Character Improvement

I'll be going to my first quilt retreat pretty soon and I decided I needed a teeny little iron to go with my square ironing pad.  I used to have a super-cute teeny Rowenta iron but it died way too soon.  Not going down that trail again!  So late last week I went to countless stores looking for just the right iron.  I didn't find anything even close to what I wanted, and I'm not buying an iron online; I need to pick it up, wave it around, and see how many holes it has on the sole plate.  I gave up for now.

To cheer myself up, I thought I should do some antique shopping.  So even though I don't have a new iron,  I do have two new (old) ironing boards.  I needed them to do some character improvement in my sewing room.

I was beside myself when I found this children's ironing board.  It was in really good shape, just a few minor scratches on top and some missing rubber feet.  Here you see it with some of my finds from my super-exciting vintage weekend shopping last month.

 

This is my new full-size wooden ironing board that is really, really, really old.  Well, maybe not that old.  But from the 1920s or 1930s, I'm pretty sure.  It was refinished, which to some people destroys the value, but to me it made it valuable.  I don't want a stinky rough old ironing board.  I want a nice smooth rich-looking one.  The woman that sold it to me said she was a teacher and she takes out her frustrations by refinishing furniture.

No, this isn't a sled.  It's my folded-up ironing board.  Look at the beautiful large nail heads.  Look at the luscious caramel color.  It's very smooth and soft, too.

Here it is in use.

And finally, here's my chair recovered with one of the birthday presents I bought from The Sewcial Lounge.