Double Irish Chain Quilt

Hello!! My posts have been a bit sporadic as of late, as I have some family things going on that are taking most of my attention--I'll share more there in the next week or so--I haven't been able to post as much as I'd like here.  But today's post is actually a non-stamping one!!

I had a niece get married in late August.  For years, when any of my nieces or nephews get married, their gift from me is a queen-sized bed quilt.  I absolutely LOVE the quilt designer Eleanor Burns, and tend to gravitate towards her patterns when I'm picking the pattern for each of the quilts.  Last year when my niece announced her engagement, I knew immediately which pattern I wanted to do for her quilt.  I absolutely love the Double Wedding Ring quilt pattern, but knew I did not have the time to create that design, and Eleanor has a pattern called Irish Chain, with the alternate Double Irish Chain that I thought had a similar look to the Double Wedding Ring, but was a more manageable pattern to create!!

As for colors, I also knew the direction I want to go there.  Sometimes I'll ask the couple for their favorite colors and try to put them into the quilt, but other times I'll have inspiration strike, which was the case here.  The wedding colors were going to be gray and a deep pink of sorts, so that's the idea I went shopping for fabric with.  Now pink isn't exactly the most 'manly' of colors, and since this was for the couple, I didn't want my new nephew-in-law to have to run screaming from the room with the colors I used in the quilt, so I wanted to find a more 'muted' pink which lead me to the mauve I ended up with.  The gray complimented it nicely, and then I needed to find a neutral color for the background.  Initially, I was going to go with a white, but then I came across the fabric I ended up selecting, and again, the background fabric complimented the other two colors really well, so it just seemed like the combo was 'meant to be'!! 

One of the features I really love about Eleanor's patterns is that there is a lot of strip piecing that allows the pieces to come together quickly.  For about half of the block in the quilt top, there were three different strip set combos that I needed to assemble, then cut to create the final blocks:

Strip Sets

Cutting Strip Sets

Completed Block from Strip sets.

These were used in addition to a second, simpler block to create the center of the quilt, then the Seminole Borders and 9-patch corner blocks added to that.

Completed Quilt Top Before Quilting

I'm lucky in that I have two really good friends who allow me to use their longarm machines when I have projects, so I'm able to do the quilting on the quilts myself as well.  The one common thread that I use on all of the wedding quilts for my nieces/nephews is that I use a design called "Hearts & Swirls" in the quilting.  My friend Pat recently upgraded her HQ Sixteen to and HQ Advantage machine, and the machine worked like a dream!!  Normally it would take me about 8-10 hours of quilting time for a quilt this size--I had this one done in about 6 1/2 hours, once it got 'loaded' on the machine.  Now, part of that time difference could very well be that I've gotten more comfortable with the longarming aspects of the work, but I also contribute it to the upgraded machine as well. 

Loaded on Machine--Pantograph (Quilting Design) on the table to the right

Close-up of some of the Quilting

Almost done with the machine quilting!!

Once I had the quilt longarmed, I trimmed off the extra batting and backing and then machined sewed on the binding before folding it over the edge and hand-sewing it down on the back of the quilt.

Completed Quilt
(special thanks to some staff at the campus library for holding the quilt for the photo for me!)

Close-Up of Quilting

Edge of quilt with backing fabric to the upper right.

One of the last things I do on the quilts is to attach a label on the back, usually with the couple's names, wedding date & quilt info. 

I delivered the quilt this past Tuesday.  Normally I like to have the quilt done by the wedding, but with all of the things going on in my life, this one wasn't able to be 'quite' completed on time, but I'm happy that it's now with the intended recipients!!

I have a few more quilt projects on my plate, and will likely be showing off another one of those in the near future, but in the meantime,

Happy Crafting!!

Pam