Pineapples, Anyone?

I've always wanted to create a quilt showing off the pineapple block. It makes a really jazzy design, even though it's a thoroughly traditional quilt block.

Of course, when I think of pineapples, I think of Hawaii. And when I think of Hawaii, I think of bright tropical colors, like aquas, blues, and greens. So I found an appropriately tropical thread that met those color requirements (Watercolours' 236 - "Appalachia") and picked some matching colors and went to work. And of course, it had to be surrounded in happy aqua waves!

Here's the actual pineapple block close-up:


I suppose that those raggedy staggered rows are the "pineapples." And what's really fun about this block is that you have two different ways of using color in it, and both ways give you different looks to the quilt.

OPTION ONE: In the above block, you can see that the variegated thread is used on the vertical and horizontal pineapples.... and the solid colors are used in the diagonal pineapples.

OPTION TWO: The alternate version reverses those colors, so the variegated thread is used in the diagonal pineapple shapes, and the solid colors are used for the vertical and horizontal pineapples.

Either version is stitched the same way -- ONLY THE COLORS HAVE BEEN CHANGED. And - Voila (or maybe should I say "ALOHA") you have two different quilts!

Both versions are included in this pattern, so you have the fun of deciding which version you want to try.... and then maybe stitch another quilt in the alternate version. And if you want to try yet another way to stitch this design, try using just one variegated thread and one or two background colors (eliminate the two solid colors) so that your variegated pineapples will really stand out against a paler background. (There are so many ways to stitch this design, I had a hard time choosing which one to actually stitch for the model.)

Either way, you can be the designer on this one, and choose not only your own colors, but WHICH version of the PINEAPPLE QUILT you want to stitch.

ALOHA, all you pineapple -and quilt - lovers, this one's for you!!