A solution to leaking irons

I see complaints on the sewing boards about leaking irons and I thought I'd create a post about spray bottles.  Back in the day our grandmothers used a shaker bottle filled with water while she ironed. Of course, they didn't have steam irons back then so they used what worked.

We have better choices than what our grandmothers had back in the day.  The bottle I use happens to be a spray bottle used by hairstylists.  It has a fine mist that doesn't saturate the fabric and it sprays continuously which is a great feature when you have a large area of fabric.  If you have a leaky iron try using a hairstylist spray bottle, there are even some available in quilt themes.

 
There is a new type of iron that is available.  I bought one and in 5 years it has never leaked or sputtered.  It is a steam generator but without the tank of water you'd expect with a steam generator. I highly recommend this iron!  

Reliable Velocity 240IR 1800W Steam Iron - Compact Vapor Generator Home Steam Iron. 

1.   There is an override for the auto shut-off if you want to keep the iron on. 
   
   
2. The Reliable Steam Generator has a sensor in the handle that knows when you are touching the iron.  It runs the steam as long as you're touching it. The steam results on even my most challenging quilt blocks is amazing.  
   
   
3. The steam works really well, and it's conservative in it's water usage, which makes it last longer.  And not one sputter or drip!!  You can turn the steam off, of course, and use it as a dry iron as well.

Ode to Sewing Machines #45

 

Many of you follow my "Ode to the Sewing Machine" posts.  We've all seen the ads on craigslist, ebay and elsewhere.  The clueless sellers give those of us who sew a belly laugh, or two!  Here's installment #45!  

It's the rust that adds to the price of the machine.

You Go Girl!

  I have the coolest family tree!  Full of rebels!  Mercy Jones, born in Massachusetts in Sept. 1654 was arrested at age 19.  Court records show the following:

The colonial laws regulated the subject of extravagant dressing.  In September 1673 the court recorded:“Diverse women at Springfeild presentd at ye Courte in March last for that being of meane estate they did weare Silkes contrary to Law vixt Goodwife Labden , Goody Colton , Goody Morgan , Goody Barnard , Mercy & Hephzibod Jones , Hunters wife ; Daughter ;Abell Wrights wife, & warned to this Courte the six former app’ring in Courte they were admonisht of their extyravagancyes & dismist.


Her sister was arrested as well, and with her name I can imagine she needed to do some fancy dressing to get beyond that moniker. What a cool family!  Besides Mercy Jones, my ancesters include the following:

• King Edward I, aka Longshanks, my 21st Great Grandfather
• Patrick Henry is my cousin, 8 generations ago
• Charles Martel (born in 676 AD) 39th Great Grandfather "Were it not for Charles Martel perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Mahomet. . . . From such calamities was Christendom delivered by the genius and fortune of one man." Edward Gibbon: History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, Volume 5, page 156 - 157
• Hugh de Courtenay IV, Pirate of the high seas in the 1460s, my 16th great grandfather
• My 37th great grandfather, Charlemagne the Great
• Princess Diana, 21st cousin by marriage
• Prince William and Princess Kate, 22nd cousins by marriage
• Vladimir "The Great", Grand Prince of Kiev is my paternal grandfather of wife of grand nephew of the wife of my 30th great grandfather.
    (note to self: you might need to take a break now...time to step away from the computer...)

After King Edward I, my family tree follows a line through his daughter, Princess Elizabeth, who married Humphrey De Bohun, Earl of Essex.  The royal blood line thins as it reaches the 1700s and then I find I'm related to commoners after that.  When it gets that far away from Royal blood, at some point, does it turn into a rumor? Anyway, I think I'll send an invitation to Will and Kate for the next family BBQ.  They must have, what... a mere 540,000 22nd cousins?

Glow-line tape

 I found a great product to help me see the lines on rulers quickly and easily. I used Omnigrid highlighter tape called Glow line tape on my ruler.  I love this tape, really helps to see the lines on the ruler at a glance. It comes in 3 colors, pink, orange and yellow.  All 3 colors come in the package!

This quilt is called Diamonds & Pearls.   The top is made using a ruler called the Split-Rects and it really makes a nice quilt.

Fons & Porter made a tutorial on how to use the ruler to make this quilt.  The video is on YouTube:

Under my needle today

 I'm working on a large quilt today, 116" x 93"!  I haven't sent a post lately about what I'm working on in awhile.  I have my new wall hanging where it can be seen easily.  

If you're visiting my page looking for information about my services, I would love to help you finish your quilt!

Star Block wall hanging

 I have had fun creating a new quilt this week!  I bought Electric Quilt 8 earlier this month and started working on a quilt right away.  I saw a quilt hanging in a quilt shop and I tried to buy the pattern for it only to find out it wasn't being published any longer.  So I set about making one of my own.  This is the result!  

Click here to download a copy of the pattern!  It's a PDF file, a step by step tutorial and it is recommended for intermediate quilters.  The letter Q would be a bit daunting for a beginning quilter.  If you are a confident beginner I say "Go For It!"

Star QUILT Wall Hanging
by Christine Chamberlain

I do!

 

Electric Quilt 8

I purchased EQ8 a week ago and wow, does this program do a lot for relatively little money.  I've been using tutorials on their EQ blog, which has many, many lessons and tutorials!  You can use this program to make t-shirt quilts which have different sized blocks depending on the t-shirts that are used.  I used this tutorial to make my first quilt, a small wall hanging.  The program gives me printouts of the yardage and rotary cutting instructions, and I use those to then write the pattern.  The process to write the pattern takes a lot of time and thought but it is so much fun!

The wall hanging will be 17"x 24" when finished.

I finished the quilt in EQ8 and went right to the fabric shop to buy fabrics to make the quilt!  I'm busy writing the pattern this week.  As soon as I make the quilt, testing the instructions I've written I plan on making the pattern a pdf file and will post it here on my blog as a free download.  

Update April 24:  I have finished making the Star Block!  It measures 15-1/2" x 15-1/2".

Update April 25:  I have assembled my wall hanging!  I woke up at 1:30AM thinking about this wall hanging and was writing the pattern in my head.  I decided to get up and work on it since I couldn't go back to sleep anyway.  The pattern is written, all I need to add is a photo of the finished wall hanging. I need to longarm and bind it now.

Update April 26:  I've started longarming the wall hanging, here's a closeup of the quilting on the block...