Iron Tote and Pad

Oh my goodness!  I thought this was going to be a piece of cake, but in it's way, I think it was more difficult than my Bionic Gear Bag.  I tried to do some investigating before I started, and one lady suggested using old towels instead of batting.  I wonder if she ever tried it herself.  I didn't have any 100% cotton batting, and I thought to myself, I have old towels, and that will save a little money, and a trip to the fabric store.  First since it called for 2 layers of batting, I used 2 layers of towel, and I couldn't hardly even get it under the presser foot.  Before I had even gone 4 inches, I broke a needle.  I took it apart, and used 1 layer of towel.  Alas, even that was a major stretch for my Bernina presser foot, and every stitch was a fight.  Breaking of thread was routine.  Never again, if I make another one, I'll make sure that I have the batting. 

Here it is with my little travel iron inside, still in the box.  I feel sure that a full sized iron would fit in here just fine, and I'm thinking, I'll make myself a little hemmed piece of flannel to use on top of it when I iron to keep it looking nice.  That will fit in here just fine, also.  I used 4 inches of elastic, as the pattern called for, but I think that was too much.  I need to investigate what would be good to make sure that the buttons don't pop out and dump my goodies.

Not perfect, but I wasn't kidding when I said every stitch was a challenge. 

All in all, I'm happy with it, and I think that if I hadn't used the towel it would have been as easy as I expected it to be.  It might be that the firmness of the towel is more to my liking than the batting would have been.  I know, pink buttons?  They were all I had, and my Bionic Gear Bag is pink and brown, so they'll fit right in.   Oh, it is a free pattern and I got it here: http://thepaintedquilt.blogspot.com/2013/07/easy-peasy-travel-iron-caddy.html       or                        
http://tricountyquilters.weebly.com/uploads/3/0/2/4/3024945/iron_caddytote.pdf

New Ironing Board and Giveaway

I finally got around to making my version of the 'big board' ironing board. Mine is 14x47 inches, and it is a big improvement over my little mini ironing board. I got a shelf from Ikea, and covered it with heavy duty foil, then covered that with a layer of cotton batting, which I stapled down so it would be permanent. Then I covered that with a layer of the silver ironing board cloth, which I taped down so that I could change it easily if necessary. I have also read that someone uses freezer paper, and then just keeps replacing that to keep the ironing board from getting nasty looking. I am going to try that as I have a box that I have had forever. I was going to use a 24x48 inch piece of pressed board, but that was very heavy, and this is pretty light so can be removed easily to cut big pieces of fabric. For small pieces, I have a small cutting board that I can just lay on top. At least, that is the plan.
The fat quarters below are a giveaway from Embroidery Treasures. Serena says you can sign up until June 16th by leaving a comment on her blog. It is only open to US residents.