More fun with 2" strips and 3.5" squares!
This full sized coverlet measures 78.5"X78.5" and uses 36 pineapple blossom blocks set with sashing!
Click here for a quilting close-up!
(Quilt size approx 57.5"X 68")
This
quilt started as a pile
of UFO orphan blocks! I had played with this idea (without sashings)
for a while and had a good stack of blocks started. I was
thinking I
was going to make this into a bed sized (meaning queen or larger!)
quilt...only to get side tracked by another project that came along. So
here these blocks sat!
I did have 20 of these pineapple blossom blocks done, it wasn't quite enough for a lap quilt, but the thought occured to me if I added sashings, and cornerstones...that it would be big enough for the center. By the time I added borders it was just right!
This quilt is related more towards the "geese in the corner" style of log cabin, than it is a true pineapple block, because the triangle corners are only sewn to two opposite diagonal sides. It still has that pineapple punch though, and it works up into a pretty quilt!
The block logs are cut from 2" scrap strips I already had waiting for me in the 2" scrap strip bin, and the pineapple corners are cut from 3.5" light strips.
I did have 20 of these pineapple blossom blocks done, it wasn't quite enough for a lap quilt, but the thought occured to me if I added sashings, and cornerstones...that it would be big enough for the center. By the time I added borders it was just right!
This quilt is related more towards the "geese in the corner" style of log cabin, than it is a true pineapple block, because the triangle corners are only sewn to two opposite diagonal sides. It still has that pineapple punch though, and it works up into a pretty quilt!
The block logs are cut from 2" scrap strips I already had waiting for me in the 2" scrap strip bin, and the pineapple corners are cut from 3.5" light strips.
For each 9" block you will need:
From 3.5" light strips cut:
Five 3.5" squares light
(block center and pineapple corners) These may
be the same through out the whole quilt, scrappy through the whole
quilt, or you can match them in each block as I did above. All 5
squares in each block are the same, but differ from block to block.
From dark/medium 2" scrap strips cut:
Two 2"X3.5" rectangles
Four 2" X 6.5" rectangles
Two 2" X 9.5" rectangles.
***NOTE*** I have had several requests asking for the dimensions for this block to be made with 2.5" strips,so here you go. The construction is the same...just the piece size is different. It will make a 12" block. Larger block pieces are shown below in red.
Five 4.5" light squares (Block center and pineapple corners)
From dark/medium 2.5" strips cut:
Two 2.5"X 4.5" rectangles
Four 2.5"X 8.5" rectangles
Two 2.5" X 12.5" rectangles.
On the back of four of the 3.5" squares, draw a diagonal line from corner to corner using your ruler and your pencil. This is a stitching guide line. On smaller corners like this, I can get away with eyeballing to sew, but when you get up to stitching the diagonal on a square this big...it's best to mark that line! :c)
From dark/medium 2" scrap strips cut:
Two 2"X3.5" rectangles
Four 2" X 6.5" rectangles
Two 2" X 9.5" rectangles.
***NOTE*** I have had several requests asking for the dimensions for this block to be made with 2.5" strips,so here you go. The construction is the same...just the piece size is different. It will make a 12" block. Larger block pieces are shown below in red.
Five 4.5" light squares (Block center and pineapple corners)
From dark/medium 2.5" strips cut:
Two 2.5"X 4.5" rectangles
Four 2.5"X 8.5" rectangles
Two 2.5" X 12.5" rectangles.
On the back of four of the 3.5" squares, draw a diagonal line from corner to corner using your ruler and your pencil. This is a stitching guide line. On smaller corners like this, I can get away with eyeballing to sew, but when you get up to stitching the diagonal on a square this big...it's best to mark that line! :c)
The assembly for this block
is simple...just like a courthouse steps
log cabin! Lay out your pieces with the two 2"X3.5" rectangles on
either side of the center square. Using a 1/4" seam, stitch these
rectangles to either side of the center square. Press towards the
rectangles. Then you are going to take two of your 2" X 6.5" rectangles
and sew them to the two remaining sides.
*NOTE* I like to chain sew! So I generally cut the pieces for 4 blocks at a time and chain feed them through the machine so I can step up production! These directions just show the construction of one block to get you started.
*NOTE* I like to chain sew! So I generally cut the pieces for 4 blocks at a time and chain feed them through the machine so I can step up production! These directions just show the construction of one block to get you started.
Press the logs again outwards
towards the dark. Here is where we put on
our first two pineapple corners! It doesn't matter which corners you
put them in, just pick two opposite corners. Lay the squares in the
corners with right sides together, and look where your pencil line
lines up....Right at the corner of the center square! Stitch both of
these seams right on the line.
The first pic shows me
stitching right on the line. The second pic shows where the bonus
triangles come in!
I move my needle over one position towards the right to give me a bit wider seam allowance. You can also draw a line if you want, but I just use the edge of my presser foot against the previous seam as a guide. Now...this next seam is just a bit under 1/2", probably close to 3/8". The reason I don't go wider is because I am aiming to get the bonus triangle squares to finish close to 3".
I move my needle over one position towards the right to give me a bit wider seam allowance. You can also draw a line if you want, but I just use the edge of my presser foot against the previous seam as a guide. Now...this next seam is just a bit under 1/2", probably close to 3/8". The reason I don't go wider is because I am aiming to get the bonus triangle squares to finish close to 3".
Here you can see I've trimmed
between the two seams! I've got one round
of pineapple corners done, and two bonus pieced triangles left over! I
press everything towards the light fabric with this round. This keeps
things laying flat. Sometimes you just have to let the fabric go the
way it goes, and it gets too bulky if you try to press those dark
points
back in towards themselves in an effort to press towards the dark. It's
less bulky to press toward the light with this round!
Here is round 2! Lay out the
2"X6.5" rectangles on opposite sides of
the block. Stitch them in place. Finish off this round by stitching the
2"X9.5" rectangles to the remaining sides. Press everything towards the
logs you just added.
Here we are adding the two
remaining squares to the opposite corners.
Stitch across the diagonal line as in the previous round. I double
stitched these too, so that gave me two MORE bonus triangle squares!
Here is a pinwheel I made
with the cute little leftover bonus squares!
I squared the units up to 3" square, so this pinwheel block will finish
at 5". If you make the pineapple blossom quilt with 20 blocks as above,
you will also have 20 little pinwheel blocks to make into a little
quilt! Gotta love patterns that give you bonuses to play with :c)
Another idea: I turned these little 1/2 square triangle squares into the pieced border on the large quilt above at the top of the page!
Another idea: I turned these little 1/2 square triangle squares into the pieced border on the large quilt above at the top of the page!
Two different looks. You can
set the blocks without sashings if you
like....see what they would look like in the pic at the left? I
needed to make this top a bit bigger so that it would be
lap size, so
I decided to put in scrappy 2"X9.5" sashings and 2" light corner stones.
Chain Stitching Blocks With Sashings!
Do
you have trouble keeping things straight when you
assemble blocks and sashings together? Do you sometimes get blocks
turning the wrong way, and get rows mixed up and out of order? This is
how I like to chain stitch the blocks and sashings into rows, and then
sew the rows together into the top.....continuously!
First, lay out the blocks, corner stones, and sashings just how you want them on the floor as in the second pic above. We are going to start chain assembling from the far left side, and work our way across to the right. All the across rows will be sewn together, and the rows will be held to each other by the chaining threads between the rows. I call this "Webbing The Top!" As you look at things laid out, I want you to start from the far left, working from top to bottom.....and call the row with sashings and corner stones along the left edge row 1. The next row is sashings and blocks. it is row 2. Row 3 is made from cornerstones and sashings again.....There are 9 rows in this quilt even if your eyes see it as only 4 rows with sashings in between.
First, lay out the blocks, corner stones, and sashings just how you want them on the floor as in the second pic above. We are going to start chain assembling from the far left side, and work our way across to the right. All the across rows will be sewn together, and the rows will be held to each other by the chaining threads between the rows. I call this "Webbing The Top!" As you look at things laid out, I want you to start from the far left, working from top to bottom.....and call the row with sashings and corner stones along the left edge row 1. The next row is sashings and blocks. it is row 2. Row 3 is made from cornerstones and sashings again.....There are 9 rows in this quilt even if your eyes see it as only 4 rows with sashings in between.
This
looks like a row is missing...but really what I did was take the
second row down, and flip it over right sides together against the left
side sashings and cornerstones. (Meaning row 2 is right sides together
on top of row 1.) The top left block you see is really already placed
right sides together with the sashing that will be sewn to the left of
it. The sashing below it, is right sides together with the cornerstone
it will be sewn to. Go down the row and flip those blocks and sashings
over on top of the sashings and cornerstones at the left edge of the
quilt. Starting at the top, and keeping them in order from top to
bottom, stack the sashing with the cornerstone, the block with the
sashing underneath it, then the sashing with the cornerstone, etc, so
you have a pile all in order as in the second pic above.
Take
the stack to your sewing machine. It
might seem weird to sew a long piece with a short cornerstone under it,
but this is the way it goes to start with. Pick up the top sashing and
the cornerstone from the top of your pile. They are already right sides
together, right? Stitch them with a 1/4" seam. Now...do NOT break the
thread! Now you are going to pick up the next pair in your
pile....which happens to be a block on top of a sashing (also right
sides together, right?)as shown in the second pic above. Feed
these
next through the sewing machine with 1/4" seam. When you get to the end
of the block and sashing, you will have another cornerstone and
sashing....continue this process of sewing the second row to the first
row all the way down.
Now,
go back to the quilt on the floor and starting at the top and
keeping things in order (I do them all right sides up) pick up the 3rd
row from the top to the bottom in order. Cornerstone, sashing strip,
Cornerstone, sashing strip, etc...
Look at the pic above. You are going to flip out the second row from the first row, and then stitch the third row in place all the way down. You can see that the corner stone at the top of row three is sewn on already, and the sashing strip that goes against the block is next. Next will be another cornertone, etc....just keep sewing continuously all the way down the row! Do the entire top this way and you will have this!
Look at the pic above. You are going to flip out the second row from the first row, and then stitch the third row in place all the way down. You can see that the corner stone at the top of row three is sewn on already, and the sashing strip that goes against the block is next. Next will be another cornertone, etc....just keep sewing continuously all the way down the row! Do the entire top this way and you will have this!
Here
you see all the sashing rows sewn to cornerstones, all the block
rows have sashings sewn to the blocks! Everything is "webbed" together!
(You
can even see my last leaders/enders in
the top right corner!)
Nothing is out of order, nothing got turned around or backwards! You
can carry this from room to room at this point and it isn't going to
get out of place! I use this method a lot when sewing anything that has
straight rows.
Blocks without sashings works the same way.
Now you have some decisions to make. Is it too unweildy for you to want to just leave it stitched like this and sew the rows together? You can cut the rows apart now if you want. This is a good time to do that if you want to press the seams towards or away from the sashings. This is where you decide what works for you depending on your pressing preferences.
Do I cut the rows apart? Nope! I leave them as is, and just fold one row over the other so the right sides are together and I just work with the whole thing as one unit. On this quilt I finger-pressed my seams so that they would butt up together at the cornerstones, and then I pressed with the iron after each row was added. I've done this on king sized quilts and it works fine for me to have the rows webbed together. The choice is up to you. At least if you stitch the top to the point where the ROWS are rows..there will be less chance of anything getting backwards, upside down, out of order or just plain wrong! :c)
Blocks without sashings works the same way.
Now you have some decisions to make. Is it too unweildy for you to want to just leave it stitched like this and sew the rows together? You can cut the rows apart now if you want. This is a good time to do that if you want to press the seams towards or away from the sashings. This is where you decide what works for you depending on your pressing preferences.
Do I cut the rows apart? Nope! I leave them as is, and just fold one row over the other so the right sides are together and I just work with the whole thing as one unit. On this quilt I finger-pressed my seams so that they would butt up together at the cornerstones, and then I pressed with the iron after each row was added. I've done this on king sized quilts and it works fine for me to have the rows webbed together. The choice is up to you. At least if you stitch the top to the point where the ROWS are rows..there will be less chance of anything getting backwards, upside down, out of order or just plain wrong! :c)
Here
I have the rows all sewn together to complete the top! I added a
2" cut inner black border to set everything off, and then used a wide
6" plum border to tie everything together! You will notice that this is
an asymetrical (meaning the top of the quilt is different from
the
bottom edge, the pattern isn't complete and even all the way around)
quilt layout. If I wanted the block pattern to be even I would have
needed to make more blocks, but this suited what I had and I like the
look of the different setting!
Here is a close up of the quilting detail. I quilted this with an edge to edge design called "Whirly Gig" by Willow Leaf Studios in a varigated purple thread. I bound it in black!
If you make this quilt, I'd be happy to display your pics here!
Two layouts sent by Sarah! I love the color coordinated yet still scrappy look. Definately brings the warmth of a good cup of coffee, tea, or hot cocoa to mind! I do like how it looks without the sashings too.
Questions or Comments? I would love to hear from you!! Bonnie@Quiltville.com
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