What's On Your Workdesk this 748th Wednesday?

 

It's Wednesday, which means it's time to join my dear friend and head desker Julia at Stamping Ground for the latest edition of What's On Your Workdesk, Wednesday, or as most know, WOYWW for short.   

 Before we begin, I want to apologize for this extremely LONG post.   I know Julia likes it short and sweet and normally I try to comply.  But that isn't the case today. 

Most of my long term readers know I was raised from birth by my grandparents.  Just wanted to get that out of the way in case it was news to you.

Today my desk is on my dining room table.  I've always said my entire house is my craft space, so here goes.

I'm going to get the obligatory rocking horse out of the way first.  Function is key for this

napkin holder.  Most of my cast iron is functional, like the door stop I shared last week.

One more look and it's back to the kitchen where it dispenses paper napkins.  Cloth napkins are used in the dining room.

Some of you remember I fell from trying to remove a box from a shelf in my guest bedroom.  I also mentioned I had received a very thoughtful gift which I had not yet photographed.  It was sent to me by Angela of Crafting with Jack.  I couldn't believe she was giving this book away and no one had asked for it.  I was happier than anyone can possibly imagine.

This is not a "normal" or "traditional" Sunbonnet Sue quilt.  

Instead, as you saw, this is an International Sunbonnet Sue quilt.  I hope you can read all the countries and symbols associated with International Sue.

This explains about International Sunbonnet Sue,

while this shows the first of the patterns you can make yourself.

Now, however, it was time to show why that book meant/means so much to me and why I'm going to cherish it.  I have my very own Sunbonnet Sue quilt, made for me by my grandmother.  She told me it was made from all the dresses she made me in kindergarten.

I was a tomboy.  I wanted nothing to do with girls in my neighborhood, because I was my grandfather's little helper.  My grandmother tried to correct that by making dresses for me.  I was probably the best dressed girl in kindergarten from the looks of all these fabrics.  But take a closer look.  Each and every stitch was by hand.

You may not be able to see it because the quilt needs to be ironed, but even the quilting is by hand.

I had to break this quilt into quarters to photograph it because it is big.

As you can see, I used it for years and years before I finally decided it was worth saving.  There are stains I was unable to remove and a few stitches have come undone due to my carelessness.

I can't possibly imagine wearing all those dresses to school, but there is the proof.

EDIT: I just counted and there are six across and nine down, which means there are 54 Sunbonnet Sues in my quilt. 

I'm not sure you can see the quilting, but it is at a diagonal.  I want to thank Angela one more time for the book which I will cherish more than she (or probably anybody) will know.  And I also appreciate my grandmother for her hand sewing skills.  I'm sure a few of you seamstresses and quilters will appreciate this post.

Thanks for stopping by my dining room table today.  Please join me at Julia's, where you will meet the kindest, most generous bloggers in the world.  I know that for a fact!!!