Two-Color Irish Chain Quilt-Along: Week 6

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Welcome to week 6 of the Two-Color Irish Chain Quilt-Along!
Did you finish making your Checkerboard Blocks and are you getting excited now?
We are in the home stretch of finishing our Irish Chain quilts!


The assignment for this week is pretty simple - make the A sections for the Alternate Blocks!


Section A (Alternate Block)
Size: 2-1/2" x 10- 1/2" unfinished

TWIN:
Make 62

QUEEN:
Make 80

To make the A sections for the Alternate Block:
1. Sew a color 1 strip, 2-1/2" x 40" to a color 2 strip, 6-1/2" x 40" right sides together (RST). 
Do this 4 times for the Twin quilt or 5 times for the Queen quilt using the chain piecing method.


2. Sew a second color 1 strip onto the opposite side of the color 2 strips RST.


3. Carefully press the seam allowances toward the color 1 strips.


4. Square off the ends of the strip sets.


5. Cut 2-1/2" increments until you have 62 A sections for the Twin quilt 
or 80 A sections for the Queen quilt.



And that's it!
Where are you at with things?  Are you staying caught up, moving ahead or falling behind?
I'd love to hear how it's going.  Leave a comment below.

28 comments:

  1. I am loving this. Thanks for all your doing.

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  2. I love this strip piecing. It makes everything so easy. I liked your instructions on ironing the checkerbord block. Now it will all come together smoothly.
    Greetings from Germany,
    Martina

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    1. Hi Martina! I'm so glad to hear you are enjoying the strip piecing. Goes together a lot faster that way. Have a great day!
      Amber

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    2. Have a great day, too, and all the best for your daughter.

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  3. Thanks for the reminder email every week! I am a little behind on my blocks because of our newly adopted puppy. I just have not been able to spend as much time sewing, that's why I'm glad this is not a fast sewalong ;).

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    1. I'm glad the reminder emails help! A new puppy!? How fun! Enjoy that little cutie!

      Amber

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  4. All done and I took it to the quilter yesterday. Thank you so much for doing this, I would do another (irish chain AND QAL) in a heartbeat- it was amazing!

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    1. Yay! Way to (almost) finish! So exciting! I'm glad you enjoyed this QAL!

      Amber

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  5. Never have I been so organized. Thanks so much for doing this.

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    1. That's awesome! Good job! And, you're welcome :)

      Amber

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  6. I haven’t even started yet :( are you going to be leaving these instructions up on your posts/blog-or should I be going back and printing them off?
    It’s been so busy lately-but I’m LOVING yours!

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    1. Hi Jenn! Yes, I'll be leaving all of the posts on my blog and I have a button on the side bar of my blog called Irish Chain so you can find all the posts in one spot. Also, I am planning on writing up a printable, condensed version after this is all said and done.

      Thanks,
      Amber

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  7. I am keeping caught up! I have found my first blocks are measuring fine on one direction but oversized in the other. I am used to squaring up and as an accomplished quilter am feeling kinda out of sorts. I was going to trim them down but thinking they aren’t going to match up with the next blocks. So I leaving them and we shall see...

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    1. I'm sorry to hear that. But to be quite honest, I am having the same problem. However, I just finished piecing my top and it all worked out fine. It must be something with our seam allowances (even though I know my quarter inch is pretty spot on) or the number of seams. Well actually, I don't know if mine were bigger on one side but I know my Alternate Blocks were slightly bigger than my Checkerboard blocks. I'll have to look into it. Don't stress. As my grandma always said, "fabric is forgiving". It will work out in the end.

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  8. I actually finished the alternate blocks this week and plan to sew the quilt together when I get back in town next weekend. This has been fun! Your instructions are great and the pictures are helpful.

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    1. Thank you! I'm glad you've enjoyed the QAL!

      Amber

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  9. EEk. I have fallen behind and will catch up on this over Spring Break in March. A few family issues that are taking my time right now. That is the beauty of it being on your blog. Thank you for the wonderful QAL. Love it and I'm keeping these posts so I can catch up soon.

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    1. No worries about the QAL. The condensed, printable instructions are posting tomorrow, along with pictures of my finished quilt.

      Happy quilting!
      Amber

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  10. 9 blocs de petits carrés cousus, j(y retourne, encore merci:-)

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  11. I am caught up! First time ever! I am loving this QAL. Thanks for your hard work and efforts to put it together.

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    1. That's so awesome! Did you finish!

      And you are welcome! I'm so glad you enjoyed the QAL!

      Amber

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  12. I'm just coming on board. How do I find wks 1-5?

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    1. Sorry, late response...

      All of the posts are on my blog. Just go to the home page - they're posted newest to oldest or search "Irish Chain QAL".

      Also, tomorrow I am posting the condensed, printable instructions for the complete pattern (along with pictures of my finished quilt) so come back soon.

      Amber

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  13. Hello, I've been caught up for a week, continued sewing, just waiting to put everything together... Did I miss a week. Are we sewing everything together?

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    1. Sorry for my late response!

      Did you get it all sewn together? You're probably done by now :)

      Take care,
      Amber

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I ♥ to hear from you so please feel free to leave a comment. I read each one and try to respond as often as I can. Thanks so much for stopping by! ~Amber