Sunday, April 10, 2016

Right-Handed vs Left-Handed Mini Iron

While we hunker down like it's mid-January here in Canada's southernmost town, I have a little humour and a couple of "how did that happen?" stories for your day.
"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."

I've said a few times now how much I love my Steamfast mini iron that I bought from Craftsy.  My only complaint was that the cord got in the way; I also mentioned the need for a cordless mini iron...anyone know if such a bad boy exists?

Anyhow.  In Florida, my ironing board orientation is against the wall with plug to the left of the board.  If I had a left-handed iron, bahaha, there would be no problem with the cord...if I was left-handed, again, there would be no problem with the cord interfering.
So this particular morning there was not good light for me to iron the black binding onto a black border of this placemat.  At this point in my young life, I need light, and lots of it!  I realized, well, duh, I was standing in the light from the window. 

What if I went on the wall side of the iron, so I would be facing the window, and thus I'd get better light?  Yes!

LIGHTBULB MOMENT!!!!

The cord is now on my right because the wall is now at my back, and so the plug is now to the right of the iron...it has taken me two winters to figure this out?

Welcome to my menopausal melon moments.....

What are the chances...
So you also probably know that the one magazine I subscribe to, and have done for practically two decades, is American Patchwork & Quilting.  There was a glitch last year in the subscription renewal, and I never did receive two issues, the February and the April ones.  I called, and they sent them out to me; I did not receive them.  I called again, they said they would send me them out a second time, nope, didn't get them.  When I called a third time to say the issues never did arrive, they said they wouldn't resend them, and I should find out from the post office what had happened.  We all know how that ended up, right?

Fast forward to last fall at the retreat I went to.  A lovely girl from Michigan who has never missed a retreat yet was in attendance, and, on the last day, she spread out several magazines and said, "Help yourself."  She was sewing at the table directly behind me, so I stood up and wandered over to see... NO WAY!!"  There was the American Patchwork & Quilting April issue!  Um.  IN the packaging?!  She said a friend had given her a subscription but she never had time to read them.  No...sadly, she didn't have the February one.
Fast forward to the quilt show in Venice I went to in March.  My friend Nancy and I were mindlessly leafing through a box of magazine bundles the guild was selling for $1.  I thought, what are the chances, I mean come on, these are in bundles of five, 'mine' could be buried and I'd never know it, and what's more, I'm not going to spend the time trying...and stopped going through the box.  Turned to the box right beside it.  NO WAY!!  Right there, I mean first in the pile, was a bundle of AP&Q and the top one of the bundle of five was February!  SOLD!  I gave Nancy the other four as I didn't need them.  She was happy and I was ecstatic! My collection is complete.

How has this happened?
You know my one and only quilt pattern that is for sale for FREE in my Craftsy shop?  Well, I got a rather sweet birthday present: for some reason, on April 3 (the big day) and April 4 combined, I 'sold' 700 copies!  I have NO idea how this has happened, but sales ever since have been several times the regular daily downloading rate.  Just yesterday, I 'sold' 425 copies!  How did this HAPPEN?!!  I checked with Melissa, the affiliates coordinator, and she doesn't know, but she thinks somehow it has been shared somewhere on social media... It's at the 1644 copies downloaded at the time of typing this post, just shy of 100 downloads already today--!!!!!
Pocketful of Sunshine - recent downloads have warmed my heart

A little sewing finally happened...
I joined in with Jennifer of The Inquring Quilter, Stepping Stones quilt along.  I knew I wanted to make my quilt similar to her first one, all neutrals.  I was able to get everything cut this weekend, and get a start on the HSTs.
Some of the darks are a bit chocolate for my liking, but we'll see

I'm not totally caught up on my homework for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2016 at soscrappy yet, but I did make my Whirling Stars block in the April colours of orange with a hit of brown or black.
Notice the scraps of Radiance in the rail fence blocks?

One final way to warm yourself might be to treat yourself...It's your last chance to grab some deals at Craftsy's weekend clearance sale.  It ends at midnight tonight, and there are still lots of amazing deals to be had...I happened to find this batiks mystery fat quarter bundle box that contains 20 fat quarters for the unreal price of $32CA. There is regular quilting cotton for this same great price as well.  That works out to about $6/yard which is a STEAL of a deal. I find these bundles or mystery boxes a terrific way to add some fabrics I would otherwise not buy; these have then found homes in various projects and added a bit of a 'je ne sais quoi', a smile, a surprise for me, a lift, to said project.

Laughter at myself, comic relief, and temptations happily provided for free! Have a great week, and stay warm!
Linking up with some fun parties on my sidebar and on the Linky tab up top.

15 comments:

  1. Haaahaaaa! You are not alone in having those kind of moments. I seem to have them on a regular basis! That's gorgeous quilting on the quilt sitting on the ironing board. As for the magazines, it was meant to be! Wow! Love those star blocks with the rail fence centers.

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  2. Congrats on your light bulb moment! LOL And double congrats on your pattern downloads. How exciting.

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  3. Light bulb moment indeed..hahaha Wow that's a lot of downloads congrats. Luck was certainly with you in finding your missing magazines.

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  4. Those magazines were meant to be with you! :) Now that is the universe making things right ;)

    That is a crazy amount of downloads!! Congrats! Yup, someone shared your pattern on IG or Pinterest and you have gone viral!! :D

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  5. Hey, wishing you a belated Happy Birthday. That's really cool about your pattern. It's still my chosen squirrel and I hope to get to it in the next 2-3 weeks as things calm down around here. At least I hope they calm down. I'm getting quite a chuckle out of your cord problem. I have always detested wrangling with cords on irons and I finally threw in the towel and found a cordless. I know that heavier irons are preferred for pressing, etc. and mine is quite light but not having to deal with the cord is heaven. I love it so much that I actually bought a second one at a great price that had been used in classes at a quilt show so I have a backup. http://smile.amazon.com/Panasonic-NI-L70SR-Cordless-Stainless-Soleplate/dp/B000P6CRLO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460379307&sr=8-1&keywords=panasonic+cordless+iron

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  6. I saw that quilt on pintrest this weekend so maybe that was part of it's circulation. Glad you figured out your mini iron dilemma.

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  7. I'm kind of squished in a narrow space when I iron too . I used to iron in the middle of the room but got ged up with all the ".excuse me , I need past you". So is there a left handed iron ? As you are doing well with your pattern , you could invent it. Just think if you had charged $1 a download !!
    Have been looking at the craftsy sale....

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  8. Meant to add , great news about the downloads , I'm sure you are buzzing !

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  9. Oh man, a cordless iron would be so awesome. I would buy all the batteries to keep one of those going! So many good things in this post that there is no way I can comment on them all... but happiest of birthdays and how cool about all those pattern "sales"! :)

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  10. You have "sold" that many patterns, my dear friend, because it is a great pattern! :) Congrats on those numbers. The universe knew you needed those magazines and they found you. I love when little things like that work out. And I am totally feeling those beautiful dark colors for your Stepping Stones quilt. Can't wait to see where it's going.

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  11. Thank you so much for the mention! I love your fabric choices and just can't wait to see more! Isn't that cool that you found your magazines? Sometimes we send our wishes out into the universe and come back fulfilled. I hope you had a wonderful birthday! I'm an April baby too and I absolutely know it's the best month! And what awesome news about your pattern! It's beautiful and easy to make which is probably why you're getting so many downloads. Congratulations!

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  12. The snowy picture is actually lovely. I like winters because I can hide my flab under the layers :-) Glad that you were ultimately reunited with your magazines :-) If things were simple, we'd have no stories. I too have downloaded your pattern. Now, only if you were "selling" it for a small price of $1.95, for example...that would be some serious loot. Sandra, now that you are famous, it is time to write a pattern that is not free...ahem. Wish you a very happy birthday and thank you for the eye candy in orange.
    Hugs,
    Preeti.
    http://sewpreetiquilts.blogspot.com

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  13. I think it is awesome you found the missing editions. I am so excited for you with all your pattern downloads. I wonder where it was shared. Happy ironing in your new spot. ;)

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  14. So much fun stuff in this post. Well, except for that first picture. I am so over snow after this past week. Never mind. It's over now, and spring really is on the way!!! I'm glad your magazines found you. Don't you just love how things come together like that? And Congrats on all the downloads of your pattern. It really is a good one! And maybe lots of people were looking for sunshine and found it in your quilt pattern. The iron idea is perfect. I have to admit that I would never think to turn around--and I'm constantly fighting with my cord. Finally, Happy Birthday! I hope you got to do some fun things besides watching those downloads pile up (although that was awesome).

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  15. How cool is that about the magazines?! Meant to be!! And WHOA you go sister!! You've gone viral!! :D

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