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Thursday, June 27, 2019

Happy Pineapple Day!

Did you know that June 27 is Pineapple Day? It is. To celebrate, Fat Quarter Shop has a Pineapple Sew Along going on. They have produced a super-helpful tutorial to explain how to use the paper piecing method for Pineapple blocks.

How to use pineapple paper tutorial from FQS

They also have two sizes of paper available for blocks. I used both sizes in my quilt.

12" Pineapple Paper
6" Pineapple Paper

My plan was to use my red scraps in the project. Isn't that always the plan?


I really felt I needed to add more reds in the middle of the color range. I found this great bundle at FQS. It really helped pull the project together. I also bought Kona Snow for the background fabric. This is my go-to white for any project.

Cherry Red Lori Holt Fat Quarter Bundle
Kona Snow Yardage


You really can do paper piecing without the Add-a-Quarter ruler, but I love mine. I have had it for years. There is a newer version available now that provides the sharp edge for folding the paper. I always keep postcards around for this purpose. It works fine for me, so I don't see the need for a new ruler. Here is my method.


I cut my fabric and get everything set up by my machine.


I put the postcard on the line I need to fold. 


I fold the paper back on the line and crease it sharply. Loosen the paper from the stitches that are in the seam allowance. This is necessary and will not ruin your block.


Use the Add-a-Quarter ruler to trim away the excess fabric.


I use my wooden iron to press the fabric back. I never use an iron on paper piecing projects. I am afraid that the ink will come off the paper and get onto my fabric.


I chain pieced the 6" blocks. I didn't find this helpful for the 12" blocks because it was difficult to manage multiple large pieces of paper in the machine. Just my opinion.



Here is one block completely sewn, but not yet trimmed.


The papers are very clear about where to cut. Easy peasy.


Ta-dah! One block finished. Time to rip off the paper. It would be great if I had a kid around here who could do this for me. I had to do it myself.



Now, just repeat this until you have enough blocks for your quilt. My quilt used 24-6" blocks and 16-12" blocks.


I quilted lots of feathers on this one. Such fun. No measuring and marking for the quilting.

DH held this up for its photo session.

Thanks to FQS for another fun quilt along project.
Thanks for stopping by.

Thursday, June 6, 2019

Longarm Quilting Progress










Sorry for the photo overload. I want to get this finished soon because I have some deadlines coming up on a couple other quilts. I have to get this off the frame.

Thanks for stopping by.