Wednesday, July 02, 2014

Pineapple Plans, and Handsome Log Cabin process

Log Cabin progress; nicely sandwiched outside in the garage, on a beautiful June day.  I jokingly called is my "Handsome Log Cabin" and that name  stuck!  8-))  I'm eager to start machine quilting - not sure what to do yet.


Oh great ... too short.  When I laid the BACK on the table, I turned it 90 degrees incorrectly.  Oh well, it's mostly all pinned and sandwiched - I'll fix it by adding the 6 inches I had just cut off the side, to the bottom.  8-((  

New project -- below is the plan.  I pulled up Quilt Pro, many years old, and stretched the paper pieced Pineapple blocks to about 5.5 x 7.25, so ... it's a rectangle, not a square -- my first challenge, not realized until the middle of the night!  On the right is my prototype.  At this point I also hadn't realized I not only needed two blocks, but I needed differently colored blocks.   Obviously, a person cannot turn rectangles the way one turns square blocks!   The prototype took me 2.5 hrs, between resewing wrong values, and then realizing the complexity of what I had planned (brain is Senior Citizen -- great excuse for mis-planning!)


After more careful thinking, I was able to re-plan the process and came up with this:


This is the correct layout (above), but remembering what goes where, and having to think ... backwards due to Paper piecing technique, I've gotten only 10 blocks made.  Each one takes just 1 hour now.   I could feature the dark areas or the pinks, or the lights -- all would be OK.  I hope to make the quilt 6 x 8, .. 48 blocks.  The centers of the dark brown have 2 different colors, making an hourglass center - another small complication that doesn't even show!  

Below is what I finally had to do to remember what goes where - so glad for markers -- this tip reduced my continued color confusion.  It was very confusing trying to figure the color placement from the front!  (These block backs are not in any particular layout.)

Quilt Show next weekend.  This time the space is Air Conditioned!   I am eager to see how our hand made ribbons show up on the winning quilts. I am also eager to see who wins the Serendipity (raffle) Quilt.  

Now, back to my Pineapple blocks!



12 comments:

  1. The log cabin is handsome, but the pineapple is stunning! Wonderful design!!
    I've made many a mini pineapple, but my dream is to someday make a bed quilt out of pineapples. I will enjoy watching this come together.

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  2. Love your log cabin...but really love, love, love your pineapple!! This one is a show stopper!

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  3. I hate it when the backing or batting is too short! Even with careful planning, it seems to happen too often. The quilt is lovely. I love the pineapple blocks too. It does look complicated though - I had trouble putting 4-patches in the right direction! Hee Hee! It will be gorgeous and I love those colors.

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  4. Oh these are super... I love foundation paper piecing... seems that quilters either love it or hate it. I'm making Regina Grew's Lord of the Rings quilt, all FPP and so much fun.
    Thinking of you...

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  5. Elaine, what a wonderful post! Yes, your log cabin certainly IS handsome. But those paperpieced pineapples are the bomb. I love pink with brown and that bright green accent gives it just the right sparkle. I am sitting in the AC now and loving it, so sticky outside. You were wise to get the AC in the hall for the quilt show!

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  6. I agree...the pineapple quilt is going to be a stunner! Loved reading about your creative process to come up with solutions to such a complex design!

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  7. Absolutely stunning Pineapple.

    Dianne in BC

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  8. Oh man, that pineapple is wonderful. I'm looking forward to your finish on this one. Amazing! Just think of all the synapses you fired upand exercised working on this design!

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  9. The pineapple quilt will be spectacular! Oh, and lots of pieces of paper to peel off.
    A log cabin king size is on my short list.

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  10. Playing catch up with my blog reading again. Love the ribbons and the new log cabin quilt is going to be gorgeous!

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  11. Wow, you certainly took on a challenge with the pineapple blocks, but the end result will be amazing! It was so good to meet up with you in person, Elaine, I hope we get to do that again someday. I'm sending you our funny photo ~
    :-}pokey

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  12. Having seen the close-to-finished top, now I'm glad to see the blocks. I like how this one developed.

    Also glad to know I'm not the only one who still uses Quit-Pro!

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