FEED SACK --ALREADY AN APRON

I have so many vintage items to share, it is hard to know where to start, so I guess I will just start. I know I have told you before that my family lives on land that has been in my husband's family since 1868. The orginal house is still here and has been lived in until just a few years ago. I have inherited many of the quilts/fabric items because of my interest in them. More recently, my husbands cousin gave me even more that she found in a house that the ancestors also lived in in their later years.

What I am going to share with you today is a feed sack that is pre-made into an apron. It came filled with feed, but when the sack was emptied, the stitching could be ripped easily and the sack became a ready-made apron. In the picture above you can see the sack as a complete sack. I don't know where this sack came from , but it seems never to have been used. There is no sign that it ever contained feed. The sack is still in tact as a sack. You can see the apron "strings" at the bottom which when stitching is removed, became the top of the apron. The label is glued on, but would remove very easily. The decorative top of the sack would eventually be the bottom of the apron.

A close up of the label reveals it's intent and take note of the neat fabric. The motif looks like a skein of embroidery floss along with a tiny flower.

A different view may help you see how it is made.

Here you can see the large stitching that would be removed to make it possible to use it as an an apron.

I searched the internet for such a feed sack apron, but was unsuccessful. Of course there are many aprons made with feed sacks and it is hard to search without having to sift through it all.

If you have seen one of these or not. I would love to hear of your experience in the form of a comment.

Thanks--and see you tomorrow for SunBonnet Sunday.

BABY QUILT OFF TO A GOOD START

The last embroidery design came out of my machine. Cullen's baby quilt is finally going to be a reality.

Cowboy motifs? you say? of Course!! I say!! Nothing less for our "Little Cowboy".

Here are the rest of the designs. They will be combined with a star block with fussy cuts from a juvenile Western fabric.

Here is the first finished block.---

More to come!

FYI

Previous SBS post was updated with my own Texas Susie Pattern. The PDF has been posted to my sidebar. Please take a copy for your own use. Leave me a comment and link back to my blog please. I would really appreciate it!.

SUNBONNET SUE #10-UPDATED

Remember in a previous SBS post I told you that I had only made "1" SBS block in my life. I lied! This is a quilt that I made probably 10 years ago. The 1930's reproduction fabrics made a great baby quilt for my neice's first baby. The quilt is put together with 2 1/2 in squares and strips to make it all fit. It has a SBS block in the lower left corner and a Bill Block in the upper right--and he's fishing! I love it! I had forgotten all about this quilt. I was looking in my pictures (stored on a flash drive) for something else and I found it.
Here is a close up of Fishing Fred. Both patterns came from Eleanor Burns book that I am sure you have all seen called SunBonnet Sue Visits Quilt in a Day.

Quilting Nana over at Creative Urges emailed me this week and allowed me to post her recently completed SBS quilt. It is made from vintage fabrics that she found in her attic! That is so cool. I love the idea of taking parts of an unfinished family quilt and finishing it with the quilters fabrics.

Be sure to visit her neat blog.

This a great link for a free Holly Hobbie pattern.

http://www.lyondenquilting.com/HollyHobby.htm

NOTICE: I AM WORKING ON MY OWN VERSION OF A TEXAS SBS. IT WILL BE A GIFT PATTERN TO ALL THE GREAT LOYAL VISITORS OF MY SBS POSTS. I WILL POST IT AS SOON AS I AM FINISHED. THERE WILL BE A REVISION OF THIS POST. CHECK BACK SOON.

I'M BACK--AND HERE IS MY--UH YOUR BLOCK!

IT'S TEXAS SUSIE! The bonnet is a replication of a bonnet that my great grandmother wore. I still remember her wearing it as she worked her garden. It had strips of cardboard inserted between the stitching to make it stiff. The cardboard came out for the wash and then was reinserted.

I wanted you to see the sketchpad drawing--all the erasures. LOL

I hope you can enlarge this for printing out!

Here are the pattern pieces--

If you take my pattern, I am asking that you link back to this post (also leave a comment). I appreciate you so much! I am working on a PDF so if you need that just let me know.
ENJOY!!!

WOW, what an honor!.......Carlotta from Mahogany Blue is trying to make me reveal my deepest secrets! My truest self, my deepest thoughts. She wants me to tell all--maybe even things I haven't been able to admit to myself about myself. That's what this award is all about--HONESTY AND SCRAP (not to be confused with crap!) I must reveal 10 facts to you and to myself.

1. I wish I had gone to college.
2. I have helped pull more calves than I even know.
3. I have always had a weight problem.
4. I love dogs and have always had one. I think I would have been a good veterinarian.
5. I wish I had one bosom friend. Don't get me wrong, I have friends--but I want a bosom friend. Someone who would help me be a better person.
6. I love to talk about traveling, but the fact is that I love to be at home. It is my favorite place to be.
7. I hate aging, but am gratful to have lived long enough to age.
8. I enjoy blogging more than anything I have ever done but quilting.
9. My two sons are my greatest accomplishment. I could not be prouder of them.
10. When I think about it, I HAVE been a teacher and a vet at the place I love to be, at home. I am good at what I have learned to do and have done it with a wonderful man. I am a very lucky person. I have 8 quilting friends who strive each day to help me be a better person. It's OK that I didn't go to college. I have learned so much that I could have never learned there.

On to Award Number 2~~~~~

I must list 5 addictions: Let me see------hhhhmmmmmm-----here we go-



1. Food
2. Blogging
3. quilting
4. Geneology
5. Cooking

Maybe #1 and #5 are so closly related that they are one and the same, but really not, but then if you don't love to eat you would not love to cook. Whatever I said, you know what I mean.
5 bloggers who I think are deserving of these prestigious awards: OK girls--it's all yours.

MAKE ME PROUD!!

Scrap Happy Quilter
Ravely Rhonda
Humble Quilter
Button Counter
Quilting with Debi

BLOG THEME CHANGED

Well, my blog has a "NEW LOOK". It has had a western theme since it's beginning. How do you like the change. Do you think I have made a mistake changing the obvious western theme?
Maybe I have taken away what made me blog unique--WHAT DO YOU THINK? Inquiring minds want to know. Please comment~~~~~~~

WELL--I DECIDED TO CHANGE IT BACK TO WESTERN. THE PROBLEM IS THAT THERE ARE NOT MANY BACKGROUNDS FOR THIS THEME. I AM GOING TO HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE MY OWN. THERE ARE DIRECTIONS ON "Cutest Blog on the Block". IT'S JUST READING AND STUDYING AND TRYING TO DO IT. LESS TIME TO QUILT. I will change again soon, but for now I am different, but still Texas and western. That is me and how you know me. This is a good thing, Martha. Thanks to all who commented and helped me decide. You are all such wonderful cowgirls.

SUNBONNET SUE SUNDAY #9

Well, Sunbonnet Sunday has rolled around again. I am toying with limiting these posts to once a month as my quilts will not last through the year if I keep going as I am. If you have a Sunbonnet quilt or Block that you would like for me to include in my series of posts, I would love for you to send it to me. You will find my email address in my profile. For this week I am posting websites that have particularly interesting information. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon!

I found this site~~

An Apple Pie by Kate Greenaway, where you can actually read this book. It is amazing.

Then go by and read,

The Sunbonnet Babies in Holland, illistrations by Bertha Corbett. These are great books on line to read to your children or grandchildren. Vintage books are just as good as a history lesson. Don't mis this. Especially the first one!

This is a pattern of SunBonnet "MOLLY" that came out in the 1930s. The flower is called a Posey. I love it!! You can ALMOST see her face. I can imagine a nose tip just about to show.

This is a pattern that appears in one of my Mom's magazines of the 1980s. I think it is an unusual one.

A block that mother made and never put into a quilt. My sister framed it along with some vintage sewing supplies a few years ago. I think this is my favorite of all the blocks my mom made.

If you are interested in collecting Sunbonnet Vintage patterns, you should check on Ebay. Look here----
SunBonnet Applique book on Ebay

Here are a couple of links to --

Machine Embroidery Designs And some calendar Babies here ----

Thanks for hanging with me and the Sunbonnet Babies. It is really a great ride! See you next Sunday.

PLAYING CATCH-UP

This week the Wacky Pack had WACKY WEDNESDAY at a local restaurant.

OK--here we all are (except me taking the picture and a couple more who couldn't come) on Wacky Wednesday. For those who don't know about Wacky Wednesday go here. If you want to be a Wacky Pac member, you can be the next best thing by becoming a WACKY WANNABEE. You can also find out about that at the same place.

Wacky Jerri brought a friend from Colorado, Marion. She was a doll. We enjoyed her so much and hope she will come back. I swear she is just as Wacky as the rest of us. Aren't they cuties? They are BFFs.

KathyL showed us her "String Thing Swap" quilt. Looks great, but KL doesn't. Sorry, I think I caught her just as she was about to spit (not really).

Below is a package that arrived in the mail this morning. It is from Gina in the UK. She left me a comment a few weeks ago about a recipe that she would love to try, but she didn't have any measuring cups and spoons that were not metric. I sent her some. This is her thank you to me. I think that I got the better end of this deal. Three beautiful magazines and a great piece of fabric. Gina---thank you so so much. It really was not necessary, but I will really enjoy this. Internet friends are the best!!

Debi, the inventor of WHIRL INTO WINTER GIVE AWAY (be sure to check out all the great blogs that participated) won my Give Away--my personal pattern and a fq pack of 30's repros.
I left Debi a comment telling her I needed her address as she had won my Whirl into Winter Giveaway. I would say she was slightly excited. This is her email to me~~~~

"WOW I never win anything....here I am...(address was here)"

Then I got another message from Debi:

"OMG I only entered about 4 of these give aways and the one I really wanted was Yours!!

Thank you sooooo much. I am so excited."

Then Another---

"Thank you soo much...I am so excited about winning the 30's fqs and the new pattern. Since you designed it, will you autograph it for me?"

So--of course I did!

I also am including some more 30's repro fabrics from my stash to make the quilt process a little more interesting. I don't know what kind of collection of 30's Debi has, but she NEEDS many to work with. It is just so much more interesting if you do. So here ya go. One is a piece of a real 30's feed sack. Can you tell which one it is? I don't think you can from the pic, but the real thing is a little looser weave. It is the 6th from the top. The white background with blue circle designs with red centers.

So Debi's complete package will be on it's way on Monday morning. Thanks Deb for all the fun!

A little family info--MY SON LOVES TO THROW DARTS! He attended a tournament last weekend and did really well. This week end he got invited to a Pro--Am tournament. He being the amateur--but not for long I don't think. The winner of the state tournament last weekend is the one who invited him to play with him in the Pro Am tournament this weekend. He practised all week after getting all pumped up about it last weekend. BUMP BUMP BUMP-------------------------------------------BUMP BUMP BUMP-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------BUMP BUMP BUMP--------------\

I finally had to have him move the board . It was opposite my bedroom wall and also shut the doors. I can finally sleep a little now and if I do go to sleep, maybe I can STAY asleep.

He is just precious!!!

Love to all you internet friends and have a great week-end.

SUNBONNET SUE SUNDAY #8

These SunBonnet Sue Sundays sure do come around fast! This Sunday I will show you some more recent quilts and blocks. In 1997 I owned a quilt shop where I live. My mother made this quilt as a sample for my shop. As you can see, she is a great quilter.
From a book by

Little Quilts

called Wildflowers.




This quilt below is a panel. I used it to practise the machine quilting that looks like hand quilting. I was really happy with the way it looked, but never used it on another quilt. I think I just was not confident enough that it would look good on a bigger quilt.



This is a quilt block on a quilt that was made by me. Two friends and I each made a quilt that included the same blocks in our own choice of fabrics. A couple of the blocks were different in that in one position we each made "our favorite block". In another position in the quilt we made



a basket block, each of our choice. Another block was our own choice in an applique block. This was one of the most fun quilts I have ever made. I am getting off the subject, aren't I. I will have to post about my garden quilt another time. As you can see, my Sunbonnet Sue block had a garden theme as she is holding ivy in her hand. I am not for certain, But I am thinking that this is the only Sunbonnet Sue block that I have ever made myself. Actually I have never been a real fan of her. I am much more interested since I have learned so much about her origin. I especially like the SBS's who wear the old fashion attire. More the Holly Hobby type.

Wait--I think I know my favorite SBS---