Sunbonnet Sue X2

I had the privilege to work on not one but two quilts brought to me by JoAnn.  JoAnn's sister, Ruth, made these quilt tops as a young lady starting at the age of 12 back in 1938, but they were never quilted.  You might notice they are also missing their arms which is a little curious.  Ruth passed away some time ago, and JoAnn received these tops made by her sister.  JoAnn is not a quilter, but she wanted to have them completed and to keep them in her family.  She tried to find someone to hand quilt them, but the fabric is thick, and the hand quilters she talked to didn't want to tackle that job.  I agreed to help JoAnn get these tops finished.

All of those dresses and bonnets are made from feed sack material.  The muslin they are appliqued to is very thick.  My mom said she heard that back in the day they used to use the flour sack material for quilting, too, and we wondered if that might be what that background was.  It was really special to work with those lovely old prints.

JoAnn pretty much left the decision making up to me on these.  She did like the "Flower Power" pantograph, and it looked great with all of those sweet floral fabrics.  I stitched with a cream colored thread.

I chose solid fabrics for the backs, one pink and the other yellow.  For the bindings I found some 1930s reproduction prints that I thought coordinated well.  JoAnn requested labels on the backs with the year they were started and the year they were completed.  Aunt Brenda helped me out with that task using her big Bernina.

Today JoAnn picked up the quilts.  I was very happy (and a little relieved) that she was so excited about them and loved the way they turned out.  She gave me a hug and said she couldn't wait to show her friends at church.  I'm so glad I could be a part of this quilt story!

Thanks for visiting!
I'm sharing over at Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday.