Summer Sunbonnet Sue

Now that summer is over, it is time to finish up the Sunbonnet Sue Summer swap. I finished my second design and got the blocks in the mail to Sandy, the swap hostess. Here is my second Summer Sue.

She is a mother Sue, watching her daughter in the water. I made her as a companion to my earlier Sunbonnet sue, playing with her boat in the water.

I can't wait to get the swapped blocks back.

Stepping outside of the box by stepping into one!

I tend to quilt the same traditional things, so sometimes I like to try new things. My guild sponsored a workshop with Karen Combs, so I signed up.

Karen is known for her modern quilts of illusion. Here is her website. I enjoyed her talk on color, value, and texture. I really learned a lot.



Here she is explaining the differences in color, value and scale. We all made cubes that used a light, medium and dark to simulate shading. Here are all the cubes we made. Mine is the black and red one on the bottom.



It was fun, but I wasn't interested in creating another unfinished quilt. I decided to make a couple of pillows and finish. Here they are all done.



It is way outside of my comfort zone, and I'm glad I made them! Now back to making some Sunbonnet Sues!

Sunbonnet Sue at the Lake

One of the members of the "Sunbonnet Sue chat" group (an e-mail group on yahoo groups) is sponsoring a "Summer Fun Sunbonnet Sue" swap. I worked on my block this weekend. My Sue is playing with a boat in the water.

This is the first one I have finished. Now I just have 9 more to go! There are two groups of 10, so I need to design another block and get that going as well. I'm thinking Sue under a Palm tree.

If you'd like to read about the Sunbonnet Sue group on Yahoo groups, here's a link:

http://sunbonnetsue.com/email.html

I hope you enjoyed your weekend.

Kim

2nd Annual Long Island Quilt Shop Hop

Last weekend was the long Island Quilt shop hop. It is a fun time to travel around Long Island and visit all the quilt shops. My friends Colleen, Cindy and Kathy met at "Pieceful Quilting" for a day of quilt shopping. Each shop had a free pattern to give out. The patterns made a quilt that each shop had on display.

Here is Kathy in front of the quilt from "Pieceful Quilting" in Riverhead. Their color choices are patriotic and happy. Like the pieceful shop that are many different types of fabrics in their quilt.

Here is the quilt from "Patchworks". This quilt is filled with batiks, a type of fabric that shop is know for. Each shop had goodies for us to nibble on too!

Below is the quilt from "The Quilt Bug". It is bright and colorful, just like the shop it comes from.

"Sentimental Stitches" is a shop that features reproduction and traditional fabrics. It is a quaint place. Their quilt is made in reproduction fabrics and hung behind the counter. Here is what I managed to photograph.

Finally, here is the quilt from "Sew What's New". It used some beautiful mottled fabrics for the sky and sea.

Each shop had a gift basket with raffle chances. I found out this morning that I won the basket from the Quilt Bug!!! Wow. I never win anything. Of course, that shop is the furthest distance, so I'll have to venture out again and visit the shop. It is well worth it.

We are lucky that on Long Island we have great quilt shops that offer such a variety. I bought my first fabric "Jelly Roll" and I hope to have a "Many Trips.." quilt done by the end of the summer. I'll keep you posted.

Enjoy! Kim

Honorable Mention at ELIQG Show

Today was the first day of the ELIQG Show and my Sunbonnet Sue wins project runway quilt was entered. I won an Honorable Mention ribbon in the member challenge category. I've been entering the member challenge since 1997 and I've always been an "also ran", so I was thrilled to see the ribbon!

Here it is! There were some fabulous Sunbonnet Sue sightings at the show, so I'll have more to post later on.

Right now I'm doing a happy dance.

Quilt Finished!! Sunbonnet Sue on Project Runway

June 7th & 8th is the annual show for my quilt guild, Eastern Long Island Quilters. The theme of the show is New York. Every year the members are challenged to make a quilt based on the theme. So our quilts needed to celebrate New York City culture (shows, places, people). I love the NYC based show "Project Runway". It is reality TV with sewing machines (what's not to love). So I put Sunbonnet Sue on the show.

I finished the quilt top today. I hope to get it quilted during the week.



Season 5 is starting this summer, so I put Sue on the quilt as the season five winner, along with photos of all the previous winners. The sue is based on drawings done by Jean Ray Laury, who is one of my favorite quilters ever! She did a line of Sue fabric that shows an exuberant, joyful Sue. I have a little of it left in my shop, but most is gone.

The quilt was a lot of fun to make. It combines two of my favorites, photo transfer and Sunbonnet Sue!

I hope you are enjoying yourself this holiday weekend.

Paper Dolls!

I love paper dolls. In kindergarten my teacher organized a gift exchange for Christmas. We had to spend $1.00 for the gift. Luckily I pulled a girl's name out of the bowl of names, so I was buying for a girl. I didn't know who had my name.

I picked out a set of paper dolls. It was 99 cents, but it was a good set. The dolls weren't printed in a book, but they were in a box. That meant the doll was a more rigid cardboard and the dresses were thinner paper. It was much better than dolls cut out of books.

I was so disappointed when all I got for my gift was a pair of navy blue gloves. I cried on the bus on the way home, wanting the paper dolls I'd given instead.

Now some of those same patterns are available online. Here is a link to a great set of patterns of Sunbonnet Sue paper dolls... I see an appliqued paper doll quilt.

Image from http://www.treasuresforlittlechildren.com/

Lots of fun... lots of memories.