Since it was discovered that blankets should no longer be used to cover baby in her crib, she needs cozy sleepwear for cool nights. Bunting is back, baby!

Mother Goose Quiltie Pattern #9

Bye, Baby Bunting,

Daddy’s gone a hunting,

For to get a ribbit’s skin,

To wrap the Baby Bunting in.

Baby Bunting is bidding “bye” to his daddy. Do you suppose he needs a bigger rabbit skin, or one for Sundays? It seems like Baby Bunting is mighty little to be out alone, but Mother Goose and her helpers can keep care of him till he gets back his daddy and a soft, new coat.

Here’s my doll-sized Baby Bunting block . . .

and here’s the first two rows set together with sashing made from tiny vintage squares (this amazing ebay purchase). I added the top border so you could see how it’s going to be trimmed with vintage rick-rack. It’s very scrappy and busy, but I like it.

According to Wikipedia: A tuffet, pouffe or hassock is a piece of furniture used as a footstool or low seat. It is distinguished from a stool in that it is completely covered in cloth so that no legs are visible, and is essentially a large hard cushion that may have an internal wooden frame to give it more rigidity.

If my blocks were a bit larger, I would have been tempted to give that spider six more legs.

Mother Goose Quiltie Pattern #8

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,

Eating her curds and whey;

Along came a spider and sat down beside her,

And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Miss Muffet is still sitting all straight and proper. She hasn’t seen the dreadful, old spider dropping down to peek under her bonnet yet. If you will trace her quickly before she humps to run, you can always keep her with the other little Quilties, and the big old spider will not hurt her, either, because he is really busy spinning a new web.

The doll quilt version . . .

Dyspeptic — now that’s a word you don’t hear much anymore, and certainly not one you would normally read in an article intended for children. It does seem to be a good description of Mr. Sprat, however, since it means irritability brought on by indigestion. I think I would be irritable, too, if I never ate any fat. As for Mrs. Sprat, I would be a little offended at being called “fat and greasy,” even though (when you read the whole sentence) I think it’s meant as a sort of compliment.

Mother Goose Quiltie Pattern #7

Jack Sprat would eat no fat,

His wife could eat no lean;

And so between them both

They licked the platter clean.

Doesn’t Jack Sprat look dyspeptic and grouchy?  Ugh! He just got a little piece of fat on his fork and it almost took his poor lean appetite. But Mrs. Sprat gobbles it up. She is so fat and greasy that she slides along easily and keeps poor Jack good natured enough to belong with the happy Quilties.

Here is my doll-sized Jack Sprat block, as well as the Simple Simon block that I didn’t finish in time for his post last week.

It’s interesting that Ruby McKim decided to use the third verse of the Simple Simon rhyme for this quilt. She also used it a decade later in her Rhyme Land quilt (pattern available here). Many children are probably familiar with the first two verses, having to do with the Pie Man, but this verse is less well known.

Mother Goose Quiltie Pattern #6

Simple Simon went a-fishing

For to catch a whale;

But all the water he could find

Was in his mother’s pail.

Poor Simple Simon! He expects to catch a great big whale almost any minute. He has sat there a long time, but he will never get a bite. Whales do not swim around in wooden pails, and that is all that Simple Simon could find. If you will let him be a Quiltie, though, he will fish there as long as your quilt lasts.

Things have been a little hectic around here, so I didn’t manage to finish my square for this week. Hopefully by next week I’ll be back on track with two new blocks completed — Simple Simon and Jack Sprat.

It’s interesting to read the little comments under each nursery rhyme. The author must have been either Ruby Short McKim or a McKim Studios employee, because I’ve found the same text in several different newspapers. Of course the comments are old-fashioned, and some are a little odd  — maybe due to the recently introduced “scientific” theory of raising children.

Mother Goose Quiltie Pattern #5

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells,

And pretty maids all in a row.

I wonder why Mary, Mary, or any other nice child should be contrary? Pleasant children are much happier and better loved. Mary, Mary looks like she is going to behave now and grow flowers, which are already showing on our Quiltie.

Here is my quiltie for this week. It’s a little tricky to get all the details just right using a 3 1/4″ image, especially since I struggle with back stitch. I just can’t seem to get my stitches the same length or perfectly straight, but at least I’m getting a lot of practice.

Mother Goose Quiltie #4

Old King Cole was a merry old soul,

And a merry old soul was he;

He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl,

And he called for his fiddlers three.

Everyone loves Old King Cole. He is so jolly and fat and not like other kings at all. He loved to sit all sprawled out in his great chair, smoking his pipe as we see him, and maybe he has just called for his three fiddlers. Maybe too, he is kind of proud to think that he is King of all the Quilties.

Yay! One more reader participating in the Mother Goose quilt-a-long. Welcome, Mallika! Once everyone has a chance to finish, I hope to show photos of all the quilts. Here’s my doll-sized square for this week.

I’m really excited that several readers are stitching along with me — Patty and Robin are making their blocks 6″, while Cathy is following the original instructions, and making her blocks 10″.

Here is Mother Goose Quiltie #3

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water;

Jack fell down and broke his crown,

And Jill came tumbling after.

Jack and Jill! They did not do anything so wonderful, yet ‘most every child in the country knows about them. They are about the best loved of all Mother Goose’s children; but it must take a lot of loving to make up for a broken head. This Quiltie picture is on the way up, before they got all tumbled. You would not want them after the spill, ’cause they would not look so tidy.

Are you saving each block carefully?

Here is my doll-sized Jack and Jill block, which I made with my own little chubby hands.

This was one of my favorite nursery rhymes when I was little (and still is). I loved imagining living in a shoe with all those siblings, and I always enjoyed looking at the variety of ways the illustrators interpreted the shoe house. I know there are people who have a problem with this particular rhyme, and some have even created new politically correct lines to replace the two about broth and spanking. I still like the original version, though, and it’s the one I taught to my children, just as my mother taught it to me. The explanation under the pattern (as to why the Old Lady is so cranky), is pretty funny.

Mother Goose Quiltie Number 2

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.

She had so many children she didn’t know what to do;

So she gave them some broth without any bread

And spanked them all soundly and sent them to bed.

The Old Woman who lives in a shoe seems kind of cranky, but you must remember she has a lot more children than the two we see. And, having to live in a shoe is enough to make anyone cross. But she will soon have them all spanked and put to bed, and then she will be as jolly as the rest of the Quilties.

This is the second Quiltie, which is going into the pretty Mother Goose Quilt that you are all going to make, and maybe win one of the gold prizes, which are going to be given for the best quilts, as explained last week.

Here are the first two blocks for my doll quilt.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle published this McKim series in their children’s section, The Junior Eagle. I hadn’t realized they were originally meant to be made by children, and I love that the Eagle went beyond just publishing the patterns, and sponsored a contest for the little quilt-makers (prizes listed below).

Today we have a drawing of the finished quilt, along with instructions, as well as the first Quiltie in the series — Mother Goose, of course. I wanted to start on a Sunday (just like the Eagle), but I’m a little late. From now on, I will publish each new pattern on successive Sundays, and I hope some of you will stitch along with me. I am thinking of making mine doll sized, but I haven’t quite made up my mind. [Update: I am doing a doll quilt with 4″ finished blocks, and back stitch instead of the suggested outline stitch, because it’s easier to make sharp corners] Click the images to enlarge.

Here is the cunning little quilt we have been telling about, all finished to tuck around the boys and girls who love Mother Goose’s family. See Jack and Jill going for that troublesome pail of water. And can you find stupid, old Humpty Dumpty that fell clear off the wall. Who has jumped right over the candlestick?

Every Sunday, for twenty weeks, one of the little blocks, or Quilties, will be here, just the size to transfer on to a 10-inch muslin square. Be sure to save every pattern, because it takes just twenty for a quilt to fit your bed.

After they are traced through carbon paper onto muslin, big sister or mother can show you about the outline stitch, if you never did it. Use some pretty colored thread, and when the Quilties are all finished they can be set together with strips of the same color. Sure, boys make quilts too, and get tucked under them just the same as girls do.

Of course, you are all going to make one of these Quilts and try for one of the prizes. Read all about them below.

The First Pattern – Mother Goose Quiltie No. 1

Old Mother Goose now leads the way

For all her funny folks to play;

She’ll have a party, just for you,

If careful stitching you can do.

Here is Mother Goose, just as we promised, flying up to sweep the cobwebs out of the sky. The Man in the Moon is watching to see that she does a good job. By morning she’ll be all through and come sweep the cobwebs out of kiddie’s sleepy eyes in time to see the big, bright sun.

Note — To change the drawing into a quilt block, get a smoothly ironed piece of muslin, 10 inches square and a blue or black carbon paper. Lay the muslin down on a flat surface. Place the carbon paper over it. On top of the carbon paper place the above drawing. Stick rows of pins around the design so it will be held firmly in place over the carbon and the muslin. Then, so that the traced lines of the design will be perfectly straight, lay a ruler along the lines of the drawing. Trace over the lines of the drawing and the pattern will be transferred through the carbon to the muslin. Then you can outline stitch the lines on the muslin and have the pattern in thread. There are twenty drawings in all, so when the series is completed you will have enough muslin squares to make a child’s quilt.