Whatever Happened To My Double Irish Chain?

This week I've got stuck in with some old and new projects and been really quite productive:

1: Double Irish Chain Quilt - you're forgiven if you've forgotten that I ever started making this one!

Fully sandwiched and basted using Quilters Dream Cotton Request in white rather than natural to keep the crispness of the white fabric - do you have any idea how sore my knees are now?!

The diagonals are marked out ready for quilting using a Clover Hera marker

A section of free motion quilting - might take a while, I've done 5/18 sections and my shoulders are killing!!!

and 2: A Baby/Lap Quilt - part of the collection I'm putting together ready for opening my Etsy Store so no photos just yet.

On Friday Flicky and I had an unsuccessful trip to the Social Security office in Jersey City.  It's not how either of us wanted to spend a Friday afternoon but our Green Cards arrived the week before Christmas and now we need to apply for our Social Security Numbers so that, if we want to, we can work and maybe set up an Etsy store!!!  When we got to the SS office, as instructed by my husband, we discovered they moved last March and it was too late in the day for us to get over to the new location on the other side of Jersey City.  Well what are two girls supposed to do when they're all dressed up and nowhere to go?  What's that? Are you feeling it too?  Can anyone else smell fabric???

What a perfect opportunity to visit the Marimekko store on 5th and 23rd Street, Manhattan - I was excited to check out the gorgeous fabrics, there're some great designs and colours there.  I didn't stay excited for long, though - the patterns are really large, they'd look great for whole cloth quilts but I'd suggest nothing smaller than a twin, if you started cutting and piecing the fabric I think the fab design would be lost and you'd very probably have pieces that were one solid colour.  Still I thought maybe I'd like to use some of these cottons so I asked a sales assistant what price they are - now are you sitting down or at least holding on to something? ... she tells me in a voice that says "if you have to ask you can't afford it"

$53/yard.

Yeah you really read that right but just to be sure that you don't think I've done a typo

$53/yard.

Now this fabric is cute but it's just 100% cotton - no special finish, no handsewn embellishment.

So guess what Flicky and I did?
We left and I'm thinking we won't be back again in a hurry (but don't hold me to that cos it was really cute ;) ).

Guess what we did next?

We headed to our Manhattan LQS and here's a look at what we bought for a far more reasonable $9.88/yard with my NYC Metro Mod Guild discount.

'captain redbeard by De Leon Design Group for The Alexander Henry Fabrics Collection
'Launch' by Lesley Grainger Design for Robert Kaufman
'Googlies' by Michele D'Amore for Benartex

'Ric Rac Rabbits' by Marisa and Creative Thursday for Andover Fabrics Inc
'The Red Thread' by Marisa and Creative Thursday for Andover Fabrics Inc

I'll use these fabrics to add to my 'Etsy Store' collection, just need to get my Kona Solid colour chart out, pick some gorgeous colours to go with them and order it online.  I think I'll save that job for tomorrow.  Oh, and I guess at some stage I'm going to have to head over to that relocated Social Security office! :)

For details of other fabric, yarn, trim and notion stores that I've visited around the world along with the NYC stores I love, exhibitions and events I've attended and wonderful people I've been lucky to meet click the links below or in my side bar :D

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

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It's Here - It's Available !!!

Project Update And Shout Out For The Agitprop Quilter

At my LQS with my Double Irish Chain quilt top

 Quick update on my two ongoing projects:

Here's a photo taken at my Manhattan LQS of me and my Double Irish Chain quilt.  Need to order some white batting before I can sandwich the quilt though - I think the white blocks are sooo very white that the natural cream coloured batting that I usually use may dirty its appearance.

Making good progress with my Dad's Memory Quilt - I've finished half of the top sheet and 3/4 of the backing sheet.  Regular followers will know the drill by now 

"I can't post any photos of my Dad's Memory Quilt on my blog as it's a present for my Mum and she wants it to be a surprise so again I've posted some photos to my facebook page as my Mum doesn't have facebook and can't see it there."  

If you want to see how it's looking, just click this link :D







I also want to give a special shout out to my good friend Maren (previously referred to as 'M' as part of that mysterious and unspoken blogging etiquette) who has this week decided to take the plunge and go 'live' with her quilting blog.  Be sure to take a look as she has such a witty and wry writing style which is incredibly refreshing! 

The Agitprop Quilter

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Two Quilts and Making Progress

This last week I've made great progress with my Double Irish Chain quilt and also my Dad's Memory Quilt.

The Double Irish Chain quilt top is now finished and I've also pieced the back using some left over strips from the quilt top.  The rest of the quilt back will be more of the Oval Elements fabric in Petal Pink by Pat Bravo but, as I want to keep the ovals all running in the same direction, I need to buy more so I'll pick this up when I go to the final class at my LQS in Manhattan this Thursday.  Now I've added the borders the quilt is much larger than I'd realised.  The book said I'd be making a 50" x 70" quilt but this turns out to be the size of the Irish Chain section without borders (if I'd put my thinking cap on I'd have realised this - 5 x 10" blocks = 50" but I didn't) so the finished size is actually going to be about 66" x 87".

As regular followers will know, I can't post any photos of my Dad's Memory Quilt on my blog as it's a present for my Mum and she wants it to be a surprise so again I've posted some photos to my facebook page as my Mum doesn't have facebook and can't see it there.  If you want to see how it's looking, just click this link :D

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Double Irish Chain Quilt - Strips All Sliced

A quick update on today's progress ... I've sewn and sliced all the strips for my Double Irish Chain quilt - what would I do without June Tailor's Shape Cut Plus Ruler? If you haven't seen one in use then check out a tutorial I posted previously showing how to use it to cut charm squares - and you can cut all your strips out with it too:

Tutorial: Charm Squares - An Easy Way To Cut Multiples Quickly

I'm thinking there's a lot of work involved now though in lining up all these seams perfectly to create the blocks!  Best if I leave that for another day :)

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Will Blogging Help Me Sleep?

I'm pretty sure the answer is "no" but here goes!

I'm currently working on 2 quilts - one is my Dad's Memory Quilt made using his shirts.  I can't post any photos as it's a present for my Mum and she wants it to be a surprise but, having spent many hours cutting the shirts into usable fabric (I really can't believe just how long that took!), I've now started the piecing and I'm making quite good headway with the top. I think it could take a while as I have lots of other projects I'll have to crack on with alongside it but I'm pleased with progress so far :)   Update: I've popped a photo of my sample block on my facebook page as my Mum doesn't have facebook and can't see it there, so you can just click this link and take a look if you're interested :D

The second quilt is a 50" x 70" Double Irish Chain quilt as part of a class at my LQS in Manhattan. I've chosen a new fabric called Oval Elements in Petal Pink by Pat Bravo as the main focus and the 2 chain lines are Kona Solid White.  If you're interested in doing an Irish Chain quilt, single, double or triple then the book I'm using is called TIME for a Chain II by Lynda Milligan & Nancy Smith

Here's a couple of pictures of the strips that I've made up ready for cutting and sewing into 9 (unequal) and 20 (equal) patch 10 inch blocks.

Some of the strips look a bit strange - sewing the same fabric back to itself but it looks right in the finished quilt as each seam creates part of the pattern and it doesn't have the same effect if you use a whole piece of fabric rather than a seamed piece.  I'll post more photos as I get to that stage so you'll see better what I mean.

When I've made a bit more headway with both of these quilts I really want to get going on some whole cloth baby quilts using the fabrics I bought at Liberty on my recent trip to London. I've just had delivery of my chosen Kona Solids for each quilt back and my bolts of batting have also arrived so really now I've no excuse. Here's a few photos of the fabrics I'll be putting together.

Oh, and before I go, I can confirm that an hour into writing this post I was able to go back to sleep and then finished it off this morning.  So I was proved wrong - blogging does help you sleep!

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