Jacqueline Bullock is a quilt maker from the Okanacan Valley in B.C. who has added her own learning of the craft to what she got from several generations of quilters in her family. The quilt pictured, she made for a very lucky friend, a Newfoundlander. Having been regaled by tales of Newfoundland weather and a few more colourful stories of St. John's, she drew the inspiration for this original "Jellybean Quilt" (and worth noting, she only hand quilts!). We love a pieced quilt-back and this one has the added bonus of featuring three of the Quilted Stash Primary Row panels and our Colourful Neighbours fabric. The fabric was designed around the zig-zagging of downtown St. John's streets, the character of which Jacqueline also beautifully captured in her quilt top. Her boundless talent and generosity don't stop there; she also keeps a book of her quilts and the stories that inspire them. She notes, "If I gift a quilt I will gift a copy of the book with it and it will include that quilt and it’s story. That makes it special for the recipient and also for me." It does indeed. Jacqueline agreed to let us share her story of the Jellybean Quilt with you.
A Newfoundland and Labrador Connection
Jacquelin Bullock
"A very nice gentleman has become a very special friend to both Richard and I. He and his wife relocated to our city by way of following their lovely daughter and her family to Kelowna. Their daughter and family moved into our neighbourhood in 2017 and we have all become good friends and with that spend many a Friday Night Happy Hour enjoying each others company. Now, this gentleman and his wife are originally from our further most Eastern Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, four and one half time zones away from Kelowna. I do enjoy listening to many a tale about that province and the city of St. John’s. The weather seems to be a topic of conversation and I have been told many times that all those beautiful tourism advertisements we see are just that, an advertisement. According to these native Newfoundlanders these pictures were taken on the one day a year the sun shines. I don’t believe any of this and prefer to think of Newfoundland as a wonderful far away place better known as “The Rock”. This gentleman’s ancestors arrived upon the shores of Newfoundland in the early 1800’s and from there prospered and beget the family we now thoroughly enjoy spending time with. One of the stories I have been told is about the old homes in St. John’s and how they are painted in the heritage colours of Newfoundland. These homes then follow the steeply graded hills they are built upon and slowly reach the famous St. John’s harbour and the Atlantic Ocean. I have been fascinated by these homes and also wondered what I could design and make for this special person. Something different and something that I would create as an original gift and more importantly to reflect his love of Newfoundland and Labrador. As I am a quilter and quilts are my medium I followed my instincts and decided “The Jellybean Houses “ of St. John’s, Newfoundland would be my starting point. And what a starting point that was! How could I design those colourful houses and still make this quilt work. I started with the houses and only had nine of them going down a hill, but that didn’t work there was too much free space and nothing looked right. I had houses with chimneys that had sky above them but nothing else. Time to add more houses and more sky and let’s give some a little green lawn and not so much lawn for others. That was my quilter’s prerogative as the pictures I have seen of the houses show they do not have any lawn but sit close to the road/sidewalk. I did add some bricks and some rocks to work with the lawns and that could then be the sidewalks. I was missing the most important item on this quilt. What was gong to tie everything together? The sky was empty and what could the sky hold that would bring attention to the colourful houses? Stars!! Many stars and more stars. Not all the same but different fabrics to make them twinkle. That was what was needed and I made stars until all I could see was stars when I went to bed at night. Now the next problem was where were the houses going to end up? They are going down the hill but what should be at the bottom of that hill? Richard came up with the solution, the quilt needed ocean waves to hold it together. He also thought the quilt should have an iceberg, a couple seals and a polar bear or two. Those ideas I vetoed but the waves were perfect. The next question was how do I transition from houses to the sea? Both Richard and our Grandson Oliver decided Newfoundlanders love flowers so a bed of flowers would be planted along the shore line and I built a rock wall between the flowers and the cold Atlantic waves. I sewed the stars to the skies and skies and the stars to the houses, the lawns to the houses and the brick paths to the lawns, and the flowers to the paths and the rocks to the flowers and the waves to the rocks. The next important decision was what was I going to use as a backing fabric. I did numerous searches for just the right fabric and ended up ordering a specialty fabric designed by two quilters in Newfoundland and it was perfect. The order was printed especially for me and arrived in the time frame promised. The Jellybean houses were designed and printed all over this fabric and it worked wonders with my quilt. The quilt was sandwiched with the top, the batting and the backing fabric. Now I could put it on the frame and hand quilt. Knowing that I wanted to keep this a secret I had planned on covering it up if anyone came to visit (especially the Newfoundlanders). The plan was good but we had surprise visitors one evening and this gentleman’s daughter saw the backing but not the quilt. Oh Oh she recognized the Jellybean houses. Questions were asked and both Richard and I remained silent. That is all she saw but she was sworn to secrecy. With this happening I knew I had to get this quilting completed quickly and off the frame before more persons had a good look. I hand quilted steady for at least 8 hours a day for 3 weeks and finally had it off the frame with Richard clipping tails and the final trimming and binding put on in record time. My fingers were so sore and by the time I finished I couldn’t see straight but it was done and no one the wiser. Just a little story on the hand quilting….This gentleman has told us how he met and fell in love with his lovely wife. It seems it was at the harbour in St. John’s Newfoundland where he first saw her. He knew he would marry her at that time and I have hand quilted the double wedding ring pattern into the flower beds and the rock wall running along the sea in this quilt. This is A Jellybean Quilt
PS. The quilt has been gifted and very well received!"
Jacqueline, thank you for letting us share the pictures of your Jellybean Quilt and your story too. This is truly a quilt that, unlike our weather, is beautiful 365 days a year! We are honoured that you used three of our Primary Row panels and Colourful Neighbours fabric to back your inspired gift for your so very fortunate Newfoundland friend.
