My Quilt Dance In the Pineapple Rain

Here is my Pineapple Rain Quilt Top! 

I designed my own modern version of the Pineapple Day quilt.

This top is featured today on 

The Jolly Jabber

Pineapple Day Quilt Along @ Fat Quarter Shop

This is my Pinkerville Pineapple Day Quilt

I was piecing pineapple paper blocks with the rain falling outside my sewing corner window

when suddenly the sunlight streamed in my window.

After three days of rain, the bright rays felt like a blessing.

So I went out to snap this photo from my back porch on my small urban hill in New England.

I call this a Pineapple Rain type of day.

Five minutes later it was deluging again.

This photo was the inspiration for my own layout of the Pineapple Day Quilt. 

I designed and sewed this quilt for the ... 

Here is the layout and

Free Pattern PDF download and Free Video Tutorial

for the quilt as designed.

To make my quilt I sewed

Four 12.5" pineapple papers blocks

and

Twelve 6.5" pineapple papers blocks

To piece my blocks I used these easy sew-by-number 

Pineapple Papers @ Fat Quarter Shop

Then I set my small blocks on point to represent the falling rain. 

Twelve 6.5" blocks on point 

My Tutorial for How I set these block On-Point Here

After trimming and squaring, these on-point blocks now measure 9.5" square.

To sew them into my quilt top I needed then to be the same size as my Pineapple Sun Block.

Sew I added 2" strips to the top and bottom on these elongated blocks.

I sewed them together as shown, adding 2" strips to either side of my on-point blocks

and four 12.5" squares of background fabric for the

negative spaces in my modern quilt layout.

I added 4.5" strips of outer border fabrics as shown

to represent the sky and earth. 

The day I took my quilt top outside for photos was a gray day with impending rain.

It has been a very rainy and cool spring in the northeast.

Suddenly it has become summer and I am spending a lot of my time outside

catching up on garden work.

I hope you like my quilt top.

I hope to have it quilted soon. 

Have a happy Pineapple Summer! 

I Like Thursday Post # 17 ~ Summer Is Here

Summer has burst into bloom in my quilty corner.

We have been doing a lot of yard work.

I put summer flowers in my new window boxes and moved my pansy boxes

to cooler shadier places.

You can see them peeking out around my birdbath in this photo

of the new garden gate we are putting up across the end of our driveway. 

I bought the gate and trellis units online and there was one small issue.

The center fleur-de-lis was a little bit bent.

When I called the company to ask what could be done about this, 

they said they did not have replacement parts 

and really did not want the whole thing back

so they gave me a big discount for keeping this one.

My hubby was able to fix it as you can see in the larger photo.

I have always wanted a garden gate.   

Now I have one.

I am picturing a climbing rose on one side and some english ivy growing up the other.

More photos later.  

Still more planting to do and, of course, the never ending

weeding, watering, mowing and trimming.

We are spending a lot more time in our screenhouse

and enjoying the yard during our work breaks.

The perennials in the front are starting to bloom, too.

The lavender and  coreopsis have taken over this front section,

but I love the way they spread and bloom all summer.

They are also hardy and survive the road salt of winter.

My poppies are still blooming and my cone flowers have buds.

Things are looking bright and colorful inside, too.

The quilting is finally done on my

  Blueberry Park Fat 8th Fruitcake Quilt

It measures about 68" by 78."

I am pretty happy with how my attempts at hand guided free form quilting is looking.

So my second quilt is off my longarm.

That means I am now averaging one quilt per month.
That is two more than I likely would have completed
without the long arm. 

It was very hot in my sunny room when I finished this quilting 

so I went outside to do the evening watering ... 

and then relax on my yard swing and watch the last light of the day slowly depart.

The I went back inside where I am getting my next quilt ready for the frame.

It will be my 

Pinkerville Pineapple Quilt

My full post for this

 Fat Quarter Shop Pineapple Day Quiltalong 

will be up later this morning

and will be included on their blog post.

Quilting this quilt will be my next quilting  adventure.

Today is Thursday so I will be visiting the

I Like Thursday Bloggers @ Not Afraid of Color

and see how their gardens are growing.

Have a Happy Thursday!