I have several tops in the process - but I’ve been having a hard time really ‘getting into them’. I thought it was my uncertainty about the residency permit. As such I decided before I heard about the permit to work on something else.

I know that when you really WANT to do a quilt, you will work on it hard - without that sense of “well, I’ve started this, so I really do want to finish it but I’m not very excited about it” way of thinking.

I asked myself what I really wanted to make - what was I in the mood for? I knew if I stopped what I was doing and made something I really wanted to make in my heart - I’d work on it intensely. So…I started thinking about changing things up a bit and making a different top.

In the meantime my sis told me I should make some more quilts with BIGGER pieces - so that I don’t have the same look with all my quilts.

Actually I do try to make a variety of sizes of blocks - but I do want to use those little strips I’ve been cutting - and I admit to loving the detail in small blocks.

But, I thought I’d try her idea. I also have realized that it seems like forever since I made a quilt with a chain in it - and they happen to be some of my favorite designs.

So I came up with this quilt which includes this block.

The chain is formed with this block. And while the alternate blocks use 3.5” pieces, this one allows me to use those small pieces AND a bit larger ones. I mean, 3.5” is a bigger block, right? and a 9.5” block is almost ‘huge’, right?

Compromise, right?

Here is the layout.

I was also entranced by the idea of the jagged edges on this one. I thought at first to make it bigger and just bind it with cream - the same as the chain. However, most of the time my binding is wider than a little 1/4” size, so the other option was to trim very carefully and add an outer border using the same color of fabric as the chain.

This made the edge look like the edges of the old stamps that we used to buy - perforated edges. Remember them?

We used to have to actually lick stamps which were in a roll which had to be torn apart. These days stamps are all pretty much stick ‘em on types. (Or maybe not - I’ll admit to not having had to buy stamps in the USA for quite some time.)

In order to make this quilt, I had to trim down the top after putting the middle together before I added the border.

Let me show you below.

I really do like the pattern WITHOUT a border - with the design heading right to the edge. BUT, I really did not want my edge cut off with my binding which isn’t usually 1/4” as I mentioned before. If you successfully make a 1/4” binding, then you could effectively just stop and bind it after trimming.

Here’s how I did it.

After I trimmed it, it looked like this:

I used a nice wide 6.5” wide cut border which I did by laying the cut long piece across the middle of the quilt. This is an on-point quilt and super easy to stretch the edges. I then matched the centers and pinned the border before sewing from the back side so I could make sure I didn’t cut off the points OR leave too much on and have color showing.

So the final top looks like this -

Because the chain is what I love - I needed some photos of the chains.

I will be working on this pattern and it will be a freebie on the site when I get it quilted.

Hopefully I’ll be getting a long arm sooner rather than later and can get some of my quilts quilted again. I’ve still got 60 charity ones to do for this year. :)

I will tell you about that in a different post though. That room downstairs is just waiting.

Enjoy your autumn day! Thanks for coming along with me on my journey!

Have a great day wherever you are reading.

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store here!

Feel free to browse the site.