Something Irish
That was all the direction given for this quilt. What fun when the slate is wide open!! A long time resident of Dogtown, the Irish neighbourhood in St Louis, asked for something Irish for her daughter's birthday and we happily accepted.
I decided on a Double Irish Chain pattern and found three fabrics I thought would work well together. This pattern is based on a 5x5 grid and made with three fabrics. Some may think it looks like a complicated pattern but it really isn’t. Two types of blocks are made and pieced alternately. The only consideration was the medium coloured fabric was directional in its’ pattern. I wanted it to have a vertical look of drops coming down, so I pieced it accordingly. When the blocks were sewn together, it all flowed in the same direction. The photos below show an example of each block.
This block shows the waterdrop type markings in the dark green to give it some interest.
This photo is washed out, but the lightest fabric is a crème with a hint of a pattern in it.
It went together quickly and I added two borders with the inner border being the medium fabric, giving that same sense of the chain running vertically, then adding the dark fabric in a wider cut. The same dark fabric was used to bind the quilt. It finished at 60” by 80” – a nice sized throw. Below is the quilt top ready for the long arm. Note how plain and vacant the lightest fabric looks with no quilting yet.
The first block is defined by the strong "X" that is created by two diagonal rows of squares running from corner to corner. The alternate block provides some negative offset to complete the design.
It was time to quilt it and this one begged to have a bit of custom work. In eight hours a Celtic cross was designed for the beige center blocks. The Celtic Circles edge to edge pattern was purchased online. Instead of going from one edge to the other with it, the beige was blocked out so the long arm would “skip over” it. The seven rows of circles were quilted first, then the Celtic crosses were quilted in the beige blocks.
The combination of the two quilting patterns gives a very Irish feel to the quilt.
Here it is from a distance and as usual, the photo doesn’t do it justice. It’s beautiful!
A quick picture before being packaged up and sent out the door.
Sharing the Irish heritage, we really enjoyed finding an appropriate pattern, the right fabrics, and perfect quilting for this gift from mother to daughter. Our friend was brought to tears when she saw it which meant so much to us. We heard later her daughter loved it which makes us so happy.
Sláinte, Monica!