Once upon a story bloghop 2019 - Jack be nimble
I’ve had a extremely busy time, and after saying I would take someone’s spot who had an unexpected emergency, I then completely messed up the dates and here I am, a week late, but otherwise on time! I was intending to do filler rows, but I got distracted….. The process of my distraction follows.
First, I really wanted to do the wives and the cats from the St Ives poem. So I made them fat and thin and old and young and elegant and dumpy. And that was just the cats. The same applied to the wives.
Here is my draft:
As I was going to St Ives
It was so much fun. But I got distracted again. This time with humpty dumpty. I know another designer did a humpty dumpty block , but …. I really wanted to do the horses!
Here’s my 30 x 12” draft of Humpty.
Humpty Dumpty
I’m just so pleased with this. I love the King’s guards and the token horse! This is as far as I’ve got. I need to make up a sample block and write the pattern. But you guessed it, I got distracted. I wondered what these two blocks would look like 30 x 30 as full quilts. That way I could add horses.
‘As I was going to St Ives’
Now I like this, but it is a bit busy and I’m not sure, maybe it needs a horse…. and a cart. Or perhaps I need to group the figures into blocks of three. What do you think?
Humpty Dumpty 30 x 30
On the other hand, I’m very pleased with this one, though I felt the wall really cuts off the fields, so I added a barred gate. Now this is easier than it looks, but, you know, you could just add a grassy gap. Or even let the wall crumble a little in places. Hmmmm. I’m thinking.
Humpty Dumpty 30 x 30
I like the gate. Having been brought up to always close farm gates, I feel I do need a gate…. Here is the background, hot off the machine.
background with mountains, wall and gate
I’ve then added the appliqué. I need to add the horse’s eyes and the line on the jacket and some buttons (French knots). I was rushing, late at night, and didn’t use my design wall and placed things slightly differently… and I’m cross with myself. (moral, don’t rush!). I’m going to have to do it again to get the balance right. This is very annoying, and the person I’m annoyed with is me. However, I think I might purchase some better mountain fabric. I really wanted the hills to grade from that pale lavender through blue and a blue green to green. I keep looking at the hills and thinking I need to do it better.
Adding the applique: I built up each shape and fused it on my fusamat before adding it to the background. What I didn’t do was check the placement on the design wall. So I feel it’s unbalanced…. The horse on the right is too low and humpty is not central.
This left me with a gap to the right hand side which I didn’t want. So I dug in my stash and found some sheep and farmhouses. I’ve added this to the right hand side. I’ve fused the top of the trees and sewed the sheep in behind the wall. I’m happier with the balance, but I’m still going to have to make it again. The good thing is I will have a baby quilt ready to give away. This is always handy!
Where was I…. Oh that’s right…. getting distracted. I still have few blocks I’m planning to make: I have a little list. I did manage to do ‘Jack be Nimble’ along the way. I’ve done it as 9” by 18” block and I really wanted to have a go at making the table the candle is sitting on look dimensional. That whole piece sound just be a piece of fabric, but by piecing the checks and making them recede to a vanishing point, the table looks like a flat surface. I have not done a great job of matching the points (rushing again), but overall I like the image.
To make the tablecloth, you basically strip piece, and then recut using templates. It is more straightforward than it looks.
Apparently jumping over the candlestick was done for good luck, so this is my (second) free block for you and I wish you good luck in all the giveaways. Click on the picture below to get the download.
‘Jack be nimble’ is a 9” wide by 18” tall block made of piecing and appliqué as part of the 2019 ‘Once upon a story’ rowalong
I have a few things to add: Northcott is a wonderful sponsor. These are the fabrics I chose this year to add green to my grass. (We are in drought here, perhaps I should have chosen brown).
Thank you
The first is a big thank you to Northcott. Northcott has been a fantastic sponsor of the rowalong, and they have so many great naturalistic prints which are fabulous for landscapes.
The second is the EQ8 bundle. This is such an awesome giveaway. I would be lost without EQ8. It really helps me plan ahead. (It does help if I follow the plan…. but that is another story).
Here is the remaining schedule for the last few days. I will be doing a show and tell post on October 8, and with any luck (and a lot of work), I’ll have all my new patterns ready to go! I’m planning on posting them in a more relaxed fashion over the next few days.
Tuesday, October 01, 2019
Carole Andrews | Charlies Daughter at Just Let Me Quilt| Mountain Meadow Designs
Seams To Be Sew| Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Thursday, October 03, 2019
Clever Chameleon | Sew Incredibly Crazy | Miss Loreen???s Schoolhouse
Seams To Be Sew
Tuesday, October 08, 2019
Show and Tell Day
TBA
My giveaway for this post is a fantastic gift for all those with an embroidery arm. It’s worth $250 USD, That is amazing and we are so lucky to have such a generous giveaway. It is a design from Anita Goodesign, and I envy the lucky person who gets it. To read more check Marian’s description of it.
Do drop a comment at the end of this post to be eligible for the giveaways (and because I really, really like comments).
36” x 36” baby quilt. Centre panel is 30” x 30” Techniques include piecing, mock hand appliqué and raw edge (fusible appliqué). Pattern includes templates and instructions. Templates are included both reversed and without a seam allowance for fusible appliqué and not reversed and with a seam allowance for needle turn appliqué.
This pattern contains instructions, appliqué patterns and templates formatted for ‘letter’ size paper. It is suitable for fusible raw edge appliqué. It could be done with needle turn appliqué but some pieces are very small. It contains a label and some appliqué pieces (with written content) which can be printed on fabric printable sheets if desired. (If you use A4 paper, the same pattern is available formatted for A4).