Cherry Surprise quilt
02-15-2009, 05:17 PM
#46
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 17,636
was just re-reading some of the replies.
I know you are going to put smaller cherries in the border.
I like that idea. For the center, what if you put pins straight thru the cherry on back so the points (of pins) would show you where to mark on the front, and then echo that. Just an idea. I wouldn't do anything to take away from the beauty that is already there. This is just one of those quilts that will surpass time. It's simple in design, but the fabrics and the cherries have struck a chord that most of us relate to. It's like de ja vu or something. Familiar and friendly. :D
I know you are going to put smaller cherries in the border.
I like that idea. For the center, what if you put pins straight thru the cherry on back so the points (of pins) would show you where to mark on the front, and then echo that. Just an idea. I wouldn't do anything to take away from the beauty that is already there. This is just one of those quilts that will surpass time. It's simple in design, but the fabrics and the cherries have struck a chord that most of us relate to. It's like de ja vu or something. Familiar and friendly. :D
02-16-2009, 05:34 PM
#47
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Menominee, Michigan
Posts: 914
Oh, wow, I LOVE the idea of echoing the "back" cherry. I had not thought of that at all. I think that is what I will do. I have been really procrastinating marking it, although I did pick up a marking pen for dark fabrics so I have gotten that far at least. LOL! Thank you so much for the idea! I also was thinking of trying to find a clear thread for the hand quilting. Not sure if that is even available.
Regarding fabric choices, when I make a quilt with a theme I try to use non-themed fabric. Like, if I were going to make an "Americana" type quilt, I would use red, white and blue fabric, but not Americana fabric with flags or whatever. I would look for blue florals and red polk-a-dots and so forth. Does that make sense?
I had a friend who kept buying me different cherry themed fabrics, but I told her I didn't want much actual cherry fabric in my cherry quilt. She thought I was a bit nuts, but now that she saw the quilt, she agrees with me. I did use some of it, but most of the fabric in the quilt is polk-a-dots or more graphic-type prints, stripes, plaids and the like, plus a few florals. There are only about 5 cherry prints total. I love the different cherry fabrics she got me, though, and will definitely use them in the future. (I am extremely lucky to have this person for a friend because she is always buying me little presents for no reason- YAY!)
As far as the pattern goes, I got the cherry part out of a Good Housekeeping book. I found it on Amazon and it's out of print now, but you can get used ones. link: http://www.amazon.ca/101-Full-Size-Q.../dp/0696207397
I did not overly care for their setting pattern, which was pretty, but a bit too fussy for me- it's diamonds set in strips using 30's fabrics and it uses 48 cherry squares. The original quilt is a Depression era quilt- the pattern in the book remakes the antique quilt. So I made a bunch of cherry blocks on white, then cut them down to finish at 8" square. I always make my applique background squares bigger to start and then cut them down as machine applique seems to shrink/distort them a little. I used fusible web and a tight machine zig-zag stitch. (I put old magazine pages under my squares instead of the tear-away stuff you can buy. It works, and is also recycling!)
Then I made, well, I guess they would be courthouse steps squares, just strips around the cherry square using random placement of red, black, white and green fabrics. (I used both bright and dark reds and bright and dark greens.) No fabric is used more than 3 or 4 times and most of them only twice. I used a couple of "precious" scraps that I loved and didn't want to use up and I knew I would be keeping and treasuring this quilt so I put them in here.
There are two kinds of courthouse steps blocks and I just alternated them- one block had a 1 inch inner strip and a 2 inch outer strip and the other had a 2 inch inner strip and a 1 inch outer strip. (These are finished measurements.)
I set the squares 5 x 6, and tried not to have any 2 of the same fabric touch each other. That wasn't too hard, because I had so many different ones.
The white border is 6 inches, and the 3 green ones go: 1", 1-1/4", and 1-1/2". I think that borders like that look best when you make each one a tiny bit bigger as you go out. I wish I had found a better green for the middle stripe, but I don't have a Joann's or Hancock or anything nearby. I only have the LQS or Walmart, so had to make do with a pretty limited selection of mottled greens.
Hope that helps anyone who wants to make one, too. If you need more help just PM me.
I appreciate the compliments so much! Thank you all! I am very proud of this quilt and it makes me so happy to look at it all folded up waiting to be quilted.
Regarding fabric choices, when I make a quilt with a theme I try to use non-themed fabric. Like, if I were going to make an "Americana" type quilt, I would use red, white and blue fabric, but not Americana fabric with flags or whatever. I would look for blue florals and red polk-a-dots and so forth. Does that make sense?
I had a friend who kept buying me different cherry themed fabrics, but I told her I didn't want much actual cherry fabric in my cherry quilt. She thought I was a bit nuts, but now that she saw the quilt, she agrees with me. I did use some of it, but most of the fabric in the quilt is polk-a-dots or more graphic-type prints, stripes, plaids and the like, plus a few florals. There are only about 5 cherry prints total. I love the different cherry fabrics she got me, though, and will definitely use them in the future. (I am extremely lucky to have this person for a friend because she is always buying me little presents for no reason- YAY!)
As far as the pattern goes, I got the cherry part out of a Good Housekeeping book. I found it on Amazon and it's out of print now, but you can get used ones. link: http://www.amazon.ca/101-Full-Size-Q.../dp/0696207397
I did not overly care for their setting pattern, which was pretty, but a bit too fussy for me- it's diamonds set in strips using 30's fabrics and it uses 48 cherry squares. The original quilt is a Depression era quilt- the pattern in the book remakes the antique quilt. So I made a bunch of cherry blocks on white, then cut them down to finish at 8" square. I always make my applique background squares bigger to start and then cut them down as machine applique seems to shrink/distort them a little. I used fusible web and a tight machine zig-zag stitch. (I put old magazine pages under my squares instead of the tear-away stuff you can buy. It works, and is also recycling!)
Then I made, well, I guess they would be courthouse steps squares, just strips around the cherry square using random placement of red, black, white and green fabrics. (I used both bright and dark reds and bright and dark greens.) No fabric is used more than 3 or 4 times and most of them only twice. I used a couple of "precious" scraps that I loved and didn't want to use up and I knew I would be keeping and treasuring this quilt so I put them in here.
There are two kinds of courthouse steps blocks and I just alternated them- one block had a 1 inch inner strip and a 2 inch outer strip and the other had a 2 inch inner strip and a 1 inch outer strip. (These are finished measurements.)
I set the squares 5 x 6, and tried not to have any 2 of the same fabric touch each other. That wasn't too hard, because I had so many different ones.
The white border is 6 inches, and the 3 green ones go: 1", 1-1/4", and 1-1/2". I think that borders like that look best when you make each one a tiny bit bigger as you go out. I wish I had found a better green for the middle stripe, but I don't have a Joann's or Hancock or anything nearby. I only have the LQS or Walmart, so had to make do with a pretty limited selection of mottled greens.
Hope that helps anyone who wants to make one, too. If you need more help just PM me.
I appreciate the compliments so much! Thank you all! I am very proud of this quilt and it makes me so happy to look at it all folded up waiting to be quilted.
02-16-2009, 08:41 PM
#49
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 17,636
lisa, never thought of using magazines this way...how clever is that??? that's definitely going in my Tips on here, so I won't forget. Thanks for the info on quilt, cause I have a lot of reds and thinking someday...someday, lol! :D
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