Cherry House Quilts

away and back again

As you may have read over here my little Melissa was involved in a freak medical accident, one worthy of a freakish medical show on TLC.  Poor little thing required emergency surgery, and her souvenir was a 6'' vertical incision on her tummy.  She is home in Houston now; I went to care for her for a few days before she was well enough to travel, I did her laundry, shipped home a 100 lbs of school books (she missed her finals, and will now have to make them up).  I was finally able to bring her & her little cat Minkee home...is she a quilters' daughter or what?

That is why I have been away, and have been unable to post :-(   Consequently no post, and no update on the Scrap Quilt Along.  How are all of you coming on your project?  I hope you will start adding photos to the Flickr group.

This trauma with Melissa has been so difficult, and upsetting...there is no way to make sense of the whole event.  All I can do is try to take care of her, and help her move forward.  Each day has been getting better, and that is a blessing.  Last night Lizzy and I were at JoAnn's picking up something that she needed, and I'm thinking to myself, "okay, things are returning to normal; this is good, I can keep going".  Shortly after thinking this comical thought, I get a call from Ashlee, who had just been in an car accident on black ice; she will be okay...only a banged up knee.  I thought to myself, if my children don't stay safe I'm going to have a nervous breakdown.  Lizzy's on her way back to Idaho, everyone think good thoughts for her please, and consequently for me too!  Luke is going to Iraq in February, but I'm not even going to start focusing on that.  Being a mother is hard work; long distance or not.

Alright, I've cried on your collective shoulders, and I thank you!  I'm going to try to gather what remains of my sanity, and do what always helps me find my way.  Pray and sew...often, praying while sewing! 

Thank you my friends,

Cherri

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