Beginning My Scrappy Irish Chain

Never in my life have I made a quilt block with 81 squares. Yet here I am beginning a new quilt - Scrappy Irish Chain - and the main block consists of 81 2.5-inch squares. Since it's a scrap quilt, you know I have plenty of 2.5-inch squares from which to choose!

Here's a pic of the pattern, which I found browsing on Pinterest years ago. Turns out the pattern was a free download from whatever site, and I have been planning to make it for a good long time. Click on the picture to be taken to the Pinterest link.

While I love the pictured quilt, and think this would be great in pink, I had big piece of yellow that I decided to use. I also had a nice white-on-white for the background.

And this is my first block. Notice where the solid yellow squares are places as well as the white blocks in the middle of each outer edge row. I quickly realized that I needed many, MANY more 2.5-inch squares so that I would have adequate variety. I also realized that making 13 of these will take awhile! Sewing individual squares is lots slower than sewing and sub-cutting strips.

You may recall that Sharon and I each made blue Triple Irish Chain quilts this past spring.  Those were a breeze to make since the two colors easily lent to the convenience of strip piecing. Here's Sharon's Triple Irish Chain.

And here's mine; we both chose to use blue, but mine is bright blue, whereas Sharon's is more a true navy.

The main pieced block in these two-color Irish Chains quilts consists of 25 blocks - it is 5 x 5. The block in the Scrappy Irish Chain is 9 x 9. It turns out to be a whopping 18.5-inch block when finished. The quilt requires 13 main blocks and 12 setting blocks.

So I have been cutting  scraps like crazy for a few days into 2.5-inch squares. I am opening storage bins and tubs that have not seen the light of day for decades! I am definitely building variety into this scrappy quilt.

Stay tuned! It is gonna' be a beauty!

Happy Quilting, Friends!