Lee Merkel

On June 12, Lee Merkel passed away unexpectedly. Lee and Ellen volunteered with Col Potter - Ellen is a long term HSI team member and they did transports as a team - and have adopted cairns from us

As we have before, we are giving Ellen a group hug with a Heart Quilt. Julie Rosenau will assemble and quilt this one. She will collect blocks in June and July. We are looking for the quilt to be assembled in August.

 

As with all group quilts, we need folks to make similar sized blocks - and as with all heart quilts - you have your own choice of block to make. See the rules at the bottom to know the size to make your block. Remember - many of our Heart Block Quilters have little quilting experience - but lots of love.

Quilter  Sandy Tiller	Quilter  Sandy Tiller	Quilter  Charmaine Fedick	Quilter  Cheryl Jacobs
Quilter  Janet Ready	Quilter  Janet Ready	Quilter  Janet Ready	Quilter  Corinne Herron
Quilter  Karen Parrott	Quilter  Danielle Rackstraw	Quilter  Danielle Rackstraw	Quilter  Danielle Rackstraw
Quilter  Robin Alario	Quilter  Robin Alario	Quilter  Penny Mahar	Quilter  Penny Mahar
Quilter  Sandi K	Quilter  Maureen Ahern	Quilter  Kitty Kinavy	Quilter  Deb Williams
Quilter  Kaaren Jones	Quilter  Deb H in RI	Quilter  Karen Ortiz	Quilter  Becky Ellis
Quilter  Becky Ellis	Quilter  Susan Mower	Quilter  Backing Fabric	Quilter  Backing Fabric

The rules follow:

Finished block size will be 8 inches. We would prefer you send us a 9 inch quilt block to allow us to cut them perfectly square and still have room for the seam. You need to be sure your 'design' is in the 8 inch center area of your block.

Blocks can be ANY form of quilting: pieced, applique, fabric dye or paint on a white or ivory background color. Feel free to add embellishments like ribbons or buttons as decorations to give each square a unique look.

This is a HEART quilt so please have a heart on it, BUT you would be surprised at the variety of hearts you can do These blocks can be decorated any way you wish as long as something in it resembles a heart and fits on an 8" square. Every time we do this, we have a wide variety of methods and they all are lovely. Remember your square is one out of many - think of it as one part of a huge and loving hug.

Please use 100% cotton fabric for your square. This way we will all have the same fabric in it. If something on your square is NOT washable, please attach a note to the square. Please sign your square with a permanent pen, then iron the signature with a dry iron. This will permanently set it in place. It is also a good idea to wash the fabric before use so we do not have any shrinkage problems on the completed quilt.

When you are ready to mail us your square, send me a note at corinneh @ aol.com (remove spaces) and I will email you the shipping address.

The squares are due to me by July 15. I will ship them to the quilter the following week, for a delivery to Ellen in September. Please do not wait til the last minute - it would be terrible to wait and not be a part..

Thanks for participating.

If you do not sew, you can still participate... Here are two ways (or email me at the address above and I'll talk you thru).

1st method:

Go to a fabric store and get one 'FAT QUARTER' of a white or ivory background fabric (if you don't know what a 'FAT QUARTER' is, ask, and they will be glad to help - ladies in fabric stores LOVE to help)... and a 'FAT QUARTER' of a fabric you like for your heart. You will also need to get some 'WUNDER UNDER' - it is a fabric that has iron on glue on BOTH sides, one side has a paper back. Cut your background fabric into the right size squares per above.

Iron the Wunder Under onto the BACK of the print fabric - LEAVE THE PAPER ATTACHED. Cut a heart shape just like you did in grade school and glue to the backing of the WUNDER UNDER. Cut your print fabric into the cairn shape ... Remove the paper and iron it onto the FRONT of your white/ivory fabric. Voila - square is done (I suggest you put a piece of wax paper between the print fabric and your iron so you don't get glue on it... quilter hint). Feel free to add more than one heart if you wish.

2nd method:

Go to a fabric store and get one 'FAT QUARTER' of a background fabric. Get some Fabric paint that is PERMANENT. (Very important tip - make sure it is is permanent paint.) Paint a picture of a heart on your fabric... Please be sure to keep within the center 8 inches of the block

I cannot tell you how moving every square is in person, and how much these quilts mean to their recipients. This is heart felt every step of the way. Any notes sent with the quilt, will be forwarded to Charlie.

Since I'm back on the BOD of CPCRN, I guess I need to put a disclaimer in. This is a heart project by lee's friends to her husband, Charlie. It is a hug from all of us to him. It is NOT CPCRN giving him a quilt. If you want to be a part of this very personal project... go get some fabric... and be sure to mail it by July 15. In addition, non CPCRN friends and family of lee are more than welcome to join us in this quilt.