Wednesday, April 1, 2015

On the drunkards path

No I haven't been hitting the sauce.  I'm just enjoying this Drunkards Path quilt piecing so much.  Really I'm so lucky to have such a deep and bottomless scrap bin from which to pull from.  You know, I have another quilt cut out from a fat quarter grouping of matchy-matchy fabrics waiting to be sewn together.  It's going to be pretty when it's done, but it just doesn't get me excited as a basket full of wrinkled mismatched cottons saved over the years.

I bought these templates from Amazon, thinking I could re-use them on a two color version in the future, something like this one.  I'm hand piecing the curvy parts, then sewing the straight seams together on the machine to make a block.
Now I just need to decide if I make the whole quilt like the picture above, or use them as a border around a medallion center or place them in the center with a different border around it, Or...just kidding, I'm done.
On a completely different note, my cute little Black and Decker retro looking iron caught on fire yesterday (not the Continental dry iron, in this post here.  That one committed suicide last year by leaping off the ironing board and smashing itself on the floor.) 
Anyway, I'm not talking about red hot flames and call the fire department kind of fire. More like a hot, smoking, smoldering "hey what's that smell?" pre-fire kind of a fire. 
I first turned it off by the dial but noticed it didn't cool down. Then after I unplugged it and it still didn't cool down, in fact it was even hotter, (I kept going in and out of the room at this point, doing lord knows what, until I finally realized - duh, the darn thing is burning! Do something woman!) I finally took it outside to the driveway and let it burn itself out. 
I'm just glad I was home. Despite the auto safety shut off feature, if it's burning internally, and the iron is surrounded by leaning piles of fabric, I think your kind of screwed.
Now, if you're a quilter, you understand how impossible it is to go even one single day without an iron.  So before my old one was done melting in the driveway, I quickly ran out and bought a T-Fal ultra glide.  It came in a pretty blue color with a longer cord than my old one and I love it.  I vow to unplug it every single time I leave the room.
And keep the fabric piles away from the pressing plate. Safety first. Amen.

10 comments:

  1. I was ironing one time and literally watched my cord catch on fire all of a sudden. Very scary! I always unplug my iron now and check and double check just to make sure.:) Love your scrappy drunkards path. I agree, there's just something about the bits and pieces that give me the warm and fuzzies too.

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    1. oh my goodness that must have been terrifying! I don't like electrical things at the best of times, we don't generally get on (i have 5 broken printers to prove that point) so this is scary! xx

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  2. I buy really cheap (tesco £4) irons and always have a spare! I did leave one on one (when daughter has suspected meningitis- an accepted excuse) no fire but the room was very hot by the time husband noticed, so he made me a footplate - when I stand on it, the iron gets power and heats up, when I don't, it doesn't! Takes a minute or two longer, but much safer - but wouldn't help if my iron played the same game as yours!!!

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  3. AND meant to say, love the DP blocks! Curves scare me, but as I'm getting braver with zips maybe curves should be next?

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  4. Oh you were lucky to be there and avoid a big fire .... Your scraps and you new quilt are really stunning .... have a nice day !

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  5. uuuuh, your new quilt will be pretty. I like scrappy quilts, so many beautiful things can be made using scraps. You know you had a guardian angel to watch over that iron? Thank goodness nothing worth happened!
    KATRIN W.

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  6. Oh my goodness...I don't know which to focus on more--your scrappy drunkard circles are so awesome, and also YIKES, I have that same iron. Unplugging always seemed so fail-safe. Now I will never trust my iron again, which seems like is probably for the best. And of course, meanwhile, I'm away to start piecing drunkard's path blocks, because those you've made are (as always) totally inspiring.

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  7. I have never heard of an iron catching fire like that, thank goodness you were home and could take care of it. Love the quilt.
    Meredith

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  8. You are a riot! Love your curves : )
    I hear Ya about the iron. I'd go without my fridge before I'd go iron-less

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You guys are awesome! Thank you for the comments!