Spiral Log Cabin

Spiral Log Cabin is an easy block and a fun variation on an old standard. It can look modern or traditional, depending on your fabric choice. It's a good candidate for paper foundation piecing when you want your results to be very exact and square. For a more casual look, it can be enjoyable to randomly piece your block using no foundation and varying log widths.

Click here for a 6" pattern for paper foundation piecing which can also be used as a visual aid for the traditional piecing method.

For this 6" block, you can pre-cut your "logs" to about 2". That may seem a little large, but I find it is good to have an extra "fudging" allowance when your placement is not just right. The block is pieced in the same order for both traditional and foundation methods and is illustrated below. Be sure to trim seam allowances and press well between each step.