How to Make a Simple Ironing Board (Tutorial)

This is completely random, but I made a small project yesterday that I thought I'd post.

As I've been making face masks by the ton, I've been using my iron a lot. I never, ever iron clothes, so I don't even own an ironing board. I've only ever used the iron for sewing purposes.

In order to use it, I would place a folded towel on my dining room table. It was super frustrating, because it would never stay in place and it would pucker near the embroidered parts of the towel.

I finally got to the point where I thought "How hard can it be to make an ironing board?" and I used some scrap materials I had to make one. I LOVE how it turned out, so I thought I'd post a tutorial in case anyone else is tired of using towels interested in making one.

I had a scrap piece of 1/2-inch thick plywood, so I figured I could use that as the base; then I could add a padding of some sort and a decorative fabric on the top. Here is what I ended up doing...

Materials:

*1/2-inch thick plywood, 16 inches x 24 inches
*A piece of fleece fabric, about 18 inches x 26 inches
*A piece of felt fabric, about 18 inches x 26 inches
*A piece of cotton decorative fabric, about 20 inches x 28 inches
*Heavy duty staples (upholstery staples)

I used a pneumatic staple gun, because I'm borrowing it from my brother for the insulation in the garage, but a manual staple gun (like this one--Amazon affiliate link) would work fine.

I chose a piece of fabric from the huge assortment that Sarah, one of my blog readers, sent to me. It looks like a bunch of measuring tapes--I thought that would be perfect for an ironing board used for sewing! I had some scrap fleece and felt, so I didn't have to buy anything for the project.

First, I cut the plywood to size. I didn't want anything huge--I basically wanted something the size of a bath towel that's folded in half (because that's what I was used to using on the table). After some measuring, I ultimately cut the plywood to 16 x 24 inches.

Then I rounded off the edges with a router so they wouldn't be as sharp. Not necessary, but nice.

To put it all together, I laid out the decorative fabric (face-down) first; then on top of that, I laid the felt; and on top of the felt, I laid the fleece. I smoothed it out really well, making sure there weren't ANY wrinkles, and then put the board (face-down) on top.

I cut the decorative fabric larger than the other fabrics to allow for folding over the edging (which will make sense in the photos). Once I had it laid out and everything was smooth and even, I cut the corners of the fleece/felt layers like this:

Cutting out the excess fabric will remove bulk so that the board will lie flat when it's done.


Next, I folded the decorative fabric over the fleece/felt fabrics along a LONG edge of the board.

Then, take the fabrics as a whole and fold them over the board. (The double fold is to keep the raw edges from being visible underneath.) Place a staple in the center of the long edge. You'll have to do staples alternately on each side to make sure that the fabric is taut without wrinkles.

Place a staple on the opposite side, pulling the fabric tightly (but not super tight to where it'll pucker or rip).

Staple along the entire edge, alternating sides and pulling the fabric kind of tight as you go along.

Now, for the short sides... In order to keep the corners from being too bulky, cut a small square out of the fleece/felt layers.

Once the corners are cut out, it removes most of the bulk. Next, you'll fold the corners of the decorative fabric over like you're wrapping a gift box...

Then you'll fold the decorative fabric in half, just over the fleece/felt, before finally pulling it over the board and stapling.

Do this with both edges, again pulling it taught before stapling. Reinforce all the edges (and particularly the corners) with staples.

When you flip it over, it'll look nice and smooth--and be the perfect ironing board for small sewing projects! (I texted this picture to Jerry to show him what I made, and he thought I literally took measuring tape and wrapped it around a board, haha)

The bottoms edges will all be nice and even so that the board doesn't wobble--it'll be very sturdy on the table--no legs needed.

This is SO much nicer than using a folded towel! ;)

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RECIPE: Sweet & Sour Chicken

I love Sweet & Sour Chicken! It's usually made with fried chicken pieces, but this is made with sautéed chicken, so it's a little healthier. The calories in this aren't bad at all, actually! It looks like a lot of ingredients, but most of them are things that I typically have on hand.

Here is a printer-friendly version!

Ingredients:

2 tsp. olive oil (or peanut oil)
3 medium carrots
1 large onion
1 large green bell pepper
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 clove garlic or 1 tsp. jarred minced garlic
1 tsp. minced ginger
1 can (about 15 oz) pineapple tidbits, drained (reserve juice)* (See note at bottom)
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. cold water
2 Tbsp. corn starch
Cooked white rice, for serving

Directions:

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, and add 2 tsp. oil. Slice or chop the carrots and add them to the skillet. Chop the onion and green pepper and add them as well (if you like your green pepper crispier, then add it later--but I like mine to be pretty soft). While those are cooking, cut the chicken into bite-size pieces and add them to the skillet. Add the garlic and ginger.

Cook until the chicken is done, stirring frequently. Add enough water to the pineapple juice to make 1 cup of liquid, and add that to the skillet.

Bring it to a boil, and then add the soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, and pineapple tidbits. Stir well to combine. In a small bowl, stir the corn starch and 2 Tbsp cold water until the corn starch is dissolved. Then add the cornstarch mixture to the skillet, stirring well.

The sauce will get very thick. Serve over rice. Makes 4 servings.

*Note: I love the pineapple in sweet and sour chicken, but my family doesn't like it as much. You can always use half the amount of pineapple, but still use all of the juice for the sauce.

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Sheer Cuteness

I started working on the second part to my post from yesterday, but it just got way too long when I was going through photos. So, I think I'll just save it for another day.

I'm super tired right now (the kittens wake me up so early!) so I am just going to post a few photos that I took today.

Remember a few years ago, when the golden-crowned kinglet bird crashed into my window? He hit the living room window, and I was sure I was going to walk outside to find a dead bird. But it turned out that his claw was stuck in the window screen, and he was still alive.

I gently pulled him off of the screen, and he let me hold him. I was sure he wasn't able to fly, because why else would he let me hold him? I even walked in the house to grab my phone to take a picture (while he was in my hand!) and then went back outside.

I debated what to do with him, and decided to make a little nest for him--and then he flew away, completely unharmed. I was relieved!

And then a couple of days later, I got home after dropping the boys off at school and I saw what I thought was a dead bird on the porch--the same bird from a couple of days ago! I was furious and I thought that somehow Phoebe got outside and killed the bird.

I went to pick him up to move him off of the porch, and he popped right up into my hand. It was the same bird! (At least I'm 99% sure it was.) I have no idea why he was "playing dead" on the porch, but he sat in my hand for a while after that. I just sat down on the steps of the porch and held him. It was so cool!

Then he flew away, and I've never seen him again.

Today, I was working on a blog post and I saw (and heard) a bird crash into the living room window. Again, I was sure I was going to find a dead bird outside, but I found him alive amongst the landscaping. I picked him up and he looked okay. (I have no idea what kind of bird he was.)

I wasn't sure where to put him, and ultimately decided to put him on a bush in the landscaping. I went inside and grabbed Noah's camera to get a picture of him. I took a couple of photos, and then he flew off of the bush and right onto the camera strap!

I started to walk him toward a tree when he finally jumped up and flew away. I was relieved he was okay.

While all of this was going on, there was a family of geese on the dike across the street from my house. We actually have two families of geese staying there--each has four goslings. They are adorable!

Since I had Noah's camera out there already, I decided to try to get a photo of the geese. We have families of geese that hang out here every year. They get really angry when I drive by in my car... and it's terrifying to go for a run next to them, hahaha.

And of course, here is a picture of Chick and Duck. They are SO CUTE I can't stand it! When they sleep, they are dead to the world--they always cuddle when they sleep and they fall totally limp wherever they are. Having kittens is so much fun! (Except when they want to play at 4:30 AM.)

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A Huge Collection of My Crafts Through the Years (Part 1)

When I was looking for some photos on my computer, I came across a folder of a bunch of crafts that I've made through the years. It was fun looking through them!

I have definitely gotten better at things as I've practiced more, and my style has changed quite a bit. I don't own most of the things I've made anymore, probably because I realized it was hideous! Hahaha. It makes me wonder if someday, I'll look back and cringe at the things I make now. (Like my enormous chalkboard clock!)

Anyways, I thought it'd be fun to post pictures of my crafts through the years. I went through phases of knitting, crocheting, sewing, and more recently, home renovation projects. (In this post, I have mostly crochet and knitting photos).

As I got the photos ready for this post, I realized I have way more than I thought! So, I'm going to post this in 2-3 posts. I'll post the second part tomorrow. (Sorry if this is totally boring. But it's more exciting than my groundhog days lately!)

By the way, the patterns for most of these can be found on Ravelry. It would take a very long time to link to each individual one. So, you can find my project page here, which links to the patterns I used.)

This is a sweater beer cozy that I made for Jerry. He LOVED it and still has it. I think I made it in 2007-ish:

This is an apple cozy (to keep the apple from bruising in a lunch box, etc. Clearly, my gauge was off! Or, I just buy small apples. It was way too big:

This is an aviator hat that I made when Becky was pregnant with Luke. She wanted a photo prop for him (and with Brian being a pilot, the aviator theme was perfect). She showed me a photo, and I ended up making this:

This was also for Luke. I made this for Becky's shower, in the colors of Luke's nursery:

These are clearly some baby booties that I made, but I have no idea who I made them for!

A friend asked me to make a baby hat as a photo prop, so this is what I came up with. I wrote out the pattern, which you can find here.

This is another baby hat pattern that I wrote myself. Why were all of my friends having babies and I don't remember who I gave these things to?! (Here is the pattern)

This I actually made about a year ago--it's ugly, but it's not meant to be pretty. I just got sick of having the kids' baseball bats lying around the floor of the garage, so I grabbed a scrap board, drilled some large holes in it, and viola! Baseball bat holder.

Eli was super into Batman when he was little, so I knitted this Batman hat for him:

This is a coffee cup cozy that actually reads "be safe". I am embarrassed to admit that it was a line from the Twilight books that Edward said to Bella. I was really into Twilight back then! (You'll see I have a few more Twilight-related things)

Speaking of Twilight, these are the mittens that Bella wore (I think it was in the first movie). Someone replicated them and posted the pattern on Ravelry. I just had to make them! 

I happen to love this beret that I no longer have. It was my first time doing cables and twisted stitches in the round, and I really enjoyed making it. I like patterns that I have to really pay attention to!

These are called "Pocketbook Slippers" because they fold up to be small enough to slip into your pocketbook. This pattern is one of the first things I ever knitted.

This was an attempt at socks. I just didn't have the patience to finish the first one, let alone start the second one. The only fun part of socks is turning the heel!

A knitted dish cloth. Why I chose brown, I have no idea!

Ugh, this hat! For a while, I was into making hats with a bill on the front. I used that plastic mesh that is meant for crafts like--well, I don't know what--and I was determined to make the perfect hat. But I just never got it right. 

A friend showed me a picture in a magazine of a hat she wanted, including a ribbon butterfly, so I copied it the best I could. I have to admit, it looked nearly identical to the magazine photo!

I made a coffee mug cozy (my own design) to fit a standard mug. I really liked how it turned out, so I published the pattern on Ravelry. You can find the pattern here. 

This is a double-knit (reversible) case for my camera. This was before I had a smart phone. I had a small camera, and I used this cozy to slip my camera into in order to carry it around without it getting ruined. I used this for several years, actually! I had just made a double-knit pot holder--posted somewhere below--and I thought the double knitting thing was cool, so it was a fun project for me.

Another hat with a bill. This one with cables...

This is the same hat in green... and Noah modeling it :)

I made several lip balm holders. I could crochet these in less than an hour from start to finish, and since I'm obsessed with lip balm (Burt's Bee's Original is my favorite), it was perfect. I just wish I hadn't loved the variegated yarn...

I made this one with a thin crochet thread, and it worked out much better:

I knitted a large rectangle with cables, and I had no idea what to do with it. I ended up folding it in half and turning it into a bag: 

Ugh! This hat. It was too short to fold, but too long NOT to fold. So it was pretty much useless.

This hat was on a TV show (I can't remember which show) and someone posted the pattern on Ravelry. I loved the pattern (again with the bill on the front) so of course I had to make it. I never wore it, though--I thought the bill was too long.

I clearly loved making coffee cozies.  These are fun to make because they don't take a long time, they're very useful, and you can make them in several different patterns. My favorite was the honeycomb pattern (the ones on the right):

I think this pot holder was my very first double-knit project. Double-knitting is where the back side is basically a mirror image of the front, and the colors are the exact opposite. It's time consuming, but I always like to try new techniques, so the double knitting sounded interesting to me:

This is one of the very first things that I crocheted. I made it out of kitchen cotton, and it was heavy! It wasn't very practical, so I didn't end up using it. I'm not sure what I ended up doing with it!

This was the first afghan I ever crocheted. I don't normally have the patience to crochet or knit a whole afghan, but since this one was called something like "Five Hour Afghan" it caught my eye. I actually really liked this one!

This is a baby blanket that I crocheted for a couple of friends of mine who were adopting a baby girl kind of suddenly. I didn't have much time to make something, so I chose this pattern which was apparently a quick-crochet:

I have no idea what these baby hats were for. I don't remember giving them to anyone!

I saw this hat on a movie, and I wanted to replicate it. This is attempt one and attempt two. Attempt two turned out better, but I never did get it right!

I made this as soon as I really started getting into crocheting. I needed something to hold crochet hooks, so I made this. I sewed fabric into the underside of it. I loved it at the time!

These were just some random squares that I'd crocheted. I think I had just taught myself to crochet, so I was trying out different patterns. 

No idea why I did this, but I used crochet thread to make a wrist band:

I made this for "a friend's" baby boy (again, I don't know who--my notes just say "a friend"). I can't think of who it would be! But I love how the blanket turned out:

I made this hat for my dad--it's two layers thick, so it was super warm. He'd been wearing an ugly camoflauge hat I made him YEARS prior (when I was in high school, I think) and he swore it was the warmest hat he'd ever worn. I knew he was just saying that to make me feel good, so I made him this one that should have been twice as warm. I should have made the ribbed edging a few inches longer, though, because it was kind of small. Again, too short to really cuff, but too long NOT to cuff.

This one is kind of hard to see, but I was trying out a new knitting technique called entrelac. It was fun to knit! I made another one later where you can see the pattern better, because I used variegated yarn.

And there you have it... I think this is about 40 of 120-ish photos I have of projects I've made! I'll share some more in another post.

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