Blocks of Pineapples

Or is it Pineapple Blocks? 

Here are shots of my latest project, a custom order of my Organic Baby Quilt, but in a different color way.  It will be alternating red and blue blocks with a blue border and red binding.  I think this will be really sweet and classic for my client’s new grandbaby.

 Lately things have been pretty crazy.  Both of the children are sick and I have been knee deep in stuff for the CPSIA (see previous posts or my Facebook page).  On Monday, I was asked to testify before the state Senate Appropriations Committee and after waiting three hours, I was not given a chance to talk.  Typical government – they cut off more than a dozen people waiting to testify in my location alone (the state capitol) and many more at the satellite locations.  We were all connected together through an interactive TV network – which, by the way, is on the chopping block of the fore mentioned committee.  Typical.

On a happy note, my kids are jumping out of their skins with excitement.  We fly out next Thursday to Orlando and we have promised to take the kids to Disney and Sea World.  We have tickets on my son’s birthday to have lunch pool side with Shamu, which should be a lot of fun.  Grandma and Grandpa have rented a villa for a month and we get to stay with them for free.  All we have to pay for is the plane, food, tickets to parks, entertainment, car rental (their only request was that we must have a mini van), and anything else we do down there.  I am nervous about the cost, but as my husband said, how often will we get a chance like this?  I will admit, though, that the tickets to Cirque de Soleil look like a lot of fun!

 

Organic Baby Quilts

Here it is – my first organic baby quilt!  This great quilt has certified 100% organic cotton fabrics in an unbleached, natural cotton and a checked homespun.  The batting is an environmentally friendly batting made from fast growing plantation trees that are broken down in a green facility and spun into cellulose fibers.  The batting is biodegradable, hypo-allergenic, and fire retardant without the use of harsh chemicals!  The fire retardant properties are due to the natural way the plantation trees grow and contain silica in their pulp.  This silica in turn allows the batting to be naturally fire retardant!

When I was designing this quilt, I had a hard time trying to come up with a pattern that would suit a two toned quilt.  I was playing around in my EQ6 (electric quilt 6 software) and saw the pineapple blocks.  I had never done a pineapple block but have always wanted to.  When I laid it all out and added the two colors, I loved it!  I really like the depth that the two tones give the quilt – almost a 3D quality. 

The best way to do this quilt block was to print paper foundations for each of the pineapple blocks and piece it that way (highly recommend Carol Doak’s paper-piecing foundation paper and Add-a-Quarter rulers).  I was afraid that if I tried to strip piece this together, the blocks might start to twist and spin instead of lining up nicely.

So, once this was all settled, I got started cutting out the pieces and putting this quilt together.  I must say, if I had realized that one baby quilt has over 350 pieces, I may have re-thought the design!    You can see at the left a shot of the foundations in progress.  I believe I am putting on the corner pieces of the blocks in this shot.

Thirty hours later, this quilt is now finished!  I was so excited to get it done as I have been wanting to start an organics line of baby quilts and I think this gets the line off to a wonderful start!  Vermont Hand Crafters, a craft group I belong to, is filming a segment for Across the Fence, a show about local products on WCAX Channel 3.  They asked me for a sample of my work and were excited when I gave them this quilt to put on the air.  If you have access to Channel 3, please watch on 11/17 from 12:10 to 12:30 EST.

 

 

Environmentally Friendly Blankets

     

I am pleased to be able to finally announce the first of the environmentally friendly Toddler Blankets!  These blankets still contain designer 100% cotton fabrics and chenille fleece, but the batting is a unique 100% fire retardant rayon made from plantation trees!  These trees are harvested and processed in a green facility where the fibers are broken down and made into super soft biodegradable batting.  And the really cool byproduct of the manufacturing process is the natural silica in the tree fibers makes this batting fire retardant without the use of chemicals!  So it is both environmentally friendly and safe for your baby!

So look for the upcoming quilts at my store to feature this new batting as I feel it is both better for your baby and better for our planet.