Friday, December 17, 2010

The piecing is finished on the new Irish Chain. Can you see how the lines run throughout? And see the idea of relationships intersecting?
It was an interesting construction process because I was trying to work ahead of myself. So I would not have as many bumps along the way -- made me realize why so many quilters like a pattern. DIRECTIONS!
I did try some new things with pressing that I hope will make quilting it easier. I pressed all the seams of the light pairs open which I hope the hopping foot will glide over and the rest to the darks. I plan to stitch in the ditch around the darks and not quilt inside them and hopefully the pressing will allow that to proceed smoothly.
Now I am thinking about the quilting. I want to quilt each colour with a repeating motif, but some areas I want to treat as one large area, those where several lights squares are adjacent. That would be in order to show off quilting. Is that the point though?
We shall see... I may put something else on the frame and let this marinate for a while.
Then again...
Oh -- if it looks like the exterior row of blocks is larger they are. I find the edges of the quilt, on the frame, to be insufficient. This is the first time I have built in extra room to make getting the top on the frame simpler. Another idea yet to prove itself worth while!

If you are interested in more information about the history of the traditional Irish Chain
http://www.womenfolk.com/quilt_pattern_history/irishchain.htm

1 comment:

mary keasler said...

Simply amazing stuff you have got going on here. You have knocked me outa my stockings.