Pineapple Blossom

Wednesday was the first meeting of the month for the Tacoma Lakes Quilters. We had several demonstrations that day, and I agreed to do a demonstration for freezer paper piecing, which is my new favorite method of paper piecing. There's a great tutorial illustrating the method here.

While I was casting about for an idea for my demo, I remembered Bonnie Hunter's Pineapple Blossom. This quilt has been on my list of wannado's for a long time, and I also wanted to make another miniature, so this one fit the bill.

Bonnie's block is pieced using traditional methods, finishes to 9 inches square, and she used sashing in between her blocks. The blocks can also be easily pieced on a foundation, so I drafted mine into EQ6, reduced the size to 4 inches, and printed out a few foundations on freezer paper. Then I sewed four blocks together to make the little medallion you see in the photograph. It was perfect for my demo.

The coloration I'm using came from a quilt called "Geese In The Garden" in Gayle Bong's book, Save The Scraps. The block Gayle uses creates the same effect but uses a different construction method. You can see a little bit of her quilt in the upper right corner of the front cover. With dark fabrics on one half of the block and pastels on the other half, you wind up with these dark and light medallions (or whatever you want to call them) in the quilt. It's quite a nice effect.

I think I'd like to make a little nine-medallion quilt with these, no sashing, and maybe a nice border print.

And speaking of Bonnie Hunter and books, I got Bonnie's new book in the mail last week, and I love it! There are 12 projects in the book, all scrappy of course, and an explanation of her leaders and enders system. Well done, Bonnie!