2/17/13

Two Grandmothers Moving Along

Today I quilted 6 more of the blocks for the Two Grandmothers quilt.  That makes 9 total, and 16 to go, so I'm making pretty good time on it.  Here's what I did today.

I was all set to put musical notes on the Banbury Cross block as many of you suggested.  But then I started looking at the block and realized that I don't really have enough space to do something like that and make it look right.  Pretty much all of these blocks have just a small amount of space for quilting.  All of them require some sort of meandering design, and so that's what I ended up doing.


For this one, I decided to meander the trail made by the stick of the horse.  I looked up the definition of a "cock horse" and it turns out it simply means a toy horse.  I had one of these broomstick horses when I was a kid.  I remember riding it all over the place.  So I meandered his trail all over the block.  Here, let Smitty show you.


Twinkle, twinkle little star was a no-brainer.


Who knows this nursery rhyme?

See Saw Margery Daw,
Jacky shall have a new master;
Jacky shall earn but a penny a day,
Because he can't work any faster.

Does that make any sense to you?  Me neither.  This little blurb from Wikipedia might help:
The seesaw is one of the oldest 'rides' for children, easily constructed from logs of different sizes. The words of "See Saw Margery Daw" reflect children playing on a see-saw and singing this rhyme to accompany their game. No person has been identified by the name Margery Daw and so it is assumed that this was purely used to rhyme with the words 'seesaw'.
The rhyme may have its origins as a work song for sawyers, helping to keep rhythm when using a two-person saw.
Anyhoooo...



I had in mind to try to quilt some see saws on this, but again, I ran into a problem with not enough space, and no way to do it in a continuous line sequence.  This is what I was considering.


It was easy enough to quilt, but I had to do it on such a small scale and then try to connect it to the next one somehow.  When I practiced it, it was losing itself in the translation.  I ended up just doing an up and down motif.  Good enough.


And then, Mother Goose.  She doesn't really have her own nursery rhyme.


I decided to quilt goose footprints on her block.


Okay now, this is where the whole collection of nursery rhymes goes off the rails:  Barber Shave A Pig.

Barber Barber shave a pig
How many hairs will make a wig?
Four and twenty that's enough
Then pat the pig with the powder puff.



Whatever.  I decided to make pigs' hooves on his block.


Finally, Jack and Jill.  This one was fairly easy too.


I decided on tumbling buckets.


So that was enough sewing for me today.  I could have gone on, but when I do it for too long, my neck, shoulders, and right hand start to hurt.  I decided to stay on the conservative side.  If I can do six a day for the next couple of days, I'll be finished in three days.  I'm going to quilt a sort of heart vine in the border and in the sashings.  In fact, I noticed there is a heart vine in the fabric for the sashings, so I'll do something like that.  I'm feeling optimistic about having this finished by next weekend.

And check this out!  Every one of my sixteen little pots has something growing now.  Score!  


Makes me hungry for salsa.  How did your Sunday go?

17 comments:

WoolenSails said...

Those are so cute and love the stitching you are doing.
I am not thinking about growing yet, way too cold here.

Debbie

quiltzyx said...

OK, I was too slow on the quilting bells part! LOL You're doing a swell job on them all. And just LOOK at all those sprouts - more & more & more! Congrats :D

Kate said...

Wonderful quilting on those blocks. It's going to be quite a treasure when it's all finished.

Quilting Babcia said...

Never heard that Barber Barber Shave a Pig one! This quilt has such personality with your individualized quilting in each block. Garden looks wonderful - I'm still in the thinking stage ...

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

So cute! I got two stitches sewn today on the bird house....giggle...something distracted me and that was it.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

This is wonderful - and I love revisiting the old nursery ryhmes that my greatgran use to sing-song to me.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

This is wonderful - and I love revisiting the old nursery ryhmes that my greatgran use to sing-song to me.

“Old World Goodies” said...

Sooo cute and love the picure with the paw ....awsome...

The Slow Quilter said...

Your stitching is great, I love the nursery ryhmes.

Rachel said...

Oh, it looks so fantastic!! LOVING it!!

Brown Family said...

I never heard of it eather, but found this version

Barber, barber shave a pig
How many hairs to make a wig?
Four and twenty, that's enough
To give the barber a pinch of snuff

Barber you think you're doin' fine
But you'd better think twice before you touch that swine
'Cause if you were the pig and the pig were you
She might just wanna make barber stew!


I thought it might be a jump rope game. After snuff you 'run in' to the rope and they start counting.

I still an amazed at your quilting!

Lyndsey said...

I love your quilting on those blocks. It is looking really good and will soon be finished at this rate.

I must follow your example and get my seeds planted. A job for later in the week.

Junebug613 said...

The quilting looks fantastic! I've never heard that Barber rhyme before. Congrats on your sprouts!

Diane Wild said...

You did a lot of quilting. I, too, have shoulder and arm issues so I have to work in short spurts. Your nursery rhyme quilt is fantastic.

Sallie said...

I grew up hearing the first verse that Brown Family metioned above. When my DD was little, she thought the first line was:
"Barbara, Barbara"

Dar said...

Great solutions to your quiting motifs. You are on a roll. I think your quilt will be so cute all finished. Those are some unusual rhymes, but I love what you are doing with them. Are all those little seedlings tomatoes?? If so, you will have lots of salsa coming.

Denise :) said...

Old Mother Goose, when
She wanted to wander,
Would ride through the air
On a very fine gander.

Not much on 'rythmical rhyme', but she's got a paragraph, at least!! :)