Woman's Work: Bucket, Mop & Scrubbers

My idea of superwoman is someone who scrubs her own floors.
–Bette Midler

This is section five of my Woman's Work quilt, all finished . I have six {of thirteen} sections or fourteen {of thirty-one} blocks done. I got my fabric and patterns all ready for these blocks, but paused before the construction because I decided I wanted to mop my floor to see if it made me feel like superwoman. It did. For like 20 minutes until someone {me } spilled something sticky on the floor. It's only been three days and I'm feeling like I need to mop again already to preserve that my kitchen floor isn't crunchy or sticky, and I totally wouldn't mind if someone dropped by unexpectedly because the kitchen floor is clean feeling.

Appliquéing a mop was no less satisfactory than wielding a real mop and comes with its own rewards. I've had a bit of difficulty in taking good pictures of the white-on-white fabrics in this quilt {which leads me to wonder if there is a tutorial out there somewhere on how to photograph fabric}. The mop head is made up of a paisley white-on-white; the swirls remind me of the motion of a mop as you work it across the floor. But you'll just have to take my word for it. Or, you could come over and I'll show you. We could sit in the kitchen and sip warm cider or hot chocolate and I could feel all superwomanish because my kitchen floor is clean {except for that one sticky spot} and someone came over to witness it.

For the bucket, I used silver ironing board fabric. The instructions say not to wash it, but I wash everything before I put it in a quilt, so of the yard I bought, I washed a fat quarter to see what would happen. It kind of took some of the silver shine off it, gave it a veined sort of texture {from where the fabric wrinkled in the wash}, and made it look a little bit darker. I debated back and forth about whether or not to wash all of it. In the end, I decided that this quilt is one that will probably never get washed, so I used the shinier, silverier not washed fabric as the outside of the bucket and to give it a little bit of contrast {though you can hardly tell} I used the pre-washed fabric as the inside of the bucket and the little grommet on the side. And whenever I embroider, I find myself wishing for a hand-stitching regulator. Is there such a thing?

Just look at this scrub brush and bit of steel wool. Cute, no? Lori is an appliqué quilt genius. My tracing skills leave a little to be desired, though. After I'd finished, I noticed that QC inspector missed the scrub brush. But I give extra points for the striped fabric that looks like bristles {and also makes cute ghosts}. For the steel wool, I used Platinum Fairy Frost {which wasn't an original idea; Lori uses it for all the silver pieces in her quilts} and silver blending filament to stitch the swirls in.

When I bought this quilt pattern, there were a few blocks that were my favorites. They drew me to this quilt and sold me on it. I find it interesting that as I work, even the less glamourous blocks become my favorites as they emerge, and I'm pretty sure now that it wasn't just a few blocks that drew me to this quilt. It was the quilt as a whole. I am nearing the half-way mark and am really excited about it. I think I'm going to try to squeeze in one more block {the most adorable little apron ever!} this week before I absolutely have to give up procrastinating the Christmas projects.