Once Upon A Story: Puss in Boots

It’s Story Time Again!! Once Upon A Story…..

…. there were two hardworking and dedicated quilt bloggers, one at Seams to be Sew and the other at Clever Chameleon. Their names were Marian and Dione.

One day, Marian decided to go into the internet forest in search of quilt designers to help create a huge blog hop. A blog hop where there would be a free quilt block pattern at every stop, and lots of prizes too. The theme was to be Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes: Once Upon A Story.

Dione, who spends a great deal of time tending to posts in the internet forest, thought she’d like to be part of this gig. Like all good forests though, this one was full of big bad wolves who tried to deceive and eat her: distraction, too many choices, changes of mind, poor organisation…. But also like all good fairy tales, the heroes won in the end. After much deliberation, Puss in Boots was the pick from her list of favourite fairy tales and nursery rhymes. The block was made, the pattern written and the post is up. The Chameleon slayed all the big bad wolves and Dione lived happily ever after…..

Welcome to my stop on the Once Upon a Story Row Along!

This row along at Seams to be Sew is Marian’s fifth. Congratulations Marian, on five amazing years! This is my second time participating, and once again I have really enjoyed the variety of styles and ideas presented in this hop. I have been reminded of so many childhood favourites. Thanks Marian for all your hard work, and thanks to Northcott for your amazing donation of feature fabrics. And much gratitude to Electric Quilt and all the other prize sponsors too, it is all greatly appreciated.

And thank you to my readers for visiting today, I hope you enjoy my block and I wish you all the best of luck for the prize draws.

Puss in Boots for the Once Upon a Story block collection

Today is my day to show my block. Yesterday was my day to sew it…. Not all of it of course, I’ve been teasing you in fits and starts for weeks. Ogres and Partridges here…..

….. a few Rabbits and Castles there……

The star of the show, however, has been languishing, waiting his turn in the increasingly urgent sewing queue. But with all the flair we have come to expect from Puss in Boots through his recent movie incarnations, he has burst forth just in time!

Taa daaaaah!

But before I show you the whole block put together……

Do you know the story of Puss in Boots?

The traditional one, I mean, not the DreamWorks version. The one where a miller’s three sons inherit parts of their father’s business, but the youngest son only gets the cat. The horrid son is going to kill the cat, but the cat turns out to be a walking talking sociopath who knows a useful thing or two. He pleads for his life, gets the son to give him a pair of boots and sets about to better their collective circumstances by stealing, lying, killing, cheating and plundering on behalf of his master.

In a nutshell, Puss kills the local King’s game and gifts it back to the King on behalf of his master. He tricks an ogre into turning himself into a mouse and then eats him. Then he steals the ogre’s castle, wealth, lands and workers for his master. He threatens said workers to accept his master as their own lord.

Puss in Boots also convinces his master to swim in the river naked, disposes of the man’s clothes and then tricks the King into giving him some new fancy duds. He makes up a false title for his friend, who falls in love with the princess and then marries under false pretences. And they all somehow live happily ever after without ever getting called out on any of it. Except the ogre of course, who was in comparison only a powerful wizard and Level 1 bully and nowhere near so fortunate.

Is there even a moral?

I have no idea what the moral of the story is. As a kid it never bothered me, it was just a fun story. I even named my first tuxedo cat Puss in Boots when I was 10 years old. Now as an adult I know it is really quite a terrible story, but I still love it anyway! As do generations of others. I know I shouldn’t, because actually Puss in Boots is evil clever, and his master is evil stupid, and they’re actions are sanctioned only because their main victim was evil ugly and evil different. But behind all that, I subconsciously desire undeserved riches to land in my lap…. I even keep rescuing cats with socks on their paws in the hope that one might be an evil genius……

Perhaps being willing to entertain the idea of receiving unexplained good fortune and knowing that it must not be got in this way is the delicious tension that makes this story so fascinating and so long lasting. The most prevalent version of Puss in Boots was published by the French author Charles Perrault in 1697. That’s an old story! If you are a bit of an info-nerd like me, here is a great summary and discussion of the story at Owlcation.

But, anyway enough deep thinking. Fortunes await those with much motivation and no conscience. Quilting awaits the rest of us!

Get the Puss in Boots block for your pattern collection

Click on Puss in Boots to download the pdf in this tab or on the button below to open in a new one.

**** It is really important that you print this pdf at 100%, otherwise your pattern pieces will be the wrong size for the quilt blocks. Turn off “fit to page” options in your printer dialog and ensure that the printout size is set to 100%. There are check boxes supplied in the document. If your printout is successful, these will measure 1″ square. The document is designed to fit on both US Letter and A4 paper. ****

A brief look at the construction of Puss in Boots

Our major sponsor is Northcott Fabrics, who has very generously supplied a stack of prizes for the hop, and also fabrics to designers to showcase in their block designs. We even got to choose the fabrics we’d like! I chose four textured solids: 9030-76 9020-24, 9020-45, and 39301-85 to use as my backgrounds and main colours. In the demo block pictures these are the sky blue, the grass green, the bright red and the purple.

My Puss in Boots block is constructed in 5 parts. Two paper-pieced triangle strips, separating three appliqué panels.

The provided instructions detail how to create the large centre appliqué section before piecing the rest of the block, but you can just as easily piece the entire background before adding the appliqués if you prefer.

I fused together the parts of Puss onto non-stick baking paper before positioning the whole thing onto the background. Then to create the Puss in Boots scene, I put down the sun and tree first because they are easy to place into the corners. Then I added the cat, the sack and the grass tufts.

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There are a lot of small details in this block, so I used freemotion stitching to secure the entire appliqué pattern. But a combination of zig/zag or blanket stitch to secure the larger pieces and embroidery to replace the smaller details is also an option that would look great.

I think if you enlarged it, my Puss in Boots block could also be a fun stand-alone child’s quilt . Perhaps just a couple of side borders to widen it. Or make more triangles in the strips, widen the background and spread the appliqués out. The centre panel could also make a good pillow. However you choose to use it; a block, a pillow or a quilt – I hope you enjoy making my Puss in Boots design and musing over the story. 😀

But don’t Disappear Just Yet!

If you like it here, you might like to keep in touch. Every Tuesday we have a Colour & Inspiration linky party where the Clever Chameleon usually gets up to some mild hijinks while helping us all find new quilt ideas with our friends. Often there is also a second post on the blog later in the week, like this one. I try very hard to keep posts to an average of twice a week. A chameleon plague in your inbox would be very overwhelming!

Us Clever Chameleons are also almost through our own appliqué quilt along called Love with a Twist. All blocks are balloon critters, except the LOVE balloon centre block. You can make a throw size or a twin size version of this very fun project, and all the patterns are downloadable for free until we are finished in November. So, yes, you can still join in!

All you have to do to get these patterns is keep an eye out for their release on the blog and press the download button. Easy!

There are always lots of other things going on here too. Generally lots of colour and batiks. I am a 2019 brand ambassador for Island Batik, and showcase their beautiful products in a project every month. It’s not all appliqué, I like piecing too. I made a paper-pieced cat cushion just the other day (when I should have been working on Puss in Boots! haha). I also write about other quilt patterns, magazines, techniques and (interesting if obliquely related) Australiana, all with a bit of tongue in cheek to brighten your day. I write almost but not entirely exclusively about all things quilting, with the occasional dabble in other crafts.

Interested?

Follow my blog by email (apply in the sidebar), or Bloglovin’, Facebook or Instagram. Just so you know, I am waaaay more of a blogger than a social-media-ite, so while I try my best to keep on top of those outlets, I fail sometimes. If you want to make sure you get everything, email or Bloglovin’ notifications are best. I also have a rockin’ Pinterest feed that is only fabric crafts!

Now, enter for today’s prize draws!

There are two prizes you can try for today. Prize 1: Four fat quarters of fabric from Northcott. And Prize 2: Electric Quilt Version 8!

Prize 1: Beautiful Fabrics from Northcott in yellow and grey, draw closes October 10, 2019 as shown on the Rafflecopter widget.

Northcott fabrics are soft and vivid. I love working with their fabrics very much, and you will too if you are lucky enough to win these!

Prize is a bundle of four Northcott Fat Quarters as shown, value is US$20.00.
Shipping is available internationally. Winner will be required to pay for shipping costs from the USA.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Prize 2: One Copy of EQ8, draw closes October 8, 2019 as shown on the Rafflecopter widget.

Do you want to win the quilt design software EQ8? Of course you do!

Prize value is US$239.95
Shipping is by electronic download.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please make sure you read the fine print for the prize draws. International entries welcome, where permitted, for most items. Be aware that for prizes of a physical nature the recipient will be required to pay postage, so please consider this carefully before you enter. The raffles are run entirely by Seams to be Sew, and all enquiries about terms and conditions and prizes should be directed to Marian Pena at that website. Clever Chameleon takes no responsibility for, and has no control over, the collection of entries, determination of winners nor the distribution of prizes.

And visit the remaining Once Upon A Story posts from this week

You can find the entire schedule for Once Upon a Story of Marian’s blog, Seams to be Sew. Many of the minor prize draws have expired, but you can still collect the block patterns for your collection and enter for EQ8.

This week’s blog posts all still have active competitions though, and you will find them at these links. Enjoy!

October 1, 2019
Carole Andrews (Rapunzel)
Charlie’s Daughter at Just Let Me Quilt (Hickory Dickory Dock)
Mountain Meadow Designs (Filler blocks)
Seams To Be Sew (Filler embroidery designs)
Duck Creek Mountain Quilting (Jack be Nimble)

October 3, 2019
Clever Chameleon – that’s me, you’re here! (Puss in Boots)
Sew Incredibly Crazy (Hey Diddle Diddle)
Miss Loreen’s Schoolhouse (Four and Twenty Blackbirds)
Seams To Be Sew (Jungle Book)

October 8, 2019 – Show and Tell Day

Rules and Guidelines For Giveaways

You can find the rules and guidelines for the giveaways on my previous Once Upon A Story post here. While you are there, grab the Pied Piper block by Ursula. 😀

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Please leave your comment to be eligible to enter the Northcott fabric prize draw (also please read the instructions in the rafflecopter widget about the required content of that comment). I read and enjoy all your comments, but am unable to respond during giveaways unless you have a specific question. Thanks for connecting and I hope you’ll be back again soon!

Would you like to keep in touch with Clever Chameleon and the fun quilty ideas I design as well as find all over the internet? You can follow directly for email updates, or through Bloglovin’, Pinterest, IG or FB. All your follow options can be found here. Don’t forget to link up all your current quilting projects on Tuesdays at our Colour & Inspiration Linky parties!