Sun Bonnet Sue

The Sun Bonnet Sue is finished!

The main fabric came from a friend's stash that was donated to me awhile back. I didn't want to cut it into 2 1/2" squares because it was rather cute. I decided to use the same pattern that I did for the Free Motion Challenge Quilting Along Quilt. I did an on-the-fly adjustment of the pattern but still lost a couple of points. If I ever use it again, I'll completely redraft the pattern because I really like seeing all of the corners/points.

The finished quilt is 51" by 58" and has Dream Cotton batting. I quilted this with #1135 yellow Aurifil 50-weight thread. Before our trip to the lake, I quilted lines in the yellow background the same as I did on the Free Motion Challenge Quilting Along Quilt. This time I used a walking foot instead of rulers. 

After we got home I was thinking about the motif to use in the squares. One day I wasn't feeling the best and it hit me that sunflowers would be perfect in the Sunflower Sue Quilt. When I was thinking better, I realized that it was Sun Bonnet Sue not Sunflower Sue. By then, I had already been looking at sunflowers and even sketched a motif. That's the reason I chose sunflowers! 

I quilted the entire sunflower motif free-handed so every block is a little different and I doubt that any two leaves are the same. 

The inside sashing (blue) is done with wishbones 

and the outside sashing/border has sunflower leaves.

The backing is pieced and uses up the Sun Bonnet Sue fabric. I didn't have enough of the blue sashing fabric for the binding so I chose a slightly darker blue.

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I have 6 or 7 quilts kitted and ready to go with me to my retreat next week. Every one of them is from the scrap drawer clean out in May which means four of them have 2 1/2" squares. The other 3 have some slight larger pieces. I am looking forward to spending time with friends and having hours to quilt.