Wednesday - Just clowin' around

Okay stitchy friends, a confession from me : I don't like clowns or circuses. I know there's lots of delightful Enid Blyton type stories of hours of happy fun under the Big Top, but I don't think the animals want to be there, and clowns are just disturbing. When I was a wee stitchy I wasn't scared of clowns so much as my response was "What's the point? You look stupid and you're not funny." (Maybe I was just a brat though.) However, people swallowing knives, magicians, fat ladies with beards, strong men, people eating fire, and flying through the air are fine by me, if they all want to be there...unlike the elephants and lions. Anyway, enough belly-aching from me. And don't even start me on "dancing bears" and the like.

But I know I'm not alone in my mistrust of clowns...so I was pleasantly suprised when I unfolded this Workbasket sheet and found happy, non-sinister clowns, all drawn with a 1960's sense of joie de vivre. There's about 6 clown designs, intended for quilt blocks. So here's today's pattern, where Happy the clown is trying to "tame" Mr. Lion, but we can tell by the drawing that Mr. Lion is just humouring him, playing along for his own amusement. Roar! (Or possibly Yawn! He looks like that sort of lion.)

Easter Sunday

I know it's late, but honestly, I have lost track of what day it actually is. This one is from a Workbasket set of New Testament designs for a quilt (I also have the Old Testament ones as well.) All the designs depict characters and episodes from the Bible, and the drawings all have a simple charm. Jesus and the Children is quite sweet. (If you want to see any more leave a comment and I'll put them on Flickr.) And given it's Easter, this one seems appropriate.

Ding dong dell

...I'm still not feeling well. Are you sick of me yet? I know I'm sick of me! Which is why this pattern appealed to me today, I'm feeling rather contrary, and quite irritable, so here I am:



This pattern is a Workbasket one (I think) but I'm not really sure, it was mixed up in a bundle of other patterns and already cut. (If anyone knows where it's from and if I need to take it down due to copyright, please let me know.) This pattern stretched my memory a bit, because it's Nursery Rhyme characters for quilt blocks. I understood obvious ones like Little Boy Blue, Mary Mary Quite Contrary, (a sobbing) Little Bo-Peep, Little Miss Muffet, Georgie Porgie, Little Jack Horner (always a favourite rhyme of mine), and also Jack and Jill - here they are:


When I saw this one I immediately thought of the dirty versions of Jack and Jill I've heard in my time, because Jill definitely looks like she's up to something very naughty...watch out Jack! I'm starting to think that Jack falling down and breaking his crown was no accident, and Jill's "tumbling" was just a cover up to divert suspicion. Might have to get Hercule Poirot onto that one.

But there's also Lucy Locket and 10 o'clock Scholar who I don't know anything about. (I suppose I could just Google them, but that'd be cheating.)

And what baffled me was this fellow who's name had been cut apart from his drawing:


I asked Mr Stitchy if he knew who on earth this boy with a soggy cat was, and he informed me that he's from the rhyme 'Ding Dong Dell'... and proceeded to recite it to me. What a terrible thing! What sort of evil child would throw a kittah down the well?! Such is the stuff of nightmares for me, as a wee stitchy and kitty lover! So Little Johnny Stout has now acquired hero status, as a kitty saver, and all round good guy.

[If you're super keen to make them all as a quilt, email me for the other designs. I haven't altered the size of these from the scans in case you want them for kid's pictures or clothes or whatever, so you might have to tweak them a bit.]

Twee overload!

Here's something a little different, a small single sheet of transfers, simply marked "A New Era Transfer 305". These are English transfers and from the style, I'd date them to the 1930's, and say they're for nursery items. Other than that, I know nothing about them, and doing a quick Google (remembering to include "-ebay") I couldn't find anything about the company.

Hope there's one you like enough to stitch!

Bonnets and baking (Workbasket 2-910)

In direct contrast to my previous post, today's pattern is a totally clothed woman from the Workbasket magazine, dating from November 1944. The sheet has 7 Colonial lady motifs for DOW tea towels, and patterns for an "Animal Collection" of little stuffed toys, including a chick, duck, giraffe, zebra, camel, elephant and rabbit all around 5 inches high.

The lady with the bonnet (and cap) is doing your usual things, Monday washing etc, although on Wednesday she's sitting in a rocking chair knitting. I picked Saturday's baking pic to show you, as I thought it might go nicely with Vogart's "Bake on Saturday" design. Plus, baking is the only household chore I have any interest in! Let me know if you'd like to see any of the others.

PS. I might have to re-scan this one, as the quality is lacking.

Workbasket 82 : DOW tea towel girls

I think this one is a Workbasket transfer, although it has no markings, only the number 82. The instructions, paper and colour of the sheet are the same as the Workbasket sheets, and this one features morning glories, pansy pillowcase, and these little girls. One thing I like about the Workbasket sheets is how the artists seem to fill in the gaps with random flowers, scrolls and anything that takes their fancy. This one has a smiling kitty for no apparent reason:

Although now that I think about it, maybe you're supposed to put him with the little girls, he's the right scale for that.
There's no word lettering on this one, so for a change, you can choose what day you do which chore (except for maybe church on Sunday, the little girl is there with a hymnbook singing away. ) Anyway, I picked baking and ironing to share...I love her frilly bloomers!

Hola! It's Workbasket 2-943

This sheet is the usual panoply of designs and projects, there's a luncheon cloth, pillowslip, scarf, and child's garment motifs. I found out here that it dates to August 1947.

As I was extracting the morning glories from this Workbasket transfer, I thought I'd show you the "Mexican designs for luncheon cloths and napkins." The instructions recommend using "bright fiesta colours - red, green, blue, orange and turquoise". The girl is rather pretty:

I'm not sure if she's got her eyes shut in a coquettish flutter, or she's about to pass out from the weight of the fruit on her head! I've never been to Mexico, but from my impressions of the country from Stitchy World, every woman walks around with a fruit basket on her head, and every man will sing to you:

This mariachi fellow looks a bit cheesy to me!

And of course, there's always a donkey:

Alas, no chickens.
Ole!