LaVieEnRosie

It's a lot of strips...

I'm halfway there...

This isn't the setting I'll be using, there are alternating blocks that are pieced a little bit differently.  But you'll get to see that next month.  I'll start the remaining 24 blocks this weekend.  The good news is that the remaining blocks should go a little more quickly as I have already cut all my strips - and saved some leftovers.  

While this counts as the fifth Pineapple quilt I've made, it is the first one that is a scrap quilt.  Are you surprised?  When I first got the book and ruler - by Lynda Milligan and Nancy Smith... brilliant quilters, shopowners and all-around nice ladies - the fabric choices were a bit "limited".  If you've been quilting less than fifteen years, you have no idea how good we have it now.  Seriously!  But that's a subject for another day.  

As with the Log Cabin quilt that most folks say is the origin of the block, they're perfect for scraps and the design possibilities and variations are limitless.  If you doubt that, search the International Quilt Study Museum collection for Pineapple or Windmill Blade quilts.  Then do the same on Google Images, Flickr, and Pinterest.  The variety is pretty amazing.  

I'm sure you've seen the glorious French General version - titled Rendezvous - by Cathy at Quilting on Main Street.  It's spectacular.  Cathy did three terrific posts on her quilt, the Possibilities Pineapple Rule and her fabrics.  It was hard not to scrap my scraps and copy this quilt... it isn't like I don't have any French General fabrics around.  Nicole of Sister's Choice was inspired to make a similar version and she's blogged about the ruler as well.

Both used this ruler - and so did I.

 It does a terrific job... but... it does come with a few caveats.  

First - pineapple quilts use a lot of fabric.  A lot.  With my blocks, a bit more than 1/3rd of each strip goes into the seam allowance.  Most pineapple block methods have "some" waste, and some have a lot of waste.  If you add up the strips required in the instructions for the Possibilities ruler, you'll see that one block uses just a little less than 1 fat quarter of fabric.  That's right - figure using about 1 fat quarter for each 12" block.  And depending on the method you choose to use, you'll either use a little bit less, or a little bit more.      

There are essentially five ways to make a pineapple block.  The first is to essentially "wing it".  I'm not kidding!  A few years ago, I read an account from a woman who said that's how the blocks were pieced.  You sewed tiny strips and sort of "eye-balled" the corners as you went along.  

The blocks can be paper-pieced - or foundation-pieced.  Of those two, paper-piecing is the easiest because you can photo-copy your block onto foundation paper.  I think paper-piecing provides far and away the best results because... well, it's paper-piecing.  It's perfect.  The only real drawback is that you're limited on the size block you can make.  You can draft the rows to any width and you can use as many rows as you like, so long as your pieced block doesn't measure more than 8 1/2" in size.  Years ago, I used to see foundation paper that measured 11" x 17" but I don't know if it is still available.  

The third method is to piece the blocks using connector corners - flip-and-sew.  Joanna of Fig Tree Quilts wrote a terrific pattern - Pineapple and Figs - and made several spectacular quilts using this method.  No special rulers or templates required - just rectangles and squares.  Joanna is brilliant when it comes to that sort of thing and the method is such that achieving great results is easily done.  I think the only drawbacks are that the size isn't easily changed - unless you're as clever as Joanna is - and there is a little bit of waste with the fabric.  I think it's also a bit harder to use the contents of your scrap basket.

The fourth method is using a technique developed by Anita Grossman Solomon of Make it Simpler.  Anita has workshops - The Scrappy Pineapple - and books - Rotary Cutting Revolution - that demonstrate her techniques for cutting trapezoids and triangles using just a few rotary cuts.  You don't need a special ruler and there isn't any wasted fabric.  It's a terrific technique.

And then there is the Pineapple Rule by Possibilities.  There are other pineapple ruler but I like this one.  Okay, until a few weeks ago, I didn't even know there was another one but from what I've heard since, this one is better.  

Using it isn't difficult, but it does take a little bit of practice to get the hang of it - where to line it up and so on.  In addition to Cathy's excellent ruler tutorial, there is a YouTube video and an instruction sheet available as a PDF. file/printout.  Once you do a row or two, I found that I settled into a very nice rhythm piecing the blocks.  For each "row" - lights or medium/darks - I attached the strip to one side and pressed.  Then I attached the strips to a second side and pressed, and I continued until all four sides were done.  Then I trimmed the blocks.  Then I started on the next row.  

The trimming went quickly - even doing 25 blocks at one time.  

The challenge is keeping the strips even and the blocks square.  But it also isn't difficult so long as you stitch evenly and you trim the corners carefully.  The only other thing to mention with Pineapple blocks is that there will be some bias edges to deal with.  It isn't something to worry about, you just need to remember the bias is there and not stretch, pull or do something to distort the block.  But don't let that scare you off - these blocks really aren't as hard as they might look.  I promise.   

I did make a few changes to the "pattern" included with the instructions available online.  You're surprised?  First, I wanted my finished rows to be a little narrower than the 1" finished width.  Mine finish at 3/4".  But I had this mountain of scrap strips measuring 1 1/2" - a 1/4" wider than I needed them to be.  So... should I trim the strips before I stitch them to the blocks?  Or after?  Either way, I was going to be trimming a lot of strips.  So I went with after.  That meant two "trimming" steps, but it really didn't add that much time.  And having uniformly sized blocks was the welcome by-product of that.  

I also chose to add an extra strip to the corners to make the corner triangles a little bit smaller - and a little bit less prominent.  

These are my finished blocks.  

I purposely went really, really, REALLY scrappy, and no, I didn't worry about value or shading when I joined strips.  If there was even a little bit of contrast with color, value or pattern, that's all I needed.  

The funny thing with these blocks is that as much as I love the traditional colors and fabrics, I really want to make a lighter, brighter, funkier Pineapple quilt.  Since I need a "summer project" to entertain me, this just might be it.  I haven't even finished the first one and I'm already planning the next Pineapple quilt.  (Quilters.  We're a twisted bunch.)

But first I need to finish this - my current weekend-just-for-fun-and-me project.  

Actually... I might use the other half of these Layer Cakes for my funky pineapple quilt.  :)

 With a little luck, I might start on this pile tomorrow.  After I finish a few other things... but I might get sidetracked enough to make one block.  I'll let you know how that goes.  

Happy Tuesday!   

Wall-runners & table-hangings...

I'm always a bit slow.  Until I started making the little Schnibble quilts, I had only made four small quilts.  So here I am, I've been a quiltmaker for almost 30 years (child prodigy) and I've made a couple hundred quilts in various sizes but until last November, I had never made a table-runner.

The only reason I got around to making one is that somebody had to do it... but I'm probably getting a little ahead of myself here.

Last year, after two years of leaping tall buildings and dazzling everyone with their creative genius,  Camille Roskelley and Joanna Figueroa decided to retire as the Scrap Lab Design team for American Patchwork's Quilts and More magazine and accept their well-deserved recognition as Designers Emeritus.  After a lot of begging, pleading, whining and bribery - by moi - the lovely folks who make the decisions for Quilts and More - Jill Mead and Jody Sanders - asked me to be one half of the new Scrap Lab team.  

The best thing about this is getting to meet Patty Young, albeit a bit long-distance.  Do you know Patty?  She is the brilliant mind behind ModKid Boutique.  In addition to the fabulously cute kids clothing she designs, she also does gloriously beautiful fabric for Michael Miller.  Patty also writes a terrific blog. 

For our  first collaboration as a team, we were able to use Patty's current collection Textured Basics.  

Picking the fabric was probably the easy part because when Jill asked Patty and I if we could think of anybody we'd like to ask to participate, we came up with about 382 names.  Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts was on our list. 

All three of us were given a half-yard of Natural Texture - a cream textured background fabric - and six fat eighths - three stripes and three polka dots.  From that, we had to make something.  Because the goal is always a bit of variety, we discussed the different projects that everyone would make.  Patty had already designed a wonderful pillow from her fabric that could be made with that amount of fabric so we had one pillow.  

Used with permission from Quilts and More® 2013 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

That's Patty's pillow in the upper right corner.    

After Jill hinted that a table-runner is always welcome because they're very popular... I volunteered to make that... unless Julie really wanted to.  Smart girl that she is, she said she had another idea.  She had a couple of really, really good ideas but after some discussion with Jill regarding additional materials, she decided to make a very clever - and really cute - lunch trio.  It's a Table setting consisting of a coordinated placemat, coaster and napkin made with 60-degree triangles.  (Julie is incredibly creative with those triangles - just check out what she's done with her Hex-n-More ruler.)  

So we have a pillow, a table-setting trio and a table-runner, right?  

Not exactly.  

Editorial decisions were made and my table-runner became a wall-hanging.  But it will always be a wall-runner to me.  

 Used with permission from Quilts and More® 2013 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Yes, I made this from the fabric packet provided!  And yes, I machine-quilted this myself.  

If you'd like to make any of the three projects, you'll need the Summer 2013 issue of Quilts and More and a kit.  You can get that from Patty at ModKidBoutique.com.  The kit is $15.00 and that includes shipping.  

If you'd like to see more of Patty's fabric, the Fat Quarter Shop has some terrific bundles of her recent collections.

So there you have it... my first almost table-runner.  You'll have to wait until August to hear about what happened with the tote bag I made for the Fall issue.  

Two three last little things - thank you, thank you for the kind thoughts and good wishes.  I appreciate it very much.  As for the pineapple blocks, I'm done with the first twenty-five blocks and I'll start the remaining blocks later this week.  I'll also be back tomorrow - at least that's the plan - to tell you more about my blocks and quilt.  After making this very traditional one, I think I'm going to need to make a scrumptiously happy version this summer.   (Hint hint!)  

And finally, after resisting mightily for as long as possible, I have taken the Instagram plunge.  I've had the app on my phone for ages - at least two years - but never got around to actually signing up and using it.  (I warned you... I'm a little slow with some things.)  But because I don't want to miss out on friend's summer vacation pictures, I signed up.  It pains me to admit this but it's actually a lot of fun.  Though I do only have seven pictures so far - I need to get out more.  If you're on Instagram, I'm CarrieRosieAz.  

Happy Monday!  

A manicure?

Yes.  Today, my Mom and I went for manicures.  We both needed them desperately - and since we were out and about doing a few errands, it seemed like a nice way to finish the afternoon.  

Yes, my Mom and I were "out" today.  As in, she's "out" - not in rehab.  While I'd considered a jailbreak or three over the past several months, I could never quite bring myself to go through with it because... well, the reasons are pretty obvious.  But last week - last Tuesday to be exact - my Mom was finally deemed well enough to head home.  She still has to gain some weight - can you believe she's under doctor's orders to eat chocolate? - and she'll still need some physical thereapy, but so far, so good.  There are different routines to adjust to but everybody, including Rosie - maybe especially Rosie - is happy and doing well.

(But hopefully not well enough not to need her gastroenterologist.  My Mom has a gift - a gift for finding incredibly good-looking doctors.  Distractingly good-looking doctors.  Now if only she could find one that wasn't married.)   

So will you forgive me for forgetting about you?  

What if I brought you flowers?

On my way home from the class/club I do at Olde World Quilt Shoppe last Saturday, I stopped at the grocery store and couldn't resist these roses.  At $9.99 for 12 stems, it's a miracle that I didn't buy two bunches.  According to the label, the color/variety is Cherry Blossom.  

Hmmm... everything's coming up roses... okay, so I might need to do something about that "clear the decks" part.

Yes, life is returning to a little bit more normal-like... 

It isn't normally this messy or cluttered but I was cutting strips for a Pineapple Quilt.  And that meant going through scraps... pulling out the contents of my scrap jars... scouring long-forgotten boxes and bins for even-longer-forgotten leftovers, UFOs and so on.  It's been a hoot but it's also meant cutting the necessary strips has taken significantly longer than it probably should have.  Especially since these are just the mediums and darks.  

The lights are a little neater... perhaps, maybe, almost a bit compulsively so.  Hold on a second... I need to go mess those up.  

This project came about a few months ago when the lovely ladies in the classes asked about doing a big quilt for one of our projects.  After talking it over with Dee - the owner of OWQS - we decided to do a Pineapple quilt using the Possibilities Pineapple Rule ruler.   While I had made several pineapple quilts when the ruler first came out in - aack! - 1989, I have wanted to make a scrappy version for a few years now.  I have a specific setting in mind for my quilt so I have to make 25 blocks one way and 24 more another way.

This is my first block...

I have 24 more that need just one more dark strip and the corners to be finished.  This one is done because I needed at least one completely, totally finished for class.  My blocks will finish at 10 1/2" x 10 1/2" and the strips/rows finish at 3/4" wide.  Since I really did pull strips and little pieces from the scrap jar, a few fabrics are only going to be used once.

In between working on these blocks, I've been playing with Comma and Boho for some little quilts.  And some blocks for a little project I forced encouraged my classes to do.  I'm a little behind with these so I don't think the quilt will be done by the last meeting next month... so I'll get to keep bothering them over the summer... long after they thought they'd escaped me.  

So after finding time to sew a bit of a challenge these past few months - I really did have a couple of "droughts" that lasted more than two weeks - things are looking up.  Messy.  But up.  

I just might have to go get some more roses.  

Happy Friday!  

I know you won't believe me but I'll be back on Monday to show you my first ever table-hanging / wall-runner.

And the rest of my pineapple blocks.