Lala's Irish Chain ~ A New Sew Along

Welcome!  It didn't take much convincing for me to turn my idea of replicating my great-grandmother's Irish Chain quilt into a sew along.  

I shared my plan and asked if anyone might be interested in sewing along with me...

There seemed to be a strong interest so here we are!

Just like that... 🪄 We have Lala's Irish Chain Sew Along!

I'll run it a more "informal" with a new step each week for 8-9 weeks.  No weekly prizes this time but I'll offer a chance to win something for those that get the quilt finished.  I'll be giving instructions for two different sizes original size - 7 x 8 layout or 8x8 layout, which is what I will be making.  The original will finish at approximately 78" x 88".  The larger size will be approximately 88" square.

The schedule will look something like this:

Week 1 - Cutting Instructions
Week 2 - Setting block frames with cornerstones
Week 3 - Frame setting blocks
Week 4 - Patchwork Pairs - set 1
Week 5 - Patchwork Pairs - set 2
Week 6 - 5x5 Patchwork blocks
Week 7 - Layout and Top
Week 8 - Border
Week 9 - Sandwich & Quilt

It isn't a difficult pattern and honestly, if you want to sew at a faster pace by figuring out the steps on your own... that's fine too!  This would make a great leader/ender project if you have another quilt you are working on. ;)

I will not (I keep telling myself this!) be making a second quilt as I have in a few other sew alongs (LH and Pieces of my Life).  For this reason, I am really going to try to slow my pace and be closer to the steps of the participants.   I will need to work ahead just a bit in order to get photos of each step.

Here's what you need for fabric:

3 yards of background fabric

1 jelly roll of 40 2-1/2" strips (or lots of assorted scraps)

3 yards of main color (this includes patchwork blocks, border and binding).

Backing of your choice

So here we are... Week 1 with the cutting instructions.  Original size numbers are in the parentheses.  

Background fabric:

32 (28) 6-1/2" Squares

128 (112) 2-1/2" x 6-1/2" rectangles

128 (112) 2-1/2" squares

Main color fabric:

288 (252) 2-1/2" squares

Assorted fabrics (jelly roll or scraps)

384 (336) 2-1/2" squares (for the patchwork squares)

128 (112) 2-1/2" squares (for the cornerstones)

If you know me... you know that it could not be a real Melva Loves Scraps Sew Along unless I share some stories or photos and such about Lala Teegarden.... Just who is she?  And what did she do?  I'll fill in some details next week.

Before you go... I'd love to know...

Will you be using a jelly roll?

Or will you be using scraps?

Happy cutting!

Melva

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