Preparing For A Pineapple Class...

I've been asked by Joan, who chairs our guild education committee, to teach a class to offer to our guild members in August. Last meeting night, I took the pineapple blocks I've been working on (HERE) and made a proposal to teach a class using the Creative Grids™ Pineapple Trim Tool.

Not only was she enthused about it, six guild members signed up on the spot! I'll find out tonight at our Board Meeting what my class size will be, but I'm thinking it will be fifteen or so.

I've decided to make this same Bali™ batik fabric and colorway for the class project that I used in my niece's Birthday gift (HERE). The only thing I'm still trying to decide is which border fabric to use. I've got the dark fabric on the left and the lighter blue on the right. 

 

I'm making the entire table runner again so that I can fine tune my class plan and calculate fabric requirements for the project. I'll be handing over the supply list to Joan tonight and then completing the quilting for the runner. Once I finish that, I'll write my teaching outline and pattern for the class.

I'll also probably make one more runner in the bright colors like the queen size quilt I've been working on so my students can get an idea of it in another colorway. If I do, I'll have it finished in time for our guild meeting so my students will see the class models. It can give them an idea of what they might like to choose to make their own. 

 

I'm honored that I was asked to teach a class...but I'm really excited to share this class and technique with my guild girlfriends.

A Little More Detail...

My last photo post about the batik "Thank You Quilt" elicited a question that I thought I'd answer for everyone who might be curious (and then I'm going to share just a little ok, a LOT more detail about the quilt, too). Jillayne wrote a comment asking about the ruler:

Jillayne said...

The colours are fabulous - the perfect choice for the seaside! That ruler is pretty spiffy and the perfect thing for those Jelly Rolls - what's it called?It looks nifty, swifty to me! Have fun placing and re-arranging today!

Here are the labels so that you can see what you'll be shopping for...Creative Grids is the name of the manufacturer. (Don't forget - you can always click on any of my photos to enlarge them.)
The ruler I used for this quilt is called the 45º Double-Strip Half-Square Triangle Ruler, although there are rulers for other block configurations available, too. No math skills required. Just line up per instructions and cut. Easy Peasy!
This is what the entire ruler looks like. It has a 2 1/2" wide ruler running the entire length, so that you can cut your own strips from yardage - if you chose your own assortment instead of purchasing the pre-cut 2 1/2" jelly rolls. With all the stash I have, this part of the ruler will really come in handy in the future!

Then, once you've assembled one light and one dark strip together, you place the triangle part of the ruler on the fabric to cut the triangles. You only have to be sure to place the dotted line (it's located in the mid-point of each triangle) directly on your seam line between the two strips before you make your cuts with a rotary cutter. You can see how I cut the strips here.

Note: If you want the top of your triangle to be on the right - you need to cut your triangles with the BACK side of the fabric facing up (as I did with the triangle marked "light" below).

Likewise, if you want your triangle tops on the left side - cut your fabric RIGHT side up (like the triangle marked "dark" below).
Once you've cut your triangles (each strip will create light and dark triangles), you assemble a dark and a light triangle to make a square. (That's what quilters mean when they say "half-square triangles". When you put two halves together, you get a square!) Still no math required.

You'll notice that the dark triangle in this photo has a top on the left, and the light triangle has a top on the right. You need to do this or your triangles will not create squares when assembled.
When you place your next square, you'll want to be sure that you lay a light triangle next to a dark, and a dark next to the light as show above.
Four squares ready to be assembled into a block.
This is what the block will look like when it's sewn. I just laid the triangles closer together for this photo, and have not actually sewn it together yet.
These four blocks have been assembled and I'm showing you how I preview the layout. You want to be sure that you place lights next to darks when you assemble to quilt top so that the color values alternate.

One thing I wanted to mention is that I decided that all aspects of the block I'm making would be random. You could also take two sewn strips (four different fabrics), cut them into triangles and assemble using just those four different fabrics if you want. I actually think you use less fabric that way!
On Saturday, I headed over to Sandy's Quilt Shop and purchased my backing and sashing fabrics. I'm going to use the lighter color for the sashing on the front of the quilt, and the darker fabric will be my backing and binding.

Sunday really was a day of rest around here. Handsome and I took the dogs for a walk in our neighborhood. When we got back home, we pulled the cover off the pool and all four of us went swimming. It was a perfect way for the dogs to cool down, and we really enjoyed it, too.

I only spent enough time in the studio to cut more assembled strips for the quilt so that they'll be ready for me to make more blocks tomorrow. When I was finished with that, we gathered to watch football until dinner time. Dogs were fed and aired, we put on our riding gear and pushed out the Harleys to ride out for a meal. We even managed to avoid a rain shower that soaked our neighborhood while we were away! We got back home just in time for the kickoff of the Packers vs Vikings game. We've been in Florida for nearly ten years, but we'll always be Packers fans. (They won tonight! Yea!!!)

Thanks so much for your comments on this project. Just ask if you want to know something else, and I'll try not to be so wordy! I hope you each have a healthy and creative week, my friends. More tomorrow...

Blue Is The Color Of Thanks...

How do you say "thank you" to someone who has everything? Well, you know one of the ways I say thanks is to make a gift from my hands.

Our hostess on Nantucket likes the color blue. (I could tell from her decor.) I went into my groovy stash and found a roll of the most perfect batiks in a cool line called "Glacier Ice". I immediately knew that these are the fabrics I'd be using. So, I guess that, at least in this case, blue is the color of thanks!
I just found a great line of rulers, too. They're from a company called Creative Grids. They're non-slip and come in different configurations to create different blocks. The ruler I'm going to use is the 45º Double Strip Ruler. It will create the block I point out in the photo above, simply starting with two 2 1/2" jelly roll strips sewn together.

I'll be taking photographs of the process to share with you when I start on it today, so you can see how the rulers work. I'll also share my progress on this quilt as I create it.

This one will be a large lap quilt, and I'll have my friend, Kathy, do the finish quilting on her long-arm machine. Hope you'll want to follow along. I'm putting this in the line-up ahead of the Christmas projects I've got scheduled for this year. Lots to do between now and December 10th (my self-imposed deadline), and a time table to follow (of course!), so there's no time to waste.

Be sure to let me know if you have any questions. I'll answer them on the same post where your question appears, and then everyone will be able to read my replies.