success, mostly

Louise posted a stunning quilt in December.

I didn't see it until mid-January,

but I haven't been able to get it out of my head since.

Go look at it  ~ I'll wait...

See what I mean?!

Isn't that striking?!?

But.

But,

it's paper pieced.

Foundation; not English

paper pieced.

And if you know me,

you know that I 

am not much 'into' foundation paper piecing.

At all.

Neither is my Juki

(which is, quite possibly, the biggest reason I am not a fan)

But gosh.

That quilt!

I tried to think about how I could make it without the blasted paper part,

and I sat down more than once with graph paper, pencil, glue, and scissors.

I looked at Amanda's Tutorial for a regular (as opposed to inside out) pineapple block.

But nope, that wouldn't work for this block.

I googled every combination of words I could think of,

but the only pattern (free or otherwise) that I could find

for an inside out pineapple block

was Louise's.

And - as previously noted -  it's paper pieced.

I reeeeally don't like paper piecing.

(I may have mentioned? ;-)

sigh.

Then,

Nettie posted her mountain majesties quilt.

And I thought "those mountains look an awful lot like a pineapple..."

so I followed her link to the tute.

The way they were created was quite clever,

but it wouldn't work for my needs.

Not long after that,

Kathy shared (among other things) her cute hedgehog.

Hmm. The spikes look similar to what I needed 

for an inside out pineapple block.

I asked her about the method for making them, 

but she didn't get back with me,

so I just continued puzzling over it.

My mind kept going back to Nettie's black and white quilt

and those hedgehog spikes.

Surely,

I could figure this out....

I sat down

- yet again -

with my graph paper,

but after 20 minutes 

of more erasing than writing,

I said, "Screw it.

I'm just going to have to figure it out with fabric.

And you know what??

I did!

I figured out 

how to make a non-paper-pieced inside-out pineapple block!!

For my first one, 

the colored sections were a half inch too short

and when I made the final 'round' I had a triangle instead of a trapezoid.

(I didn't bother to finish that block)

My second block, I increased the length of the colored sections appropriately

but when I got the block finished,

I thought maybe my strips weren't quite wide enough,

so I made another block,

adjusting measurements as I went.

(so.much. math!)

I wanted a larger block,

so I could still use the same 4x5 configuration that Louise used,

but have a larger quilt.

Now, though, 

at 15.5",

I'm wondering if maybe it's a little too big...

And maybe I should go back to the 1 1/4 inch colored strips,

but decrease the center square.

(it's the proportion of the colored strips / strip section as a whole

 to the center square that I think feels a little 'off')

I think I'm going to leave these up on a my wall for a while

and get back to my commission project,

while I decide.

What would you do??

Shrink

 the center square

 or leave it as is?

Go with the thicker color strip sets

or use the thinner?

Whatever I settle on,

it won't be paper piecing,

and I'm pretty tickled about that.

Linking up with Amanda Jean.

It may not be a finished quilt

or even a finished top,

but

in my little world,

it's a big finish

all the same.