Jings, Crivens, Help ma Boab!

Since the nights are light and none of my kids are home just now I have been working long hours on my Circles quilt. The deadline for the FoQ competition entry is midnight on Monday and the quilt has to be finished and sent to the show by about July 24th. 

Suddenly I needed to get it going and order the backing fabric and decide on further embellishments. I had to decide on a name, write an artist statement, list materials and techniques, declare the size, and upload a photo - all on an unfinished quilt. 

I used my industrial heat press to flatten the blocks in case I stretched them with an iron. I defied Quilting Law by pressing the seams open and decided that they were definitely flatter and easier to line up. I had made the blocks deliberately oversized but some of the rings were JUST outside the seam allowance after being trimmed so I decided to gloss over that by couching some sparkly yarn down the seam lines. Laying out the blocks on my table was mind boggling. I could not work out whether to group the blocks according to colour or try to make a regular pattern. In the end I went as random as I could. I was very careful to pick the blocks up exactly as I had set them down and joined them in diagonal rows to create an on-point layout.

While I wait for the backing fabric to arrive I will get on and make some fancy prairie points and see if I can be bothered to make many, many tiny tassels to insert into the binding. I have also ordered some tiny bells (but no tiny pompoms)…

“Jings, Crivens, Help ma Boab!” is a phrase used by Scots cartoon characters in Our Wullie and The Broons to express exasperation, frustration and / or amazement. It is thought by some linguists to translate to Jesus, Christ, Help me God. Modern texters might just type ffs!

The quilt has now been named “Help ma Boab!” Perhaps it should have been something more arty like “Glimpses”? but the first idea appealed to me more.