Sunday Quilt Inspiration: C E D A R

Yes, cedar!  I know, right?  How many ideas can a girl come up with using cedar for inspiration?  Well, it's surprising, actually.  Let's begin with a cedar chest to store the quilts.

Cedar closets to store fabric (and other things) so that moths and other insects aren't a problem.

Apparently guys like cedar for storing their stuff, too.  What about shelves?

And, of course, anything that can be made with wood, can be made in cedar wood.  However, cedar doesn't rot and decay like other woods, so something made of cedar especially for outdoor use will last much longer.  That makes cedar a prized wood that can be much more expensive to buy.  

In addition, it's difficult to cut and hammer because it's especially hard and dry.  Oh, and there's the roughness.  It's really rough and requires lots of sanding and polishing to get that beautiful smooth finish that you see in furniture. 

So you pay extra for cedar wood, but how do you know, for certain, that you're getting cedar?  The smell is your first clue.  It's a different smell from any other wood you'll encounter.  It also is a mixture of red and yellow.  The closer you get to the heart of the tree the deeper the red color and, of course, as you get farther away from the heart, the wood is a light (almost milky) yellow.

Interestingly, the darker the color of the wood, the stronger the scent.  And, even better, a quick roughing up with sandpaper will release the scent all over again, as will heating and wetting the wood.  So, using it for cooking adds a rich tangy flavor to food.  

Okay, last one: love this bench.  The colors are beautiful and it's easy to see the beauty of the wood.  It's finished, so the cedar smell will not be present, but it will last longer and the colors will remain vibrant much longer since sun and water can cause fading.

So why all the interest in cedar?  My son has been busy on a cedar project and, since he's making it in our backyard, I've been keeping an eye on the progress.  I'll tell you more when it's complete.  

But this post is supposed to be some sort of quilty inspiration, so here we go--cedar inspired quilty things.

I just discovered that there are not very many red/yellow quilts out in Pinterest-land.  Red, check.  Yellow, check.  Red and yellow together, not so many!   Apparently not many people have been inspired by the colors of a beautiful piece of cedar.  We should probably fix that!