Looking for your Pineapple block experience & advise
 

Good Morning all! I've been saving my batik scraps to make a pineapple block bed size quilt. I think I've accumulated enough! I am leaning towards paper piecing but open to other methods too!
I have some questions and would love your feedback! And to see your pictures please :o

What size blocks did you make? I see 15, 12, 8, 7. I'm sure there are others. Why did you make that size?

Typically when I paper piece, I use Ricky Tims Stable Poly Stuff, which is water soluble. Do you know of any reason not to continue?

Do you have any tips and or pointers to share?

Thanks in advance!

I took a class from Gyleen Fitzgerald. She wrote a book, Trash to Treasure, because you're using scraps - trash. She also designed her own ruler. You can buy these at her website. Her blocks are 8" There is no backing and her ruler is really easy to use.

Looked at her site...looks like it might be fun to do.....interestingly, I went to amazon to check out price.......if you're going to buy, buy at her site.......

I'm also getting ready to make a pineapple block quilt. I took the Craftsy class, TRADITIONAL BLOCKS MADE SIMPLE by Anita Grossman Solomon. She shows you how to make a pineapple block without using paper piecing, but she does make use of a LOT of starch. The instructions are not for a scrappy quilt, however, you might be able to adapt it. I'm not completely sold on her technique and am still looking around for other methods.

When I first started to quilt our LQS gave a class for a table runner. We were given a printed out sheet with the pattern drawn on it, and we traced it onto muslin and then pieced directly onto that, leaving the muslin in the sandwich. I imagine that would add a lot of weight to a quilt though, but you could make a sample block to see if you like that method.

I made a scrappy pineapple. I used Edyta Sitar's paper-pieced pattern, "Hawaiian Delight". The logs are 1", the blocks are 8".
I love to paper piece and have found that I prefer vellum over all other options for 2 reasons: It becomes somewhat brittle after ironing and is very easy to tear from the blocks if I'm using the sew-through method of pping. It's also somewhat translucent, which makes it easier to find the seam lines if I'm using the fold-and-sew method of pping. Either method, I'm covered.

My tip: placement of fabrics are key. I prefer the light/dark placement, I think it's more effective and dramatic.

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I also recommend this book and ruler. It's foolproof.

I made one using the Marti Michel pineapple template. I really liked that I could stack up strips of fabric and cut several pieces at once. Went together easily.

I just watched Eleanor burns video on her version........looks easy....no special rulers, no pp, no starch, just cut and sew......anyone try it? I posted a new thread asking that question too.......

Thanks all for the feedback - Peggi - that's about the size I'm thinking and I'm leaning towards PPing... do you remember how long it took you for a block? I have a real hard time piecing more than one top at a time :) so it's an attack and conquer concept for me.