We met Mary and her hubby Chris the first time we worked at Le Moulin Fort Camping in the beautiful Loire Valley in France.
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| Mary is in the shade with her machines humming in this picture... |
When we were there in the summer of 2013 we met up again, and as she knew we had now got a granddaughter she said she would make a quilt for her, so this week we went to visit them (they are fellow Yorkies),and she presented us with a fantastic Sun Bonnet Sue quilt, so I asked her to explain the pattern, and she has made a guest post, below.
Mick has asked me to do a bit of a blog on what I do and explain a little about the quilt I made for their Granddaughter Rebecca, so here you are...
I am a crafter but my real love is sewing and when I retired, it gave me the chance to turn my passion into a cottage industry.
My friend Rosemary and I started Crafty Old Birds in October 2011 and we have never looked back.
Our student base grows each year and we have a great group of ladies who come once or twice a month to our workshops.
Have a look at our website, Crafty Old Birds and our facebook page to see what we are doing. I am the shorter one of the girls.
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| Rebeccas Sun Bonnet Sue quilt (it has an edging but I accidentally cut it off on the picture). |
I am so passionate about sewing that I have a small machine that I take on holiday with me in the caravan or to use in hotel rooms. I can't even bear to sit in the car when the OH is driving without something for my hands to do. So, on those occasions, I do English patchwork.
Sewing the hexagons ready for putting together later on can take the stress out of a long journey. You can even be a bit disappointed when you arrive at your destination!!
When Mick and Cath told me about Rebecca, it gave me the chance to make a Sun Bonnet Sue Quilt.
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| Detail of the Sun Bonnet designs. |
I had been told that the idea of Sun Bonnet Sue came from the Amish community. Their dolls have no faces as you should not imitate Gods work, however, when he asked me to do this I thought I better check this out and….. yes my friends, I know you will not believe it but….. I was wrong.
Sun Bonnet Sue patterns for quilts have been around for over a century and I still think that the original idea may have come from the Amish people. However in the early 1900’s.
Bertha Corbett had a disagreement with a friend who said that facial features were what made a picture. Bertha disagreed and she and her friend Evlalie Osgood Grover designed a little girl with an oversized bonnet but no face and called her Sun Bonnet Sue.
The rest is history as they say.
Sun Bonnet Sue (sometimes referred to as Sue Bonnet, or Sue Bonnet Sue) has appeared in postcards , paintings and even on plates but has always been a firm favourite with Patchwork and Quilters.
The quilt I made for Rebecca allowed me to combine both my love for machine embroidery and patchwork.
If you would like to know more about Sue Bonnet Sue, have a look at the net, there is loads of info there, or feel free to visit our website, or contact me through the website, Crafty Old Birds.
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| Sun Bonnet Sue on her holidays in August |
Now, for any lorry drivers who read this, normal service will resume on the next post with pictures of trucks and other manly things taking over.
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