Yesterday I asked my husband to help me get out the batting so I could cut it for the baby quilt for my friend. If you didn’t know, last year I bought a roll of “Warm and Natural” 90″ wide x 40 yards long. I have to have help getting it in and out of the storage area and out of the box.
I cut it for the baby quilt and the Lucky stars quilt that I planned to quilt this month. He had a wonderful idea (probably because he didn’t want to do this extremely often) to cut out batting for ones that were tops already done. So I did
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From top to bottom: Lucky Stars, the baby quilt, Licorice Spice, Flower Quilt, and Pink Lemonade.
I managed to get “Lucky Stars” and the baby quilt sandwiched yesterday. I went to iron the back of “Irish Chain” and the iron spit out all the water. Not a big deal, I thought - this was after all the one that had been down-graded to my husband’s iron (it was an almost 5 year old rowenta). I was using it because it was with the ironing board and I didn’t feel like digging for my iron in my sewing room. After it spit out half the water in a big mess on the ironing board and my backing, I dug out my iron (it is a 1.5 year old black and decker). Guess what it did??? It spit out all the water too!
Generally, when I get a new iron and the old one goes for my husband’s uniforms. It is never bad enough for him to use; he doesn’t require a lot of high heat and duration. This time it is, can’t have the iron spitting at his uniforms. I guess we are in for buying two new irons.
Hey! That was smart! Half the battle is getting the tops into sandwiches!
So what brand of iron will you buy this time? Rowenta or B&D or something else?
My Rowenta has been spitting at me for several weeks now and I finally got fed up with it, so I went to Wal-Mart and picked out the iron with the smoothest plate and the most holes. It happens to be a Panasonic. So far I really like it.
Christine - yes, that is half the battle…
Julia - I bought a Sunbeam Simple Press Iron. It has a stainless steel sole plate (which I prefer over Teflon sole plates), steam burst, steam off, and auto off after 15 minutes. Hubby picked it up for me yesterday at walmart. he got himself a cheap black and decker.
Kim — before you buy a new iron, it may be the water. My Rowenta hates my tap water. Really, really hates it. Our tap water (even with a water softener) is too hard/too many particulates, etc. And what does it do if I use the tap water? Spits it out — all over the place in a big mess. Try using some bottled water (just regular spring water — not distilled) first — might save you some money.
Oooops — I just read your reply. Still, if you still have the Rowentas you might want to try the water trick — always good to have a backup!
What a beautiful stack and what an ingenious thing to do–now they are nice and ready. I’ve been trying to work on my UFO’s so am slowly getting them done. My problem is binding. Now I’ve got miles of binding to do!
I love the colors on your pink lemonade quilt. Is that the name for a pattern, or for the colors? Can’t wait to see the whole thing!
Great idea! And that’s exactly how I buy my W&N! I cleaned out a closet full of junk and old stuff and a closet rod was in there. And that’s where I hung my roll of batting. It’s so easy to cut off what I need now. I did require my hubby’s help getting it on! LOL
Angela - it was mainly the fact that they have been dropped so many times on hard tile floors and was cracked more than the water.
Angela - nope, threw them out because they were damaged beyond repair or hope.
Carolina Quilter - I am not fond of the binding either. I can’t seem to do the corners no matter how hard I try.
Cherri - it is named for the fabric - it reminds me of pink lemonade. The whole thing is pictured in my “in progress” link - under well… Pink Lemonade.
Karen - that is a great idea too! I wish I had a closet that I could do that with. Unfortunately all my closets are equipped with those modular-type wire shelving. But I guess I can’t really complain.
I also have a Rowenta that will sometimes spit… yes the water is a “BIG THING”. I just happened to read the instruction book, it says that you should not use straight distilled water either! So, I use half/half tap/distilled. And I take the extra water out when I’m done using it for the day. I used to iron for people and I went thru a lot of irons. My Rowenta is the “BEST” iron I’ve had, and so far has lasted the longest too! We have truely “HARD WATER” so that has a lot to do with it. Good luck! Love your stack of quilts!
Jean - thanks for the advice about the water. Since I drop irons quite a bit (and the last place we lived had ALL tile floors) they cracked and that is what caused this spitting. It was time for new irons. Thanks about the stack of quilts; they do look very pretty there.