Coffee Cup: Not My Job Description

This 34th week of the Grandmother's Choice BOW deals with the issues of the inequality of women's pay and as an indicator of that the fact that women were expected to make the coffee.  When I was in college I worked a couple of summer's at the same place my mother worked.  I remember being incredulous that I had to wait at the end of the day for her to take care of the coffee pot.  It mystified me that she felt obligated to sharpen the boss's pencils, even when we were late for something planned for the evening. 

Now, mind you, some of this came from her training when she was fresh out of high school and worked as a secretary at that Agency.  She resigned when I was 5 and went back to work there when I was 17, and boy had the times changed!  She had a little bit of difficulty NOT doing some of those tasks.  I opined (with my typically 20 year old indignant attitude) that if she WANTED to do those things and was not EXPECTED to do those tasks, it would be fine.  And I told her that she should never teach the younger secretaries that it was mandatory.  Ah - to be young and right all the time!

She did grow a backbone and really embraced the ability to have a say and to express her opinions.  I am so proud of all she has accomplished!

So - here's my nod to both tradition in the saucer and lace tablecloth and more modern times in a bold coffee cup.

I chose this fabric for the saucer because it reminds me of this saucer that my grandma and/or my aunt used -- not for coffee but to prop a glue gun on so the glue would not get on the table!

Block of the Month - Dixie Diary and RBD Things We Love

I made progress on more BOMs recently, and am enjoying the change of pace these blocks bring to my creativity.

I am incorporating embroidery pieces into The Dixie Diary blocks, as you may know, and it is a challenge to match the fabrics to the embroidery to the pattern for the month.  Although this month 4's pattern, Asylum, wasn't initially my favorite concept, I very much like how the block turned out:

I am not know for my "sweetness" in my quilts, but this really is rather sweet.  It just goes to show a little bit of embroidery can go a long way towards making a block special.

I also completed month 4 -- Sunshine -- of the Riley Blake Designs BOM, "Things We Love".  It's my more typical bright and fun fabrics, and I am enjoying the larger block size on this one as the blocks will finish at 12".  I snuck an owl in the corner -- cute, huh?  I also decided to have contrast between all the fabrics so that both pinwheels would each stand out.  In the sample block provided by RBD, there is very little contrast between the outer points of the star and the inner pinwheel (where mine is the dark purple).  I like it even though it makes the yellow pieces look a little odd in the center of the block.  I thought about putting the background color in those small triangles, but in the end decided to stick with the yellow.  All in all, it makes me smile.

It would appear that the advent of sunny weather this Spring has me in a sunny mood with all this yellow!

Catching Up with Grandmother's Choice

The past few weeks have been crazy, with helping in a family yard sale and business travel.  I have managed to keep up with some sewing, though.  I have done the blocks for Grandmother's Choice Block of the Week, but have not had time to post them until now.

Weeks 31, 32, 33 - I have been in quite the graphic design mode:

Week 31: Tinted Chains: Click

In week 31, the title of the block was "Tinted Chains".  In the blog post, Barbara Brackman writes:  "The fact is women are in chains and their servitude is all the more debasing because they do not realize it." Susan B. Anthony 1872.  ... A century later Ms. Magazine created the code words "The Click," to define that flash when a woman realizes the psychological chains that have governed her self-image, role, and behavior.

Later, I used the oval fabric to represent the links in the chain.  Originally I planned to use the black on white down the middle and the white on black in the four squares at the sides, but it was too much, even for me!  I quite like how this one turned out.

Week 32: Mr. Roosevelt's Tie

Week 32 commemorates Theodore Roosevelt who support (sort of) women's rights but didn't think they were a very important matter until he was up for election and some women had the vote! Although I know he did not have the same type of mustache as the fabric I used, I could not resist using it!  It makes me grin when I see it!  I could have used one of my plaid fabrics in the middle instead and it would have been good as well (or better):

Block 32: Mr. Roosevelt's Tie - not used

Week 33: Contrary Husband

 Finally, we just completed week 33, with some more Y seams.  Mine went together reasonable well, but I did have to sew one of the seams several times before I was happy with it.  This week's block is "Contrary Husband" and brings up the issue in women's suffrage that women could not get away from abusive situations.  So Barbara writes:  "We can use it not so much to recall a bad marriage, but as a reminder of an important legal right, the freedom to leave." 

Batik Fun!

I have not used batik fabric in quite some time on a project and I've been playing with several combinations of batiks I have in my stash.  I am loving them in the Blogger Girl's Block of the Month and will have to find another project for batiks this summer when this BOM is done.

I am all caught up now, and there are only two more months to go.  Here's month 4:

This was quite a challenge because I do not have the rulers used in the instructions.  It's been kind of fun to figure out what is really going on.  In my first rendition, I had two of the sections in the center portion of the block off-center which really threw the pattern off.  Fixing that was also a challenge and I'm pleased with the result.  Troubleshooting is getting a little easier, and I'm not as apt to accept a poorly sewn block now as I once was!




Here's the 4 blocks together - I think they will work great with the final 2 blocks to come in a wall hanging for my bedroom.   One thing I like about them so far is that they will all work either sashed straight or on point, so I have flexibility for the final layout.