Pocketful of Borders: Little Jack Horner

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Little Jack Horner sat in a corner/Eating a Christmas pie/ He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum/ And said, “What a good boy am I.”

Little Jack Horner from “Pocketful of Posies”
I made this illustration toward the end of the three-year Pocketful of Posies project. I was never happy with the original sketch and by the time I started working on it years later, had changed the design entirely. At first, Jack was sitting under a Christmas tree in an interior domestic scene. The next thing I knew, the wall had disappeared and Jack was half way inside and halfway out. He was still sitting with his pie, but he had let in the wintry outside. I never seem to be satisfied with a design, until nature bursts in.

After the artwork was photographed for the book, I stitched a felt border and framed the picture, which is now touring in the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit.

I like using variegated embroidery floss whenever possible. It adds a range of hues and a vibrancy that solid colored threads lack.

The snow on the roof top and in the sky is made from circular sections cut out of lace. Inside the driftwood house, the area behind Jack and the tree is textured with tiny stitches of different colored threads.

Little Jack Horner from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

8 thoughts on “Pocketful of Borders: Little Jack Horner”

  1. Salley,

    This border is one of my absolute favorites, I have your new book on my living room coffee table, everyone who opens it is enchanted.

    Thank you for sharing.

    Jenny

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  3. Gosh I SO wish this was touring the UK, it is truely stunning..thanks for sharing. It has cheered me up from the freezing arctic weather we are having in the UK at the moment. Here in Surrey the “high” for today was -4oc!
    Jane x

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