Pineapple Log Cabin Block 36 FINISHED! Tweaking My Design in EQ8 For a Custom Fit to My Bed

You guys, I am ON FIRE!  Not only did I venture out in a monsoon to restock my home with groceries yesterday, but I also got caught up with all of the laundry, reviewed a couple of tricky passages in the Brahms, and stayed up past midnight to finish one more pineapple log cabin block.  BEHOLD:

Pineapple Log Cabin Block 36 (out of 42?)

Here are the answers to the most common questions I've been getting about this project:

1. I am paper piecing the blocks using a free foundation pattern that I downloaded from Fons & Porter here, but after taping just one block together I took it to my local FedEx shop and printed single page copies on their large format printer.
2. The blocks finish at approximately 17 3/4".
3. The fabric strips are cut at 1 1/2" wide since I'm paper piecing, but the finished width of the strips is 3/4"
4. Each block contains 97 pieces, and each block is taking me roughly SIX hours to piece.
5. I'm making this for my California King bed that measures 72" wide by 84" long.  

If you google something like "standard quilt sizes" or "Cal King quilt dimensions," you can find a whole slew of handy little charts telling you exactly what size to make your quilt.  But as an interior designer who specializes in high end custom work, I am begging you to never, ever decide what size to make your quilt based on somebody else's chart or pattern instructions.  Whenever I design custom bedding for my clients, I always measure the client's actual bed to determine sizes.  Mattresses come in such a variety of depths these days, and if you're going to all of the trouble to pay for -- or spending all of the TIME to make -- why would you want to pay for custom without getting a custom fit?  

So the Fons & Porter pattern calls for 16 blocks in a 4 x 4 layout to recreate this antique quilt in the collection of the International Quilt Study Center  which measures approximately 74" x 76" (Imagine that -- antique quiltmakers weren't perfect, either!):  

Original Antique Quilt, 74" x 76", Sixteen Blocks Measuring 17 3/4"

Ah, sixteen blocks -- I could have been finished with this quilt SO LONG AGO!  But I want to put this on the California King bed in my master bedroom, so I knew I needed a lot more blocks than 16.

My original plan was to make 36 blocks for a 6 x 6 layout that would give me a quilt top measuring 106.5" x 106.5", and that would be perfect, right?  No sashing or borders required, and it would look pretty much like this EQ7 rendition that I made after completing the first block:

EQ7 Rendition of 36 Blocks, Set 6 x 6, with Coral 1/4" Binding

By the way, I made that rendition by importing a cropped photo of my first finished pineapple block into my EQ7 software, setting up a new quilt with a 6 x 6 horizontal layout, and just pasting copies of that same block into every square.  It only took me a few minutes, and it was a great way to make sure I liked what I was doing with my color and value placement early on in the piecing process.  Since this quilt is super scrappy and every block is unique, there will be a lot more variation in the finished quilt.  You can see that in this photo from the last time I had some of my actual completed quilt blocks up on my design wall:

Actual Completed Pineapple Blocks On My Design Wall

I love using EQ this way, as a "Virtual Design Wall."  See how well my computer rendering "predicted" what a bunch of these blocks would look like together?  I love, love, LOVE my EQ8 software (I updated to the newest version while this project was in progress) and it was worth every penny.  Seriously -- I have spent more on fabric to make one quilt than the cost of this design software, and has paid for itself many times over by preventing me from making a whole quilt and not realizing that it isn't working out the way I want until ALL of the blocks have been made.  The newest version, EQ8, is even more user friendly than previous versions, and my "sneak peak" technique is just the tip of the iceberg for what you can do with it.

Seriously, if you buy EQ8 and you can't figure out how to use it, please reach out to me and I would love to help you.  I'd consider it my way to "pay it forward" for all of the times that more experienced quilters have reached out to me when I needed help.   You can take all the design classes in the world and read every book out there about color theory, but the easiest and most foolproof way to ensure you're making a quilt that YOU will love is to try out different color combinations on your computer screen ahead of time and make sure what you see on your computer monitor matches the beautiful vision you have in your mind.

Okay, so back to my pineapple log cabin quilt.  Yes, I love how 36 blocks looks laid out in a straight 6 x 6 setting with no borders, but will it be big enough for my bed?

I found this chart at TheSewingLoft.com, and it's a great reference for anytime you're making a quilt that is NOT for one specific bed -- like a quilt for a raffle, a quilt for a show or craft fair, or a surprise gift for a faraway friend whose mattress cannot be measured ahead of time.  According to this chart, my quilt only needs to be 102" x 106" to fit a California King mattress.  36 blocks that finish at 17 3/4" in a 6 x 6 layout would give me a quilt top that measures 106.5" x 106.5", and that would be perfect, right?  

Measuring Mattress Depth is Crucial to a Good Fit

--But, no.  My mattress is 72" wide by 84" long, and those dimensions are pretty standard for a California King.  However, "standard" mattress depth is around 9-10", but I have an extra-deep pillow top mattress on my bed that is 16" thick.  I want the finished quilt to completely cover the mattress on all three sides of the bed, so I have to take my extra deep mattress into consideration.  

What's more, as anyone who has ever made a quilt knows, the quilt top is going to draw up and get smaller during the quilting process (by about 5-10%, depending on how densely I quilt it), and then I may get a little more shrinkage in the final wash as well, depending on what kind of batting I end up using.  Remember I told you that it takes me 6 hours to make just one of these blocks.  Imagine going to all of this work only to put the finished quilt on my bed and discover that it is too small?!

So, how DO I know how big to make my quilt?  Here's my Magic Math:

• Mattress Width = 72".  Mattress Length = 84".  Mattress DEPTH = 16".
• Mattress Width 72" + 2(Mattress Depth 16") = Minimum Finished Width 104"
• Mattress Length 84" + Mattress Depth 16" = Minimum Finished Length 100"

At this point, it seems like my original plan of 36 blocks will work just fine, right?  That would result in a quilt top measuring 106.5" x 106.5".  But I haven't factored in ANY shrinkage from quilting and laundering.  Even if I was using all prewashed fabrics, a polyester batting with minimal or no shrinkage, and I was planning to do minimal quilting such as a very loose all over meander, I'd still want to factor in at least 5% shrinkage.  Here's how to determine what size the quilt top needs to be PRIOR to quilting in order for the finished quilt to come out the desired size AFTER quilting if we estimate 5% shrinkage:

• Minimum Finished Width 104" ÷ .95 = 109.5" Minimum Width Before Quilting
• Minimum Finished Length 100" ÷ .95 = 105.25" Minimum Length Before Quilting

However, I am NOT planning to use an all polyester batting with zero shrinkage, and I am probably going to do a moderately heavy amount of quilting rather than a loose, open meander.  I consulted with veteran longarm quilters in a couple of quilters' groups that I belong to, and the consensus seems to be that 10% shrinkage is the safest margin to allow for most longarm quilted quilts.  So now, let's do that math again to see how big my quilt top should be before quilting in order to finish the size I want it to be on my bed:

• Minimum Finished Width 104" ÷ .90 = 115.5" Minimum Width Before Quilting
• Minimum Finished Length 100" ÷ .90 = 111" Minimum Length Before Quilting

With 10% shrinkage factored in, my 36 block quilt top can be expected to finish up at just 95 3/4" x 95 3/4" when all is said and done.  That means I have about 4 1/2" of mattress exposed beyond the edges of my quilt on all three sides of my bed.  Boo, hiss!

So then I thought I'd make another row of blocks to cover the width, and just scoot the quilt down a few inches at the top.  But that doesn't sit right with me, either, because why am I bothering to make a custom quilt that isn't a custom fit to my bed?  This is where the large size of the blocks complicates design options.  Really, adding another row of 17 3/4" blocks is adding too much width to the sides, and it does nothing to give me the few extra inches I'd like at the foot of the bed.  Back to EQ8 to explore my options!  

Playing With Borders In EQ8 Software

My first idea was to add three 3/4" borders and a 3/4" pieced sashing between the blocks that would blend into the adjacent neutral, blue, or green fabrics, but when I previewed that in my software I didn't love my quilt as much anymore.

First Idea: Pieced Sashing and Plain, Skinny Borders.  Yuck.  Rejected!

There are advantages to this setting.  For one thing, it eliminates the need burning, passionate desire I have to try to match up all of those seams where my blocks come together.  But I am a glutton for punishment, and I want to pin all those little seams and make myself crazy matching them up.  That's just who I am.  Also, the plain, skinny borders would be a quick and easy fix, but they just look so juvenile and plain, no matter which fabrics I "painted" them.  So I scrapped the sashing (so much easier to do in the computer by clicking "no sashing" rather than ripping out all of those stitches in real life!) and tried some other options.  I have not reached a firm decision, but here are the top contenders at this point:

OPTION ONE: 6" of Piano Key Border for a Quilt Top Measuring 119" x 119"

OPTION TWO: Same as Option One, But Without the Coral Inner Border

OPTION THREE: Same as One and Two, But More Light Neutrals in the Outer Border, Plus Corner Blocks

OPTION FOUR: Same Cute Corner Blocks, But Now With Flying Geese Border

When I started writing this post, I thought I had this narrowed down to either Option Three or Option Four.  I can print foundation paper piecing patterns for the flying geese border right from EQ8 so although it will take a lot of TIME to piece the geese, I won't have any problem piecing them accurately, even if they work out to crazy sizes that are not rotary-cutting-friendly.  I think the scale might be too large, though, and I'm not sure I want to introduce a new element (geese) in the border.  For Option Three, I'd just be piecing together a border from my leftover strips and they'd be the same size as the strips in the pineapple blocks.  But is that too boring? 

Now, though, looking at the design renderings again, I find myself drawn to Option Two again, for its simplicity.  Does that one do the best job of preserving the fresh, modern graphic appeal the blocks had without borders?  My brain hurts, and it's time to walk away from the computer!! 

Yeah, so much for another "quick" blog post after breakfast.  Hah!  If you have ideas or opinions about the borders for my pineapple log cabin quilt, please share in the comments.  Thanks!

I'm linking up with:

       Let’s Bee Social at www.sewfreshquilts.blogspot.ca/

·       Midweek Makers at www.quiltfabrication.com/

·       WOW WIP on Wednesday at www.estheraliu.blogspot.com

·       WIPs With Friends at www.mamaspark.blogspot.com

• ·       Needle and Thread Thursday at http://www.myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com/