It's FINALLY Happening: My Giant Pineapple Log Cabin Quilt is On the Frame for Quilting!

Some of my long-time quilting friends out there thought this day would never come, but there's no going back now -- I loaded my pineapple log cabin quilt last night and the quilting will commence TODAY!

Loading My Massive California King Pineapple Log Cabin Quilt at Last!

Here are the answers to the most common questions I've gotten about this project over the years:

1. I paper pieced 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.  Although the foundation paper piecing pattern came from Fons & Porter, it's not their design -- it's a pattern for reproducing an antique pineapple log cabin quilt from the collection of the International Quilt Study Center.  You can see that quilt here.
2. The blocks finished 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. This quilt is for my own California King bed that measures 72" wide by 84" long.  It's a deep pillow top mattress, so I planned my quilt top to be 120" x 120" to ensure that even after the shrinkage of quilting and washing, the quilt will still completely cover the mattress when it's on my bed.
6. I started this project in June of 2014, SEVEN years ago!

Pineapple Loaded, Ready to Baste

I won't be using that turquoise thread on this quilt, by the way -- that's from the previous client's quilt that just came off the frame.  I haven't yet decided on a thread color for this quilt.  I'll be auditioning a few different options today.

This is a 118 Inch Quilt on a 13 Foot Bernina Q24 Frame

As you can see, this quilt is the maximum size that fits on my Large 13' Bernina Q24 frame.  My quilt top is about 118" and my backing is 130".  My Quilter's Dream Wool batting is 130" long but only 120" wide, because 120" is the largest width that the batting comes.  That only gives me an inch of excess batting on either side of my quilt top -- way too close for comfort!  There's no excess batting for checking and adjusting tension on either side of the quilt, and I'll have to be really, really careful about not letting the batting shift to one side or another as I advance the quilt.  If I do run into trouble, I'll just have to stop and whipstitch wool batting straps to fill in on the sides by hand.

Barely Enough Room for the Side Clamps, and Super Skimpy Batting Width

Normally, I'd plan for a minimum of 4-5" excess backing AND batting on all four sides of the quilt, and the photo above shows why those amounts are needed for long arm quilting.  The top and bottom of the backing fabric gets pinned to the canvas leaders to attach the backing to the frame, and I need to be able to quilt all the way to the edges of the quilt top without sewing onto the canvas leaders themselves.  And, on the sides of the quilt, the extra backing fabric allows my quilting machine to sew all the way to the edge of the quilt top without hitting the side clamps.  

I thought long and hard about the batting choice and the quilting design for this quilt.  It's so much easier to recommend quilting designs for clients' quilts than it is to choose one for my own quilt!  After putting over 300 hours into cutting and piecing this quilt top with nearly 3,500 patches of fabric, my initial feeling was that the quilting needed to be amazing.  However...

1. This quilt top weighs a TON.  Seriously!  Because those log cabin strips finish at just 3/4" wide with 1/4" seam allowances, and everyplace there is a seam allowance is THREE layers of fabric instead of just one.  

2. This quilt was always intended to be a functional bed quilt.  I want it to be just as warm, soft, and snuggly as possible.

3. The piecing design of this quilt is so striking that it really doesn't need a complicated custom quilting design.

Ultimately, I settled on a quilting design by pretending that this was a client's quilt and thinking, "What would I recommend if this quilt belonged to someone else?"

Moulin Rouge E2E

I picked wool batting because it's warm yet breathable, and crucially, lightweight.  The last thing this heavy quilt top needed was a dense cotton batting that would make it even heavier.  The Moulin Rouge edge-to-edge quilting design I selected has no backtracking and therefore no thready buildup (and will work well with a variegated thread, if I have one in a color range that works) and the quilting lines are evenly spaced throughout the design so it won't compress the loft of my batting more in some spots than in others.  I like how Moulin Rouge is kind of a playful, whimsical take on traditional quilting feathers, in the same way that my bright color scheme and Kaffe Fassett floral border print fabric gives an updated, less serious vibe to this intensively pieced antique quilt reproduction.  I think they will pair nicely together.  The fact that this design will also stitch out well at a moderately fast speed is a bonus as well.  Git 'er done, am I right?!

In other news, we moved Son-the-Elder into his dorm at Appalachian State University this past weekend and his Junior year classes started yesterday.  Son-the-Younger, our college Freshman, gets moved into his dorm at Furman University the day after tomorrow.  There is still a bit of last-minute shopping and laundry to do between now and then, and I have a couple clients scheduled to drop off quilts tomorrow as well.  It's shaping up to be a busy week!  So I'm setting just ONE personal quilting goal for this week's Tuesday To-Do List: Quilt my pineapple log cabin!

PSST!!  I'd Love to Quilt for YOU!

By the way, if you or any of your quilty friends has a quilt top or two that needs quilting, I'd be delighted to quilt for you!  My turnaround for edge-to-edge quilting is currently running about 3-4 weeks, and you can click here to find out how to book your quilt with me.

I'm linking up today's post with the following linky parties:

TUESDAY

To-Do Tuesday at ChrisKnits

WEDNESDAY

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

THURSDAY

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation