Friday, June 26, 2015

Does Mother Goose Still Exist?


I've put together row one of a Mother Goose Quiltie. 
Martha at Q is for Quilter is releasing a pattern each Sunday.   These were originally published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1920.   Illustrations were by Ruby Short McKim.  

I'm stitching on 10 inch pieces of muslin like the original. As a side note...these were originally meant to be stitched by children as part of a contest.  

I've been thinking of making some hope chest quilts for descendants I may never even know - baby quilts paired with some of the old books I have around here. 



That got me to wondering if parents still read Mother Goose rhymes to their children. 

This Mother Goose book was a baby shower gift.   That "baby" of mine is now 41 years old.  If I remember correctly the person who gave me this book said she "purchased" it with several books of S&H Green Stamps.   Remember those? 


When I used to read nursery rhymes to the kids I would ask questions like: "Would you like to live in a shoe?" ,  "How many children do you think lived in there?", "What do you think she will live in when the shoe wears out?", "Have you ever seen a shoe as big as a house?"


"What were they going to do with the pail of water?", "What's a crown?", "Next time you fall down should I put some vinegar and brown paper on you?"

"What song do you think those fiddlers were fiddling?"
"What would you do if you were king for a day?"

What I didn't ask...
"What was he smoking in that pipe that made him such a merry old soul?"

4 comments:

gayle said...

I remember those green stamps! As I recall, the stickum tasted awful...
I'll have to ask my daughter if she read Mother Goose to her kids. I certainly read those rhymes to her - over and over and over again.
How many blocks are going to be in your quilt? Love the redwork, especially with the red fabrics framing the embroideries.

TakeMeThereTotes said...

Great Post! Oh yes, I remember that book and those stamps! I was in the car when my BIL passed up a gas station because it did not give green stamps and we ultimately ran out of gas. Got a big chuckle out of your last line!

Karen in Breezy Point said...

Haha--it's probably better that we don't know what's in the pipe! What a fun idea for a gift--very cute!

Michelle said...

I had that same book, from about the same time frame. Yesterday, the kids and I were standing across the street from what used to be the Green Stamps redemption store. I remember Mom saving up for a cat bed.

I didn't read my kids much Mother Goose, but we've got a local kiddy park that's a walk down storybook lane with life size scenes from fairy tales and a lot of the mother goose rhymes. Some adults jumped a fence and knocked Humpty Dumpty off of wall last year. :-(