Lath log cabin quilt square

Here’s what I made this week:

And here’s what I made it out of:

That would be the lath in the shower of our downstairs bathroom, which the husband had to tear out in order to attach cement backerboard to the studs, so we could tile the walls.

Sadly, this is what the lath looked like after the husband took his Sawzall and his pry bar to it. (Sigh.)

After digging through the pile of rubble, I found nine longish pieces that weren’t cracked that I figured I could still salvage. Butting the pieces up next to each other, side by side, they measured 13 inches across …

… which coincidentally was the same size as an old wooden wine box I had in my basement.

So instead of having to build a frame, all I had to do was pry the cover off the box. (Sometimes my hoarding tendencies pay off.) (This time my wine-drinking tendencies paid off, too.)

I played around with a few different patterns. Ultimately I decided to go with a log cabin-style quilt square design — mostly because it would be really easy to put together.

I just had to measure out the pieces …

… and cut them with my jigsaw.

I worked from the outside in …

… and alternated the rows, using the front (natural wood) for one row and the back (white with plaster dust) for the next.

I tried to work as many of the nail holes and knots into the design as I could because I thought they added character.

The square came together really quickly.

It took about 20 minutes to cut all the pieces and get them where I wanted them.

Once all the pieces were trimmed, I decided I wanted the frame to be darker, so I stained the wine box cover with some Varathane American Walnut that I found in my basement.