Hey . . who’s sewing? I am/was/will again soon! 🙂
It was almost 7 a.m. before I got down to the sewing room. I sewed for a while, then I couldn’t stop thinking about a BLT (bacon, lettuce & tomato sandwich for those who may not know). I still had some really good tomatoes from the Amish store. Vince was going to be home around noon, Chad had to be at work at 1 p.m. so I knew he’d want lunch before he left. The plan was to have leftovers . . whatever we wanted to heat up . . for lunch but I couldn’t get that BLT out of my head. I also knew if we all ate sandwiches, I wouldn’t have enough bread left for breakfast so I stopped sewing, went upstairs, ground wheat and made bread. The wheat I ground was the last of what I had washed so I washed and cleaned some more to let it dry and bag it up so it would be ready to grind later in the week. Here it is all spread out to dry.
Got that all done, we at lunch and I came down to sew again and realized how truly horrible my ironing board cover is. Yes, you’ll agree that it’s horrible.
While at Wal-Mart the other day, I bought more fabric to make a new cover. So, I dug out the staple gun, ripped off the old, and put on the new. Nice!!
Here’s my whole ironing board setup. I wanted a big board but I just couldn’t see having all that wasted space underneath the ironing board. I got a cheap pine bookshelf unit from Lowe’s (probably 6 or 7 years ago I paid $29 for it). I had a sheet of thick plywood cut in half. Vince drilled some holes in it for me and the plywood is screwed to the boards on the ends of the bookshelf unit. I covered it with several layers of Warm & Natural, then I staple something thick on top – white denim, duck cloth . . whatever I can find. Every couple of years I have to change the cover. With the plywood on top, the whole thing won’t fit through a door so when we moved, I had to rip the cover off to get to the screws to usncrew the plywood so I recovered it when we got here in January, 2007 (January 2 to be exact but . . who’s counting?). The new fabric for the cover cost me $4.67. Not too bad if it lasts a couple of years, huh?
See that shallow shelf at the very top? I keep my extra rulers up there. Plenty of room for other storage/junk on the shelves. I love it!
Now . . I’m going back to sewing.
sandi a. says
You grind your own wheat!!! I love to cook and bake and I get a lot done but you are positively amazing!!
Sue H says
Oooh, I’ve been wanting a big ironing board, but didn’t want to pay the price. I think we need to do something like this, plus instead of wasted space I would get shelves!!! Wonderful. I did some work on my QFAH. Waay behind, since I decided I would do two quilts. Plus life has gotten in the way some. I did do one block today, just for the gratification of having SOMETHING done. Then down to the longarm (customers’ quilts). But it’s all good. Thanks for another good tip, Judy.
Vicky says
Gosh, you wear me out. You’ve already washed and ground wheat, and made a new ironing board cover — plus everything else you’ve probably done. All I’ve managed this morning is ironing fat quarters!
Gloria says
Judy,
I’m sewing today, but not making much progress. I have great hopes of doing the quilt for an hour one.
Anyway, how wide is that plywood?
I’m going to look today for a cheap shelving unit and add a top.
Thanks for sharing.
Karen L says
I cleaned my bedroom. I slept in until 9 am and took one look at all the dust…..the dust is now gone and as long as I’m on a roll……master bath next!!!!
Karen L
Ruthie says
Hey, it worked. You’re added back on my bloglines list. I’ve been sewing today…..got all the rows together on the courthouse steps and cut out 48 4-Patch Stacked Posie blocks and they are on the design wall. I also loaded a quilt for later.
Vicki W says
7am? Are you kidding? I was still in a DEEP sleep! I’ve been dyeing again all day. I wish you would stop talking about grinding wheat because I’m getting interested in it and that’s not good! LOL!
KathyFL says
Judy sometimes you wear me out just reading what you have been up to! LOL I have run some errands today, put dinner in the crockpot and made 3 yes 3! quilt backings.
Marlene says
What a great idea Judy. For my board we used an old hollow core door we weren’t using and trimmed it to the size I wanted. But I have it on top of a regular ironing board and the space underneath is wasted for sure. I’ll be looking for a book shelf to put there! blessings, marlene
Dawn says
LOVE your idea on the ironing board. You said that you cut a piece of plywood in half, does that mean 48 inches square? Or 2 ft x 8 ft? Yikes…both sound too big! I am using an ironing board and it is not working too good for large quilts.
Laurie says
Why do you wash the wheat? I’ve been grinding wheat for years but never knew it should be washed first!
Stephanie says
Nice set-up under the ironing board! Wish I could join you all, but gotta work, so I’ll just have to be content to live vicariously this weekend.
Perry says
I managed to get 2 blocks done on a BOM in spite of watching the college football games. Like your ironing board setup…I have a big board, but it would be nice to have the storage underneath. You amaze me at what you are able to accomplish, I used to be able to do that, but not anymore. I take it we aren’t linking on the quiltathon either, lol.
Steph says
Hi Judy! Thanks for the Quiltathon encouragement, have had a quilt hanging over my head but now I am seeing the end of the tunnel as I devoted the day to working on nothing else but!
I would also like to request an update on how you are liking your Nikon D40! I have been a click away from ordering one but thought I would see how you have adjusted to using yours, I currently use the Sony Cyber-Shot and it has been a great little camera but am ready to take another step forward!
Thanks!!
Mary says
I had a little shopping spree the other day too – I bought a sweeper from amazon after reading your post. We just finally bought a new vacuum when we moved after having the old one for years but I don’t like to drag it up and down 3 flights of stairs between my sewing room and longarm room. It will be nice to keep the sweeper downstairs so I swipe at the floor before loading new quilts.
I also bought a bunch of Patsy Thompson videos and one of the side lights that attach to you sewing machine – my eyes are getting bad and I can use better task lighting when I’m piecing.
No wonder you treat Vince so well!
Suzanne says
I really like your ironing/storage set-up. I have the old standard ironing board, which I dislike.
Roslyn Atwood says
I grind hard red winter wheat, makes the best bread!