TGIFF: My Pineapple Log Cabin Quilt is Finally, FINALLY Finished!

Happy Almost Friday, y'all!  I'm hosting the TGIFF Thank Goodness It's Finished linky party this week and I have THREE "Big Quilt" finishes to share with you -- one made completely by yours truly over the past SEVEN years, and two large beauties that I recently had the privilege of quilting for clients.  At the bottom of this blog post you'll find the link up where you can share a recent finish that YOU'RE proud of, whether it's a finished top, a completely finished quilt, a finished garment/bag/home dec project, or just a finished quilt block.  

First, oh my gosh, you guys -- Colleen, are you still out there somewhere???  I have been posting about my progress (and lack thereof) with this monster of a pineapple log cabin quilt off and on since I started it in 2014, and I know some of you longtime readers thought I would never finish it.  One reader, Colleen, used to regularly encourage/nudge/plead with me to finish this quilt, but I haven't heard from her in awhile.  Colleen, if you're reading this right now, THANK YOU for keeping the faith!  

My 120 x 120 Pineapple Nostalgia, 2014-2021

You can learn more about this quilt from this previous post, written when I finished quilting it but before it was labeled and bound.  It was foundation paper pieced on my Bernina 750QE, the logs finish at 3/4" wide, there are 97 pieces in every block and 36 blocks in the quilt, and the batting for my Pineapple Nostalgia quilt is Quilter's Dream Wool to get some loft without weight, since the heavily pieced quilt top weighed a ton all by itself.

Putting Those Last Hand Stitches In the Binding...

Hand stitching the binding on a quilt this size takes an absolute eternity -- it felt REALLY good to get to where there were only a few inches left to stitch down!

Can't This One Be MY Quilt, Mommy?

Yeah, Samwise Kissy-Face Snuggle-up-a-gus has already been up on the bed on top of the newly finished quilt.  But that is the least of my concerns.  Pineapple Nostalgia is my favorite quilt that I have made so far, and it's the first quilt I've made for my own bed.  I love it!  But ugh -- it's TOO BIG!  Which I knew already, and which all of you knew already, too, when you wondered why I would make a 120" x 120" quilt in the first place.  Well, I'd measured my California King mattress to see how big it would need to be to amply cover the entire mattress on the sides of the bed, and then I added 10% to allow for the way a quilt draws up and "shrinks" from the quilting stitches as well as the shrinkage I'd get in the first wash.  I haven't washed it yet, because I'm a chicken, and because it's so big that I could not even cram it in my large capacity front-load washing machine.  So I took it to the dry cleaners this afternoon and asked them to launder it in cold water and then dry it on low heat.  After working on this for 7 years it definitely needed cleaning to remove all the starch, oils and lotion from my hands, dust and whatnot.  So let's all hope it shrinks 12" on both directions so it looks like a quilt on my bed instead of a giant bedspread!  Fingers crossed...

Meanwhile, check out this gorgeous 92" x 102" Carpenter's Star quilt made by my client Randy:

My Client Randy's 92 x 105 Carpenter's Star Quilt with Feather Garden B2B Quilting

Randy is a fairly new quilter, a surgeon who took up quilting during the Pandemic.  Prior to this quilt, his other projects have been small samples to get the basic skills down, and then he jumped in head-first with this big bed quilt that has enough Y-seams to send many experienced quilters running for the hills!  You would never guess that he was a beginner from looking at his workmanship on this quilt -- the piecing is so precise and his entire quilt top was flat and smooth, including the borders.  My theory is that the precision, accuracy, and attention to detail that make him a good surgeon have transferred over to his new hobby.

Glide Thread in Steel Blue Blends Into Blue Fabrics, Stands Out in the Background

When Randy initially reached out to me, he was picturing custom quilting for his Carpenter's Star, to dress up the large background areas that seemed plain to him.  We ended up choosing an elaborate edge-to-edge design instead, Feather Garden B2B from Anne Bright Designs, to reference my client's love of gardening.  

The batting for this one was Quilter's Dream Bamboo/Silk/Cotton/Tencel blend for a lightweight bed quilt with a luxurious drape and just enough loft to show off the quilting.  Thread colors were carefully selected to make the allover quilting design less conspicuous against the blue star fabrics while standing out more against the light gray background areas that my client thought were "too plain."  The needle thread is Glide 40 weight in Steel Blue, but I paired it with Glide 60 weight thread in Light Gray in the bobbin because that looked prettier against the black and gray backing fabric.  I did the machine binding on this one as well as the long arm quilting, so the quilt was completely ready to use when Randy picked up his quilt today.  I'm looking forward to seeing what he'll bring me next time!

Steel Blue 40 wt Glide Thread in the Needle + Light Gray Glide 60 wt Bobbin Thread

The next quilt I'm showing you was made by my client Mary Beth using Susan Clark's Sunflowers quilt pattern, available here in her Etsy shop.  Like Randy, Mary Beth told me that she was new to making large bed quilts and had primarily made baby quilts in the past.  This one is a gift for her niece, who picked out the pattern.

My Client Mary Beth's 82 x 102 Sunflower Quilt with Espresso Quilting

Mary Beth did a beautiful job on this quilt.  My pictures aren't doing anything justice lately (secret theory: maybe Apple snuck something into the last iOS update to make my pictures lousy so I'd upgrade to a newer phone?  It could also be gremlins or wicked little elves that live in my computer...)

These glorious yellow sunflowers really cheered me up while I had this quilt on my frame.  It reminded me of Van Gogh's sunflowers and the Immersive Van Gogh thing I went to with my friend named Mary Beth (not the same person as my client) a couple months ago.  Again, thread color, weight, and sheen was chosen with thought about where we wanted the quilting design to show up most and where we wanted it to recede and blend into the fabrics of the quilt.  Shiny Glide 40 weight in color Sunshine looked great against all of the fabrics in the quilt top, but when I auditioned that thread against the Black Kona Solid backing fabric it seemed a little too severe.  Matte So Fine thread in a slightly thinner 50 weight, nearly identical color Summer Sun, looked much better against the backing fabric to my eye.  The edge-to-edge quilting design is called Espresso and I scaled the design to simulate the look of little vines and tendrils growing around the sunflowers in the field.

Glide 40 wt Thread in Sunshine (needle) Paired w/So Fine 50 wt in Summer Sun (bobbin)

I have so many other things I could share with you, but they will have to wait for another time.  Now it's YOUR turn to share your finishes -- and remember, it can be any kind of finish you're excited about, whether it's a completely finished quilt or just one finished block.  After linking up, please remember to visit as many of the other linked projects as time permits to share the encouragement and quilty love.  I'll also be linking up this blog post with my other favorite linky parties, listed in my left side bar.

PSST!!  I'd Love to Quilt for YOU!

By the way, if you or any of your quilting friends has a quilt top or two that needs quilting, I'd be delighted to quilt for you!  I am currently accepting quilts for January & February of 2022.  Click here to learn how easy it is to book a quilt with me!

 

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