The Ultimate Sunbonnet Sue Collection

Never let it said that I let a stack of UFO's stop me from starting another.  I have always wanted to make a Sunbonnet Sue quilt, but had looked for patterns that had various Sue's doing different things.  Never found one that struck my fancy, until I found this book at a second hand store that sold quilting supplies and fabrics.  The quilter had made a couple blocks, but the fabric she used was bright bold colors, and not to my liking.   So I set it aside until I found fabric that I thought would look nice.  Since I finished the center of the Insanity Quilt (previous post) and need to cover several hundred hexies for the flower border, I decided to start another project!  haha, that makes insane sense.

The book is called "The Ultimate Sunbonnet Sue Collection" published by Leisure Arts.  I could not find an author's name.  It has 24 of the cutest Sunbonnet Sues and I just could not resist.  Publshed in 2000 and I don't think it is still being published.  Several in my quilt club love it too, so through Thriftbooks, Amazon, Etsy and Ebay they found old copies at great prices.  

 

The fabric line I chose is Cottage Charm by Moda.  I bought a pack of 1/8" inch strips that had all 34 pieces in the fabric line.  I have had to add a couple other fabrics so far - one a brown for the shoes and other various items the pattern used black  but I think the black is too "strong" for the other fabrics.  Also bought some "flesh" tone fabric for arms.

There is also one print in three colors that I am going to use for corner stones - at least that is the plan now.  I am considering embroidering a little flower in each cornerstone.  I am going to use 1 1/2" sashing strips which is just the right size for the fabric block below.  I chose a butter cream kona solid or the background and a light blue for the sashing.

This morning I got the pieces prepped for the first block - a Sunbonnet Sue  with Butterfly Net.  I am keeping a list of the embroidery and embellishments to be added to each block and therefore have to number the blocks and identify them with a name.  Some embellishments, like buttons, will have to be added after the quilt is quilted.

I am doing prepared edge applique technique that I learned from Katrina Hadjimichael, but some small appliques with lots of  points are with needle turn.  That is why the bow is set off to the side.  I drew the embroidery on with a brown ink pigment pen and will do the butterflies and net  by embroidery.

Well that is my kickoff for this project.  Hopefully this week I will have a finished block to share.