Iron Man Challenge - Day FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh dear - I am not sure what I have started, but I  am now ACCOUNTABLE to myself to get TWO PROJECTS DONE next week. Oh Oh Oh!!!!!

First - I want to make a comment about COMMENTS. Some people have said they cannot make a comment on the blog. I have the settings set up so that you do NOT need to have a Google account in order to comment. You should be able to choose the anonymous option and leave a comment. Otherwise you can send me an e-mail.

Leaving comments on Blogs    (check this link from Blogger support on leaving comments)

 Elaine e-mail


It seems that people are working on their studios - in particular the ironing part. Mary commented that she puts her ironing board away when not in use - NO WAY there is any clutter going to collect on that ironing board!!!   Awesome!!!   And another comment was "my ironing board is the ONLY area that is clear! It is the rest of the space that is a disaster. Well we will be getting to those other areas, but we MUST finish the ironing part.   Don't forget to be thinking about your projects - your COMMITMENT to yourself for the new year. What we are doing now is just getting ourselves geared up to be super productive with whatever project(s) we have chosen.


I got this e-mail from Tish which was priceless.............

I was feeling quite smug about my situation. Sure there was a pile of stuff on the board but the cover I have has a silicone iron rest on the end which is lumpy and makes the iron tippy. Since it isn't functional it is a perfect stuff place.  But I did clean it up on Sunday. I had thought about a new cover since the padding was shot and it was badly stained Yesterday I was in the groove with my current project when the water poured out of the bottom of the iron. Not from the steam holes mind you but from under the sole plate. It was toast!  No heat. Nada. (CRAP - although she used a different word here!!!) I had to go get a new iron. First I went on line to source one. Costco had a Rowenta at a good price. Perfect that's easy. But no, not in store. Only on line. Then I went to 6 more stores before going to Target at Square one Lots of choice, no Rowenta, but got a decent enough iron. Also bought a nice cover. So all better. In all my travels I found Target had the only decent covers. I have decided that many people must steal their irons since they are firmly attached to the display and security tagged. Imagine defending that in court. "Your honour, my pants were really wrinkled. I had no choice". How can you buy an iron when you can't see the sole plate. Some are weirdly not flat??

Looks like Tish is ready to go with a NEW IRON and NEW IRONING BOARD COVER!!!!!

Margo was busy making a portable ironing pad which is also a carrier. She kept mentioning the cording that she could NOT find. And I think I asked her a thousand times - "what is the cord for?"  She very patiently explained and re-explained that this carrier has a drawstring (hence the cording) to close it up. She is going to send me a picture or we may have to wait until next week to get the picture. 

Mary took up the challenge and sent me these pictures.................

Mary - BEFORE

Mary - AFTER

And because she was on a roll - she cleaned up the rest of her sewing space as well. AWESOME JOB Mary!!!!!!!

Susannah told me this story about her iron. She had a great iron, but there was one piece that broke. A cheaply made plastic piece. She was able to get the piece - took the iron apart and put it back together. Then the piece broke again, so again she took it apart in anticipation of getting the part. Except that she could not get the part. So this iron sat for YEARS in lots of little pieces hidden away in a shoe box. She isn't sure that she still has the iron. I told her I wanted a picture if she can find it!!!!!

And for those of you who have done something about your ironing space - doesn't it feel good to go in the room and see that clean surface?????

Now I have to confess that I still use mine as a "staging" area from time to time. This means that I may come down stairs and drop something on the ironing board, but I do tidy it up before I start to press or iron anything. And it is clean as a whistle as we speak!!!!!!!!!!

So you remember that yesterday I pulled out ALL my ironing supplies and put them on the floor. Now I was in pretty good shape because of previous neurotic behaviour which had me putting "like" things together so all the ironing supplies were together. Note I said SUPPLIES. I have irons all over the place and other iron related things (which I will get into later)

The ironing supply cabinet - bottom shelf.

And here is everything laid out on the floor - INCLUDING all the other stuff that is iron related, including all the irons and other stuff. 

Do you note that box in the background????   Now what could be in that box????   Well I know what is in the box and I even knew exactly where the box was. But since we are working on ironing things - it is time to deal with it. 

THE box

Oh my GOD!!!!!    MAYTAG made a Cordless Iron?????

You bet they did. I remember when I saw the ads in the magazines. I HAD to have one of these. And I did get one. 

The carrying case is AMAZINGLY DONE

And there is the iron. The retractable cord is in the base. 

The iron is a decent weight. And I really really liked pressing without having to deal with that cord. But the iron had issues. It didn't retain a lot of heat between "charges" so you had to let it reheat from time to time. Eventually the iron bit the dust and it wasn't that old so I got a NEW one (this one) through the warranty. Anyway - it NEVER got out of the box. 

And when do you think this all took place?????   The iron is practically an antique!!!!!!!!   I almost died when I saw the date on the box. 

Yes - NINE years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!   Nine years this iron has sat in the box. I bet the warranty isn't valid any more!!!!   No worry - they don't make them any more. 

Hmmmmm - what to do???   Well I decided that I would use this iron until it craps out. Then it goes in the electronic recycling and I am finished with this product. No longer hanging around my house. 

This model seems a bit different than my last one as the last one had a light on it to tell you that the iron needed to be put back in the charger and I don't see that same light here. I guess I had better read the instruction manual!!!!!

Speaking of having things for a LONG time. My ironing board can be a regular shaped ironing board or it can be made into a long board. Check out the link below (don't faint at the price - the ironing board covers are $50 EACH and I got two of them included in the price of the board)

Ironing board

Anyway - it is a VERY sturdy board and worth every cent. I have sent a note to the company about cleaning the cover. Hopefully it can be thrown in the wash. 

But as I was assembling my ironing stuff - the second ironing board cover (the one for when the long board part is NOT added) is under the ironing board on a shelf. And there were two little bags on it. When I removed the bags - look at the DUST that had accummulated on the cover!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YIKES - that is a LOT of dust accumulation

Well what is in these two little bags anyway??????

One of the bags had these two little pieces and a piece of paper. 

AH - the paper shows that those bits go here to close off the sharp edges of the piece that you add to make the ironing board rectangular - duh!!!!!!

And the other bits were FOUR little rubber things that go on the iron rest. There was a piece of paper in there also, but I couldn't make head nor tail of it until I started to put those rubber things in. And I had to use pliers to pull them through the holes. When I looked at the paper - they ALSO used a tool to pull them through. And the part I didn't get was that those two semi-circle pieces got pushed down so the iron would rest on an angle in there. The rubber things are stoppers so metal doesn't touch metal. 

 
Wow - the things you learn when you focus on something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   So now YEARS later my ironing board is completely assembled!!!!!


Now in addition to cleaning up the stuff and getting rid of what I don't need - that part will come in another post - I don't have time this morning, I found a couple of things that I have to make or finish.

Here is my snazzy portable iron pad which folds up into an iron caddy. 

There are the cute pink buttons that need to be sewn on and I still need to make handles!!!!!    Although I am worried about the handles and the buttons messing up the surface of the ironing pad. Even though those buttons and handles will be on the outer edges - they will make lumps and bumps in the ironing pad. I better lay it out and evaluate where those items will go and then make a decision on what to do to get this done!!!!!!   I MUST MUST MUST get this complete!!!!!!!!!!!

I have TWO ironing boards. Actually we have three in our house, but the third one belongs to DH to iron his shirts. The cover on the one he was using crapped out and it is an irregular shaped board and I haven't been able to find a cover to fit it. So I gave him my spare ironing board - the one that I have the two extra covers for.

Look at the cover of the crapped out ironing board - OH YES - needs to be replaced. 

Well - I also have the material that you make ironing board covers out of

I have instructions

I just need to make the darn thing. See what I mean - this "simple" process of cleaning off the ironing board has turned into a CRAZY assignment. But I will be happy that everything I own related to ironing is up to date, in good shape and ready to go!!!!!!    

So I have an ironing board cover to make and finish off the iron caddy. Really shouldn't take that long - a couple of hours and both would be done!!!!!

A project for next week. 

I will finish the rest of my iron story tomorrow. 

As if I don't have enough quilting books, I have borrowed scads of books from my guilds and the public library. The problem is that I will read the borrowed books because they are NOT mine. I know - STUPID STUPID STUPID. Anyway - my other big problem is that I like to read the ENTIRE book. Well I was struggling through a book on applique. I have done loads of applique and this book was talking about a lot of different techniques. 

Applique book

I thought on several occassions to just return the book - I wasn't learning anything new. HOWEVER I did find TWO "new to me" techniques near the back of the book that I thought - OH MY - I want to try those. So I made note of both of them and returned the book. Now onto the next borrowed quilting book!!!!!

On that note - I am out of here - I have embroidery club this morning.

Have a great day and don't forget - if you have pictures of your ironing board, stories about your irons or other supplies - share them. I love to hear what others are doing. 

Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!