If you've been joining in with my Sunny Crochet-a-Long, these bold squares will already be very familiar to you. This is a blanket made up of 16 large squares inspired by traditional log cabin quilts, you can read more about the beginning of the blanket in this post. Each Log Cabin square has a Sunny Granny Square in the centre, with strips or "logs" crocheted around. I've used 18 x 100g balls of Stylecraft Special DK, and you can find a full tutorial for making these squares here on my blog {SUNNY LOG CABIN BLANKET PATTERN}
In Part 2 of this blanket tutorial, I'll show you how yo go about joining the 16 squares as well as giving instructions for crocheting an edging to finish the blanket. Before you start to join your squares, you should have all the tail ends darned in securely. The squares should be blocked/steamed so that they are the correct size with nice pointy corners and reasonably straight sides which will make joining them a little easier (blocking/size info can be found towards the end of the Sunny Log Cabin blanket tutorial).
If at all possible, it really helps if you can find some floor space to lay out all your squares at this point. It's much easier to get your head around the process and prevent mistakes if the squares are laid out in their correct place before you begin to join. If this isn't possible don't worry - we'll approach the joining in a very methodical way and I'll talk you through each stage as we go.
When crocheting these log cabin squares, you should have marked the first/top strip of each square with a little loop of yarn or a stitch marker. You can see in the above picture I used some bright pink yarn to make a little loop in the petrol coloured strip - this tells me which way up the square goes. Each square should also have been marked with it's number (square 8 in the above photo). The correct placement of the squares is really important - they should all be the right way up and in the following order.....
We will be joining our squares in a very methodical way, using the above placement. Please take time to make sure you have your squares in the right place and the right way up before starting to join them.
If you've followed along using my Sunny colours and made each square with it's hot/cold divide, you should now be able to see the bigger pattern emerging. A diamond pattern should be visible, can you see it? You should have a blue/green diamond at the very centre, with red/pink diamond around it. I hope you've got it?!
I'm joining my squares by stitching them together, putting right sides together and matching up the crochet stitches along each seam. I'm going to work my seams in a very methodical way, using the number diagram to help.
Vertical seams first - this means joining in rows, starting with the top row. There will be three vertical seams to stitch in each row.
Top row :: join squares 7 & 8, then join squares 8 & 9, then squares 9 & 10
2nd row :: join squares 6 & 1, then join squares 1 & 2, then squares 2 & 11
3rd row :: join squares 5 & 4, then join squares 4 & 3, then squares 3 & 12
Bottom row :: join squares 16 & 15, then join squares 15 & 14, then squares 14 & 13.
Once the vertical seams have been made, you'll have 4 horizontal strips each containing 4 squares (as in above picture).
Horizontal seams - this means joining the long strips together, starting at the top and working down.
You'll be working from right to left as you stitch these long strips together.
1st seam :: join squares 10 & 11, then 9 & 2, 8 & 1, and finally 7 & 6
2nd seam :: join squares 11 & 12, then 2 & 3, 1 & 4, and finally 6 & 5
3rd seam :: join squares 12 & 13, then 3 & 14, then 4 & 15 and finally 5 & 16
I found it helpful to get all my sewing yarn ready before doing any stitching, snipping off lengths of the correct colour. Your sewing yarn should measure approximately three times the length of a square (as in above picture). Each seam will be stitched using a yarn colour that matches one of the squares you're working on, which will make the seam almost invisible.
So before we begin, get your sewing yarn ready! Lets start with all the vertical seams ::
Turquoise, Lipstick (x 2), Petrol (x2), Claret, Sage, Plum, Lime, Magenta, Wisteria, Bright Pink. That's twelve in total.
Vertical Seam 1 (Top Row, joining squares 7 & 8). Use Turquoise yarn to stitch.
Double check the squares are the right way up and you are making a vertical seam! Position your squares with right sides together and the wrong sides facing outwards. Start in the corner and secure the yarn, leaving a 20cm tail end to darn in securely at the end.
Matching up the crochet stitches, pass your darning needle under both loops of each stitch, as in the above picture.
Make a neat stitch into each crochet stitch along, lining up the crochet stitches opposite each other and passing the needle under both loops (this is called whip stitch). Take care with your tension - try to keep your stitches even and not too tight or loose.
When you reach the end, work a couple of small stitches to secure the yarn, then darn in the tail ends. When you open up your seam, your stitching should be almost invisible, both on the wrong side (above picture)....
....and on the right side. The seam should also lie very flat (an advantage of stitching rather than crocheting together) which gives a super-neat finish overall.
The above picture shows square 7 on the left and square 8 on the right. This is the top row of the blanket, with the first vertical seam complete. So far so good? ready for more stitching??
Vertical Seam 2 (Top Row, joining squares 8 & 9). Use Lipstick yarn to stitch.
Double check the squares are the right way up and you are making a vertical seam! Position your squares with right sides together and the wrong sides facing outwards. Start in the corner and secure the yarn, leaving a 20cm tail end to darn in securely at the end. Just as you did before, work a whip stitch seam - make a stitch into each crochet stitch along, lining up the crochet stitches opposite each other and passing the needle under both loops. Fasten off securely at the end by making a few small stitches on top of each other, then darn in the tail ends.
Vertical Seam 3 (Top Row, joining squares 9 & 10). Use Petrol yarn to stitch.
Double check the squares are the right way up and you are making a vertical seam! Position your squares with right sides together and the wrong sides facing outwards.
Start in the corner and secure the yarn, leaving a 20cm tail end to darn in securely at the end. Just as you did before, work a whip stitch seam - make a stitch into each crochet stitch along, lining up the crochet stitches opposite each other and passing the needle under both loops. Fasten off securely at the end and darn in tail ends.
So your top row is finished - yippeee! Now time to stitch up the second row.....
Vertical Seam 4 (2nd Row, joining squares 6 & 1). Use Claret yarn to stitch.
Vertical Seam 5 (2nd Row, joining squares 1 & 2). Use Sage yarn to stitch.
Vertical Seam 6 (2nd Row, joining squares 2 & 11). Use Plum yarn to stitch.
And that's the second row complete. Hope you're finding it ok so far, now onto the 3rd and bottom rows, as follows ::
Vertical Seam 7 (3rd Row, joining squares 5 & 4). Use Lipstick yarn to stitch.
Vertical Seam 8 (3rd Row, joining squares 4 & 3). Use Lime yarn to stitch.
Vertical Seam 9 (3rd Row, joining squares 3 & 12). Use Magenta yarn to stitch.
Vertical Seam 10 (Bottom Row, joining squares 16 & 15). Use Wisteria yarn to stitch.
Vertical Seam 11 (Bottom Row, joining squares 15 & 14). Use Bright Pink yarn to stitch.
Vertical Seam 12 (Bottom Row, joining squares 14 & 13). Use Petrol yarn to stitch.
The photo above shows how it should look at this stage, with all the vertical seams made. You should have four rows now, ready for the long horizontal seams to join the whole thing together.
Even though we are going to be making long horizontal seams, we are going to break the process up and still think of it as square by square. This means we will be changing sewing yarn four times along each horizontal seam so that the stitches match the colour of the joining squares. As we did before, lets get all our sewing yarn ready before we start stitching. Your sewing yarn should measure approximately three times the length of the square ::
Aster (x 2), Plum (x 2), Claret, Fondant, Violet, Shrimp, Lime, Petrol, Spice, Wisteria. Twelve lengths of yarn in total.
The first horizontal seam joins rows 1 and 2 together. So fold row 1 down on top of row 2 so that right sides are together. This is now quite a big bit of crochet that you're handling (half a blanket!), and you may find it helpful to use locking stitch markers or pins to hold the two layers together while you stitch.
Hold the crochet so that the wrong side of row 1 is facing you, and stitch from right to left.
Horizontal seam 1 (joining squares 10 & 11). Use Violet yarn to stitch.
At the very start of this seam, you will be joining the ends of the log cabin strips and the yarn colours won't match. Don't worry too much - just keep your stitches as small and close together as possible here, it's only a few cm's before you can match up the crochet stitches again and work a neat whip stitch seam in a matching colour.
It'll be the same at the end of the square - you'll still be using violet stitching yarn, but joining other colours of crochet together as you work across the ends of the log cabin strips (above picture). Keep your stitches small and close together.....
....so that when you look at the right side of the crochet the little sewing stitches will be visible but still nice and neat (as above). When you reach the end of the first square, fasten off your yarn and neatly darn in the ends. You will now continue to work the same horizontal seam, but change your yarn colour as you move to join the next set of squares along.....
Horizontal seam 1 (joining squares 9 & 2). Use Fondant yarn to stitch.
Horizontal seam 1 (joining squares 8 & 1). Use Claret yarn to stitch.
Horizontal seam 1 (joining squares 7 & 6). Use Aster yarn to stitch.
That completes the first horizontal seam - half your blanket is now joined!!
For the next seam, you will be joining row 2 with row 3 - so looking at the above diagram, from right to left, as follows ::
Horizontal seam 2 (joining squares 11 & 12). Use Plum yarn to stitch.
Horizontal seam 2 (joining squares 2 & 3). Use Petrol yarn to stitch.
Horizontal seam 2 (joining squares 1 & 4). Use Lime yarn to stitch.
Horizontal seam 2 (joining squares 6 & 5). Use Shrimp yarn to stitch.
And the last horizontal seam down at the bottom joins row 3 with row 4 ::
Horizontal seam 3 (joining squares 12 & 13). Use Wisteria yarn to stitch.
Horizontal seam 3 (joining squares 3 & 14). Use Spice yarn to stitch.
Horizontal seam 3 (joining squares 4 & 15). Use Plum yarn to stitch.
Horizontal seam 3 (joining squares 5 & 16). Use Aster yarn to stitch.
It's a wonderful feeling when months of crochet work undergoes this transformation and a pile of squares becomes a blanket. It's a blanket!!!! Lots of happy dancing at this point, as well as spreading and smoothing and draping and general all round blanket-adoration.
We are nearly there, but first some easy rows of treble crochet are needed to make an edging and declare the blanket to be finished.
For this edging I've chosen six colours :: Sage, Turquoise, Aster, Magenta, Bright Pink and Lipstick. The edging will be worked in two halves, with the cool colours around two sides of the blanket and the hot colours around the opposite two sides. This mirrors the hot/cool divide in the log cabin squares and provides a simple frame without detracting from the overall design of the blanket.
Please note this is a UK pattern, and treble crochet stitch is worked as follows ::
tr [treble] :: yarn over, insert hook, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch (three loops on hook), yarn over and pull through two loops on hook (two loops left on hook), yarn over and pull through remaining two loops (note :: this is equivalent to the US dc stitch)
Edge 1 :: start top right corner of blanket. Use Aster yarn.
Join yarn in the very top right hand corner of square 10. Chain 3, then work 5 tr's into the posts of the stitches at the end of the rows. Space them evenly (as pictured above)
Work 1 tr into each stitch along the edge of Square 10.
When you get to the point where squares 10 and 9 are joined, work 2 tr's into each post of the stitches that make up the ends of the log cabin strips....
....which will take you across the join and onto the edge of square 9 (as in above picture).
Continue to work 1 tr into each stitch along the top of the blanket, spacing tr's evenly across each join as explained above. You will be working along the edges of squares 9, 8 and 7 until you arrive at the top left corner of the blanket (square 7)
To turn the corner, chain 3, then work 1 tr into the base of the last treble made (the position is shown by my needle in the above photo)
My needle is showing you where you next treble crochet stitch goes, so pop a stitch right there.....
....and carry on making 1 treble into each stitch along the second side of the blanket (you are working down the left hand side now).
When you reach the places where two squares are stitched together, space your treble stitches as evenly as possible.
At the end of the second side, fasten off and darn in ends.
Edge 2 :: start bottom left corner of blanket, right where you just fastened off with part 1 of the edge. Use Bright Pink yarn.
Join yarn in the top of the last treble you made with the Aster yarn. Chain 3 (counts as 1 treble), then 1 treble into the base of the last treble you made (as in above picture)
Work 6 trebles into the posts of the stitches at the end of the rows. Space them as evenly as you can (as pictured above)
Continue making 1 treble into each stitch along. When you arrive at the place where the ends of the log cabin strips are, work 2tr's into each stitch post (12 tr's in total across the ends of two log cabin strips, evenly spaced), then continue with your treble crochet stitches as normal.
To turn the corner, chain 3, then work 1 treble into the base of the last treble made (the position is shown by my needle in the above photo)
You are now working up the right hand side of the blanket. Continue to work 1 tr into each stitch along.
When you reach the end of this row, the last two trebles are made into the very first chain-3 at the start of the Aster row (you can see this in the above photo). Fasten off and darn in ends.
Edge 3 :: start top right corner of blanket, right where you just fastened off with part 2 of the edge. Use Turquoise yarn.
Join yarn in the top of the last Bright Pink treble you made. Chain 3 (counts as 1 treble), then 1 treble into the base of the last treble you made (as in above picture)
Work 1 treble into each stitch along this top edge of the blanket.
Turn the corner in exactly the same way as you did before :: chain 3, then 1 treble into the base of the last treble you just made (as in above picture)
Continue to work 1 treble into each stitch along this side (down the left hand side of the blanket)
Your last two trebles should be made into the ch-3 at the start of the Bright Pink row (as in picture above). Fasten off and darn in ends.
Edge 4 :: start bottom left corner of blanket, right where you just fastened off with part 3 of the edge. Use Lipstick yarn.
Join yarn in the top of the last Turquoise treble you made. Chain 3 (counts as 1 treble), then 1 treble into the base of the last treble you made.
Work 1 treble into each stitch along the bottom edge of the blanket.
Turn the corner :: chain 3, then 1 treble into the base of the last treble you just made (my needle shows you where in above picture)
Work 1 treble into each stitch along (you are working up the right hand side of the blanket now). Your last two trebles will be made into the chain-3 at the start of the Turquoise row (as in picture above). Fasten off and darn in ends.
Edge 5 :: start top right corner of blanket, right where you just fastened off with part 4 of the edge. Use Sage yarn.
Join yarn in the top of the last Lipstick treble you made. Chain 3 (counts as 1 treble), then 1 treble into the base of the last treble you made.
Work 1 treble into each stitch along the top edge of the blanket.
When you get to the end of the top edge, turn the corner as follows :: chain 3, then 1 treble into the base of the last treble you just made.
Work 1 treble into each stitch along (you are working down the left hand side of the blanket now).
Your last two trebles will be made into the chain-3 at the start of the Lipstick row (as in picture above). Fasten off and darn in ends.
Edge 6 :: start bottom left corner of blanket, right where you just fastened off with part 5 of the edge. Use Magenta yarn.
Join yarn in the top of the last Sage treble you made. Chain 3 (counts as 1 treble), then 1 treble into the base of the last treble you made.
Work 1 treble into each stitch along the bottom edge of the blanket.
When you get to the end of the bottom edge, turn the corner as follows :: chain 3, then 1 treble into the base of the last treble you just made.
Work 1 treble into each stitch along (you are working up the right hand side of the blanket now).
Your last two trebles will be made into the chain-3 at the start of the Sage row. Fasten off and darn in ends.
And that's IT!!! DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isn't it so satisfying to see a neat edging around a collection of squares, framing the whole thing and giving it a beautifully finished look? I love making edges!
You can see in the above picture how the 6 different edging colours join in the corners. Don't worry if your corners are curling a bit or looking a bit skewed, you can usually sort that out with a little bit of gentle steam blocking.....
Now I don't usually block/steam whole blankets, especially if the individual squares have already been blocked during the making process. But this blanket just seemed to need a little extra bit of TLC, to soften the seams and calm down the corners. I am lucky in that I have an area of floor space in the Attic where I can lay out my blanket and leave it to dry overnight. If you don't have this much space, you can always pin/steam the blanket in sections using an old towel spread out on a small piece of floorspace.
It was great using my attic floor as the old carpet up here seemed to grab a hold of the crochet like a fuzzy felt board which meant I didn't need to use pins as all. I simply spread the blanket out, smoothed out the corners and edges, straightened seams and generally eased the blanket into the perfect finished size and shape. I plugged in my steam iron with the setting on low, then went right around the whole surface of my blanket, hovering the iron about 2 cm above the surface of the crochet so that the steam could do it's magic.
Remember the iron DOES NOT touch the crochet!! It's just steam that you need! Give some extra steamy puffs over the places where four squares join, and at the corners and edges, then stand back and take a look.....................
OH MY WORD, just look at all that glorious sunny colour and pattern - so so SO good for the soul. You can see how gentle the edging is too, it's a very subtle finish to allow the glory of the log cabin squares to shine without being cramped. Just beautiful.
Now if you've somehow come to this post after the CAL has finished, you may not have seen any of my previous Sunny Log Cabin posts. So here are some useful links for you ::
♥ SUNNY YARN PACK - 18 x 100g Stylecraft Special DK.
♥ Sunny Log Cabin - the finished blanket!
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HAPPY BLANKET MAKING! x
