What's on the line?

Why, it's Sunbonnet Sue and she is as cool as a cucumber even though it was hot, hot, hot when I hung this on the line yesterday afternoon! This is one heavy quilt, very large and I cannot imagine being covered with it right now during these hot August days. Pretty soon though, the cool nights of fall will roll in and a warm quilt will be just right!

This is a quilt that belongs to my mother although she's put the quilt in my care because I have more room to store her old quilts. She bought this one at an auction in Iowa. The maker was Mrs. Danielson of Harcourt, Iowa. As I mentioned, it is quite large......87" by 101" to be exact. I laid the quilt on the carpet in the living room, then took a picture from the upstairs landing so you could see the entire quilt...........

All the Sunbonnet Sue's are hand-appliqued and then the quilt was hand-quilted. I do not know if Mrs. Danielson did all the hand-quilting or if it was done by her and perphaps ladies from her church group. My inquiring mind needs to know and I think I can find out more about this quilt the next time I go home to visit my mom.
Just in case you like Sunbonnet Sue, I decided to take close-ups of various sections of the quilt so you can see all the different fabrics that went into Sue's dresses. There are a few blocks that are alike. The fabrics look to me like they are likely from the 70's and 80's with some even older.

I tried to get all the little gals but I think I missed some and I think I took duplicates of others. Oh, well, you get the idea. LOL!

Now, here is a photo of the hand-quilting................

It's very precise, very uniform and is done in white around all the Sunbonnet Sue's and in a very light gray/green around the blocks. Each block measures approximately 9 1/2" x 11 1/2".

I have a favorite block in the quilt..........it's this one.........

You all know by now that I love pink and this little block is just the kind of dainty pink that I like. If I were doing a Sunbonnet Sue quilt, I would probably have to have several little gals wearing pink. In fact, I'm planning to do a Sunbonnet Sue quilt. I was going to start the blocks at Bonny's Retreat earlier this month but I decided to focus on the 3 1/2" square quilt project that I started last year and hopefully will finish it by next year when we go to Bonny's. And when that is finished, then I will reward myself and start my own series of Sunbonnet Sue blocks. That totebag that I made in that Sunbonnet Sue fabric is what will hold my "blocks in progress". I am getting myself organized and trying really hard to stay focused on the end result. It is so easy to be distracted when new fabrics come out and new patterns and ideas but I'm working on it!!

That's all for today.........except to say that you should be sure to stop by on Wednesday as I will be having a teeny tiny giveaway that you might want to enter. :-) Have a good Monday and a great week!

Sandi