From the Winnipeg Tribune, 1923
Humpty Dumpty sitting on the wall can be adapted to a variety of uses in making gifts for the little ones. This motif can be developed in either filet crochet or cross stitch.
The little Mother Goose shepherdess, whose picture in filet crochet appears here, will be very much at home in nursery or play room, and will make herself useful on bedspread, curtains or cushion.
From the Louisville Courier-Journal, 1925
For the children’s room, here is an interesting filet pattern adapted from the old reliable Mother Goose. If you are very ambitious, you might consider making a crocheted spread of Mother Goose medallions, but for most people, one medallion in the center of a spread involves labor enough. The pattern will also serve as a guide for cross stitch.
Here we are to the very last corner and Little Jack Horner to sit in it. If you enjoy this apread full of Quilties as well as Jack did his pie full of plums, it will be a real treat. We hope you have not lost a single Quiltie and are now ready to set them together with strips of cloth colored like your embroidery thread. These twenty squares will be just enough for a child’s quilt.
Here is a Brooklyn Eagle clipping announcing the winners of the Mother Goose Quiltie contest. If you enlarge the image, you should be able to read the text.
Perhaps you never knew before how Peter Peter kept his wife in a pumpkin. Pumpkins aren’t big enough for houses, but this was a very large one, and Mrs. Peter Peter was a very small wife. If you can outline this as well as you can play it on the piano, you will have another fine Quiltie, and one that cannot get loose and run away.
You would think any one would be good to the Queen of Hearts, she is so pretty and sweet. But the tarts that she made must have been sweet, too, because the Knave of Hearts stole every one and ran away with them. He isn’t in this Quiltie, and no one would want him either, because people who steal are not good company.
And first thing you know, the cow and the sheep will be marching all over this quilt, and then how will it look? But there, Little Boy Blue is blowing his horn, so I guess they’ll stay away.
When I was little and sang this song to my baby brother, I imagined the cradle was hung on a very low branch, just inches above the ground (ignoring the words “tree top”), because otherwise the baby was going to be horribly injured. Wikipedia’s explanations were not entirely satisfying.
“A bough seems a kind of funny place to hang a cradle, even if the wind will rock it and save baby’s sister the work of caring for it. A nice square on your quilt is a much safer place, ’cause babies are too nice to let them tumble down from treetops.”
This was not one of my favorite rhymes when I was little, because I felt sad for Old Mother Hubbard and her dog. It was hard for me to imagine having no food in your cupboard, not even a bone for your poor dog. Note: In Sharrie’s comment below, she points out that there are additional verses that are actually funny. (also see Wikipedia article).
Ruby McKim’s drawing for this one is pretty cute, although I don’t understand why she assumes the dog is old as well. Where does it say that?
Poor Old Mother Hubbard! About all she has is her dog, and now the cupboard is bare and she can’t even find a bone for him. If he wasn’t so old he could go out and find one for himself, but he just sits as you see him in this Quiltie and begs Old Mother Hubbard. All the kind hearted boys and girls will be sorry and will always be good to the dogs when they think of this little Quiltie.
I was not familiar with this nursery rhyme, so when I saw the illustration, I assumed it was “Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub.” Wikipedia has an interesting article about the history of this rhyme, and the connection between New York City and the “Gotham City” of Batman fame.
One of the wise men looks like he has Kyphosis (Dowager’s Hump), which is something that could have happened to me. After my first bone scan, I was surprised to learn I had osteoporosis because I had no family history or other risk factors. So . . . ladies in your sixties, please get tested.
People are not always as wise as they look. What do you think of three men who would go to sea in a bowl? One good thing, they are only going to sail on your quilt, and of course they will not upset there. They ought not get lonesome because there are three of them and they are all great cronies.
Each week I marvel at the way Ruby McKim manages to add so much detail to these illustrations, using only vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines. This Bo-Peep design is one of my favorites — I love her hat with the ribbon, her staff, and her little snood. With just a few well-placed lines, you can see right away that she’s looking for her sheep.
Poor Bo Peep! She does not know that her sheep will come back acting the way sheep most always do. So she worries and looks for them, instead of being carefree like the rest of the little Quilties. Boy Blue will be along after a while, and he is used to hunting sheep.
I probably won’t have any more stitched blocks, since I have huge project that I need to get done, and we are taking a couple of trips. I’ll be stitching on the road, though, so I plan to have my quilt top done shortly after the end of this series.
Here’s an antique paper doll postcard of Bo Peep. There are several others in this set, which I have added to the corresponding earlier posts.
Finally caught up, and now I’m more than halfway done stitching my 20 blocks. I’m not going to sew any more squares into the quilt until they’re all done, just in case I decide to change their placement in the pattern.
Most any boy could jump over a candlestick whether he was very nimble or not, but this candlestick was different. You see, it was almost as tall as Jack. It is a good thing he is not like Jack who went up the hill with Jill, else he would fall down and be burned. He wouldn’t make much of a quiltie then.
After almost 7 years, my blog theme was very out-of-date, and the same theme was no longer available. My son spent hours transferring my blog to a new theme, and now I have been revisiting all my older posts to tweak the images where the formatting changed a bit. The categories on the sidebar will be going away, replaced by the new category listings across the top. Hopefully, I’ll be adding links to my Facebook and Instagram, and one of these days I’ll stitch a new header. It’s a work in progress, but I’d love to hear what you think, and if you’re experiencing any problems
Anyway, that’s my excuse for being behind on my stitching. No completed blocks today, but I’ve cleaned up two blocks this week to sort of make up.
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
Big heads are not always full of brains. Stupid old Humpty Dumpty surely wasn’t. He didn’t have enough sense to keep from tumbling off the wall and spilling over everything. We are glad he did not spatter on our Quiltie. If any egg ever gets on this, it will be some morning when you don’t feel like getting up and mother has to bring your breakfast to bed.
Ride a stick horse to Banbury Cross
To see an old woman ride on a white horse.
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
She will make music wherever she goes.
Stick horses do not go very fast, but they are easy for any boy to manage. Besides, this boy is only going to Banbury Cross, and he does not mind the ride, because he is going to see a wonderful sight. If you can stitch him before he rides away, he will be a fine Quiltie, and you can keep his horse, too.
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!
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.
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.
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.
