When I was little, we had a punched copper pineapple in the entryway with “Welcome” painted across the bottom. I always wondered why a pineapple? What makes it so welcoming? Well, according to my mom, and a quick google search, pineapples have been symbols of hospitality since colonial times. As one of the quirky cool discoveries from the New World, everyone wanted to be seen with one. Royalty even had paintings commissioned to commemorate the occasion.

Charles II Presented with a Pineapple

The pineapple turned into a status symbol, for it was of limited supply and high demand, which became an artistic movement. If you couldn’t rent a pineapple (yes, really) for your centerpiece, then by golly you could show your guests you cared by carving one at the end of a bannister or painting one on your door. Or if you really wanted to let the world know how hospitable you were, you could turn your entire house into a pineapple.

Dunmore Pineapple Folly built for Lord Murray

And after a quick tour around my local Target, I can say that the pineapple is still very trendy. Not turn-your-house-into-a-pineapple trendy, but close.

So in honor of trends old and new, and to say a big welcome to the fabric.com Summer Block Party, let’s have some Candied Pineapple.

The Summer Block Party works like this; twice a week for the next four weeks, one quilt pattern designer will share their summer block. All the blocks are 12″, perfect to throw together in a quilt or make a table runner or make a door hanger, the sky’s the limit! The fun people at fabric.com are working on building a free block library, so this block party will be the first in a line of parties (they’re party kind of people). Whenever you need a fun quilt block, you can check their library first.

When I went looking for fabric for my Candied Pineapple, I knew I need to keep track of four things:

• I need three separate shades of green, whether that meant a gradation (which is what I went with) or scale, I didn’t want them to mush
• I need three separate yellows, I wanted to keep the tones similar but the patterns different
• I need a background that wouldn’t bleed into the yellows, so if it was a low volume then it needed something other than yellow for the print
• I want a pink that has lots going on, so it can pull double duty and look like it’s more fabrics than it is

I’m pretty pleased with what I turned up. Fabric.com has oodles and oodles of fabric, so instead of searching by designer and going with people and brands I see all the time, I mixed it up and just searched by color. I found things I wouldn’t normally find, like the geometric yellow and the leafy green pluses, that work really well in the block. My greens can be found here, here, and here. My pineapple-y yellows are here, here, and here. And I bet you’d never guess that the pink is a giant Philip Jacobs tulip print, click here. I will admit that I specifically searched for the background, this fabric here; it’s a Cotton and Steel basic sprinkle in jelly bracelet, aka neon pink, and I have a mild obsession with it.

The block is based on flying geese, so it goes together in a snap. Then just add on more of your luscious background as spacers to square up your block, and you’re all done. Click here to get the pattern from fabric.com’s free block library.

Easy-peasy-pineapple-squeasy.

Next in the line up is Initial K Studio with her Nautical Stripes Block. Have fun with your Candied Pineapples and welcome to the fabric.com Summer Block Party!