Design Wall: New Baby Quilt & Ironing Board

New quilt--not baby--the baby hasn't arrived yet....

 The prints are from a set of Jane Sassaman for Free Spirit fabrics that I picked up two or three months ago--thinking about this gestating baby girl.

 This morning I picked out some solids from my stash.  Actually, the lavender solid near the top is a shot cotton that I used to make a blouse or a jumper some 20 years ago.  (Now that I've lost weight, I really need to find that box of clothing I put away so I can enjoy wearing some of it again,)

Since I stacked these on my ironing board, I also want to share about my ironing board cover.  I've seen some other bloggers making really lovely ironing board covers out of quilting cottons, but I have to admit that while I don't love ironing, my irons and ironing board covers get really heavy use.  I wanted one that would improve my ironing experience and make ironing easier.  Fifteen or twenty years ago I attended a guild show in Phoenix and met the woman who was selling Miracle Ironing Board Covers. I took the flyer home, intending to order one.  I lost the flyer.  Several years ago the covers were being demonstrated at the Fiber Arts show in Albuquerque.

The advantage of these covers is that they are woven with Owens-Corning Fiberglass yarn and guaranteed never to burn.  The fabric is used in protective clothing for astronauts, firefighters, car racers, etc. and reflects 95% of the heat, making it possible to iron on a lower setting.  It can be hand washed or sponged off right on the ironing board, whatever works best. It comes in many sizes to fit most of the ironing boards I've ever seen as well as in yardage.

My ironing board for ironing fabric is really a board!  (Actually I have two.)  My board was removed from the cabinets in my classroom at Lucie B. Tyng Elementary (opened in 1915).  I was working in my classroom during the weeks before school began when the district's carpenter came in to replace the doors on the cabinets.  I asked what they were doing with the old ones, and when I learned they were going into the trash, I asked if I could have several.  This is the only one I still have after my many moves in the intervening years.  It's about 22" X 24" and is covered with a layer of aluminum foil and several layers of towels.  The top layer is the miracle fabric with a casing sewn around the edges so I could put a drawstring in it and secure it around the board and the layers of toweling. Because I sometimes take this ironing board to sewing gatherings, I purchased yardage rather than a pre-finished cover.  I'd like the ironing experiences of my readers to be easier too, so I'm sharing this information.  (Even if I didn't quilt, I'd appreciate one of these covers to make ironing easier and cooler.)

Okay, time for me to move on to EQ7 and get this quilt layout designed.  (I expected to be back at school, but the school district is saying I will not be allowed to have a graduated return to work over the course of two weeks and will have to wait until I'm at "full capabilities".)

I'm linking to Judy Laquidara's Design Wall Monday.

If you came here looking for the "How to Quilt on a Treadle Sewing Machine" tutorial, it's here.

Happy Quiltmaking.....