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| 2 Down, 34 Blocks to Go |
Once I had the first pineapple block done and knew I was happy with my fabric choices (and I knew the paper piecing method was working out as well), I spent two or three days savagely slicing up perfectly good fabric into 1 1/2" strips. Then I had to order a bit more yardage, because a couple of the Kaffe Fassett Collective prints from the jelly roll of precut strips were REALLY good for this project, and I knew I wanted more of them.
The actual sewing of the second block went faster since the strips were ready to sew. And now that's two blocks down, and 34 more blocks to go for a California King.
In other news, I took my 13-year-old son for his first pedicure this morning, with Grammy and Grampa (it was Grampa's first pedicure, too). Lars REALLY liked the massage chair at the nail salon:
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| Lars: "We need one of these chairs at home, Mom!!" |
I felt that Lars deserved some pampering after scrounging around in the wilderness for three days with his father, being chased by bears (sort of). You can read about those adventures here if you're interested -- Lars loves comments. :-)
I'm linking up with Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times and to Esther's WOW: WIPs on Wednesday. Have a great day!
Wow, that's a lot of pieces in one block! It looks gorgeous--can't wait to see more blocks together.
ReplyDeleteLove your pineapple blocks!
ReplyDeleteI'm very curious as to how hard it is to remove the 20# bond paper from the backs. Have you tried a sample?
ReplyDeleteI've been looking at this as well, but the thought of removing all that paper is somewhat daunting. Especially having to use regular copy paper.
Hi, Katie. For me, ignorance is bliss -- I've never paper pieced more than a single sample block before using the special foundation piecing papers, so I don't really have a great basis of comparison for how easy it SHOULD be to remove the paper.
ReplyDeleteThe paper for the FedEx large format printer was a little thicker than the foundation paper I bought from a quilt shop, but not as heavy as the printer paper I use at home. It's on a giant roll inside the monster printer and the printer automatically slices off each piece after printing the image. Nifty! Because I knew at the outset that my paper is a little heavier than might be ideal, I've got my stitch length shortened to 1.5 and am using a size 90/16 Quilting needle to make sure it's well-perforated. Each seam line on the paper gets folded back and creased before and after stitching so I can trim seam allowances, and that helps to weaken the paper along the seam lines as well. I also went with a 50/3 cotton thread rather than my go-to Aurifil piecing thread, knowing that I would be stressing the seams somewhat when I remove the paper at the end.
I did a test sample using this combo of needle, thread, and stitch length on my home printer paper, which is even heavier than what I'm using for the pineapples, and the paper came off just fine. I removed it the same way I would remove excess tearaway embroidery stabilizer from the back of a project, carefully pinching the stitching line to protect it while tearing the paper off with the other hand.
Hi, Katie. For me, ignorance is bliss -- I've never paper pieced more than a single sample block before using the special foundation piecing papers, so I don't really have a great basis of comparison for how easy it SHOULD be to remove the paper.
ReplyDeleteThe paper for the FedEx large format printer was a little thicker than the foundation paper I bought from a quilt shop, but not as heavy as the printer paper I use at home. It's on a giant roll inside the monster printer and the printer automatically slices off each piece after printing the image. Nifty! Because I knew at the outset that my paper is a little heavier than might be ideal, I've got my stitch length shortened to 1.5 and am using a size 90/16 Quilting needle to make sure it's well-perforated. Each seam line on the paper gets folded back and creased before and after stitching so I can trim seam allowances, and that helps to weaken the paper along the seam lines as well. I also went with a 50/3 cotton thread rather than my go-to Aurifil piecing thread, knowing that I would be stressing the seams somewhat when I remove the paper at the end.
I did a test sample using this combo of needle, thread, and stitch length on my home printer paper, which is even heavier than what I'm using for the pineapples, and the paper came off just fine. I removed it the same way I would remove excess tearaway embroidery stabilizer from the back of a project, carefully pinching the stitching line to protect it while tearing the paper off with the other hand.
Love your pineapples. One of my favorite blocks.
ReplyDeleteI love your pineapple blocks; it's a pattern I have always LOVED! I hope you enjoy making your quilt!
ReplyDeleteI have never ever been in intrigued by the Pineapple block. They are often too busy but your color palette is so calming, like ocean, sand, and sky. This is going to be a gorgeous quilt.
ReplyDeleteI have only been paper piecing a few projects but like it and wanted to share what works for me.
A small design board was among the required tools when I took a beginning quilting class years ago. It is an 18" square of light board, I think it's called Masonite or something and one side is covered with felt glued to the board. This board is helpful when I have to remove paper from a pp block. My favorite stiletto is a bamboo skewer and by tracing along the seams with the tip of the skewer while the block is right side down on the board helps me get whole pieces of paper off and just a few bits in tight corners need tweezers. I use this mini board a lot more than I ever thought I would and easy to take to classes.
Love your pineapple blocks!
Have fun.
Wow! Rebecca, my hat is off to you! I love your pineapple blocks and can't wait to see more. Love your blog!!
ReplyDeleteKerry