Its a Finish! Gallimaufry

 Gallimaufry

56 x 80

It's a finish!

 This was inspired by a c. 1890 quilt top found at Rocky Mountain Quilts described as follows:

"This is a whimsical original rendition of an Irish Chain, which to follow the pattern needs to be viewed from a distance. How amazing would this be in a great room over a fireplace? this quilt was obviously pieced by someone who loved calicoes. No solid colors here. The fabrics date from 1860 to 1890, giving us the creation date of this piece. This is a quilt top for a fabric junkie. There are many patterns pieced on this top. Variation of diamond in a square, old maids puzzle, bow tie, broken dishes, four patch, all combined together creating the most unusual Irish Chain I have ever seen. All pieced by hand, and ready to quilt."

 I made four inch finished blocks from scraps.  In order for the chain to show when finished I used muslin and some white scraps for one half of the HSTs. 

 I just love all the secondary patterns that show up. 

 In a quilt like this with lots of small pieces I think all scraps play nicely together...Halloween, Patriotic, florals, geometrics, 30s, men's shirts...

 ...and its always fun to see what shows up in itty bitty pieces of fabric. 

 I also used muslin for the binding hoping it would help accentuate the muslin chains in the quilt. 

 I quilted it on my DSM with some clam shells that look a little wonky. It's the first time I've tried them.  I started at the bottom of the quilt and made the clam shell arcs sideways across the width of the quilt. I used each 2 inch space as my guide. Those squares got either half an arc or whole depending upon row.  So all completed rows were always at the right of the needle. 

 When I got to the middle of the quilt I turned it around and quilted the arcs sideways in a different direction with the rows of finished arcs to the left of the needle. 

 The clam shells are little wonky but I'm okay with that. 

After the quilt is washed they will crinkle up and disappear into the fabric a little more. I only have a wringer washer so didn't feel like getting it washed up yet since washing and drying a larger quilt around here is a lot of work. 

The backing is one of those Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements collage fabrics I just love. Its called Cigar Box Labels. I happened to make a quick stop at Hobby Lobby for thread a couple of months ago. While there I always check the sale bin It was my lucky day because Cigar Box Labels was in the sale bin for $4 a yard so I bought all that was left on the bolt which was about five yards. 

The reason I like this particular fabric is because I used to collect tobacco related ephemera like these cigarette silks and cards. We've been doing a bit of remodeling lately and I think this quilt and all the tobacco related items that includes a couple of ash tray tables, art deco cigar ash trays and cigar trade cards and magazine advertising would look good in a spare bedroom we are turning into a sort of office/computer room/library/ genealogy and scrapbook storage area. 

This was my goal #9 

for

Q4 Finish-Along