Challenge 2017; #12 - Pink & Blue Little Irish Chain

When you set yourself a challenge, you sometimes wish you hadn't! In pulling out projects and sorting through boxes and tubs of quilts in process (UFOs), I've found many things that I had completely forgotten about and since I set myself the challenge.....I've got to do something with them.

This little Irish Chain quilt (29" x 36") was pieced when I first started teaching quilting over 25 years ago. I remember it was part of a sample set showing how scale of prints in fabric affect the finished look of the piecing. I am not sure where the sample with a larger scale print is....I'll eventually find it. Maybe I've already finished it and Gifted it!!!!

I recently took the the day and took my lovely Handi Quilter Avante AVA to my dealer for some Rn'R or a Spa Day. I love in Calgary, Alberta and my dealer lives in Edmonton a 3 hour drive away. My hubby took the day off work and drove me. The weather was beautiful and we had a great day....we looked at a few RVs while we were waiting....I digress.

I'd been having a few tension issue with AVA and wanted to make sure that things were working well before I loaded a big quilt and spent time quilting. I have a pile of "smaller" quilts and just grabbed the top one, this lovely little pink and blue Irish Chain quilt.

I used MicroQuilter, Baby Pink #7014 (Superior's 100 wt polyester thread) in the needle and the bobbin to make sure my tension issues have been corrected. I've quilted continuous curves in the pink and blue floral chain. Each of the little squares measures 1 1/2".

I used Master Quilter, Pink #MQ08 (WonderFil's 40 wt polyester thread) for the free hand feathered wreaths. I simply drew a circle with a small circle ruler and an iron off marking pen to give me an idea of where to center my feather wreath.

I found a scrap of Dream wool batting just the right size and found a piece of "ugly" brown fabric for the backing. My tension is great and the wool batting gives some lovely texture.

There are a number of smaller quilts (mostly class samples in various stages of completion) that I really should work on. In all honesty, there is a very large Lone Star quilt that I need to re-load on the frame and finish quilting. It's been sitting there for almost 2 years waiting to be finished!