Here is how to make cherry pie filling. We had planted sour cherry trees four years ago and we had our first harvest this year. Last night I grabbed my cherries we had picked on Sunday
and started removing the seeds, this took longer than I thought it would, I think I developed carpal tunnel as well 
I ended up with 3 quarts of pitted cherries, we lost about that much from the birds on the trees, I need to get them netted next year
So I dumped in 7 cups of sugar
and 3/4 cup of sure gel
I measured out 5 cups of water and added that to the pot
I measured out a 1/4 cup of lemon juice and poured that into the pot
and set it on the stove to boil
I got sidetracked with something else and I hear my daughter saying uh dad
so I grabbed my jars
and funnel
and filled each jar
I wiped down the rims and finger tightened my rings and bands on and set them in a pot of boiling water
after letting them boil for 30 minutes, I pulled them and set them on a towel
and covered them with another so they could rest overnight
checked them this morning and everyone of them had sealed, one thing I noticed was the juice wasn’t that thick, I think it’s because I diverted from the recipe on two points, one was to add tapioca to it, the other was to boil everything first, then add the cherries for one minute right before canning, I think the liquid boiled out of the cherries to much. I am happy with the results though, this way I have more options to use them and If I do want to make pie, I can just pour it in a saucepan and thicken it before I use it
