Mary Ramsey Keasler : my new friend, Irena

When I was growing up my Mom has this old "ironer thing" that she used to starch and iron everything from the sheets and pillowcases to my Dad's overalls. Let me just say that we were a well-ironed family back in the day, much to the dismay of my brother and myself, as those starched pillow cases weren't the most comfy place to lay your head.

Mom finally gave up and got rid of the her ironer.

Years pass and and I sign up for a Nancy Crow workshop, which means I need to get busy dyeing more solid fabrics to add to my stash. Dyeing fabric also means lots of ironing. Ironing has never been something I was thrilled to spend time doing.

Guess what will handle one yard pieces of damp fabric like a champ?

You got it!

I discovered an old Ironrite on Craigslist, contacted the owner, and immediately took it off her hands. Let me introduce you to Irena, my new best friend.

a wet wrinkled pile of hand dyed fabrics

placed into Irena's hot arms

looks like this in a tenth of the time it would take if using my regular iron and board

And I might add that she does a bang up job ironing cloth napkins. I have been following my daughter's lead in trying to cut back on consumption of paper products. And since I have drawers full of cloth napkins, that I NEVER iron, we now have lovely crisply ironed napkins at meal times. Now to get to the pillow cases and sheets . . . . . .

9 comments:

Sujata ShahOctober 05, 2011
I don't know what to drool over first, your new friend Irena or those gorgeous hand dyed fabrics! Those wash boards are also such a nice touch.
Congratulations!
Pinkadot QuiltsOctober 05, 2011
This looks like heaven (who thought I would ever say that!). I am going to have to investigate one of those...
LisaOctober 05, 2011
That looks like a fun new toy! Let the crispness begin. hehehe
Sherri ~ daintytimeOctober 05, 2011
Wow - I've never heard of such a thing. I want one too! Also drooling over the green hand-dyes.
Mary KeaslerOctober 05, 2011
Hey, thanks much Sherri. I gotta get busy dyeing solids now that I've committed to Nancy's workshop!
Irena is just the best thing ever for ironing the freshly dyed fabrics while they are still damp from the washer.
MariQuiltsOctober 05, 2011
I've never heard of one of those either....how cool is that.
Tonya RicucciOctober 05, 2011
wow, that is awesome. I've never seen or heard of one of these beasties before. My mom refused to iron, so all clothes either had to contain polyester or be wrinkly.
Nifty QuiltsOctober 05, 2011
What a great idea! I love the smell of cotton in the iron. I'll bet your house smells great! I'll bring my ironing when I visit.
Miki WillaOctober 05, 2011
As my mother always said, "Mother knows best." I love the fabric. I really would love to learn how to dye fabric. I saw some very cool hand painted fabric at guild last night. I may try that. She used very watered down acrylics and salt. Very interesting.

Any and all comments are most appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to view, read, and voice your thoughts.