The Sad Tale of Little Jack Trifle

Ahhh.... Poor Little Jack Trifle.

He's a winsome little fellow despite his beleaguered beginnings and melancholy mien.

His story began with Melisa at Pinker n Punkin Quilting & Stitching when she posted this adorable cucurbit's pattern on her blog. (Melisa graciously offers all her patterns free of charge.)

Since I haven't met many pumpkins a pumpkin I haven't loved, I had to stitch him.

 

So, shortly after his debut, stitch him I did.

I had thought I would make him into a "seasonal" insert for the hanging clock I purchased several years ago. (I posted the St. Patrick's Day insert here and the Christmas one here.)

I did not, however, do my math and he ended up far too small even for the small clock insert.

{Stitched on Osnaburg}

 

If possible, poor Jack's countenance seemed to become even more dejected.

To make his failure as a clock insert candidate even more painful, he ended up in my Basket of Shame on the Isle of the Unfinished...where he languished for several years.

Finally, I could no longer stand his sad little face looking up at me every time I went near the Isle of the Unfinished.

Sooo, I finally picked him up with the intention of finishing him into a little scissors fob.

But his sad, sad, eyes kept imploring me...he did not want to be a fob.... He wanted to be a clock insert.

He truly did. 

So, I assured Little Jack Trifle that I would do what I could and proceeded to build him a little basket of stitches which he could sit upon and which would give him a little more height.

He did not seem to mind that I just "winged" the basket part without a pattern. (I suspect his time in exile on the Isle of the Unfinished made him a bit desperate.)

But Little Jack still looked downcast.

I could not understand how he could be so mirthless as I thought the urn-like basket looked good on under him.

Then I saw it.... The last bottom row on the urn/basket was short one "x" on the left side.

Seriously??

Surely this must be the source of poor Jack's distress but correcting it would mean removing both my initials and the year as well as several other stitches given how I had stitched it.

Gah!

But if Lil' Jack ain't happy, well...you know.

So out they came, in went new stitches and my egregious error was corrected.

But it seemed that Jack's countenance had shifted,

ever so slightly, from sadness to apprehension. And could it be outright fright??

I was more than ready to be done with Mr. Trifle at this point but, given his long-suffering patience, I added a few bats to keep him company.

A bit happier? Not much...but I was done.

I decided to fully final-finish him into an insert before I changed my mind again (or completely lost my mind).

It's a simple and easy finish and one I've done dozens of times.  Simple and easy if one doesn't iron the fusible interfacing on the incorrect side.

Really????

😖

(No photos here as I quickly tried to undo the damage before the bond was completely cooled.)

My demeanor was now every bit as sour as Jack's and, just as I was beginning to think that I had, after all these years, finally met a pumpkin I did not love, I thought I saw a little tear in the corner of Jack's eye. 

I don't know if it was a bit of the interfacing left stuck to his face or simply confirmation that I had, indeed, lost my mind, but I knew I had to finish what I started.

So, albeit a bit worse for the wait and wear, Little Jack Trifle finally got his wish of becoming a clock insert.

He's not as crisp and sharp as he was when he started his life but, then again, neither am I.

And it may be just me, but I think he looks like he is doing his best to look the part of the proud little jack-o-lantern he is.

(Just don't anyone tell him that, in a matter of weeks, he will be replaced by a Christmas tree. 😬)