One more quilt from the past - a big one!

I just realised I have not posted this version of the Irish Chain. Maybe you remember I did not like the too busy original design, and I made 2 of the precut parts adding some white background and petals. One went to my sister-in-law, one to my parents, an this is the one what I have never showed to you.

Irish Chain with a Twist (simplified version 2)

Quilt finish - Irish Chain reloaded

In the spring I was working on the Irish Chain from Melissa's quilt along, and I opted to simplify the quilt she generously offered to do along. But I prepared all the blocks ready, so I wanted to use them for something. In the meantime my sister-in-law and her family moved to a new home and the opportunity arised - a gift for the new bedroom! So I put the quilt together and quilted it. Since the basic blocks were already done it went superquick - only the quilting took some time. But I learnt my lesson from last time - I did less quilting to have a better overall impression  as you can see on the background. I really like how it turned out, even the background looks impressive. 

Irish Chain with a Twist (simplified version 1 )

Irish Chain simplified

I decided to go with the simplified version and pieced it together. After preparing the top I was so quick that I did the batting as well, and forgot to take a picture prior. Hopefully I still qualify for the last round of Melissa's quilt along! I will finish the other part as well, but I need some creme coloured fabric because I used all of the existing ones for this quilt. As a backing I chose a white material from IKEA, it is a little heavier that the standard quilting fabric, but gives some extra stability to the quilt and the quilting will show up real nice.

Irish Chain with a Twist (simplified version)

Big dilemma

I have finished the applique petals and I really liked the result, and also the variety of possible applique methods Melissa listed in her blog.

I put together the whole top and now I am facing a big dilemma: despite the fact that I really liked the design I choose too many colours and the quilt is much too busy for my taste. I started to play around with the blocks and I see 2 queen size quilts in my mother's future :)  But I will think it over till next week...

 

I also wonder which lined one is better, but I think I will chose the left setup with the right petals added, namely I will put a dark outline to the middle instead of the light one.

Petals in a row

I was cutting like an angel and finished all the 44 petals for the Irish chain with a twist. It was real quick, I ironed all of them to the empty sqares. In the meantime I realised the fabric is less than needed so I made a little extra twist and added some creme petals to the red ones.

Growing pile of squares

1. I have finished the 30 squares for the irish chain. It was quite a lot since each sqare was made up of 8 already stitched piece and 3 white strips more than 300 little scrap of fabric went through my hand and machine. But it is there and I can hardly wait how to continue!

The pattern is with Melissa at Happy Quilting, it is still open to join the QAL!

Squared

I was diligently cutting up all the 480 little pieces of the strings - actually only 240 (120 blue, 120 reddish) since they were sewn together already, but 480 even more impressive than 240!. The result will somehow look like the square I put here. Despite the big numbers it was a real quick task, I have finished it in 2 sitting. I can hardly wait for the real sewing, since when the squares are ready I can put the whole layout together to see how it will look like. It is always a surprise for me, I am still in the learning phase...

Irish chain is growing

When I was preparing the blocks for my mother's quilt I realised that I do not like the setup of the picnic size quilt - not symmetric enough for me. I checked the others and the best was the queen, so I restarted cutting. Instead of 128 I was fighting with 160 blocks! But the are almost ready for the next round, sitting nicely next to each other. I found a good method for speeding up chain pieced piece cutting: let them fall to the floor! Actually I am holding the chain with one hand, and cutting with the other, but when I made the photo I realised I do not have a third to take a pic, so I simply imitated. But it is really tough to make a photo with left hand, so even this was a challenge :)

You can join the project with Melissa at happy quilting.

Irish Chain with a Twist

Irish chain with a twist

Melissa at happy quilting annonced a quilt along. I wanted to make a bedcover for my mum for a long time and it looks a perfect occassion to start. The fabric is in question because I was thinking brown green yellow but realised my brown stock is almost nonexistent. I changed my mind and opted for blue red and a little scrappy version due to the fact that I bought a huge amount of fabric and I promised myself I will use them prior to buy the next portion. The background is a light creme linen which is beautiful, but quite hard to work with:slippery and changes shape for every move. So I started to starch - I never did it before but I just received an oil sprinkle for my kitchen what is a perfect tool for the job.

 I started to cut for the crosses and pieced them as well. Unfortunately I run out of the basic blues so tomorrow I might have to visit the shop...I made over 100, the total is 128, a lot!

Irish Chain with a Twist