Wordless Wednesday 299 ~ Sun Drive thru the Bluegrass

Outside Frankfort, KY, USA

Thoughtful Thursday 168~ Quilters, What is It?

 My friend gave me 2 reusuable grocery bags packed full of old sewing tools.

This is something not really that old,

but I don't think you'll find it in the sewing department or quilt shops anymore.

I had never seen one of these or ever knew about it.

I did start making quilts before rotary cutter days.

We had to draw patterns with a ruler and cut out carefully from cardboard.

So hard for me to be accurate.

I got very frustrated but knew if all my aunts could do it, 

I could too. So I trudged on.

What I NEVER could understand was why magazines

published a pattern then told YOU to add the 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Why? when there was plenty of page space for them to add that.

There were some patterns I never got made because the added seam somehow didn't work.

With rotary cutters today and patterns that automatically add seam allowance,

it's really a different world for quilt makers.

"Think about it."

Quilt Shot Block 119 ~ Chloe's Sunbonnet Sue Baby Quilt

My friend's grandmother had cutout 

enough Sunbonnet Sue patterns to make probably a king size quilt.

Unfortunately, she had to leave this earth before the quilt was made.

So my friend asked if I could use the cutouts somehow to make

a baby quilt

for her new niece to be born in September.

I love these kinds of challenges.

Impromtu with hoping serendipity kicks in.

So here is some of my process:

 Fabric selection.

All fabrics had belonged to Mawmaw Florie.

 I turned under edges which wasn't easy,

and machine stitched.

Machine blanket stitch didn't look great and

fabric seemed like it would fray quickly

which wouldn't hold well for a quilt

I suspected would get washed frequently.

Those ladies sure did choose hard patterns.

Notice the bottom of the dress is not straight edge.

After I finished, I realized I should have stitched with interfacing and turned inside out.

Ribbon border.

I thought had enough contrast via checking with picture on phone.

Later, I don't think the contrast was prominent enough for a ribbon.

Talk about a project that can twist your mind,

this one does it.

 Perfect timing for the request to embroider the name.

I first embroidered on the fabric,

then cut the strip.
*****
Update: To answer a great question from a comment below:
I asked my friend if she favored a font.
She sent me a picture of a font she had bought to place on the wall.
Looking through my files
I found the Curlz font that somewhat matched her font.
It had been downloaded for free fromt
The Sew Forum
which requires a free membership that does not bother you with emails.
Please do a search in the "free embroidery" section for
Curlz font.
There is more that one and one can be found HERE. 
After unzipping the file,
I have to use my software to pull in each letter where I can slightly resize. 

 Scrap binding.

I used one dress cutout to put a piece on each side.

 This was a quilt as you go quilt with the outside strips

added to the batting-backing layer.

The large Sunbonnet Sue block was too large not to have some more quilting.

I was in the mood to add the large hand stitches.

Not near as big as Mawmaw Florie would have used I'm sure.

 A lot of times I forget the label and have to add afterwards.

Not this time.

(some of the names have been deleted by Photoscape software.

  Messed up the looks of stitching lines.)

 Oh, and another dress cutout was used for one round of corner stones.

I hope Baby Chloe enjoys

her Great Grandmother's quilt?