Making Adjustments

A few weeks ago, I joined several other gals at Mary's Barn in Grove City to make a Pineapple Block. It was a foundation-pieced block and was fun to make. It'd been awhile since I last did any foundation piecing, so it was nice to revisit the technique.

Well, that one block became 3, and I stitched them together with the thought of making a small, skinny table topper for our screened porch. The more I looked at that skinny thing, though, the more I thought it needed more substance. If I added 3 more blocks, it would be twice as wide and would make more of a statement.

So that is what I did.

This is the skinny table topper. With a border, it might have looked okay, but I thought I'd be happier with it if it were doubled.

I made 3 more blocks. Once you get into a rhythm with these things, they go pretty fast. I thought I'd never finish the first one that day at the barn. I kept forgetting to press back the piece I'd just sewn before sewing the new piece. (Those of you who foundation piece will follow that, I'm sure...)

The only thing I really needed to concentrate on was getting the colors placed the way I wanted them. That, and remembering to open the piece last stitched before adding a new piece. I've got that down, now.

I am so glad I added more blocks. This has so much more interest and the "pineapples" really pop. Now, I need to consider what I will do about a border. I have some of the four colors left. I could make a skinny white border, and then do something with the four colors. Piano keys? Four-patches? Maybe nothing? I will audition some things.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there! My kiddos came through with the gift certificates to Old Town Fabrics, so I'm a happy gal.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Internet Issues and Pineapple Blocks

I am attempting to get a blog posted this evening, but the internet seems slow and sluggish tonight for some reason.

On Tuesday I went to Mary's barn for a class on making a pineapple block that was foundation pieced on stiff muslin.

Since I am having such a hard time getting things to work I will show unedited pictures. Doing it all would just take too long.

This is the pattern we used. Mary asked us to cut our strips ahead of time, so stitching the block went super-fast - that is, if you didn't forget to flip a triangle forward or something like that (I did this about a half dozen times, daggumit!!)

This is a rather blurry pic of a sample that Mary had for us. Most of the blocks attendees were making were not of the "modern' variety, however.

This is my block. I made three that I have sewn together to make a table topper for summer. I think these bright colors will be perfect for that purpose.

Here is one that one of the girls was working on and you can see the foundation muslin. Again, I have some blurriness. I did no editing of these pics. (I tell ya, I am slacking!)

I really like these that use repro fabrics. Mary had made an entire quilt of these types of fabrics.

There were 8 quilters present: Mary, our hostess, Terry and Sheryll from our Frankfort group, Monica, Cherie, Pam, Gwen and myself. I could not match up the stitcher to her pineapple, so you get unidentified blocks. 

Last, I will show you the full size quilt that Mary made using this pattern. 

I like how she mixed the black geese and the white. Makes for a very interesting quilt.

Okay, I feel as though this is a post that is rather lacking in effort; I will try harder tomorrow.

Happy Quilting, Friends!