Sun Bonnet Sue Quilt Travels to North Carolina and Back

Quilting with my friend and mentor, Karen, in North Carolina.  Last April, Karen got me started making traditional style quilts, doing the hand stitching to bind the layers.  I am still making progress on the Sun Bonnet Sue quilt and am almost done.  All that is remaining are 15 pink triangles around the edges and stitching "in the ditch" around the binding seam.  So, you are thinking that 15 triangles sounds like a lot.  I guess so, but that is how optimistic I am.  A couple good days and I could be done.

I took a break though because my friend, Les, who I am doing the Sun Bonnet Sue quilt for, doesn't have a deadline for when she wants the quilt.  The deadline was self-imposed.  I wanted to get it done before Thanksgiving, in order to give me a couple good weeks to get the next one hand stitched - the one for my granddaughter.

But here's what happened: I committed to doing the turkey for my daughter-in-law who is hosting Thanksgiving this year.  She is a vegetarian so it makes sense that someone else should offer to do the turkey, so I did.  And I offered to make the mashed potatoes, a butternut squash dish and a cranberry dish.  And another turkey got added in there as well.  As I sat quilting in the RV, and it was Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and I'd not really even decided on recipes, much less gone shopping.

And not only that - I had bursitis in my left shoulder and was in a lot of pain.  I think it was brought on by being hunched over for hours at a time quilting, tensed, as I pressed and pinched the fabric with my left hand while pushing and pulling the needle through the layers with my right hand.  It got so painful that I couldn't reach my left hand straight out in front of me without pain, such as to turn the radio station.  I couldn't lift it to fix my hair without pain. I was having trouble sleeping, i.e., rolling over was difficult.  Not to mention that I like to sleep on my left side.

Add to that some more whining: both my hands were messed up again dating back to a motorcycle accident I had several years ago where the backs of my hands slammed into and broke my side mirrors.  The glass and impact cut up my hands, severing some nerves.  After all these years, they were both almost back to normal.  Normal, being that I never thought about them anymore.  Never had pain or tingling.  I could wave at people without my middle through little finger on my right hand dropping forward.  But now it is back.  I don't have the droopy fingers but I have bright bouts of pain as I try to put on my coat or do anything that causes the little bump that has resurfaced, to be touched (like reaching my hand under my pillow at night.)

And I'm not finished whining yet.  The dry winter air caused the calluses on my left hand finger tips to crack and bleed. If you haven't ever hand quilted, calluses get developed due to getting poked with the business end of the needed, feeling for and guiding the needed through the layers.  So I realized I was putting tiny blood spots on the back side of the quilt.

....and I was developing a cold.  Dave and I almost never get sick, but yet here I was, sick.  I think it is due to stress.  And believe it or not, even though I am not working at a job anymore, and can do pretty much whatever I want, I was pushing so much to get this quilt done on a self-imposed schedule, that I became stressed and caught a cold.

So I packed it up and put it away for a few days.  

Sun Bonnet Sue Progress Report

I am making good progress on the Sun Bonnet Sue quilt that I'm rebuilding for a friend.  Her grandmother made it for her daughter when she was born. It was almost all in shreds except for a few of the sun bonnet sue girls that could be saved.  I cut them out and saved what I could.  My friend and I purchased new pink and off-white muslin as close to the original as we could find.  After working the sun bonnet sue repairs and piecing the top, I started hand stitching in the center of the quilt and am now finishing squares around the edges.  Then I will do the triangles on the edge and bind it.  Close but still no cigar.  

 Have quilt, will travel. Here I am working on the quilt in the closed bar that belongs to a friend.  Dave was helping make repairs and I accompanied him just to have a change of scenery from the inside of the RV.

Denim Faux Quilts for Grandson's Bunk Beds

As a Bohemian Fabric Artist, I often work with repurposed denim.  These two denim quilts were made using old denim jeans, shirts, and skirts.  I cut them all up into 4 inch squares and followed a pattern for a faux quilt that one of my aunts had made for me years ago.  The layers are held together by embroidery floss (my aunt had used yarn) that is tied in little knots every two squares, in the corners.  For the backing to the quilts I used sheets, so I purchased a set of standard pillow slips to go with the quilts.  I used 80/20 cotton/poly low loft batting in the center.  Let me tell you, these are some warm, heavy duty quilts.

In the process of making these, I am happy to have used up virtually all the denim that I've been hauling around in our RV.  Now I have space for future projects!

...and our grandson has quilts for his bunk beds that were made with love.

Here is a closeup of the denim squares for the topper.  You can see the little ties spaced every two blocks.  Those hold the layers together.

Here is one of the quilts being modeled on a day bed at my friend's house, before I took them to our grandson's.

Our grandson's room with the quilts I made.

Curtains for a Friend

I made these curtains from a yard of delicate, embroidered burlap-type fabric I bought at the Thurmont, MD, fabric warehouse.  Initially my friend was interested in it for curtains for her master bathroom or bedroom.  I bought the yard so she could go home and see what it looked like, knowing I would find some use for the yard.  Little did we know that we'd find a use for it in the bathroom they installed in the home office/gym/garage.

When I started measuring, I realized the swath of fabric wasn't quite long enough for this window space so I cut a strip of brown, lightly printed cotton from my to-be-quilted-sometime collection and sewed it on the back of the delicate burlap, along the top to make the extra length for the tension rod.

The back side, top of the curtains.

I really like how it turned out. It really compliments this beautiful bathroom.

Denim Rag Quilt

I made this denim rag quilt for my youngest grandson.  The denim is repurposed from old jeans and shirts and skirts.  The backing is fleece and the edging is cut from a cotton sheet set.

Progress on Sun Bonnet Sue Quilt

Progress report on the Sun Bonnet Sue quilt I am rebuilding for my friend, Lesley.  It is a quilt made by one of her grandmothers for her daughter when she was born.  The only thing that could be saved on the quilt was a few of the little Sun Bonnet Sue's.

I now have it all pinned and am ready to start the hand stitching, following the same patterns as Lesley's grandmother used.

Here is a series of pictures as I progressed through to the point of pinning the backing and batting to the topper. The hardest thing is to do quilting within the confines of a 28 foot 5th wheel RV, where 12 feet of that is a garage.  That doesn't leave me with much space to work, so I have to get creative.

Here I'm laying the Sun Bonnet Sue's on our bed in the RV, and looking at the pictures I'd taken of the quilt before I took it apart, so I could try to put it back together as closely as possible, to the original design.  In the below picture, you may notice that the two Sun Bonnet Sue's down the middle of the quilt were very similar.  That is how the original one was.  But since I had to rebuild some of the Sun Bonnet Sue's due to tears and stains, it through off the color balance a bit, so I rearranged slightly to balance, but still trying to stay true to the original intent. The rebuilt Sun Bonnet Sue's were done using two button down shirts, a blue one and a pink one, that had belonged to Lesley's father.  He died this last summer and when I offered to make Lesley a memory quilt, she asked me to rebuild this particular quilt instead.

The blue and pink Sun Bonnet Sue in the foreground was almost totally rebuilt, using a blue shirt that had belonged to my friend's father.  The pink sleeve, hand, and pink booties were saved from the original. With this particular blue Sun Bonnet Sue, I didn't put on the little left hand, which is a tiny detail of a hand that sticks out on the front side of the dress.  I can't remember if this one was missing a hand or not, but I chose to have it as my "mistake" to omit it.  

 Here is the Sun Bonnet Sue with the pink squares placed in between the Sun Bonnet Sue's.

Here I am sewing.  As you can see, I have a folding table set up alongside me in the center of what passes for our living room/dining room/kitchen.  Tight space.  I am so thankful for a husband who humors me while I take over all the living space in our RV.

This folding table doubles as an ironing board and work space for my sewing.  I store it underneath our bed.  My husband used to store it in one of the outside RV storage bins, but I wanted it close so I could get at it without dragging all his guys stuff out.   

Here is the Sun Bonnet Sue topper all pieced together, ironed with seams facing towards the pinks.

Here is the quilt pinned with the batting and backing.

As you can see, a corner of this quilt touches the floor.  Each day before I start sewing I vacuum the rugs and sweep and wash the floor.  Probably all fabric artists do the same, unless they have all kinds of table work space.  

I haven't progressed further than this yet because I switched to other projects. When living in the RV, I have to choose my project timing around what we are doing. For instance, if we are going to be stationary for a while and not having friends or family in, I can set up and take over the living space to do the cutting and measuring.  I get as many projects ready as possible for the hand stitching phase.  I can do those anywhere, such as while riding in the truck going places, or I can take them to family events and sit stitching as we talk.  So right now in the RV, I'm trying to take advantage of the stationary, non-visitor time to get as much measuring, cutting, and piecing as possible.  

Also, I'm trying to reduce bulk before we head south to Key West for the winter.  I'm "harvesting" old jeans by removing the pockets, cutting the fabric into squares, and cutting out the zippers.  I don't know what I am going to do for sure with all the zippers but stay tuned.  I have ideas bubbling up.  By cutting up the jeans like this, they take up much less space.  I can put the squares into Ziploc baggies and squeeze out the air.  They take up much less space that way, stay nice and  wrinkle-free, and are easy to find.  (I store most of my fabric supplies in the RV shower so initially it was difficult to find specific things without taking everything out.  But I've been evolving a system that is efficient and bagging separate things in Ziploc baggies is one of the things I've found that works for me.   

Denim Closet Fabric Panels with Pockets

Look what I made for my grandson!  It is denim, two panels, with pockets, for his toy closet.  I'd noticed during a visit a couple weeks ago that they'd taken the door off that closet, probably because it backed up to the entry way door to the room and got in the way.  Or maybe it was because of the overflowing toys...a good problem for a boy to have.

When I made these panels I used a bolt of denim fabric but sewed pockets on that I'd taken off of old jeans, either my own or donated to me by other family members or friends.  After I made it and hung it up in the RV to see what it looked like, my assessment was that it was too lightweight.  It didn't hang boldly enough.  It was missing something.  I'd purchased a couple of flat sheets, full size, that I was going to use as backing to a couple of twin size quilts I am getting ready to sew for this same grandson, so I got one out and chopped off a few strips to use as a border.  This is why I like to always have more fabric than I think I need for any given project.

This turned out really cute.

 And guess what?  It has a "secret" pocket on the back side of one of the panels.  I discreetly pointed it out to my grandson.  He immediately checked to see what was in it.  Dummy me!  I should have put some money in it, or a note or something.  In fact, my grandson checked each pocket to see if anything was in any of them.  So later, I went back in his room and put some pocket change in the secret pocket. I whispered to my daughter to do the same.

We'd all been in the living room watching the Raven's football game as I'd hemmed up the bottom of the panels.  Good fun.