Cherry House Quilts

Fruit Sliced Gum quilt layout options

Hey quilty friends,

How are you coming with your quilt? Are your blocks ready to sew together?  I'll show four layout options here for quilt tops using 30 blocks.  Feel free to use one of these, or create your own!  There is no right or wrong, just whatever looks best to you.  I like these all so much, I want to make one of each...what cheery scraps!

Option 1 
Option 2
Option 3
Option 4
   
Here's last weeks instructions to print Download Fruit Stripe Gum Part 3

Okay...time to sew!  Next, quilting our quilts - the best part maybe?  What is your favorite part?

Happy Sewing,

Cherri 

Fruit Strip Gum Quilt Part 3

Before we begin, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!  Though an American holiday, I think many countries have a day of thanks. What a wonderful way to spend a day; giving thanks for all that we are blessed with.  There is so much that I am thankful for, my family first and foremost, they are more precious to me than gold, and I love them without measure.  I am thankful for all of you, and I am thankful for quilting...it is so much more than the sum of its parts!

Okay...onto our scrappy quilt along

Here is the pdf of last weeks' instructions Download Fsgum part 2

This is what your completed block should look like prior to trimming.  Try not to be anxious about the excess fabric, remember this is a scrap project, and the goal is to use up our fabric!

This is the block from the back, trim the block from the back, to loosely align with the NFNW interfacing, in order to steer clear of those pesky bias edges.

 Line up your 9.5'' ruler on the diagonal, with the longest white strip in the center

Trim away the excess

Ta Da...a finished block!  29 more to go!

Trim those blocks, next week, making the top!

Remember, keep the white strips in the center of the blocks...this will give unity to your scrap quilt.

Can't wait for everyone to start adding your blocks to our Flickr group! 

See you next week!

Cherri

Fruit Stripe Gum Part 2

Ready to sew...here we go!

Here are the cut NFNW (non fusible/non woven) interfacing squares

Take your sorted strips of fabric (remember to sort by color)

Take a square of NFNW interfacing, lay it down on the flat surface, on the diagonal.

Place a white fabric strip in the center right side up, and lay a colored strip on top of it, right side down, stitch (1/4'' seam allowance), press open. **Important note: Reduce the heat of the iron to medium when pressing open the strips.  A too hot iron will cause the NFNW interfacing to shrivel.

Add another strip of white, stitch, press open

Continue to add fabric until the entire block is covered. 

Here are the colors, and # of blocks included in the Fruit Strip Gum Quilt:

Yellow 5

Green 5

Orange 4

Pink 5

Blue 6

Purple 5
 
 Next Thursday, trimming blocks!

If you have any questions, leave me a comment, and I'll answer them in the comment section as well.

Thanks for joining me, and remember to have FUN!!!

Cherri
 
 

Fruit Striped Gum Quilt Along...all the details

Ready to get started on our Fruit Striped Gum Quilt Along?  Ready to use up those scraps?  Here's how we will get started...

• Gather all of your scraps in white - whether solid, tone on tone, any thing in this neighborhood - you will need lots of white fabric
• Gather all of your pastels...anything really light to medium in color 
• Sort the scraps into color families...all the yellows together, all the pinks, all the greens, purples, blues, etc.
• Length of scraps 4'' to 15''
• Width of scraps 1'' to 3''
• How many scraps?  Lots and lots...there is no definitive answer to this, remember it started as a project to use up all of my scraps
• You will need a foundation for sewing your scraps to...I prefer non fusible, non woven interfacing (NFNW) lightweight, this is sold by the yard or in packages.  I purchase mine by yard, which is 22'' wide.  This is my personal preference, feel free to use this, or a lightweight muslin.  I use this because it provides stability to the various weights of fabric, as well as eliminating any issues to fabrics that have been cut on the bias.
• 4 1/2 yards of NFNW interfacing, or other foundation material (this is for 22'' wide NFNW interfacing), recalculate if using a 42'' wide material).
• Cut interfacing/foundation material into 10" squares
• 9 1/2" square ruler - for squaring up later
• sewing machine, iron, rotary cutter, rotary mat - all the usual quilting supplies

Quilt Block - 9" finished

Quilt Size - 44" x 54" in a 5 by 6 configuration...you can make yours larger, or smaller depending on how many scraps you have

Here's the link for the Scrap Quilt Along Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1286594@N21/

Here are the badges:

150 x 150  

200 x 200   

link to www.cherryhousequilts.com

Click here to Download Scrap Quilt Along pdf

You are ready to get started!  Gather all your materials, sort as noted above, cut your foundation material to size, and on Thursday will be begin sewing!!!

Thank you for joining me on this journey!  I hope you will have a great time, that you will use up your scraps, and have something of beauty when it's all said and done.

Cherri 

How about a scrappy quilt along?

A while back I introduced you to my 'One Mountain, Ten Quilts'  a series of 10 quilts that I created from a very large, very stuffed bag of scraps that I couldn't bear to throw away.  The scraps that had been saved were very similar in terms of color and style...mostly pastels, many children's prints - quite literally leftover scraps of fabric from clothing I had sewn for my sweet children when they were little ones.  I had made a game of using as many of the scraps that I could, and I imposed some rules as well...

1. The #1 rule was, that I could add as much white (solid or tone on tone) fabric as I needed.
2. I could pull from my stash for the quilt backs
3. Every quilt had to be different - not 10 of the same quilts
4. I needed to push myself in terms of new styles, or techniques that I hadn't tried before
5. Keep making quilts until I ran out of fabric
6. I couldn't purchase anything to make these quilts...not thread, not batting, NOTHING - everything had to come from what I had on hand
7. The sum of the quilts needed to be cohesive
8. Have fun!

One mountain of fabric, and 10 quilts later, and the fabric was basically gone...all that was left were little bite size pieces of fabric that really were too tiny to use.  By the time I got to the end, I had discovered the some of the quilts were better than others (one was downright awful), that strict limitations can truly push creativity, and working outside of my comfort zone, as anxiety producing as it was; was good for me.

At the time that I was blogging about this, many of you expressed a desire to use up your scraps, but were perplexed on how to start...so, how about a Scrap Quilt Along?  We will create two of my favorite One Mountain, Ten Quilts quilts if you would like to participate.

How to get started?  First, tell me if you are interested, and would like to join along.  Second, vote on whether you would rather start on Children's Lit, or Fruit Strip Gum.  As soon a decision is reached, I'll provide you with a supply list, and we will get started!

Children's Lit

Fruit Sliced Gum

  

Peter Rabbit Quilt/Quilt #6

Hi Friends!  We are at #6 in the One Mountain, Ten Quilts series.  I love that everyone is now referring to them as the "Mountain Quilts", I really do love it!  I should explain that these quilts are not numbered in the order that I made them, only in the order I have presented them.  Actually this was one of the first that I made, you can tell because there were still big pieces of fabric available, and full length strips! 

Everyone is probably aware of how the center sections are made, but I'll review just in case you are unfamiliar.  The first time I saw this done on Simply Quilts, I thought it a life changing moment!!! What a great method for creating an Around the World type of block:

• All of the center sections units were made with strips 2" x WOF
• Sew 5 strips together, press all seam allowances in the same direction
• Fold the fabric lengthwise in half, right sides together, and sew to create a long tube
• With a rotary cutter cut 2" sections the entire length of the tube - in teaching I call this the frozen cookie dough method.
• Determine the fabric you want to run diagonally in the center, then unstitch one of the two 2" units so that the corner fabric is in the correct position.
• Continue to do this with the next 4 strip sections, unstitching at the next join to keep the fabrics in the correct order
• Press the unstitched seam allowances flat
• Pin the units together by two's, and sew, continue to complete the block
• Ta da...before you know it, you have a bunch of beautiful blocks that look like they took forever to make, but were really done in a fraction of the time

Here's a close up of the center section:

A few more details about the quilt that I normally forget until after I have posted...

• Quilt Size 38 x 38
• I'm not sure if you can tell by the photo but quilt is quilted, and was bound in yellow, the same as the back of the quilt, but I hated the binding, so I cut it off, and now I have to start over.  Green I think...yes / no??? 

Until next time, Happy Weekend!

Cherri

Fruit Stripe Gum Quilt Love

Fruit Stripe Gum Zebra
Originally uploaded by Waffle Whiffer

I'm feeling all of the love for the Fruit Stripe Gum Quilt, and I just have to say "thank you, thank you, thank you!" I feel like Sally Fields when she said, "You like me, you really, really like me", but in this case it's the quilt you like! I'd hope you'd like it, I'd hoped it would make you as happy as it makes me. So many of you guys have left comments about remembering fruit stripe gum, the scent, the song, the commercials, and the zebra. I found a couple of images on Flickr that I thought would be fun to share.

I'll be putting up photos of the next 'Mountain' quilt soon. I don't have a name for it yet; it's just quilt #6 for now.

 

Fruit Stripe Gum Quilt / Quilt #5

Here's is the quilt that I kept talking about...I love this quilt, I think it is so fun!  It's totally the fruit stripe gum quilt to me; do you think the Wrigley corporation will come after me for calling it that?  Hope not.  Can you think of a better name?  I'm open to all suggestions.

A few things about this quilt

• Again, these blocks are sewn on to non-fusible/non-woven interfacing.  Can you imagine trying to deal with all of those bias edges? 
• I used a flip and sew method to create the blocks
• What unites the block?  The use of the same color family throughout the block.  You can use quite a bit of leeway in this, just make sure they are in the same family.
• What unites the quilt?   The consistent use of white throughout.  All kinds of whites, many white on white scraps were used.

Here's a close up of a section

 See that yellow stripe right above, with the bunny?  That is a leftover from my son's baby quilt I made before he was born.  Five quilts down in my One Mountain, Ten Quilts project; five more to go...I hope you are enjoying this adventure.  It's been fun sharing these quilts with you!

Happy Friday,

Cherri 

Children's Lit. or Quilt #4

Quilt Size 37 x 51  Picking my favorite quilt from the One Mountain, Ten Quilt series has to be like picking a favorite child.  Maybe the one you are with at the moment is your favorite.  For the moment, this is my fav!  Lizzy and Ashlee helped me named this quilt Children's Lit. because they thought it looked like leaning books on a shelf.  On a side note if you ever need anything named, ask Lizzy - she has mad, crazy naming skills.  We had a dog named Olive, but before she decided on Olive; it was going to be Potato...ask her sometime about the names of Peppermint's litter of kittens - a blog worthy post in and of itself. 

Back to quilts - I seemed to have caused a great deal of confusion in regards to my fondness for sewing on lightweight, non-fusible, non-woven interfacing.  I've taken a picture to help better demonstrate my use of the interfacing.  This is a photo of the back of the quilt top.  The rows are 37" L X 6" W, and I've sewn the scraps, strings, and some wedges to the long, narrow piece of interfacing.  I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem to not sew on it, I just like not having any issues with bias edges; or with the stability of tiny 3/4" strips of fabric.  Not to mention the stability it adds when sewing multiple weights of fabric in the same quilt.  The scraps in this quilt include really thin cotton, flannel, and these cool nubby fabrics Moda put out for a while that were heavier than normal cotton.  This helps everyone play together, better!

I really do love this quilt, because it has fabric straps leftover from sewing for my children when they were small.  I had 3 daughters within 4 years, so for a long time they all wore similar sizes.  One summer I made 6 tops, 6 skirts, and 6 shorts as sets - one of each piece from six different fabrics.  They were all coordinated, and they could all be interchanged.  It really was brilliant for them being able to have something different to wear everyday.  Little bits of these fabrics are in this quilt top, as well fabrics from the first "real" quilt I made for Lizzy for her 7th birthday.  See this sashing strips between?  Those were leftover from quilt #2...these quilts are all so interconnected.     What's the next quilt in the series???  The Fruit Stripe Gum Quilt - I know I have to think of another name, but that's what it looks like to me!

Okay friends...it's back to sewing for me,

Cherri