Double Irish Chain

Actually I wanted to spend this weekend working on my Swoon Quilt. It just needs to be quilted, I even purchased a free-motion-foot for that but the thread keeps breaking every few inches and when the thread doesn't break, the needles break. FRUSTRATING. So I rolled it up and put it away for now, taking some time to figure out whether I should rip out the quilting I have already done and just do a simple grid-pattern all over it, or if I should continue rethreading and changing the needles every few minutes. Both don't sound very appealing.


So I thought I could start the Quilt for my Mother. When I gave my grandmother the quilt I made for her for Christmas, my mother immediately asked whether I would make on for her too. Of course I said yes! That night we spent hours on the Internet looking for patterns she liked and fabrics she loved. She settled pretty quickly on a Double Irish Chain, which was fine by me, since I want to make a Single Irish Chain Quilt for myself as soon as I finish that Swoon Quilt. So I pulled out the fabrics that had arrived over the last two weeks and began cutting. My mother loves the black/white-Combo at the moment and chose two fabrics from Alexander Henry's line 'The Ghastlies', one crown-print we found on ebay and a solid white background fabric. The backing fabric will be white polar fleece.

I chose to start with the checkered blocks. So I cut the white and tapestry fabric into 2 1/2 inch strips and sewed them alternately together and then cut them into 2 1/2 inch strips again, so I was left with this:

 After that I sewed together one upper strip with one of the other strips until I had a 5x5 Block.

I cut enough fabric to make five of those, which means I still have to make 10 more of them, but it went pretty fast. And I love me my new 1/4 inch foot. I don't know why I didn't buy me one sooner. Never before have my seams nested so perfectly together and it's so much faster now that my fabric can't slip as much. Yay. Next up: making some more tomorrow and then starting the other blocks.