-Sally-Goforth-Weymouth-NJ.htm

And see some Norwegian cupcakes from half-hexagons by AnnAKa on Nicola Foreman's blog here

http://www.nicolaforemanquilts.com/1/post/2011/02/a-box-of-chocolates.html

Log Cabin- How Old is the Name?

Log Cabin, set in a variation of the barn raising, late 19th century.

All quilts from Laura Fisher.

Scrappy Bee had a question in January:
I think many people made log cabin quilts, partly because the are easy to do and you can play with colors and settings. Was the block called Log Cabin from the start?

Detail of the quilt above, a remarkably simple block in a complex set.

The floral prints are delaine (wool-cotton combination fabrics).

It's hard to know what 19th century people named their quilts. So few written records mention a quilt by name. Fair records, for example, listed numerous prize winners with generic names like "silk quilt", "patch-work quilt cover," and "cradle quilts." But we are lucky here because we do see fair records mentioning the "log quilt" pattern, also called "log cabin". The pattern was so popular in the 1870-1900 period that fairs opened categories specifically for log cabin quilts.

Cotton Log Cabin in Courthouse Steps set on point, about 1875

Virginia Gunn found that Log Cabins received a commendation by name at the Ohio State Fair in 1863 (the pattern seems to have developed about that time) and again in 1868. In June of 1866, an Iowa diarist known only as "Abbie" wrote that she "went to town, bought Delaine [wool blend] for my log cabin." On the last day of July she "wrote a letter to Sis and worked on my log cabin."

Straight Furrow set, about 1900

Log Cabin seems to be the standard name, but the 1889 Ladies' Art Company pattern catalog called it the "Log Patch". The British authors of an 1882 needlework manual noted that the design and technique were "well known in Canada under the name 'Loghouse Quilting' but only lately introduced in England.…This patchwork is more commonly known as 'Canadian patchwork'." English names also include "Egyptian" or "Mummy Pattern", referring to mummy wrappings of dark and light strips in a similar design.

Display of Egyptian cat mummies at the British Museum.

Is that cat on the left wrapped in a log cabin design or what!

Unusual set

Courthouse Steps Set 

So in answer to your question: We can assume quilters called the block log cabin. The names of the set variations are the standards we use today but their sources haven't been studied.

Zig-Zag set, about 1900

It's one of my favorites and dealer Laura Fisher's too. She often sends me photos of terrific log cabins, the source of the pictures here. Browse her inventory:
http://www.laurafisherquilts.com/catalog.html