Welcome Home by Cheryl Wall has those warm, familiar country colors we’ve grown to love. They’re used in several quilts and other projects all inspired by the idea of “home.” Try using wool as recommended for the “Love at Home” pillow, or embroider details on the “Home Sweet Home” framed picture. You’ll enjoy all of the country warmth within this book.

More warm and homey quilts are found in Sarah Maxwell and Dolores Smith’s Faithful & Devoted: To My Adelaide, A Quilted Love Story. This book is based on a series of letters exchanged during the Civil War between Charles Tenney and Adelaide Case, and the letters are fascinating glimpses into wartime, hardship, courtship and propriety. History buffs will be delighted.

Then we shift gears completely for Quilt Retro by Jenifer Dick. Modern quilt designs using lots of solid fabrics are fun and quirky here. In addition to several quilts, there are potholders, placemats and table runners. All of the samples are beautifully quilted, which is like bonus inspiration!

Leave a comment by midnight Tuesday, Nov. 1 and we’ll randomly pick a winner for each of these books. Winners will be announced here next week. Good luck!

The infamous Sunbonnet Sue: love her or hate her? Have you picked a side? There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground.

I bought this vintage Sue quilt some years ago because I thought it was unusual. Two Sues in each block! I imagined them to be best friends “Sue and Lu” or Sue Sisters, or just Sue Times Two.

Their bright solid colors appeal to me and I like the shaped border, so carefully bound. Primitive stars are hand embroidered between the blocks, but why in bright orange and blue? I wish I knew the story behind this piece of folk art.

Judi Maxwell's "Colorado Sue"

I visited a quilt group in Parker, Colorado a few months ago and was introduced to Judi Maxwell, who showed a fun and funny Sunbonnet Sue quilt during Show & Tell. I asked Judi to tell me about her quilt and I learned it wasn’t the first one she has made.

I’ve always had a propensity for making quilts which are really applique samplers. The first Sue I ever made in the ’70s was doing something different in each block—flying a kite, using a watering can. About that time I saw The Sun Sets On Sunbonnet Sue made by some quilters in Lawrence, Kansas. I loved the irreverence of that quilt.

In the late 90s I made a SoCal (that’s for Southern California) Sue in which she is driving a red BMW convertible at the El Toro “Y”, going to the Oscars, celebrating Cinco de Mayo and surviving an earthquake.

Since moving to Colorado in 2001, I’d tried to come up with nine designs for a Sunbonnet Sue. Suddenly, all the ideas hit me August 26, 2010. I grabbed a sketch pad and the scenes came pouring out.

The nine Sue-scenes in Colorado Sue, beginning with the top row, are:

Sue skis but takes a fall,

tours a prairie dog community,

and climbs her first “fourteener” (for those who don’t live in a mountain state, that’s any mountain at least 14,000 feet high).

Sue is herding cattle on her DIA “devil horse” which happens to be blue with orange mane and tail,

caught up in a tornado,

and enduring the rain and hail of spring in the Rockies.

Sue gets lost in the aspens,

Sue learns to fly jets at the Air Force Academy,

and Sue is a snow woman.

I did some research regarding the Sue quilt Judi mentioned above. It was made by a group of quilters who called themselves The Seamster’s Union (Local #500).

The Sun Sets on Sunbonnet Sue sports some rather twisted Sue humor. It depicts a variety of ways in which Sue could meet her demise. A few blocks are shown below.

Sunbonnet Soup

Eaten by a Snake (look closely so you don't miss Sue!)

Struck by Lightning

I’ve only shown you the tamest blocks. You can see the more sick-ish Sues at the Great Lakes Quilt Center’s page.  When I saw this quilt years ago, I thought it was hilarious, but I have a weird sense of humor.

And if all that was not enough, this week I reviewed a fun new book from Martingale called A Year in the Life of Sunbonnet Sue by Christine Porter and Darra Williamson. Among other things, Sue goes to the beach, goes on a quilting cruise and even plays basketball during March Madness. My favorite part is Sue’s feet. In one block she wears Birkenstocks, and in another she is barefoot but her toenails are painted. I wish I had thought of it.

Quiltmaker's "Best Friends" pattern

Quiltmaker has a Sunbonnet Sue pattern called Best Friends. Sue and her male counterpart (sometimes called Overall Bill) are sitting down. Complete instructions are included for making a crib quilt or twin comforter with pillow sham, plus a wall quilt and a 12-inch doll.

I’m wondering what Sue would be doing in your state. Please leave a comment before midnight Monday, March 7 telling us what state you’re in and some Sue blocks you’d dream up for that location. I’ll give the book and a fabric bundle to the most imaginative commenter! The winners (we couldn’t settle on just one, they were so imaginative!) are Donna, Nancy and Robin. Book and fabrics are on their way. Thanks to everyone who put Sue to work!

She collects photos/ads/images containing color combinations she finds attractive–exciting to her soul, if you will. She files the images into categories such as earthy, watery, warm, cool, autumn, winter, soft, tropical, etc.

When she’s ready to start a quilt/project, she goes to her file and pulls an image with colors that will work in to what she has in mind: here she considers who the quilt is for, how it will be used, the mood she’s after and so on.

She enlarges the chosen image to 8.5 x 11. By studying it carefully, she chooses fabrics in colors to match the image’s colors. It’s so interesting to see her photos and the fabrics she chose based on the photos. There’s a gallery of quilts made using this technique of visual coloring.

If you’re interested in a color method that’s unique, fast and easy, I’d recommend this book. I’m excited to try visual coloring, so the first thing on my list is to start my file of color inspirations. I’ll keep you posted.

What a delightful and extremely talented quilter! Not only does she design beautiful quilts, she also designs fabric for Moda Fabrics and her first book, Hop To It! has just been published by Landauer Publishing.

You can find the pattern for one of her quilts, Botanic Beauty, in our July/August ’09 issue, and we’ll be working with more of her designs in future issues.

Edyta has a unique knack for combining different types of fabrics in the same quilt—from batiks to traditional cottons. In an exclusive Quiltmaker interview with Edyta, I asked her if she would share her formula for choosing fabrics for her quilts. She replied “I choose my fabrics by using my ‘Rule of 5.’ The five refer to large, medium, small, stripe and dot prints. If you’d like to learn more about my method for choosing fabrics, I have included complete details of this process in my new book Hop To It! ” Read the complete interview. For information on ordering her book, contact Landauer Publishing at 800-557-2144, info@landauercorp.com, landauercorp.com.

We’re going to give away four copies of her new book. Just leave us a comment with your favorite quilting tip and we’ll randomly choose four lucky people on July 24th to receive a copy of Hop To It!

Let me tell you a little bit about Bonnie. She’s a prolific quilter, a lot of fun and she makes great scrap quilts. She has a workable system for using her scraps (Scrap User’s System in Jan/Feb ’09) and for making one quilt while she’s working on another (Leaders and Enders in Jan/Feb ’08). If you ever have the chance to hear Bonnie speak, go! When I heard her speak, I sat there thinking “I can do this–I should do this–It’d be so simple to set up a system like hers.” She’s inspiring.

I’m so glad that we’ve been able to introduce Bonnie to QM readers and, in our July/Aug ’09 issue we’re starting a mystery quilt designed exclusively for us. It’s called Christmas Lights and part 1 is now available in the magazine.

Special Offer: If you’ve missed any of the previous Quiltmaker issues that feature Bonnie’s articles and patterns, we’ve got a Bonnie Hunter Special on sale now. You get 4 issues that feature Bonnie’s articles and patterns, including July/August ’09 to start the Mystery series all for $10.99.

Book Review + Giveaway: Bonnie is also the author of a book called Scraps & Shirttails: Reuse, Re-Purpose, Recycle! The Art of Quilting Green, published by Kansas City Star Books. This book is filled with Bonnie’s ideas to recycle everything from stash fabric to thrift store finds. Bonnie will help you tame your scraps and turn them into quilts, and the book has 12 fun patterns as well. Leave a comment mentioning your favorite quilt-related blog  by 12 noon Mountain time on Friday, June 19 and I’ll select 5 different people to win a copy of Bonnie’s book!