Chocolate Cherries Sampler
By: Caryl Laubach
Fall Creek, WI
My quilt group, the Stitching Pals, agreed in October 2010 to work with 12 Nine Patch Nirvana block patterns and sew a sampler charity quilt each month for the year. The idea was that a color set would be chosen, and we would each take 1 pattern, make a block in those colors, then return the block and the pattern. The next month, there would be a different color choice, you’d get a different pattern, and by the end of the year you would have made one of each block (or two if you wanted to make a sampler of your own). Only so many members wanted to participate that we ended up with 2 sets of block patterns and 2 charity quilts each month. So for November, we did Fall Colors with off white. For December, Christmas Colors. January was Blue, Silver, White, with Black allowed. February was Chocolate Cherries–brown and cherry color, with off white.
Well, a phenomenon was happening. When people put their block on the flannel board and turned in their pattern, they wanted to start the next one right away. So by mid-December, we were working on February’s block! I’d ordered a Pebbles-Cocoa and a Pebbles-Pomegranate (red) fat quarter from Connecting Threads batik collection for the February block when I was ordering something else. And I loved the combination when I made the block and decided to order yardages, adding Pebbles-Irish Cream. I’d been thinking of making a sampler, but I wanted more of a challenge than the Nirvana blocks, so . . . This is how my Chocolate Cherries Sampler came to be.
But let me tell you the rest of the Nine Patch Nirvana project. March was Andes Mints (brown and green). April was Jelly Beans, but someone dug into their stash and donated an off-white fabric which our leader used to cut all the background pieces for all 24 blocks, sorting them into plastic sandwich bags, and we each got the background pieces for our pattern and had to add colors to go with the background. For the rest of the project, our leader cut the background pieces for our blocks, a real labor of love that gave a cohesiveness to the resulting quilts. May was Pastels; June was Child’s Play–a couple of black background fabric–one with bright little beetles and bees, the other with alphabetic characters scattered around; July was Faded Glory in soft blues, reds, cream; August was Puff the Magic Dragon, a lavender background with colorful dragon motifs; September was “Manly” in black, browns, and off-white; and October was Batiks. And, would you believe??? The last blocks were finished by mid-June!!!
As soon as all the blocks were in, volunteers would take a stack of 12 blocks, and create a quilt. The group provided batting and backing fabrics, but the volunteers provided any fabrics needed to finish their 12 blocks into a top. You would not believe the variety of settings that were used! Some people who got kids’ blocks used their 12 blocks to make 2 smaller 6-block quilts. Some used pretty standard settings. Some made extra blocks and used on-point settings. Me, I’d never given settings much thought before. I ordered 3 books on settings to study, and I ended up taking the last 12 blocks to work on. Most of the quilts were quilted either on people’s home machines or on the group’s Handiquilter, or by our two long-arm quilters (bless their hearts!).
When the morning quilt group, The Piecemakers of Chippewa Falls, had their annual quilt show in August, in the Senior Center where we each have a dedicated classroom (literally, this is an old two-story school building) and often share each other’s space, we displayed our 26+ charity quilts in our room. And it was spectacular! http://web.mac.com/marinebull/iWeb/9%20Patch%20Nirvana%20Project/Photos.html
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