Day: August 12, 2018

Turkey Tracks: Creative Grids Ruler Pineapple Blocks

Turkey Tracks:  August 11, 2018

Creative Grids Ruler Pineapple Blocks

Heidi August taught me how to use the Creative Grids Ruler for Pineapple Blocks at our May 2018 retreat.  We are both working on Jen Kingwell’s “Long Time Gone” quilt—as a Mt. Battie Modern Quilt Guild (Camden, Maine) challenge that will end in December 2018.  This quilt calls for SIXTEEN pineapple blocks.

One needs the SMALL ruler for this project.  But I loved the ruler and the block so much that I bought the large one as well.  There is a quilt lurking in that large ruler.  Certainly there are blocks for the “parts department” that is getting big enough to try to put together a “improv” quilt.

Here are my finished blocks—with their cute fussy cut centers.

 

Turkey Tracks: “Whirlygig” Quilt

Turkey Tracks:  August 12, 2018

“Whirlygig” Quilt

It’s always fun to bring a year’s project to a close.

Here is “Whirlygig,” a version of Willyene Hammerstein’s “Valse Brilliante” English Paper Piecing quilt, from her book MILLIFIORE QUILTS.

My “rules” were brights and text in every block.  I used text fabrics to square off the quilt and chose an Essex linen blend for the wide charcoal border.

The backing is an Art Gallery fabric involving printed cuneiforms.

This quilt is lively and fun—a good lap size.

I should also say that several friends are also making this quilt and have found templates that allow them to hand stitch without the English Paper pieces, all the glue involved, and so on.  When they finish I will post pictures.  Their blocks are beautilful.

Additionally, several of us have followed Bonnie Hunter’s recommendation to use Signature thread 60 weight cotton for hand piecing.  We think this American-made thread is perfect for hand piecing as it has very, very few tangles and does not create much extra weight to projects—in terms of the seam folds.  It practically disappears with EPP piecing.  We’ve bought it from both Amazon and Red Rock Threads.