3 Questions Before You Start An EPP Quilt - Cherish Quilt

We make quilts for all kinds of reasons - to learn a new skill, to enjoy creative escape, to keep our hands busy during a waiting or stressful season, to showcase some favourite fabric, or as a gift for a special occasion. Beginning a long term project like Cherish quilt is a good chance to tune in to what you need your quilt to be in this season, no matter whether it's a gift or a quilt to keep. In my experience, if I skip this question, I find myself giving up part way through the quilt. It's either too boring or too demanding, and not what I need right now.

Do you want your quilt to be undemanding and easy? Every so often, my brain needs a jigsaw puzzle or a paint-by-numbers or a needlepoint kit. You know the kind of experience I mean? Something that's meditative and calming and doesn't need me to make many decisions. When I've wanted a quilt to fulfil this purpose in the past, I've chosen an easy 2 or 3 colour palette, and make a decision about placement, and then sewn away without having to make any further choices. You can see examples here with my Hexie Harvest or here with my Ice Cream Soda. Both of these quilts use joining pieces to separate the blocks, so taking this approach with Cherish might look a little different. Perhaps you could lay out some simple rules like my mum did with her Cherish Quilt above, using a small collection of feature prints in the centre, and then a limited palette of solids and basics for the borders. Or perhaps you use a favourite fabric bundle to limit your fabric options.

Making a quilt this way isn’t a cop-out or cheating. It’s acknowledging that if the thing that’s going to stall you is fabric choices, then making a few simple ones at the start could enable easy and sustained progress.

Other ideas for an undemanding Cherish:

• Use the colouring sheet in the pattern and plan out your colours before you begin. (There’s a beautiful example of this in all blues in the Substack chat!)
• Make the hexagons and half hexies a background tone and use multi-coloured scraps for the diamonds.
• For my Anna Maria Vivacious version below, I made 4 repeated blocks from the same fabric to reduce the decision making load while making the quilt.

Or, do you want your quilt to ENGAGE you? Want to master fabric placement or colour choices? Want to work in a palette outside your comfort zone? Want to dig through your fun stash of novelty prints? Making a quilt for this reason is an opportunity to EMBRACE the decision making process and the time it takes. You're not in a rush, you're enjoying auditioning prints, you're tuning in to the way different blocks make you feel, and you're learning how to replicate your favourites. When I make a quilt like this, I just love using my scraps and stash. It's the perfect way to get to know what you have and the best ways to use it. It always teaches me which fabrics always seem to look great, which then helps me shop in a more discerning manner down the track.

We usually dive straight into this question first, but in my experience, unless I’ve tuned into how busy I am or stressed, or bored and looking for a challenge, then the quilt just stalls after the first few blocks no matter how lovely it’s looking. It’s either too same-same, or not same-same enough!

Cherish Quilt is a great teacher of colour. In my early EPP days, I quickly realised that making a block in rounds or borders like this was very different to sewing single-shape scrappy quilts, or machine sewn half square triangles like I was used to. I was used to using big florals, and the small triangle cut from them looked great in a scrappy sea, but in rounds, they looked a bit blaa, messy, and flat. It was like I needed to learn what looked good all over again!

If you're new to putting colours together this way, I highly recommend embracing Cherish as a gentle teacher. After each block or few, ask what you like or don't like, and either replicate it or adjust the kinds of fabrics you're using. If the collection you're using just isn't turning out the way you want, give yourself permission to bring in other prints. Likewise, regardless of how it looks, if you're not enjoying the process (maybe you've started fussy cutting and you realise you find it slow and tedious), tune in and experiment! Let go of any need for this quilt to turn out perfect. Use the approach, "Through this quilt I am going to grow in confidence with colour and placement" rather than "I need to understand colour and placement before I can start this quilt." And don’t worry, we’ll go into more detail in the coming weeks.

Want more Cherish colour inspiration? Head to this blog post where Lisa has curated a variety to show off different ways fabric can be used in Cherish to make beautiful quilts.

After years of making EPP blocks I've discovered I actually prefer making quilts ‘round at a time’ rather than ‘block at a time’. Read my explanation of both methods and decide which one suits you!

Block at a time. Most people make Cherish quilt and lots of other EPP quilts this way. You choose all the fabric for a whole block, cut and baste it, then stitch it, then repeat the process. In reality, many people probably prepare a few blocks at once, so that they can be sewn over a period of time before you have to bring out your stash again. As you make progress in this method, you can develop little routines that help you make progress, like basting a good amount of blocks to stitch on the weekend, and then having them available to stitch through the week.

This is a great method if:

• you like to have a block completely finished and added to the pile as you go.
• you're experimenting with colour and fabric and want to learn as you go.
• you get bored working on a single step for the whole quilt at once and like the option to mix it up - cut, baste, stitch, cut, baste, stitch.

Round at a time. As I shared in this post, this has become my new favourite. I always struggle with worry that my blocks aren’t going to look good together once I’ve finished. I don't like getting to the end and discovering that it's too yellow, or that I kept reaching for the same print for the outside round, or that it's too busy and I should have used more basics. You can avoid this outcome by checking in as you go, but I've found making ALL the inside hexagons, then choosing the prints for ALL the first rounds of diamonds, and then the following shapes, dissipates any worry about balance. I think it’s because I’m less likely to use the same print over and over if it’s set aside with a hexagon and its other shapes somewhere else on my table. And with it all laid out, I get a good sense of the colours I’m using and if I should dig out some more greens. When I make a quilt this way, I put all the prepped parts of a block in a ziplock bag so it's just as portable as the alternative.

This is a good option for you if:

• you have limited decision making resources or focussed time. You only need 3-4 big decision making sessions rather than several smaller ones.
• you are using a fabric collection and want to make sure you have a good spread of prints across the quilt.
• you like the idea of making a fully prepared ‘kit’ for yourself. Once your shapes are prepared, all you need to do is enjoy stitching them!

Sometimes it’s easier to tune into these wants and needs by trial and error rather than putting a lot of thought into it first - you just need to start before you can figure out what works for you! But over the years, I've found that having these three questions settled - my purpose, my fabric, my construction - makes it much easier to confidently make smooth progress on my quilts.

Join the conversation! What are your plans for your Cherish Quilt? What’s going to make it easy for you to enjoy your stitching?