We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Project To Bring You This Finish!

I got a couple of quilts back from my longarm quilter, Karen Thompson, and the temptation was too great, I had to put aside my current project to bind one of the quilts. So here is my first finish of 2013, Rendezvous.

 

Yes, it is my pineapple quilt, all quilted and bound.  I chose the name Rendezvous to complement the French General fabrics I used in the quilt.  The fabric used is primarily from the Rouenneries Deux and French General Favorites lines, with some additions from Rural Jardin.  There are a few miscellaneous fabrics from my stash, and the red squares in the center of each block are a script print from the Etchings line by 3 Sisters for Moda. 

 

 

Making this quilt involved a couple of "firsts" for me.  It was my first time making the pineapple block (more about that later in this post) and the first time I arranged color in the blocks so the blocks themselves formed the border.  The photos above and below show how I adjusted from red to taupe in the outer rows of blocks to create this border effect.  I like it and will try it again sometime. 

Karen quilted Rendezvous using an all-over (pantograph or edge-to-edge) fleur-de-lis motif.  You can see it in these pictures.  It shows up best in the fourth picture, taken before I trimmed the quilt for binding and you see the motif where it runs off the edge of the quilt onto the surplus batting.

 

I used fabric from the Rural Jardin line for the backing and a small houndstooth check for the binding. 

 

Now, about those pineapple blocks.  I made my blocks using a specialty ruler.  I knew about the paper foundation method for this block but wanted to avoid the tedium of tearing the paper off after the blocks are made.  While the ruler worked out OK, if I make this block again, I will give the paper foundation method a try because I think it would be more accurate. 

The pineapple block is very versatile, great for a scrappy two- or three-color quilt like mine but it also lends itself to a totally multicolor version as well.  Give it try!