Sunbonnet Sue Baby Quilt and More

The other day I was back at one of my favorite antique stores with my son, Andrew. We were there to look for old records for his new turntable. We found some nice old records, but you know me, I had to keep an eye out for any old quilts or blocks. I am happy to say I found this sweet little Sunbonnet Sue baby quilt. I had seen it in the store before but always passed it by as I thought it too high priced. But that day it was marked 1/2 off, so I simply couldn't pass it up. As with all well loved quilts it has a bit of damage, but nothing I thought that marred its cuteness.

Sunbonnets Sue they say is one of those patterns that people either really love or really hate. I can't say that I am gaga over Sunbonnet Sue, but I don't hate them either. Like any quilt I buy it has to speak to me.

I liked the size and simplicity of this quilt. The use of the blue and white almost made me feel like it was Dutch inspired. In fact it makes me want to make one with little Dutch girls and boys in just this shade of blue.

It is hard to know for sure just how old this quilt might be?! It is quilted with a type of embroidery floss that they had in the 1930's. The fabrics seem to be of that period too. So I am guessing circa 1930's on this one.

I think the seamstress who made this was brilliant to quilt her design in embroidery floss. It adds such a sweet accent to her quilt. Like the Panda quilt, this one was so sweet it just made me want to hug it.

 It measures 45" x 48" and is just the size of quilts I would like to make. That way you could wrap your wee one in it, use it as a lap quilt, or hang it up on your wall. Small is always so useful.

This was an interesting design on the back. Two blue sides with a white stripe down the center, and all the little girls done up so sweetly.

This is the true color of the blue, sadly the lighting is not so good in my room where I have to take the pictures and my camera hates it.

Isn't that the loveliest pattern in embroidery floss?! I can't get over how neat and straight her lines are. I really like how this looks and will definitely try this myself. It gives an Americana feel I so admire.

Even the stitching in the white is neat as a pin. Not an easy thing believe me. Because she was deliberately using embroidery floss to accent the quilt, her stitches are only three to the inch. The ones up the center are just two, yet the quilt feels very strongly stitched. I'm sure whoever got to sleep under this was cozy as a bug in a rug.

While there at the shop I found four of these unfinished blocks stuffed into a plastic bag. I don't know yet what I shall do with them, but have some idea's I am mulling over.

I think these were done by more than one person. The first person, in the 1930's, did all of the tiny triangles making up the broken star, but then someone came along later and added the very poorly done white pieces. Some are scraps of old shirting, some are linen scraps, and some are white flour sack scraps. None were done with any care or precision.

The star part is sewn together entirely by hand and the white was added with a machine. As you can see there is a great difference in the quality between the two. This block suffered some bad staining too, but I think I can still use it in one of my fun little projects.

This one was particularly messed with. In fact it was so bad I have begun removing all the machine sewn parts of this block, including the piece with the badly ironed on picture and nasty melted party package trim. Thank goodness whoever got the bright idea to modify the blocks didn't mess with the star portion. If anyone can tell me what this pattern of block was called, please leave a comment. I have looked and looked to no avail. Maybe it didn't even have a name?!

While out and about in another of my favorite shops I came across this book. It is a fun read and just chock full of illustrations by the author, about early American tools and their methods of use by the typical frontier family of the period. It shows the growth of their farmstead from 1798 to 1805 and how they improved and built upon the land.

The second book I took home with me was this one about American Horse-Drawn Vehicles. While it is not done in a narrative style like the first book, it is stuffed full from front to back with every type of horse-drawn conveyance imaginable. This will help me identify some of the vehicles I have in some of my old pictures and was fun to boot.

I had gone through nearly all the shop and thought the books would be it, but just as I was passing this cupboard, I spied on the bottom shelf, under a pile of dishes and a cake plate, a little piece of the corner of this lovely Delft tile sticking out. I thought, is that what I think it is?! It was! I couldn't believe anyone would stack a pile of heavy dishes on top of this beautiful tile. I was truly amazed when I got to the bottom of the stack and found this tile in such wonderful condition too, without a single chip. This certainly speaks to their durability. This will go very nicely with the two I found in that little antique shop while living in Hawaii. I shall get it framed and they shall all look very nice upon my new house wall as a threesome. I do love Delft tiles with windmills! Don't you?!