Part of the plan

November is always a busy time in the sewing room and this November I did a lot of planning for sewing this winter. It seemed every time I turned around I saw another design I wanted to make. No, I didn't start any of them, and I think I should get credit for that.  I should probably make a list and prioritize them though.

One of the quilts I am going to make is called Twilight Hopscotch by Kim Diehl. Five of the Thursday girls and I plan to start it soon. I found the pattern in The Big Book of Civil War Quilts by Martingale. They recently sent me a copy as they used 4 of my quilts in the book that features 58 designs in 1800's reproduction prints. They also have the  pattern for sale by itself. I've had a hankering to do another quilt with a chain of squares running through it. I've done few of those, so I planned two.


Coincidentally a member of my Stashbusters Yahoo Group has just challenged us to make an Irish Chain quilt in any size or variation. Obviously Twilight Hopscotch would qualify as a variation. The rules of the challenge are simple. Get it cut this next month and finish the top by May. Something like that. I found it interesting that nothing was included about making it a "real" quilt and quilting it. I was kinda relieved about that even though there are no prizes involved. What I thought though was that I should challenge myself instead to get the one Irish Chain quilt top quilted that I did a few years ago. I posted about it here.

So yesterday I wandered through the pile of quilts upstairs looking for a different top and I came across the pink Irish Chain. And, oh yeah, look at this. An antique Irish Chain quilt top, too.  Isn't this a unique variation? A quick search of google images doesn't show one like it. Might be kinda neat in scraps. I like how there isn't quite so much background as most variations. Well, you know what I'm going to do.  Yep, piece the Twilight Hopscotch.

Yet another variation you don't see often is shown in a booklet from 1945. The blocks in this quilt are pieced with strips 1 1/2" wide surrounding the center square cut at 3 1/2". Too many seams for my taste but maybe you can get an idea for coloring yours from this photo.

And just because it's another variation I did and you all know how much I love variations, here again is the single Irish Chain I did in 1930's. I posted about it several times ending here.


Well, I hope I don't loose any sleep over this now. I finally learned how to fall asleep after more than 50 years of difficulty. If you have trouble too consider the app Calm.com.

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