Troublesome characters

The Rabbit - not  troublesome at all

The rabbit now has its pink spotted dungarees, which were sewn from an old pillowcase and look quite good, if you like the bold style! They are very roomy, allowing for a shirt or jumper underneath, and also accommodating the rabbit's pompom tail at the back, as I forgot to leave a hole for it. The straps attach to the bib with snap fasteners behind the buttons which are just for show. I have learnt the value of slowing down to snail's pace for the curves, and using the hand wheel for the really difficult bits. Once again, the You tube video from Claire England was invaluable, and encouraging. My next attempt is going to be a shirt to go under it, which I think will be a big step up in difficulty and a wealth of fiddling about with tiny seams. 

This is the book the rabbit and its clothes are taken from.

The top right corner of the Fairy Tale Quilt, with firebird, frog prince, Humpty Dumpty and the genie, all awaiting their eyes and other details 

The rabbit suffered bits of clothes being pinned on to it without a murmur and posed patiently while I tried to photograph it in poor light. Some of the characters on the quilt have been far more troublesome. I wanted my Frog Prince to be leaping about, displaying long, bendy legs and squidgy toes. Unfortunately, I just couldn't draw him to my satisfaction, and he's ended up sitting, not leaping, admittedly froggish, but without the fun toes. Then, after reading my machine manual for the first time in twenty years, I discovered there was an applique stitch. How wonderful - I would try it out on the frog! After a minimum of practice, I dived in. I quickly realised I had the stitch size too small, but blundered on nonetheless, and hated the result. Applique stitch turned out to be horrible to unpick, and the original frog fabric was shredded in the process. For the second effort, I'm back to old reliable zigzag. Like all the characters, he still needs his eyes, and I might add some toes later too.

The lamp has a genie now, who also gave me a lot of trouble. The space I had for him demanded a difficult curve, and it took many experiments with bits of paper till I had him emerging from his lamp (which needs a handle).  I thought he would look good in translucent material, but didn't want the flowery background cloth to show through, so I spent ages tacking chiffon onto cotton backing. But the results were too clumsy, especially when I tried to add folded arms. I didn't want to get stuck on this for long and spoil the momentum of doing a bit every day, so he is a solid body genie now. As a consolation,  I sewed him in metallic thread, which at least gave him a bit of sparkle. 

There are still a few spaces on the quilt to fill. I'm experimenting with Billy Goat Gruff shapes and thinking about what tiny things might be added here and there - a poison apple? dancing slippers? Could I even attempt a spinning wheel?