Sunday, March 24, 2013

Irish Chain Block A finished

Block A's are completed!
These were fun. I enjoyed the whole process and I'm going to like the results too.
I cut all the strips to the sizes needed from the various fabrics I chose as shown in previous post.
And, after Carolyn posted about the handy tool of using B&W to determine the values, I saw this:
Thank You Carolyn! I didn't have a Ruby Beholder, but this was simple and works perfectly, maybe even way better?? My color pairs looked good except there were two I thought were too close in value.  Both on the bottom row. The first one on left and the 5th. I decided I liked the color combo on the first one, but the second one I swapped with the one next to it. 
So, here is the final color combinations selected.
 And, just a check with the Value checker:
 Looks good to go!
I didn't want to make each block individually. It makes for too much stopping and starting.
I decided to make all the row 1/5 together. That way I was able to chain sew a background piece to a colored strip 17 times before stopping to press and measure and then run the other background piece onto the 17 block pieces.
These were all cut into the two 2" strips.
Then, I sewed all 17 of the row 2/4's
 And then cut them into the following pieces.
 This is what I ended up with. I kept them all in the same order so that I could easily pair up rows.
 Next thing I knew... I had all 17 blocks completed!
I'll have to work on placement next. In the mean time, I'll be starting Block B, the Chain block.
I was very happy to get a true scrappy quilt accomplished on this project.  I only used a couple of fabrics a couple of times but was careful to change them from a dark value to a lighter value.
Well... do they work?  What do ya think? Scrappy is harder than it seems. I'm not sure where to look for help and suggestions as to how to pick the pairs.
Anyway,  I'm headed back to the sewing room to get going on the B block.

As always, I'm happy to get your comments, suggestions and encouragement.  What a FUN journey!


7 comments:

  1. I love your colours they look great! I never thought to mention the black and white thing on the camera, i used it once, but a friend had given me a ruby beholder so i just use that, but sometimes the black and white conversion I think works better because you can look at a bigger selection of fabric. and you could put it on your computer and study it there too.
    I can't remember what colour are doing the chain blocks?

    I am heading downstairs right after i post this, I have 2 rows to sew and i am done!

    Vicki







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    1. I think so too, that it works better to see more of the fabrics at once.
      The chain blocks will be dark blue, like the sample :) I like sticking to the colors in the book, it just seems better to learn by their example, and I'll work on my own later.

      2 more rows and you'll be done too! I thought you were going to be gone for the weekend. Glad you're getting some sewing time this weekend. I'll be watching for your post.

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    2. Yeah , i got the date of when we go all mixed up, we go the weekend of april 6th is when we are away for a couple of days.
      I think the dark blue will set off the colours in the other blocks very nicely!

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  2. A Ruby Beholder sounds like something from the Wizard of Oz. The quilt is looking lovely!

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    1. Thank you :) Your advice about the B&W was excellent.

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  3. I really do love scrappy quilts. This will be a great one.

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  4. Thanks :) I'm really enjoying the scrappy thing. I hope to do more of these!

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