Tutorial: Ironing BIG Board

At our house, my sweetie irons. I do. not. iron. clothes. (unless I absolutely have to–say, when he is out of town). But, pressing fabric and seams is a part of quilting and sewing, and I have no problem with pressing. It’s ironing that I loathe. Who’s with me here?!?

Anyway, I’ve never particularly liked pressing fabric on a traditional ironing board; that tapered/pointed end is counter-productive. So I made myself a Big Board:

First, I bought a piece of MDF, and cut it to 17″ x 48″.

Then, I covered it with Bo-Nash Ironslide 2000 (if you don’t have this on your pressing station, do yourself a favor and get it!  You can thank me later).  This comes 19″ wide, hence why my board is cut to 17″.  The IronSlide 2000 was attached to the MDF with it’s self stick backing (you could reinforce it with double stick tape, if desired).

Finally, I wrapped it with a piece of 54″ wide “PURE” canvas, by Sweetwater for Moda.  This is then stapled into the MDF from the backside.  I posted in detail here how I do this “wrap and staple step” to get a nice clean edge and tight corners.

The BIG Board sits atop the traditional ironing board, and greatly increases your surface area for pressing.

Here’s the finished product, modeled by my sweetie pressing a fat quarter, ’cause sometimes he does that for me, too.  ;-)

One Fish, Two Fish. Red Fish…

Green DRESS!!  Okay, so it doesn’t rhyme, but Dr. Seuss would still be pleased.  This little sweetie had her Golden Birthday on June 5, 2012.  Her Mommy and I were college roomies, and have been best friends for decades.  She wanted a Dr. Seuss party.  Last year it was Hello Kitty, the year before that was a Princess party… she’s a little gal who knows what she likes and knows what she wants.  

Incidently, this little Miss has received more Doris-made gifts than any other individual.  The kitty in my blog banner?  Her’s.  She even received a baby quilt while she was still a baby!  She’s gotten one handmade gift from me for every year of her life!

The dress was inspired by this one, and made by grandma.  She played HARD in this dress all day long, girlfriend knows how to work an ensemble.  I started making this quilt from the dress scraps about seven hours before her party started.  ’Cause, y’know, why start a project ahead of time?

The yellow solid came from my stash, the rest of it came from the scrap basket.  Even the back was a leftover from the dress:

I finished it about 45 minutes before the party… and snapped these photos (in full sunlight–sorry) along the road on the drive to the party.  I had fun weaving that rainbow stripe all the way around the quilt (note there is no binding, it was a sew-and-turn finish).  I got the impression she liked it:

A Saturday well spent.

June Visitors

For the past month or two, I’ve been on a roller coaster–a whirlwind of emotions and activity–good and bad. One of my biggest frustrations is that I am always “fighting a clock”. I said this to my sweetie Saturday evening after spending the day helping my Mom move into her new place and then rushing to get spiffed up for his daughter’s fashion show.

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It’s true; I’m typically on time for everything, but I feel like I am always rushing, rushing to get ready, rushing to get there, rushing through a task, rushing through a conversation or a meeting, rushing through the work day, rushing to get on to the next thing. The frustration is the feeling that I am not giving 100% to anything, y’know? Do you ever feel like this?

Eventually the frustration overwhelms me; that’s when Mr. Anxiety and Ms. Depression amble in for a visit. They are like the cousins that come to stay for a weekend and are still on your couch two months later. Not really welcome, and almost impossible to kick to the curb. But I’m happy to say their bags are packed, and they are most of the way out to the street–good riddance.

In my overwhelmed state I’m usually desperate (not always rationally) to let something go altogether; give up an obligation or an aspect of my life or routine that would allow me to give more time to the others. Exercise and meal-planning are usually the first to go. I know, not a good idea…but isn’t letting something that just impacts yourself the easiest to forego?

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I also contemplated letting this blog go, as in shutting it down. I never saw blogging as an obligation, but sometimes it seems like a competition; and when you are a little fish in a big sea, well… let’s just say Theodore Roosevelt was right when he said “comparison is the thief of joy”. But starting this blog helped me to work through some crap, to heal, and I rather enjoy blogging–so why would I give that up? (I told you they weren’t always rational thoughts).

After week of contemplation, some irrational declarations of “I’m going to quit _____!” or “I’m going to do this!”–The bottom line is–there isn’t anything in my life right now that I can give up, or quit, or walk away from; even if I really wanted to. I just have to do what I can in each situation, quit beating myself up over what I don’t get done, and move forward. Looking back hasn’t gotten me anywhere before, why would it start working for me now?

And why am I still re-learning this same lesson at the age of 42???

Quilt Blessings

I finished this beautiful group quilt over the weekend, and sent it off to Meredith. She received it today, in the middle of a week when the hug and a blessing a handmade quilt brings was especially needed. To see more, visit our Bee blog…