12. My Niece's Sunbonnet Sue

The girls on my Christmas list last year received Sunbonnet Sue quilts. Daisy and the cousin her age had the traditional baby-doll turned to the side Sue, but Fiona and the cousins her age received the girls on swings and parasol ladies instead.

They were ironed on and then blind-stitched down. After that, each one of them was embellished. Some very simply, with a lace edge to her bonnet or something like that. Many of them were decorated more elaborately, however, with seasonal objects and settings. After I was done, I divided them into piles based on how elaborate they were--I didn't want one girl to receive all the really interesting ones--and then randomly assigned them to each recipient. I set them all differently, however. This one, for my niece in Texas, has the Sues/Parasol Ladies all in the center together, with sampler blocks all around.

The girls are sewn onto vintage fabric. Sturdy old pillowcases and discarded linens from church (from incidental tables and maybe from altar cloths--but not the altar at my church because these were all too narrow and way way too long). I was trying for a patina of age, since this is a 1930s pattern. Not all the same white, basically. It was mostly successful I think.

I will not be returning to this pattern, or the more traditional Sue, not for a long time. I worked on these ALL YEAR, constantly returning to this handwork when I couldn't do machine work (on trips, for instance, or at school functions, etc). I'm tired of Sue. But happy about the result.