Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Woman's Work: Good Housekeeping

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. –Proverbs 31:27

The first block I did on the Woman's Work quilt was the Paper Towel block. The idea of appliquéing and embroidering a roll of paper towels was just so appealing to me. I mean, how cute can you get? That block was in the middle of the pattern and because I like order I had to go back to the beginning and work through the pattern's outlined sections { :crazy:}. I got through section one {the most adorable broom with an embroidered quote} and part-way through section two {embroidered chore day blocks and a dustpan to go with the broom} when I realized that the embroidery in this quilt was kicking my timeline's butt {I wanted to finish one section every two weeks, in between other projects, and have the quilt finished in six months} and I had to come up with a new plan. The new plan is this: work on it when I can, keep moving forward and don't stress about the timeline.

Just because I wanted to see what I was up against, I counted out the major embroidery blocks in the quilt and discovered that there were nine; one in section one {already done!}, three in section two {Yesssss! :clap:} and the other five scattered throughout the rest of the sections. One of those sections with an embroidery block was the paper towel section. I saw that it would be to my advantage to finish off the blocks that are in the paper towel section because that would push me past the half-way mark on the embroidered blocks. I'm not sure if you really need to know all of this, but there it is; the crazy train that is my thought process, which lead me to doing these blocks out of order {and unless you have the pattern, you wouldn't know which order they were supposed to go in anyway} :lol:.

This Good Housekeeping embroidery sits in the lower center of the quilt and is another of my favorite blocks and one of the reasons I bought the pattern. Before I left the quilt shop with the pattern, and perhaps even before I got to the cash register with it, I knew exactly which white-on-white fabric from my stash I would use for this embroidery {I have to say here that my stash is not by any means extensive, but at the time I was working on the white-on-whites, picking up prints that were particularly appealing to me}. Unfortunately, I can't get a good picture of it to show you the neat sort of swirly vines that are in the fabric. If you click on the picture for a close-up, you can almost see the pattern. Photographs hardly ever do quilt blocks justice and I'm slightly frustrated that I can't show you what I want to about this block.


Lori has included several scripture references on the blocks in this quilt. I really like the one in this block from Proverbs {quoted above}. As I was working, I pondered the irony of me making a quilt about good housekeeping when I'm not such a great housekeeper myself. I wondered why, when I like order so much, do I let my house deteriorate into chaos so frequently? It suppose I find it hard to take satisfaction in something that is going to be undone so quickly. Also is is more fun to sew :wink:. I'm still looking for a better balance in my housekeeping as well as my sewing.

This cute bottle of window cleaner is the other block that goes in this section. I love the appliqué blocks because they go pretty quickly, even if they do have a bit of embroidery on them, like the spray on this one. I used a couple of fabrics from the Stephenie Meyer quilt in this block. The red is the batik I used for the borders, sashings and tulips blocks and the stem of the squirt mechanism is the white I used in the checkerboard. I think I am totally in love with the pretty yellow 100% cotton Carolina Gingham in the background. And I think I'm going to use it {on the bias :cool:} for the binding.


Up next: a vacuum cleaner with almost all appliqué and hardly any embroidery.

9 comments:

Shay said...

I seriously cannot wait to see this finished! It's going to look so stinkin' cute.

I see you changed your picture too. I love the new one!

Michelle said...

Elizabeth, this quilt is just darling. And oh how I enjoy your thought processes about your quilts. I, too, put myself through such mental gymnastics. I'm glad you've decided not to stress about the timeline though. I've found that's often counter-productive.

Betsy said...

it looks great Elizabeth. I too am working on this quilt. I actually have 3 more blocks to make.

pinksuedeshoe said...

I love the Windex block. Like a lot. And I think the yellow gingham is going to be perfect as a binding!

PaTcHwOrK jEnN said...

LOL! I love it. I am not the house cleaning queen either. I know should I attempt this quilt my husband would be teasing me. Though I do love it.

PS you know Lori pays Kassidy a dime per letter to embroider right...;) Just a thought.

Jennifer Lovell said...

Any progress is commendable--you're doing great with this quilt. These blocks are fabulous! One thing I like about quilting (even though I don't do it) is that you can put so much of yourself into your projects. The theme of this quilt is so much fun, and personal : ).

whimsyfox said...

Super duper cute!!!!!!!!

QuiltNut Creations said...

A friend of mine is doing the same quilt; they are really pretty!

Angie said...

I have been seriously considering doing this quilt...but Iz skeered. :/ The first quilting method I learned was needle turned applique, then I learned how to do other stuff and haven't really gone back to it since. Think it may be time. :D