Pinwheel Irish Chain (Take Two)

Back in 2019 I made my Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt top for an Island Batik ambassador challenge. Then, as part of Sarah's Hands 2 Help Comfort Quilt Challenge, I donated the top to Victoria's Quilts Canada, a group that accepts only quilt tops, then finishes them to give to people going through cancer treatments. 

Since then, every few months I get a request from someone looking for the pattern, but I hadn't written the pattern. And since I had donated the top, I also didn't have pictures of a finished quilt to use for the cover of a pattern. I knew I'd have to remake the quilt someday, and now I'm happy to say that day has finally arrived! Here is my Pinwheel Irish Chain (take two).

The weather hasn't been great for outdoor pictures, but Nathan and I did manage to get out to the backyard one afternoon.

Not only did I remake the quilt, I also finished the pattern, and Pinwheel Irish Chain is the Stash Artists pattern for March. If you're not a Stash Artists member yet, we'd love to have you join us when the doors open again in a few months. You can get on the waitlist here so you'll be notified when the doors are open. Stash Artists is for quilters who love stash-friendly patterns like this one.

I cut the the squares for the Irish Chain blocks using child labour, aka the childcare littles. They love to use my Accuquilt Go!, so they think it's great fun when I suggest we do some fabric cutting. I kept a ziptop bag for the blue squares and they helped me cut them from my scraps over a few cutting sessions. We were able to cut all the white squares for the chain blocks from my scraps, too. I have no idea how many different solid whites made their way into the quilt, but I know there are a few. 

One of my favourite things about scrap quilts is remembering where all the fabrics came from or where I've used them before. Some of the blues in this picture are from my time as an Island Batik ambassador, some are from quilts I made for Riley Blake blog hops, and the light blue with leafy shapes was donated when I sent out a call for quilt blocks after the senior's home across the road burned down back in 2017. That blue backed at least one of the many quilts made with the donated blocks, and I kept the strips trimmed off the sides after the quilting was done. There are fun fabric memories scattered all over this quilt!

With the Irish Chain done in blues, I used every colour except blue for the pinwheels. I love the bright, fun prints.

I started a new cone of Aurifil 2024 (white) for the quilting, and chose my go-to double loop design. It just seems to suit pinwheels so well. If you use thread cones, do you keep track of when you first use them? It's absolutely useless information, but I love knowing how long I've been using the same cone. I write the date on a piece of tape and stick it to the inside of the plastic cone.

I usually try to avoid piecing backs, but I decided to put in the extra time on this one. I used three different blue solids, plus a fun strawberry fabric from Island Batik. 

And, of course, there's a label on one corner.

When it came time for the binding, I knew I wanted a scrappy binding, but couldn't decide if it should use all the colours or only blues. I put the question out on social media, where the responses were split pretty evenly, with a few people suggesting either a stripe or a single colour. One person asked if I wanted the binding to draw the eye (in which case use all the colours) or blend in with the Irish Chain (in which case use just blues). I found that so helpful! I decided I didn't want the binding to draw the eye, so I went with the blues, and I'm very happy with the result.

Now when people ask if there's a pattern for the Pinwheel Irish Chain, I can finally say yes (and invite them to become a Stash Artists member when the doors are open 😉).