The Greek and the German Have It!

A post on two recently purchased tools.  I should add that I am not being paid or recompensed in any way for this post.

Greek
I'd heard some talk about Clover's Hera marker, and, because I am always on the lookout for a fine line marking pencil, or in this case, tool, I decided to pick one up.  Hera, by the way, is the Greek goddess of women and of marriage, particularly of married women.  Women.  Not sure if Clover named this knowing that, but it wouldn't surprise me.  Sorry quilty guys.  But let's not go there regarding the fact that her husband, Zeus, was her brother... (in her defense he was beyond a jerk as to what he did to her, and she did not marry him for love nor lust).

I love it.  The marker.

It leaves a definite crease, aka line, along which, or on either side of which I can sew.  I've done both.  I've used it on light fabric:

 and dark:

It shows better on the light fabric, but that may be because I was using it on dark fabric at night, so not as good lighting, more tired eyes could have contributed to a less visible line.

Don't you just LOVE those rich royal purples?  Think I may have been a royal (okay cue the song, it's now going to be playing in my head all day) in one of my past lives, as I have always loved royal blue, but royal purple is a very close second.  I wore a royal blue dress to my university graduation; I wore a royal purple suit, (a micro-fibre faux suede with cut-out embroidery on the collar) to my first interview for a teaching position.  (yep, got it...the job, did finally part with that suit, even though it was a classic...no, it wasn't a case of the 80s are calling; they want their suit back either)

German
Let's move to the 90s.  My present iron in Kingsville, a Phillips, is from 1998 I believe (I will check that next week when we are back home!)  It has been a terrific iron.  However, the teflon coating is peeling off and it actually did suffer a little fall, but it still works just fine...well the steam part sometimes sweats near the handle where my hand is, but hey what's a little adventure when pressing, right?

I did some research, JC Penney had a great sale, and I now have this beautiful bad boy in my possession.

Yes, he is made in Germany.  China does not cut it. Seriously, the reviews all said be sure to get the one made in Germany.  I get that.  I drove my beloved VW Passat for 12 years, never an issue.  We've owned our 1999 Porsche 911 now for 5 years, fabulous car.

This Porsche-channeling iron has a good weight to it.  Think solid, as in the solid sounds of those sleek doors closing.  I love the pointy end!  The stainless steel plate glides, make that skates, in a good way, across the fabric.  This skating feeling may be due to me remembering a "rough" glide probably due to the tufts and blistering sunburned skin feel of the peeling teflon, lol.

It has no on/off switch, which I find odd.  It does have an auto off though, which my other iron did not.  This is a good safety precaution, especially for my menopausally afflicted headspace, aka melon.  If it clicks off due to lack of use, which it has when I am humming along, 911-style, stitching seams, a simple flip into pressing position turns it back on.  And, it heats up über-fast!  The lights dim and all.  No lie.

Ergonomically, it feels good in my hand too.  The critiques said the lid to the water receptacle was really hard to open.  I have not found that at all.  You just squeeze the edges as you pop it open.  Easy.  I do also find I have to have the steam setting towards the high end of the dial for it to continuously steam, but I haven't been using a lot of steam lately, so when I do, I will pay attention to this perceived annoyance.  It also has a self cleaning feature, which I have yet to use, seeing as I've only had it for a few weeks.

It will go north with me next week, and I will leave my cheap Sunbeam iron I bought at Target in 2008 down here.  It, by the way, has been a damn good little iron for under $20!

Yes, heading north.  In preparation for this event next Wednesday, Bella had some un-royal treatment yesterday.  She was not amused.  She had her cute little butt end shampooed yesterday.  At the risk of completely mortifying her, let's just say she had a little need of bidet action, 'nuff said.  If that wasn't bad enough...oh, the hurt, accusatory looks I got, as well as a small but deep scratch that drew blood, and mine isn't blue like hers...I then decided to trim the offending claws, er talons.  Think chocolate brown furry paws, uncooperating diva, and oops, I cut one claw too short, and her blood dripped forth.  Tinged with blue, right.  She left little prints all over the tile and a nice blob on the sewing room carpet, which I got out no problem.  And then...Joe held her, and that in itself is nasty to her, ew, man smell (poor Joe, he really is smitten by her, and tries so hard, to little avail).  So he held while I applied flea stuff to her neck and shoulder area.  This makes her beautiful fur oily in that area, but it is a necessity, as we will be spending one night in a pet-friendly, read flea-infested, hotel on the way home.  It is the only time I apply the stuff, since she is an indoor cat.  And, to top off all this indecent assault on her beautiful person, while Joe had her, I quick grabbed the scissors and gave her fancy ass hair and pantaloons a little trim.  No more, er, dangling bits where nasty bits might cling.

Contemplating her escape

She was pissed.  Sorry, but she really was.  To the point where she did not even come into the kitchen as per usual, miaowing for her supper.  She got real tuna last night, which only slightly mollified her, as she gets it fairly regularly,  but I did feed her a few morsels by hand, which she haughtily accepted.

Is it just me, or do I detect a slightly piercing anger in those beautiful baby blues?

Didn't even sleep with me last night.  Did not even deign us with her presence in our bedroom last night, and that has never happened before...

I hope she won't hold this grudge for much longer.  Cats, unlike dogs, do not exactly live in the moment, do they?!

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