Two-Thirds Done Quilting 1936 Sunbonnet Sue Quilt

Or almost two-thirds done.  Another fifteen minutes of quilting, and it'll be two-thirds done.  But my feet and back informed me it was time to quit for the night, and I acquiesced.

Aunt Pearl could really embroider, couldn't she?  She was my Great-Grandmother Joicie Bacon's half-sister, so she was my great-great-aunt.

Once again, here are the names of the ladies who made the blocks, with the original pictures:
Vintage Sunbonnet Sue Blocks

Half Done, 1936 Sunbonnet Sue Quilt

With these three Sues quilted, I've reached the halfway point on the 1936 Sunbonnet Sue quilt:

This is one of the Sues who didn't have her embroidery on the bonnet finished.  I added the flowers and did an outline stitch on one side of them.  I don't embroider enough for it to be a terribly excellent job.  Give me a day or two of embroidery, though, and I improve immensely!  ha  When I embroider, by the time I get back around to where I've started, I've improved enough that I feel like I really need to rip out the first few stitches and redo them.  But then I would keep improving... and it would turn into a never-ending task, eh?

Another Row on Sunbonnet Sue

I got a little more than a row done today on the Sunbonnet Sue quilt.  I might have gotten more accomplished, had not three bobbins -- count them:  one, two, three -- gotten stretched when I filled them with thread (Bottom Line #60).  And I didn't even fill them 3/4 full!  Aarrgghh.  

Once, the machine spit bobbin case, bobbin, and all right out on the floor!  That caused the needle to hit something it shouldn't have hit, after which Larry had to come readjust the gap between the hook and the, uh, ... thingamarolphgidget.  Thingamarolphgidgets are touchy things that want their gaps exactly right.

I had to change the needle... find yet another bobbin... readjust the tension, top and bottom... and finally, finally, I was back in business again.  But I only got 8 hours of quilting done, instead of the 10 I could have done otherwise.  Bah, humbug.

Well, here's what I got done.  Remember the rumples and rimples in these blocks when they were not yet quilted?

Partial Row, Sunbonnet Sue Quilt

A partial row is completed on the Sunbonnet Sue quilt.  The last two pictures show the problem I'm dealing with as the muslin on which the Sues were appliquéd 'uncrinkles' itself.  I'm spraying them with sizing, then ironing.  The finished Sunbonnet Sue block was the worst of these three, would you believe.

Quilting the First Row of 1936 Sunbonnet Sues

The first row of 1936 Sunbonnet Sues is quilted, and I'm ready to roll the quilt forward for the next row.  Some of the muslin on which the Sues were appliquéd was the kind that had a crinkle to it, and now it wants to uncrinkle, and stretch.  

So I pulled out the can of sizing, gave the Sue blocks a good spray, and then ironed them.  It pretty much put the crinkle back into the muslin, and I was able to quilt it without too much trouble.  If you look at the background behind the Sue with the white bonnet, you'll see what I mean.

Read about the vintage blocks, made by my ancestors, here:

Vintage Sunbonnet Sue Blocks