Tuesday Tutorial: Clean Your Iron

There are two kinds of quilters in the world: Those who buy expensive irons and those who buy cheap irons.

I've gone both ways. I've bought an expensive iron, carefully used only distilled water and emptied it after every use. And it started to leak after less than one year of daily use.

And I've bought cheap irons, and tossed them when they start to leak.

When my current iron started to leave dark marks on my quilts, I decided it was time for an "iron cleaning party." Here are the irons I haven't tossed:

Seven! That's ridiculous! If I could rescue just a few of these, I would have more than a hundred dollars to spend on fabric! (Or maybe a new ironing board cover?)

I found this "Steam Iron Cleaner" at Hancock Fabrics. It cost less than $2, and as I said, if I rescued only two or three of my seven irons, it would be more than worth it! The instructions call for 2 oz. of the Steam Iron Cleaner in 1 cup of boiling water. Pour the hot liquid in a cold iron and let it sit for 15 minutes.  Shake the iron a few times to loosen any "scale" that might have collected inside.

Then empty the iron and refill with warm (not boiling) water. Empty that water to rinse -- I repeated this twice. If the iron had a "clean" setting, I heated it and used that. Some of the irons spit bits of dust,, rust, and scale. I repeated rinsing until there were no more "icky bits."

Next, two of the irons had "gunk" on the soleplate. Here is my "take to class" iron with dark marks on the soleplate.

I've used soleplate cleaner before, with good results. 

Squirt a ribbon of iron-off about 1-2" long onto a clean cloth. Then rub it onto the soleplate of a hot (no steam!) iron. 

Rub the iron on a clean part of the cloth until no residue remains. My "take to class" iron still has a small rusty spot that I can't seem to get off.

Don't try to scrape it off using a knife!

And don't put the hot iron on the plastic dish drainer to drain!

So far, I've tested four of the newly cleaned irons. None leak or spit steam! Samosa is pretty sure I put all those irons on the ironing board for him to sniff.

Sadly, the one iron that still leaks is the most expensive -- the Reliable Velocity, that I bought at full retail for $149! This cheap Sunbeam I bought at the base exchange for less than $20, and it remains my favorite! Not too heavy, good steam, 30 minute auto off.

Oh! And when you're cleaning your irons -- don't let the cords dangle to tempt  the kitten! I'm trying to train him that electrical cords spray water. Every time he starts to play with one, I spray him with my water bottle!

Do you have a favorite iron? Have you had problems with leaks or spots?

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On the Design Wall

I have a tradition of making a quilt for my great-nephews and great-nieces when their 12th birthday rolls around. 

The next one is in February. This particular great-nephew is a big Legos fan. I found this kit for "Bit 'o Color" at NaLa's after-Christmas sale. The blocks went together in a single day of sewing and watching the New Year's Day snowfall. I'm enjoying looking at them so much, I almost don't want to take them down and sew them together!

What's on your design wall today?

TGIFF: My Year in Temperatures Scarf

The year has ended, and so has My year in Temperatures scarf!

I started last New Year's Day by assigning a color of yarn for each 5-degree difference in temperature. The other MYiT scarves I saw online only used one color each day for the average daily temperature. But in Colorado, our daily temps often vary by as much as 30 degrees! So I decided to knit three rows every day for the low, average, and high temperatures.

I cast on 25 stitches, and each morning while I scrolled through the blogs I follow on Bloglovin', I knit three rows. At the end of each month, I knit three rows of white.

I recorded each day's statistics in a special notebook gifted to me by friend Mary. For the temperatures, I used a neighborhood weather station that is just across the creek from our house.

After a month or so of knitting, I put all the yarns in my "Art Bin." It's on a stand about 30" high, and has a large bag to hold lots of yarn -- I had 24 colors for the entire year. Each yarn "cake" has a breag bag tab with that color's assigned temperature range. The only color I didn't use is the palest pink, assigned to a day when the low was below -15F. Although we got down to -13, the temperature never quite got below -15!

As of January 1, 2015, there were 1095 colored rows and the scarf is 134" long!

It's slightly longer than the Dr. Who scarf I knit last year for DH.

Samosa is pretty sure I knit both of these just for his entertainment.

I thought it would be too long for me to wear, but I think I can wrap it around several times and it will work quite well!

So fun to see the colors change from purples to blues to greens to yellows to oranges, then back to green . . . .

I kind of miss this daily ritual. I might decide to knit another, using only the average daily temperature! 

From the desk of your

Happy New Year -- and the last UFO Parade of 2014

What a year! 52 Quilts followers have completed 191 UFOs this year!

Last year, we completed 154 -- I call that good progress. Yes, we'll continue the UFO Challenge in 2015. Go to this post to see how the challenge works.

First, if you're here to find out which of your 12 UFOs to start working on, the January UFO is:

And now, for the final finishes of 2014!

I missed one of Martha's finishes for the December 1 parade. I love this one, Martha, and I'm sorry I didn't get it in the last UFO Parade. The colors make me think of Payette Lake.

Martha's second December finish is called "Enjoy the Ride." She made it for a young biker friend. The pattern is free at Erica's website. Martha didn't include the applique' wheels, and I don't think this quilt needed them!

Gill has really cranked out the finishes in December! First, her Christmas tree skirt:

I think I have one of those buried in the UFOs, Gill!

Next, a second storage box and another superhero coin purse - so my boys presents are ready under the tree. (The coin purses are filled with Euros for our trip to Lapland next week!)

I can't wait to hear about the trip to Lapland. Wild reindeer!

Her boys asked for special quilts and clothes for their teddies. How sweet! Gill made the quilts large enough to be "boy quilts" when the teddies outgrow them.

Look at these tiny clothes she made for the teddies!

My mother would say "that's a jewel in your crown," Gill.

Heather claims she was "easy on herself" this month. Her first finish was pieced -- but I think the quilting and binding is the hardest part!

I'm adding "Next Door Neighbor" to my Pinterest Quilt Dream Sheet (even though it has flying geese!). I love pink and brown.

Be sure to go to Heather's blog, Peachy Pages, for a look at the details of these two beauties.

I love Debra's quilty finish, by Buggy Barn Quilts. Their patterns are the most fun!

Deb's description of this project made me laugh out loud, so I'm going to share it with you:

My finished quilt is by Buggy Barn and it is a class that I took at Paradise Sewing taught by Julanne Bergstrom (the best Buggy Barn teacher around). The quilt is called Crazy as a Bird Dog and everyone who took the class made their dogs in dog-like colors, but because I am different my dogs are "Crazy Bird Dog" dogs. This really wasn't a UFO because I forgot what UFO I was supposed to be working on. I had so many projects going at one time that I forgot what the actual one was that was to be completed. My UFO's are set for next year, however, and they are a-plenty. 

Thanks for the giggle, Debra! 

And these gorgeous towels were embroidered on her Bernina 640. You kind of make me miss doing machine embroidery.

I always look forward to Sandi's "Kwilts." Last month, her Koncentric Konnection was just hours away from being finished by the deadline. Worth waiting for, I say!

Here's what Sandi says about this incredible quilt (cough. kwilt):

 It is a design called Beauty 'n Check by Janice Ellertson and Jodel Yover.  It finished at 44" x 44".  Many of these fabrics came together from my stash.  I did my best to pull in colors from the earthy background.  The orange being hot and the teal being cool really seemed to compliment each other.   It is with Kerry's Quilting right now.  Quilting design will be something custom with probably a white thread.

The K-onstruction of this quilt is detailed on Sandi's blog, KwiltnKats.   

I love black-and-white sparked with a single bright. And Krossings really shines:

December UFO - #11 Krossings was easy to put together once I decided on the fabrics.  I had all of these in my stash.  The purple was the hard one to match from my stash; leaving me only about a one inch strip leftover.  I certainly was perspiring over it...make no mistakes...I thought to myself each time I cut into it.  The background is a little bit crazy, but I am pleased with the overall effect.  I posted about it here http://www.kwiltnkats.blogspot.com/2014/12/wednesday-december-3-2014.html.  I is a design called Around the Block by Linda Ballard.  It finished at 47" x 47". 

Sandi says she already has her 2015 UFOs picked out --- and four of them are Bonnie Hunter patterns!

Speaking of Bonnie Hunter, Kerry's December finish is Pfefferneuse. Bonnie taught this design when she was in Colorado Springs last year. Wish I had been in town to attend her workshop!

Kerry tells me the fabrics are leftovers from her Dear Jane quilt. Take a look at Kerry's Quilting blog for more details.

One last entry for this month, and for 2014. Here is Debra's "Winston Ways" from Bonnie Hunter.

I enjoyed what Debra wrote about this quilt:

With pure determination I have finished my last quilt for 2014 - Winston Ways by Bonnie Hunter. I pushed and pushed and pushed myself to get this one completed. I had to make that last one for 2014.

That determination is what makes quilters a force to be recokoned with in the world. Remember, 

A year from now,

you may wish you had started today.              --Karen Lamb

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