A Fabulous Buy

While I can recall my Mum ironing with the flat iron, heated on a coal range, I have nearly always not minded the chore of ironing. Even with small children it was commonplace for me to iron sheets, teatowels, and other items that I know many folded and put away. There was a feeling of satisfaction seeing neatly ironed garments folded tidily in the drawer.

As a young schoolgirl, with long hair that demanded ribbons [I guess that dates me a lot as ribbons are seldom seen today], I owned a miniature iron, heated on the coal range, that I kept expressly for ironing my collection of hair ribbons, and there were a few: almost every colour of the rainbow plus some tartan ribbons for the winter. Nearly every girl of my age wore ribbons in her hair ~ it was the fashion. In an effort to show our individuality some had plaits with two ribbons swinging at the ends; some wore a ribbon as an Alice band, others had their tresses gathered to one side held in place with a ribbon, while still others had a ribbon on either side of their head. Often which hair-do one subscribed to on a particular day depended on how much time the mother had to 'fix' the hair before the school bus.

Today we went to a garage sale, and I will admit here and now, that we are regular attenders of garage sales. The bargains are sometimes wonderful, other times we come away empty handed. Today I bought a few bits and pieces, and ... a mini ironing board. I have seen these used by crafters; admired them, but never bothered to buy one, as I guessed they were a tad expensive for their limited use. But this mini ironing board at $4 must have been a bargain.

Not having any particular craft project at a stage needing an iron, of course I had to start something new. I so enjoyed the tube quilting, and with a cousin having a birthday towards the end of this month, I decided to make her a table runner ~ at the moment it will be a table runner, though I am toying with the idea of joining four together, two side by side, and another two joined below. I will see how I go as at this stage most is simply an idea ... I have cut and sewn one square ... and used the iron!