Category Archives: pineapple quilt block

Looking Back on 2018

Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs is hosting a Best of 2018 Linky Party, inviting bloggers to highlight their top five posts of last year. It’s a fun way to look back over the past 12 months and identify some of the high points.

Finished projects are always high points for me so that’s where I’m taking you now, showing you five projects in random order. Clicking on the links below will take you to the original posts where you can read more about the finishes and see more photos.

Number 1. Quilt Finish: Checkerboard Curves

This 44″ square quilt was made from the pattern Dancing Churndash by Jenny Pedigo and Helen Robinson of sewkindofwonderful.com. I’ve made several quilts using their Quick Curve Ruler; this is one of my favorites.

Number 2. Quilt Finish: Hip Hop

A lively print featuring kangaroos was the inspiration for this wall hanging made using my pattern Full Moon Rising. Finished size: 16″ x 59″.

Number 3. Quilt Finish: Bluebirds for Bethany

Scraps from another quilt went into this lap quilt for granddaughter Bethany featuring Karin Hellaby’s method of making pineapple blocks. The quilt measures 57″ x 58″.

Number 4. Project Finish: Junior Billie Bag #8

The essential quilter’s tote, designed by Billie Mahorney. It’s 14″ wide, 17″ tall, and 7½” deep. I’ve been teaching Billie’s design for three years now and make a bag every time I teach a class. This one is a gift for a dear friend.

Number 5. Quilt Finish: Spokesong

I became quite enamored with Corey Yoder’s pattern Idyllic and taught it at a quilt retreat last year. This quilt was my class sample. It’s a lively design so I simplified three blocks to give the eye a place to rest. The quilt measures 53½” x 67″.

Joining the Best of 2018 Linky Party has been a useful exercise in reviewing my quilting accomplishments over the last year. I’m also inspired by looking at the work of other  quilters who blog. Take a few minutes right now and join the party! Clicking on the link will transport you right there.

 

 

 

Posted in Billie Bag, free motion quilting, home dec, Idyllic, pineapple quilt block, Quick Curve Ruler, quilt retreat, update, wall hanging | 2 Comments

First Week, First Finish of 2018

Ah, how nice to end the first week of the year with a quilt finish. May I present . . . Bluebirds for Bethany:

Bethany (fourth of my six granddaughters in birth order) is a wife and mother of three little boys age five and under. The boys received quilts made by their great granny (me) when they were babies. I wanted Bethany to have her very own quilt, one that reflects her gentle personality, and I wanted it to be unabashedly feminine. Why? Because she is surrounded by menfolk! Even the family dog is male.

This quilt fits Bethany to a T. I already knew she loved the color scheme and fabrics because she commented on a smaller version I made last year as a baby quilt. I had more than enough pieces left over to construct another quilt. It was meant to be.

On the back of Bethany’s quilt I added a strip of half-square triangles and a very special label:

Here’s a close-up of the label:


I am so delighted with how this quilt turned out. I asked longarm quilter Karlee Sandell of SewInspired2Day to quilt it using the time-honored Baptist Fan motif. It’s a motif one sees frequently on quilts made as far back as the mid-19th century. Those quilts, of course, were quilted by hand. Today’s longarm quilters use digitized versions to great effect.

Notice how the curves of the fans soften the sharp angles of the pineapple blocks? That was one of my reasons for choosing the motif. Karlee did a beautiful quilting job, as usual, with an extraordinarily fast turnaround. (Thank you, Karlee!)

I chose a bright rose fabric for the binding, cutting it on the bias to show the crosshatch design to better advantage:

Stitching the binding to the back of the quilt by hand was hampered to some degree by a certain calico cat who thinks a quilt draped across a lap is a fort to burrow under:


I tried to schedule my binding sessions around Coco’s catnaps. As you can see, I wasn’t always successful.

Once the quilt was bound and labeled it went into the washer and dryer to give it that old-fashioned crinkly look and feel:

Now all I need to do is tie this quilt up with grosgrain ribbon and deliver it!

Finished size (after quilting, trimming, binding, and laundering): 57″ x 58″
Block design: from Karin Hellaby’s book Pineapple Plus
Focus fabric on front: Birdies by Pam Kitty Morning for Lakehouse Dry Goods
Background fabric: Kimberbell Basic White 8210 (white dots on white)
Other fabrics (from my stash): various blenders in blue, aqua, pink, and green
Focus fabric on back: bicycle toss by Gail Cadden for Timeless Treasures, #Gail-C 2794

 

 

 

Posted in family, pineapple quilt block, update | 8 Comments

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, friends! I hope 2018 is off to a good start for you. It certainly is for me — I’m on track for a quilt finish during the first week of the year. Today I attached the binding to the quilt I’m making for my granddaughter Bethany (it came back from the quilter in record time) and now I’m hand sewing the binding to the back. Some people find this part of the quiltmaking process a chore but it’s one I really enjoy.

Bethany knows she’s getting this quilt and has even seen photos of the top. I want her to be the first one to see the completed quilt, though, so for now here are a couple of sneak peeks. First, the quilting:

Isn’t that wonderful? The motif is Baptist Fan, a classic quilting design I’ve been wanting to use on a quilt for a long time. Here’s a look at the binding:

Such a beautiful shade of pink, don’t you think? It’s more like a deep rose than a fuchsia. I love how it looks against the fabric on the front of the quilt (birdies) and on the back (bicycles).

Okay, break time is over. Back to hand sewing. I can’t wait to show you the entire quilt!

 

 

 

Posted in family, pineapple quilt block, update | 4 Comments

Stash Diving

I found the perfect fabric in my stash for the back of granddaughter Bethany’s quilt. It’s this bicycle fabric from Timeless Treasures:

When I bought this fabric two or three years ago, I remember thinking it would be a good choice for a quilt back. I guess that’s why I bought several yards of it. Either that or it was the end of the bolt — a particular weakness of mine.

The backing fabric has two things going for it. First, it features all the colors used on the front of the quilt, and second, it possesses an equal amount of whimsy. (I’m big on whimsy.)

The front features birds scattered every which way, including upside down:


Bicycles scattered every which way, including upside down, are right in sync, don’t you think?

What’s more, I found the perfect binding fabric in my stash. Over the weekend I was going through my project tubs and discovered a lovely fuchsia fabric I had set aside for another quilt. I cut the binding on the bias to get maximum effect from the subtle cross-hatch design:


I have a date with a longarm quilter tomorrow. Bethany’s quilt could well be my first finish of 2018!

 

 

 

Posted in family, pineapple quilt block, update | 7 Comments

Pineapple Plus Supersized

You’re looking at the intersection of four pineapple blocks in my granddaughter Bethany’s quilt top. I just had to fussycut a little birdie from the focus fabric (“Birdie” by Pam Kitty Morning) in each of the four interior cornerstones.

Little birdies are in the center of every block:

Here’s a look at the finished quilt top, which measures about 62″ square:


This is the supersized version of the baby quilt I made a few months ago using Karin Hellaby’s Pineapple Plus design from her book of the same name. She has a clever method of constructing the pineapple blocks that leaves the outer edges of the colored blocks on the bias. To supersize the blocks (from 10½” to 14½” unfinished) I added two additional rounds, cutting the outer triangles so the two short edges would be on the straight of grain. A couple of those triangles were deliberately cut with the short edges on the bias to preserve the directional design on the fabric.

I guess I went a little overboard cutting triangles for the first quilt because I still have a lot left over, even after making a second quilt. Some of those triangles will wind up on the pieced backing, my project du jour.

 

 

 

Posted in baby quilt, family, pineapple quilt block | 3 Comments

Snow Day Sew Day

Today happens to be a rare day with no appointments or errands to run so I’m treating it like a snow day. I’m spending the entire day in my sewing room, except for the time taken to write this post. On my agenda: working on a lap quilt for Granddaughter #4 (in birth order).

I have six granddaughters. When I took up quilting seriously a decade or so ago, my oldest granddaughters were already having babies so I started making quilts for the great grandchildren. The pineapple quilt I finished in October for Baby Alira was the twelfth one made for a great grandchild:

Baby Alira’s Quilt, 44″ Square (2017)

 

Now it’s time to make quilts for my granddaughters. I’m starting with #4, Bethany, for the simple reason that she told me how much she loved the fabrics I was using in Baby Alira’s quilt. Since I had plenty of fabric left over and shapes already cut, I decided to make a larger version of the same quilt for Bethany.

The pineapple blocks in Baby Alira’s quilt finish at 10″ square. By adding two more rounds, I wound up with blocks for Bethany’s quilt that will finish at 14″ square. Here are those blocks up on my design wall:

Bethany’s Blocks

Now it’s time to add the sashing and cornerstones, to be followed by borders. Do come back soon to check on my progress!

 

 

 

Posted in baby quilt, family, pineapple quilt block, update | 4 Comments

Bonus Binding

I found the perfect fabric in my stash to bind this sweet baby quilt:

It’s a random blue on blue polka dot that picks up on the shades of blue on the birdies scattered across the focus fabric. I really like how the blue binding frames the quilt on both front . . .

. . . and back:

One more look:


Now freshly laundered, this quilt is ready to be wrapped up and sent to its new owner, Baby Alira.

Alira’s Quilt measures 44″ square. The pineapple blocks were made using the Four Triangle Method described in Karin Hellaby’s book Pineapple Plus (Quilter’s Haven Publications, 2010). Sherry Wadley quilted it edge-to-edge with a delightful cloud motif.

I have enough fabric left to make another quilt. I’m going to add another round to make the pineapple block bigger and make a quilt for a young mother of three little boys who needs a feminine lap quilt to snuggle up in. Luckily, I have enough left of that wonderful polka dot fabric to bind a second quilt.

 

 

 

Posted in baby quilt, family, pineapple quilt block, update | 7 Comments

Pineapples, Birds, and Clouds, Oh My!

Just back from the longarm quilter: this baby quilt using Karin Hellaby’s method of making pineapple blocks:

Longarmer Sherry Wadley and I decided a fluffy cloud motif would be the perfect match for the focus fabric, a delightful print featuring parasol-toting birdies. Here’s a better look at the quilting and one of those fussycut birdies in the sashing strips:


For the back I used leftover strips of fabric sewn together randomly, with angled seams for added interest:

After trimming the quilt measures 45½” square.

The next big decision: what color to use for the binding. I’m leaning toward a medium blue, the same color as the birdies, but I’m open to suggestions.

 

 

 

Posted in baby quilt, pineapple quilt block, update | 6 Comments

Home to a Heat Wave

The DH and I got home today from a week-long road trip that took us north into Washington State and British Columbia. Our goal was to watch a minor league baseball game every night. (Yes, I do love baseball that much.)

Mission accomplished: seven games, six stadiums, and about 1250 miles of total driving. The trip was fun and relaxing and totally enjoyable. We took our time each day, taking secondary roads when we could and really enjoying the scenery. I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest my entire life and never cease to marvel at its natural beauty.

Coming home to triple-digit temperatures was not part of the plan. The temperature is expected to hit 105 degrees in Portland today and 106 degrees tomorrow. My sewing room is on the second floor of our 1913 Craftsman house. Air-conditioned? Nope. Guess I won’t be spending much time up there the next couple of days.

The night before we left on our trip I finished the baby quilt top I’ve been working on:

This is a variation of the Pineapple Plus design by Karin Hellaby. Adding white sashing strips to lessen the intensity of the stronger colors was a good call. I added an outer border of the birdie fabric (Garden Birds by Pam Kitty Morning for Lakehouse Dry Goods) and love how it turned out. The top now measures 46″ square.

The only problem is I used up almost all of that birdie fabric. On a whim I decided to check the Internet to see if it was still available. You know, just in case. Not only did I find another yard of the fabric, I discovered it also came in a green background color called “lettuce.” Well, you know how much I love green . . .

Look what was waiting for me when I got home:


Do you ever like a fabric so much you search for more more when you’ve used it up? Surely I’m not the only one.

Our road trip involved stops at quilt shops in some of the smaller cities where minor league games are played. My sweet husband even made a list of shops for me to visit. Be it known: I did not come home empty-handed.

While I wait for temperatures in Portland to drop — the forecast is for another week of temperatures in the low to mid-90s — I’m going to hunker down in the basement where it’s nice and cool. Instead of sewing I’ll continue editing the photos I took at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show last month. The plan is to have a couple of posts about that in the near future. I hope you’ll check back.

 

 

 

Posted in baby quilt, family, pineapple quilt block, Sisters OR Outdoor Quilt Show, update | 8 Comments

Fussycutting After All

A funny thing happened when I got a few more blocks made for the baby quilt I’m making from Karin Hellaby’s Pineapple Plus book. When I put the blocks up on my design wall, I wasn’t loving what I was seeing:


No matter how I turned them, the deepest of the blue and pink fabrics seemed too intense. I was going for a softer look. When the blocks were spaced out on my design wall I liked the effect a lot better:


“Ah, yes,” thought I. “What this quilt needs is some white sashing strips.”

Then I thought of those darling little birdies in the centers of the blocks:

The birdies are scattered over the fabric every which way, which is why I didn’t fussycut them to begin with. I like the fact that no matter which way you turn the quilt, you see some birdies right side up.

I realized they were just the right size for the intersections of my sashing strips:

I wound up fussycutting a few after all. They’ll look really good against the crisp white background fabric. I like where this is going now, don’t you?

 

 

 

Posted in baby quilt, pineapple quilt block, update | 6 Comments