Ironing Board in the Artist's Studio

For a long time I managed with a standard sized ironing board. At one of the local quilt shows there was a lady selling those shiny extra special ironing board covers. Normally I don't pay attention and walk right by. But this time my new basement studio was calling and I bought a cover sized for a big board.

The saleslady kindly detailed the basic plans for making your own big board which I relayed to my husband. He made it for me, screwed it onto the ironing board base we bought at a second hand store and then the cover went over. A little less expensive than buying the Big Board ready made. It has been one of the better additions to my studio and I love it. It is supposed to reflect the heat back so you don't have to put your iron up on high heat. Not sure whether it does or not but it seems to do a pretty good job.

The only thing I find a bit irritating about it is when you put a large piece of yardage on the ironing board it tends to slide off so if you get one of these covers watch that aspect.

The iron itself resulted from yet another forgetful moment of mine. My husband got fed up with yelling at me for forgetting to turn off the iron. He would go down to the basement at nighttime to lock up and check everything was turned off and find my iron blazing away. Finally I yelled back at him that some of us were wired differently (no pun intended!) I didn't mean to leave it on and did my best to remember to switch it off every time I left the studio. If he was so worried about something he couldn't change then maybe we should come up with a solution.

He did, he walked out that afternoon and bought not one, but two expensive irons with automatic turn off. Not sure what the moral of that story is!?

The quilt on the design wall behind the ironing board is still in progress - and might stay that way! It's a labour intensive piece with lots of hand appliqué.

Back to the Artist's Home Studio

Rose Rushbrooke
Artist, Quiltmaker,
Fractalist and Character Animator