QUILT JUST FINISHED

The pattern VIRGINIA BOUND found in Bonnie Hunters book Scraps and Shirtails was put together using nothing but scrap pieces of fabrics. I really loved the look of her quilt and enjoy paper piecing so it was an easy choice to make. As I was joining all of the strips into blocks, a thought kept coming into play.....boy this looks nothing like her pattern.

As the blocks were joined together to make the 16 inch star block, I eased up a tad bit, but still was thinking to myself that this is just not going to be very pretty or even appealing. That is really when the decision to make a two sided quilt came into play.

I was having a very difficult time choosing the other side. My friend Maureen stopped by and was discussing projects and various quilts we were doing and wanted to try. Sun Bonnet Sue was mentioned by Maureen because she is expecting a new grandbaby and was trying to decide if she wanted to give applique a try and thought that Sun Bonnet Sue would be an easy and cute pattern to experiment with.

My father, who is no longer quilting due to his eyesight, had always wanted to do a Sun Bonnet Sue quilt but his eyes gave out before he could. Both of these factors hit the mark and I made my choice to do a Sun Bonnet Sue.



Choosing the fabrics was actually very easy. I chose the yellow background, but did not have quite enough so the white corners came into play. I went to my scrap bucket and began choosing any and all fabric pieces that would be large enough to do the applique. Since Sun Bonnet Sue is a "girly" type of quilt, I went with softer pastels and intermatched this way and that and they came together very nicely.

I found the Sun Bonnet Sue block in a book QUICK QUILTS given to me by Marie @ http://mariequilts.blogspot.com/ . I really enjoy this book and plan on making several of the quilt patterns in it. In order to make these blocks the same size as the Virginia Bound blocks, I had to add sashing. The picture above does not really do the fabric colors any justice. It is very bright and cheerful.

Once both sides were assembled, I chose to quilt each block seperately and really practice my free motion quilting. I did a fair job on quilting. I am getting my machine speed and hand speed closer to the same time. When you look closely you can really see how different the back stitches and front stitches are out of whack. But it was such a fun experience mixed with a few unspeakable phrases off and on. LOL. My quilting friend Maureeen called me a little showoff when she saw my blocks. We laughed (she is a beautiful quiltmaker) and giggled that I was actually accomplishing something she has not yet tried in this manner. But I bet it will not be long before she is playing and experiencing free motion quilting herself.

I was shocked and surprised at both sides of the quilt. Especially the Virginia Bound side, when it all comes together as a whole quilt....it is beautiful. My first thought when seeing it laying was oh I must try this again with nothing but green strips in the center and light browns on the outer sides. I am thrilled with this quilt and hope it makes someone very happy.