My Pineapple Log Cabin Is Quilted, and I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

Oh my gosh, you guys -- I am so, SO pleased with how the quilting turned out on my longtime UFO pineapple log cabin quilt!!!  😍😍😍

Pineapple Log Cabin Quilt with Moulin Rouge E2E

Pineapple Log Cabin FAQs:

• Quilt top measured 120" x 120" before quilting
• Blocks finished at 17 3/4"
• Log cabin strips finished at 3/4" and there are 97 fabric pieces in each block, 3492 in the entire quilt, plus borders
• Quilter's Dream Wool batting
• Glide 40 wt thread in Color 97494 Sea Foam (needle) & Glide 60 wt thread in Light Tan (bobbin)
• Quilting design is Moulin Rouge E2E from Urban Elementz, sized at 8.5"

I was so relieved when I got to the bottom of this quilt without having to piece any extra batting on the sides!  The widest batting comes is a stated width of 120", and packaged batting usually gives you a few inches more than what it says on the package in the length, but the width of a roll is the width of a roll.  Whew!  Normally, I make sure to have at least 4-6" of extra backing AND batting on all four sides of a quilt.

Glide Thread in Sea Foam, Moulin Rouge E2E Quilting Design

Talk about playing "batting chicken!"  So, let's talk about this Sea Foam thread color!  My first instinct for this quilt was a more traditional off-white or ivory thread color, but I wanted to keep the focus on my piecing design and on my fabrics.  

Those white threads blended into the neutral background fabrics nicely as expected, but they contrasted too much and felt distracting against  the vibrant red Kaffe Fassett border print and the blue and green strips within the blocks themselves.  

Glide Thread in Sea Foam is Subtle Against Background Fabrics

Once again, the solution was a pastel -- Sea Foam green looks surprisingly neutral against the light background fabrics, yet it blends much better and looks more attractive (to me, anyway) against the more saturated colors in my quilt top.  This is why I need to have so many thread colors in my arsenal!  

Glide Thread in Sea Foam + Moulin Rouge E2E Quilting Design

I am so pleased with how the quilting turned out.  Having a hard time choosing which pictures to share with you, so I'm just going to overload you with all of my favorites!  I love the definition and texture I got from the Quilter's Dream Wool batting, and no -- the quilt is not at all stiff.  It will be even softer once it's cleaned to remove all of the heavy spray starch I used throughout my foundation paper piecing.

I Loved Revisiting All the Different Fabrics While Quilting This One!

A quick note about that: quilts made with Quilter's Dream Wool can absolutely be washed at home per the batting manufacturer's care instructions, in a cool gentle wash cycle and cool/low heat dryer.  No steam, ironing, or hot dryers, though, because the merino wool batting is thermally bonded with low-melt polyester fibers to prevent shrinkage and bearding (common problems with cheaper wool batting) and laundering with excessive heat or steam could destroy the batting's loft.  Dry cleaning is listed as an alternative cleaning method, and I'm considering that option because the quilt is so massive and I don't want to cram it into my washing machine at home.  Another concern is that I am not sure I prewashed all of the fabrics in this quilt (I know, I know -- shoot me!) and there's a possibility of one of the darker reds or blues bleeding in the wash.  I've had a couple bad experiences with dye bleed in quilts that I washed at home in my HE Miele washing machine and I think it might be due to there just not being enough water in the super-high-efficiency machine's wash cycle to rinse away any loose dye before it redeposits onto lighter fabrics.  So I'm considering taking the quilt to a local place that does their cleaning on site, explaining my concerns, and seeing what they recommend.  If I had not used starch in construction, I would put this straight on the bed after binding it -- but starch attracts critters and starch isn't soft, so it needs to get washed out one way or another!  Plus I'm sure dust, skin oils from handling, lotion residue etc. has accumulated on the quilt throughout the protracted on-and-off construction process.

😍😍😍 This Just Makes Me HAPPY!

This Quilt Has Been In Progress for SEVEN Years

Are you sick of looking at pictures of my quilt yet?  Because I'm not.  And there are more...

Yellow Floral Backing Fabric Was a Clearance Score From My LQS

You guys, I think this is my favorite quilt that I've ever made!  I'm really happy with all of the choices that I made along the way, from the fabrics used and the color and value placement, to the accuracy of my piecing, the borders, the quilting design, batting and thread...  Maybe this is my Penultimate Pineapple Quilt and I should stop quilting forever now.  You know, quit while I'm ahead!

...Because, how could I ever top this one?!

It's not totally finished yet, of course.  I still need to trim away the excess batting and backing, design and stitch out an embroidered quilt label, and bind the quilt -- and since this quilt is MY baby, I'll be hand stitching the 13 1/2 yards of binding needed to go all the way around the perimeter of this monster.  That will take some time.

120 x 120 Pineapple Log Cabin Quilt, After Quilting

I know we all love the Before and After photos, so here's a Before Quilting shot that I took when I was in the process of adding the borders:

Before Quilting, Draped Over My Previous APQS Machine

And here's the antique pineapple log cabin quilt that mine was inspired by, using the same size blocks, same number and size strips as mine.  I loved how the variety of background fabrics used by the original quilter make the blocks look kind of like Asscher cut diamonds:

74 x 76 Antique Inspiration Quilt

Tuesday's To-Do List:

Another busy week ahead, with an interior design client's window treatment installation on my schedule for Friday and a Be-YOU-tee-full client quilt next in line for custom quilting!  It's a Judy Niemeyer Quiltworx design, Prismatic Star Queen, and I can't wait to lavish this quilt with all of the time, attention, and TLC it deserves.  Spoiler alert: there will be FEATHERS!  So my personal quilting goals for the week will be limited to the following:

• Trim my pineapple log cabin quilt
• Design and embroider a quilt label
• Attach quilt label
• Attach binding to the front of my quilt

If I have time, I might piece another block for my Retro '80s Sampler quilt, but honestly, that's not likely.

PSST!!  I'd Love to Quilt for YOU!

By the way, if you or any of your quilty friends has a quilt top or two that needs quilting, I'd be delighted to quilt for you!  My turnaround for edge-to-edge quilting is currently running about 3-4 weeks, and you can click here to find out how to book your quilt with me.

I'll be linking up today's post with the following linky parties:

MONDAY

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

BOMs Away at What a Hoot Quilts

TUESDAY

To-Do Tuesday at ChrisKnits

WEDNESDAY

Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

THURSDAY

Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation  

Put Your Foot Down at For the Love of Geese

FRIDAY

Whoop Whoop Fridays at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More

Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts

Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre

 TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: TGIF Friday

 SATURDAY

UFO Busting at Tish in Wonderland