Pineapple Blossom!

Pineapple Blossom!

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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!

Lap Quilt size approx 57.5"X 68"and uses 20 blocks set with sashing!

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.

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)

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.

Press the logs again outwards towards the dark. Here is where we put on our first two pineapple corners! Following the diagram, 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 next to the line into the seam allowance.

Repeat with square all corner squares in the same placement throughout the block construction process.

The first pic shows me stitching right next to the line into the seam allowance. 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. Stitch a second seam 3/8'' from the first into the seam allowance. 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!

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.

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!

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)

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 asymmetrical (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 variegated purple thread. I bound it in black!

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.