Monday, April 16, 2012

Design Wall Monday - Jack's Chain

This is the post every week where I snap a picture of whatever's on my design wall, or else have to 'fess up and say there's nothing going on.  I thought for most of last week that there would be no change in the design wall situation to report to The Patchwork Times linkup party, because I was in a very dark place of grading, data entry and lesson planning, and wasn't able to free up a single minute to take a single stitch all. week. long.  But thankfully that changed over the weekend and I was able to dust off my UFO for April, a Jack's Chain quilt I started a few years ago with my '30s reproductions (and a few authentic vintage fabrics) after finding the pattern in Maggie Malone's 1001 Patchwork Designs.  It's the closest I'm ever likely to come to one of the hexie quilts that are all the rage now, and I don't intend to do any English paper piecing at all.  I don't really love the process of piecing all those set-in seams, especially with my machine being stuck in the needle-down position, but a little at a time does the trick.  I spread the piecing of Jack's Chain out over 2 months -- this is the first month its number has been randomly chosen for the UFO project, so I just have to do half of the piecing.  Since I already have about half of the 9-patch units made and almost half of the other patches cut, I think it's doable.  We'll see, though!  My UFO for March is still waiting for me to start.

On the lower right of the picture you can see the Farmer's Wife blocks that are still waiting to be sashed.  I've made good progress this weekend and I'm more than halfway there, but I haven't actually finished a quilt top or any knitting projects, so I have nothing to report in my weekly stash update.

Stash report

Fabric used this week: 0 yards
Fabric used year to date: 23.6 yards
Added this week: 0 yards

Added year to date: 27.2 yards
Net used for 2012: -3.6 yards (that is, 3.6 yards added)

Yarn used this week: 0 yards

Yarn used year to date: 1956 yards
Yarn added this week: 0 yards
Yarn added year to date: 492 yards (all handspun, not purchased)
Net used for 2012: 1464 yards

3 comments:

Michelle said...

I've wanted to start a Jack's Chain quilt for quite a while now, but haven't worked up the nerve to tackle the set in seams.

One Minnesota Quilter said...

Just staying focused on a Jack's chain is quite an accomplishment - there is quite a bit of work in them. Yours is looking great.
Judy

Annie said...

I love Jack's Chain quilts! My sister made one and it was published in a magazine!