I love to use my machine’s embroidery unit for precision piecing. I do not really like paper based piecing but since my machine do it for me, my view changed. Blocks like Pineapple where the angles get wonky and blocks do not fit together paper based piecing or Piecing in the hoop is an essential method.
This Pineapple block (miniature) was created using the embroidery unit of my machine. This method is very suitable for miniature blocks. If the block cannot be pieced as a whole one can pièce the different units and then sew them together in a regular way. The Queenofstitching apparently has a method to complete the block in the hoop.
With the bigger hoop that many machines now have, once the block is pieced one can carry on and embroider the block as well as quilt the block. I have combined piecing and appliqué to achieve this. Bigger blocks can be sewn in half and then embroidered on this half before the other half are sewn in the hoop as I did in these blocks.
For a tutorial of these methods go here
I am not a machine quilter but that first block of yours positively glows. The colour combination is just perfect and we hand-piecers should take note of your colour choices.
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