Ironing Out the Wrinkles

 Good morning, and welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's another rainy day here, but I'm starting today with a mug of tea and the cheerful color of the month.  September is for red scraps, brought to you by Angela at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  (See link below.)

I only got two of my RSC blocks done this week.  These are the vintage nine patches I'm removing from an unfinished top and "remodeling" into double nine patches.

I really love how this unknown quilter used every shade of red and every sort of red print.  It's the variety in scrap quilts that makes my heart go pitter patter.

I love all things vintage, including this used 1960s iron I bought at Goodwill a few years ago.  So imagine my panic when it began to have problems heating.  Without an iron there is no pressing wrinkled scraps for cutting, no pressing blocks or borders or backing--in short, no piecing!  What was I going to do? 

Bad luck with irons has followed me around, so I knew what I didn't want.  Twice, before I got the good old G.E. iron, I bought new ones, and was VERY disappointed.  The expensive one quit after about a year.  The cheap one quit right away (saving me time, I guess).  Both of these irons had automatic shut off, which I absolutely hate.  Manufacturers had apparently not thought of that particular torture for quilters when my vintage iron was made, and I had gotten used to having a hot iron whenever I needed it. 

Meet my new iron, the Knapp Monarch Dry Iron.  I ordered it from the Vermont Country Store, and it came right away.  (I know this seems like a commercial, but I am not affiliated with any suppliers.) It's a dry iron, meaning it doesn't use steam.  Since I don't use steam either, it's like a dream come true.  (It's probably my own fault, but I tend to distort quilt blocks when I use a steam iron.)

Check out the sole plate--no holes!  This kind of iron would have come in handy when I was transferring children's crayon drawings to fabric.  The old irons left little round steam holes in the design.

As with everything, there are pluses and minuses.

Here's what I like about the iron:

1.  Heats well.

2.  Heats quickly.

3.  No automatic shut off (!!!!).

4.  Not too light weight, not too heavy.

5.  No steam holes (in case I want to do fusible web, etc.)

 

And here are some minor issues.

1.  Makes a loud clicking sound when it gets to the heat you've selected.

2.  Hums every so often as it heats up.

3.  To turn it off, you have to unplug it (no off switch). 

The first two issues can be "solved" by turning up the music.  The last one is more of an inconvenience.

I hope I have this iron problem solved now, but I won't know for a while if the Knapp Monarch is reliable in the long term.  I do like that it does one simple job, and does it well.  Like a treadle!

Once I had the new iron, I had some catch-up work to do on this project.  This is my Diary Quilt, which I started back in January.  I picked quite the year to do this, didn't I?

Each of these big squares represents a month, and each strip is one day.  There are half strips at the end, to get all of the days in.  I didn't take the post it notes off before taking the pictures because I'm afraid I'll get them mixed up. 

I was so far behind!  At the end of April, I just kind of ran out of steam.  So the last two weekends I've been sorting through strips and making the blocks for May, June, July, and August.  The little block above is for last week.  The school bus marks the beginning of the school year for Big Buddy and Little Buddy, and the strip with hearts is for the family party we had on Labor Day weekend, our first since Christmas and just our kids and their spouses and kids. 

Little Buddy is in preschool every day now, so we see him less, but we're making the most of it.  Baby Buddy is starting to eat solid food, not just his toys.

Now that I'm caught up on the Diary quilt, I can enjoy making more red blocks for the RSC.

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge has been so good for me.  It has helped me to see color everywhere, and not to just get stuck on the same old thing.

This week may we find relief from stress and anxiety, and joy in the little things around us.  Stay safe!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches 

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

 

 

Auditions, and Other Stuff

Good morning!  First thing today, a question.  Can you guess which one of these irons is doing the job I bought it to do?
If you guessed the antique iron (sometimes called a sad iron) you would be right.

Here's what I bought it to do--be a nice heavy bookend on my shelf.

I bought the electric iron to HEAT UP so I can get the wrinkles out of fabric and press quilt blocks.  It has been a disaster from the beginning.  When it started leaking water, I stopped using it as a steam iron and got a spray bottle to dampen the cloth.  Last week it finally quit.  I've had it about a year.
You can probably tell, I'm mad at this iron.  I'm also mad at myself for not saving the receipt and taking the darn thing back, especially since it wasn't the cheapest iron I could have bought.  It's a brand with a good reputation among quilters.  But not with me anymore.

Here's the new iron--the very cheapest one in the store.  And I saved the receipt this time!  We'll see how long I can go on less than $20.

Time to go to my happy place.

 Ah, that's better.

I'm auditioning this week, as I prepare to finish quilts made from the bag of scraps I bought at the flea market.

First, the Three and Six blocks.  I finished 42 of them.  What do you think of the green for the set?  I like the idea of setting them on point, but I'm not sure how I'm going to do the quilting.  I've never quilted an on-point quilt in sections before.

All the print triangles in the quilt are from that $8.00 scrap bag.  These 3 are the only triangles I had left after finishing the blocks. 

 

Here's another view of the blocks laid out on my "design floor".

I'm making progress on the Pyramids quilt.  I added the plaid border, and started quilting the sections.  This is the bottom section, just under a third of the quilt.  The top row of triangles isn't quilted yet.  I'll quilt it after I add the next section.  I'll quilt the borders after I get all 3 of the sections quilted and sewn together.

I'm doing some very simple quilting here.  I started by quilting in the ditch, and then did outline quilting on either side of the seams.  I actually enjoy the quilting when I'm doing these small sections.

The auditioning here is for border designs.  There are lots of options.

Here's what I chose for the backing.  It's a vintage cotton print, although probably from the 1970s rather than the 1930s and 1940s like the scraps in the top.  It's the same print we used for my Daisy quilt.  I like these little triangles.  This will just about use up this fabric.  I bought the whole bolt at a sale for $4.00.

The last audition today is for the rail fence blocks.  I found this pattern in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, #477b.  It's a Ruth Finley pattern, which she called Roman Square.  I'm trying to decide if I like the red or not.

I think I like it!
These blocks finish at 4.5 in. square, so I'll need tons of them for a twin sized quilt.  I've already used up nearly all the pieces I cut from the scrap bag, so I'm adding in vintage scraps from my "collection", although I may not have enough from the same time period.

Not to worry!  If you don't have scraps, make some!  I went through my stash of vintage fabrics and tore off 9 in. strips of prints I like from the 1930s and 1940s.  It's time I started using more of this stuff instead of just hoarding it.

I've got lots more to cut, but a nice big stack is ready to sew, ready for whenever I have a free minute.  It is easier for me to find the time and energy to piece during the week than it is to quilt.  I mostly save the quilting for the weekends.

What are you working on?  Are there scraps involved?  Inquiring minds want to know!

I'm linking up with Busy Hands Quilts this week, for Finished or Not Friday, and with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop.