A Pressing Matter

WHEW.  My sweet daughter climbed aboard a plane back to college Tuesday morning, drawing our extended holiday break to an official close.  We had a wonderful Christmas, but boy was it l-o-n-g.  Between December 15th, when she arrived home, and January 10th, when she headed back to school, we had precisely TWO DAYS without company in our home.  As much as I dearly love to entertain and adore being surrounded by family and friends, I spent every drop of my emotional, physical, and financial resources and really needed to recharge my battery a bit.

We drove home from the airport in the rain. Temperatures were only in the 40's.  It was gray.  And cozy.  Emma was at preschool, and Max had class away from home.  It wasn't my day to carpool.  I came home, made a pot of coffee, climbed into pajama pants and fuzzy slippers, and retreated to my sewing nook for the entire day.

Heaven.

Then, my rock star husband came home from work and I took a dinner break.  He did all the dishes, played a game with the kids, and completely handled bedtime routines so I could crawl back into hiding and sew some more.

I'd never loved him more.  What a hero.

The day was BLISS.  It was like a healing balm that completely refreshed my soul, and I woke up yesterday ready to face the whole "re-entry" process and get life back on a normal track around here!  Breaks are super fun, especially when surrounded by constant chaos supplied by Many Excited Children, but after several weeks I was craving structure, routine, and schedule.  BADLY.

So, here's a peek at what getting back to normal looked like around here...

First, I transferred all my information to my new calendar.  Isn't a new calendar thrilling??  I have a two calendar system going this year.  My mother in law gave me a functional, practical calendar book (with lines!) that I just love.  I keep that one by the computer to keep track of absolutely everything.  I also need a second calendar; one that hangs in plain sight and displays all the family activities so the hubby and the kids (theoretically) can know what is happening and when.  This doesn't stop them from asking me incessantly, but it makes me happy to know there is a place on the fridge that I can direct them to for useful information.  IF they would just look.  :-)  Anyway, the official family calendar rocks this year.

It was a gift to me from my awesome friend Jackie.  Did she hit it just right, or what?  Love it!  (It comes complete with patterns to make each of the 12 quilts.  So fun.)  I feel so organized.  (And busy.)

I tidied up the sewing space too.  The absolute worst thing about being a quilter?  (And quite possibly the ONLY downside?)  You're destined to have a completely disgusting ironing board.  Is it just me?  Oh, how this grosses me out.  I hate for things to be dirty.  So, I decided to "splurge" and start the new year with a CLEAN slate instead of this ugly mess. 

Super Target, I love you.  Twelve bucks.  I'm such a happy girl.  It doesn't take much.  And look!  It's dark gray!  Maybe that will hide the stains for longer??

Now, I've been having some iron issues for some time now. They've come and gone over time, but lately they've come.  And stayed.  I'm getting this on my fabrics, and I'm NOT HAPPY about it.  Hubby got me a deluxe Rowenta about a year ago.  The gift was so sweet and thoughtful that I didn't want to replace it, but no amount of cleaning seems to help.  Really, when this happens on a block that is already pieced it is so incredibly frustrating.

Today, while choosing my ironing board cover, I checked out the cheap-o irons.  I found one that looked pretty good but had no price.  I sent one of the boys to scan it and he was gone forever.  Turns out, it wouldn't scan so he went to find a manager for help.  The manager couldn't get it to scan either, so she looked it up in the system and made a special sticker for him.

I wasn't even sure I wanted to try a new iron, but when he came back with this I figured I'd be crazy not to try it!  A $40 iron for $10?  I even asked the lady to confirm this for me because it seemed too good to be true and I didn't want to be dishonest to the store. She assured me this was correct; that it was a clearance item.  Well, a mighty fine how-do-you-do.

I just unpacked it so I have not given it a test run yet, but my new pressing quarters sure look snazzy!

Sometimes it's the little things that make getting off to a fresh start feel exciting.  Here's to a happy (and much more quiet) January! 

A Pressing Matter

My husband bought me a very nice Rowenta iron for Christmas, and I have been a little surprised by the performance.  It certainly hasn't wowed me like I thought it would given Rowenta's legendary reputation.  It is leaky, and unless I have the steam setting on, it doesn't seem hot enough to press my cotton fabrics well.  The directions specified to use tap water in this model, not distilled water, which is what I have always done.

A few times in the past I have gotten brown marks on my fabrics, always at a seam when I am ironing over a slight "ridge".  The marks have been fairly minor, but I've always been nervous that something big would happen unexpectedly.

Well....Tonight it did.  I was ironing binding fabric, and when I set my hot iron down it SPUTTERED a brown, gooey liquid all over my fabric.  I'm so thankful it did not happen to the table runner top I had just finished pressing!  The stuff that came out of the iron was almost the consistency of maple syrup.  It's the strangest thing.  Once it cooled completely, I studied the plate well, and a few of the holes do seem to be clogged.

I rinsed my fabric really well in warm water and it is in the dryer now.  I couldn't tell completely when it was wet, but I think it's going to be okay.

I'm not great about sending in my warranty cards (boo) so I need to check and see if I kept the paper work for this iron.  I'm sure hoping I did because I know it was a big expense for an appliance and it should certainly last more than nine months!

Anyway......inquiring minds want to know.  How do you iron out your wrinkles?  :-)  What kind of iron do you use and what do you like about it?  I noticed a Panasonic at Target that is cordless and sits in a base.  Anyone tried anything like that before??

I'm all ears.