A Final Sue Post

While away on vacation, I have been posting these details about Grandma's Sunbonnet Sue quilts. These were easy enough to write up and schedule throughout the week.

Today I want to show you the SS's that Grandma made for my two girls when they were little.

Erin was given a pillow with an enlarged Sunbonnet Sue appliqued onto it.  Grandma did just the applique - no quilting on this. She did the embroidered name, too.

Emma has a doll quilt with a regular-sized Sue appliqued onto it. This is more typical of the Sues she made over the years.

The second block in the doll quilt has a Sue looking the opposite direction. Fun. Have you noticed the embroidered flowers on the hats? That was a standard feature.

Well, this is the last of the posts until I get home from vacation.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Sunbonnet Follow-Up

This is really special. I showed you the Sunbonnet Sue quilt in yesterday's post, and today I want to show you the actual templates that Grandma used to make those darling Sues.

This is made from lined paper. Faint written instructions are visible.

Here are two cardboard hat templates, also with faintly drawn instructions and markings.

One dress template. I can't make much of the writing on it; just scribblings, I guess.

Several arms and feet; I wonder just how old some of these are?

In a different box of Grandma's treasures, I found these dresses stacked
and ready for the next Sunbonnet Sue. So colorful!

That's all for today. I will have one more installment of Sunbonnet Sue for you tomorrow.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Way-Back Wednesday - 4

For this week's installment of Way-Back Wednesday, I would like to share a darling Sunbonnet Sue quilt that my grandmother made. It is most likely 50 or 60 years old.

This is a long twin-size quilt that was either made for my mother or one of her sisters. The fabric used in all these dresses were leftovers from the dresses Grandma made for Mom, Aunt Nancy and Aunt Margaret. And, too, for little Becky, who died at age 2 from pneumonia.

The Sunbonnet Sue is another of Grandma's specialties. (I mentioned in last week's Way-Back Wednesday installment that the Lemoyne Star was a specialty.) She made all the great-granddaughters either a pillow or a wall-hanging with a Sunbonnet Sue. She also has made her share of Overall Bills, as well; each of the great-grandsons has a Bill pillow.

This little Sue has on a dress made from fabric that is very old. I recognize it from one of the quilts in Grandma's old trunk. (See tab at top of page labeled 'Grandma's Quilts.') When she could, Grandma would buy fabric of the same pattern in different colors for Aunt Nancy and my mother, the two oldest children. This is one of those fabrics, making it somewhere in the vicinity of 75 years old - the fabric, not the quilt.

This Sue's dress fabric is even older. This fabric was also used in other quilts (see same tab). Grandma pointed it out as the very first dress she made for Aunt Nancy when she was a baby. It has held up well!

Are you noticing Grandma's fabulous quilting? She is masterful with the needle and thread! Those stitches are always small and even. I have heard her remark several times over the years that she wouldn't make a quilt that wasn't done well. She took a lot of pride in her work, that's for sure. She has intimated that her mother-in-law's quilting was a lot less than desirable; I think Grandma took great pains to always quilt as perfectly as she could.

Sweet, aren't they? I am glad Grandma gave me this quilt, and I am glad that it has remained in such good condition. It is definitely a treasure!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Retail Therapy

If you recall, I was the lucky recipient of several gift certificates to Old Town Fabric Shop back on Mother's Day. Well, I finally used those on a truly delicious group of fabrics. Feast your eyes on this Barbara Brackman/Moda loveliness.

Those two pieces of fabric on the top are the two borders. The black will be a narrow inner border with the blue as the outer border. I am so eager to begin this project. I think I've shown the inspiration quilt that is on display at Old Town, but let me show it again.

Kelly made her outer border of green, but everything else is pretty much the same as this! Samples in a store are so important, aren't they? I would never have wanted to make this quilt had I not seen it in the shop.

Here's my pattern, and I am rarin' to go on it! I hope that when I get back from the beach I still have the same eagerness as I have now!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Another Tulip Bag

A couple of years ago the Frankfort girls and I got together to make the Tulip Bag. The link to that project is here. I went on to make another one which I gave to my mother for Christmas. I've had a hankering to make another one of these bags, and I have finally found a pair of fabrics that please me for just this project.

There really isn't any yellow in the floral, but the cream seems to support the yellow, so that is what I have decided to use as the lining.

I will get going on this bag when I get back from a week's vacation. This post was written and scheduled for today, because as you read this, I am on the beach at Myrtle Beach, SC.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Baby Quilt - Ready for Baby

It is a rare thing, indeed, when I have something done well in advance. I am a seasoned procrastinator, and as such have worked many a late night finishing things that could very easily have been finished much earlier.

So it is with great pride that I share the baby quilt for my friend Vickie's first grandchild, scheduled to arrive in July. I have posted a few mentions of this, if you recall, (click here and here) and after checking with Erin, the mother-to-be, will share with you all the finish. She has seen the pics, and has given her approval.

Bright and cheerful - just what the expectant mother wanted. The pattern was fun to make, even though the directions were limited, and after having to make more blocks than I'd originally cut, I managed to get it together easily. I would definitely make another one. The pattern is called Kissing Fishes, and it was a freebie from some quilting website.

I also had fun collecting random bright and colorful fat quarters for this quilt. I think this is a pleasing mix of colors and patterns.

And I even was able to find an appropriate backing fabric on sale! It is called Coral Reef, I think, by Kaffe Fassett - in pink! It was meant to be!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Way-Back Wednesday - 3

For the third installment of Way-Back Wednesday, I have what I consider my grandmother's signature block - the Lemoyne Star. It is quite possible that she made at least 20 of these throughout her quilting years. I should ask my sisters if they have a quilt like this, and then I should ask a few of my cousins. I don't know if Grandma made all the grandkids one of these quilts or not, but if she did, that would be 15.

I do not recall the exact year that I was given this quilt, but I suppose it was the mid-1970s. I graduated from high school in 1975, so maybe I got it for graduation. Some of the prints used in it were things I wore in high school, so I am certainly close in my estimation.

The Lemoyne Star lends itself nicely to use of scraps. My mother made my clothes, and once I learned to sew, I made a lot for myself, as well. All those dresses, skirts and blouses resulted in scraps suitable for a quilt, so that is what I have to show you today - the quilt Grandma made of the scraps of my clothes.

I'm sure you noticed the damage, didn't you? In studying this quilt, I notice that it is not the print fabrics that are shredded, but it is the solids that are rotted away. Not all the solids, obviously, but where there is damage, it appears that the solid fabrics are the problem.

The two photos above show two different damaged blocks. Both blocks had the same rose-colored solid with the print. What causes some solids to fray and shred, while others don't? Older fabric? Cheaply made fabric? I sure don't know the answer.

Can you tell that Grandma didn't do excessive amounts of quilting on this? The stars are stitched a quarter-inch from the seams in outline fashion. The border has her signature cable design. Definitely sparse.

This block also shows that some of the muslin is beginning to thin. I know this quilt got used a lot, and washed a lot. I definitely did nothing to treat is special. If only I'd known, you know?

Grandma's method for her Lemoyne Star blocks was to pair up one of our print scraps with a solid that she had in her stash. I remember studying these blocks and marveling at the way a print looked with one color as opposed to another.

The blue print in the picture above was a top I made as a 4-H project - it was a simple top with no sleeves, no buttons, and no collar. It was easy to make and I think I ended up making others because I liked the pattern so much.

This red plaid was a dress my mother made for me when I was in the 5th grade. I thought I was so chic when I wore this dress. I remember its being very stylish. That colorful squiggly print with the pink solid was a pair of baby-doll pajamas I had at about that same age. The Aztec print with the yellow was a jacket I made for myself when I was in high school.

My question: Would you try to repair this quilt if it were yours? Since there is so little quilting, I could replace the damaged solid pieces with new solids. I could do the same with the muslin pieces that are threadbare.

I will gladly entertain suggestions. For now, it is folded and stored away in a cupboard with most of the other quilts I am sharing on Way-Back Wednesday.

Happy Quilting, Friends!