Pineapple Stars (Sharon Rexroad)

No tips here, but I have a friend (not on this list) who made one of these, and it's just gorgeous! Best of luck with it. :)

Anne, I can't wait to see your photos. I bet it's going to be great. I love miniature quilts, but mostly go for those with easy piecing. If I ever find the cable that lets me put photos from my camera into the computer I'll show you one of my minis. :)

Good luck and do show us the results.

Sunny

It sounds as if you will be joining foundation pieced sections. Because the word 'diamond' shouts 'bias'! I suggest you leave the paper in the pieces until the sections are joined. You just trim the quarter inch seam outside the paper. If you do, drawing the FPP patterns without the seam allowance will mean that you can join the sections pinning into fabric alone and sewing into fabric alone. That will make it much easier to join accurately. . In message , Anne Rogers writes

With so many diamonds to construct, I would also consider looking into the FPP method that uses Freezer Paper. I think it's Judy Mathison (sp?) that covers it in her book. The freezer paper gently holds your fabrics in place during construction, your PP patterns are reusable and there is NO paper to remove. It's too much to describe here, but check the net - I'm sure there is something. I've used the method several times with outstanding results!

Lorraine

Beg to differ, though not about leaving the foundation intact.

On a miniature I would use something like a dryer sheet rather than paper. Far to easy to pull things wonky or even do a damage to seams getting paper off a tiny piece of work. I would think it better to use something you don't have to remove at all. It might make the actual quilting a little bit more challenging, but you always have that on miniatures anyway.

Of course the only miniatures I have ever done are a few scale quilts for doll houses, so I could be wildly mistaken here.

BTW, If I ever tell anybody "Sure I will do a victorian counterpoint quilt for your period 45:1 dollhouse" ever again, you have full leave to smack me upside the head.

NightMist wondering if she put the numbers in the right order

If you google pineapple star, her website and gallery are the first hit.

There are some bias edges, but not all and per her advice, I've thoroughly starched everything before cutting. She definitely has you leave some of the paper in when joining the diamonds - I guess I need to read through that again, I hadn't checked whether she has you leave the seam allowances on the foundations or not. I'll be starting the sewing on retreat this weekend - I'd better take the book with me!

Anne

I've used that method, I agree it works well for compasses, circles of geese and the like, the ability to press the seam allowances either way is great. I think for this I'm going to stick with the regular method, I don't see any mention in the book of her trying the other way, but this particular project has very tiny pieces, the logs are barely 1/4 inch wide, it would be very fiddly to fold. She gives patterns for miniature, medium and large, the large is pretty big, I think the largest one would present challenges for this method simply due to the length of the longer seams - the middle size probably is a good candidate though. The method Sharon details has you folding the foundation once stitched and using and a quarter or add an eight rulers to trim the seam allowance, if I do regular foundation piecing I either trim with scissors or not at all, with Judy Mathieson's method I did it with a regular ruler and rotary cutter. I don't have either of the "add a" rulers, I'm thinking I might drop down a needle size for this project, which would mean going shopping, so I may pick one up. I've had good results from dropping a needle size for miniatures, but I've not tried it for foundation piecing

- I'll have plenty of time to play given I'm doing 32!

Anne

I've already copied the foundations on to Carol Doak's foundation paper, I've not used it before, but if feels like if I go for a small stitch and make sure to be more than just a single stitch past the line at either end that it should come off ok, I think it's in this book that I saw the suggestion to score the line with the back of a seam ripper if it doesn't come off easily.

As for the quilting, I've had my worries about that! the logs are 1/4 inch thick, so almost everywhere is going to have a seam allowance under it. However the finished diamond is about 6 inches long and 4 inches wide, so with the right batting choice it would definitely be possible to only quilt in the non pieced sections.

Do you have pictures? I adore looking at miniatures.

Cheers Anne

I just checked and her method has you leave the seam allowance on the pattern, then stay stitching in the middle of the seam allowance before joining.

She's obviously put a lot of work into perfecting her method and there are a few mentions of things that went wrong and things that people tried in her classes that did or didn't work, but you never know everything that has been tried! Also, it looks like she's only done one miniature out of numerous larger quilts in this style (many are prizewinning at big shows), so what is the best for a bigger one may not be for a smaller one!

Cheers Anne