Tuesday, August 13, 2013

I'm Just Talkin' About... Ironing


Pressing cloth smooth (http://www.oldandinteresting.com/antique-irons-smoothers-mangles.aspx) has been an activity of humans all over the world for a very long time. Over the years cloth pressing instruments have gone through many different forms to get to what we use today.
 

When I was a kid ironing was an event that happened alot at my house.  My mom took in ironing to earn a few extra dollars for the household (does anyone still IRON for money other than a dry cleaning company?).  She would sprinkle water on each item,  roll each piece up in a tight little roll and then wrap it all together in a bath towel.  It would sit that way for awhile, maybe even overnight, until she ironed it.  Bet she would have liked a steam iron!
 

Do you iron anything?  I do, more than I wished.  I think it's one of those mothers curses my mother left me!  I iron my husbands jeans, Dockers, polo shirts & button-up shirts.  He likes cotton, none of this permanent press no iron stuff for him!  I must admit I also prefer cotton and can't bring myself to wear something wrinkled (I'm convinced this is also a mothers curse). I also iron things like pillowcases.

 
 
How often do you replace your ironing board cover and iron?  Needless to say because of this CURSE to IRON I'm kinda hard on an ironing board and iron.  The surface of the ironing board cover becomes scorched, stained and torn.  Recently while ironing a piece of white fabric (Oh Yeah, I iron a LOT of fabric too) the fabric picked up the dark discoloration caused by scorching. Grrr....  It was time for a new cover!  I seem to replace a cover every 3-5 years and irons vary.
  
Do you have a particular brand of iron or cover you prefer?   I always buy Rowenta brand irons which used to last me about the same length of time as the cover but lately it seem like I've had to replace them every year or two.  This doesn't make my checkbook happy ( that word 'checkbook' probably dates me, huh?) I've tried some different kinds f ironing board covers that promise to make the job easier because they reflect the heat up to fabric.  I find they also reflect heat to fingers and I end up with burns on them,  OUCH!  This time I just visited my local Target store and was successful in my mission to NOT spend a LOT of MONEY.  I snagged a whimsical polka dot cover on the clearance rack (8 bucks!)
 

 
 

Are you old school?  And then there's board clips.  Back in the day an ironing person had to use board clips (another term that dates me) to keep the cover on the ironing board.  Then they started making covers with a draw string, I didn't find they worked very good so I continued to use clips.  These days they make covers with an elastic band.  Now... being old school when I approached the task of replacing my cover I also went searching for new clips since mine were worn out.  But I couldn't find them in any store.  So went to Amazon (they have everything and it usually arrives next day!) 

So now I'm ready for another couple years of that dreaded chore.... IRONING.
 
 
 



 

  

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Charity Fabric Donation Mission Complete

The fabric from my Midnight Caper got to its final destination recently.  It was delivered to the Peace by Piece Quilters during their latest bee.  This was 154 yards of fabric on display for a room full of quilting volunteers.

It got admired...
 
and fondled...


and hugged...

Some of it even got extra special attention...

and it (the fabric that is) made everyone HAPPY.

This fabric will go on to become quilts for seriously ill and traumatized children within the communities of these dedicated volunteers.