Sunbonnet Sue Sampler Situation Sends Stitcher Screaming

Yes, I've gone half mad! Today started off the perfect day to stitch the last Sunbonnet Sue for my granddaughter's quilt. Why not...she is due in a month and I still have to press and trim up the blocks, buy, wash, dry, cut, and add the sashing and borders, mark the entire thing with 1 inch cross hatching, a 1" braid and a larger motif going around the 5" border, wash, dry and piece the backing, baste the entire thing and then hand quilt it all, finishing it by, cutting and making the binding and then attaching it. Maaaaaybe a label. Whew!!! Why, oh why do I do this last minute shuffle??? Ok, so enough whining....well maybe not...I still have some whining to do here. The 8th Sunbonnet Sue block went together nicely, and though the dress looks rather light in this picture, it is a nice, medium, mint green

One more to go...this was the planned 9th Sue.

If not my absolute favorite, it is right up there. Problem is, it clashed with all the other Sue's. Alright, I give up. I will cut a different one that will play nicer and stitch this one up for a wall hanging. Navy was a good choice.

She is very cute and fits into the scheme. Now for the sashing/border/binding fabric, batting and backing. A trip to the fabric store is in order. I found a wonderful backing fabric. Rachel and I both loved it.

Too cute for words. Now for the batting. I went to the store that carries my 2nd favorite, but less expensive, batting. It ended up being the price of my 1st favorite batting. Darn it!! Well, I did not want to go across town to get the Quilter's Dream I love so much, so I paid a bigger price than anticipated for the Hobbs. I found a pretty sashing and border fabric....

Sweet. Problem is I did not take any of the Sue blocks with me. Pink is NOT pink. There are many variations of the color pink. 2 yards later, and a trip home and I found this is NOT the right pink. It looked awful!!! Now I have to go back out. I go to another fabric store, this time with a chunk of fabric the exact pink (the same as in the hat above) that I need. After pulling several pink bolts off the wall, I found just the right one. ANOTHER 2 yards and I have it right. (I will show it to you when I get the top together.) Back home AGAIN and I am working in my kitchen. I go to move the QUEEN size batting (I always buy big so I have leftovers for table runners, etc.) and I see in BIG letters "FUSIBLE" GREAT!! Now I am not sure this will work. I did not want fusible and though it says it hand quilts nicely, I am not at all happy. So now I have to go BACK to the first fabric store and return that batting, then go to the across town fabric store and get the favorite batting.

I can not wait to get my quilting needle threaded and running through this little (50 x 50) quilt! Each stitch will contain a prayer for my little Granddaughter and the life she will live. I will pray for her birth, her childhood, her education, her future husband, her children.....her life. I will pray that Jesus becomes her Saviour early on in her life and that she has the joy of the Lord all of her days. I will pray that I will be somebody in her life that she can come to with her hopes and dreams, her doubts and fears. I will pray happiness and success for her...blessings abundant. After that, the memory of creating the Sunbonnet Sue Sampler will not even include this day of running crazy for the wrong fabrics and the wrong batting. It will be a memory of love. I am now ready to get back to it...I am off to press and trim all 9 little girls!! I will be back with more to share soon.