Peas In A Pod

2010 Final Countdown-Task Two

Okay, I'm on to task two from Shelly's 2010 final countdown.  If you'd like to read it, here is the link for you:

http://prairiemoonquilts.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/2010-final-countdown-task-two/

True confession time.  Here is the before photo of my cutting table this morning:

Full of the Super Mario project, wrapping paper, boxes, bows, tissue paper, the box from one of Sweet Pea's Christmas presents, tags, my Soul Whisperer doll project, my hand sewing basket, a tub with some odds and ends in it (that Sweet Pea put there).  The pitcher of water is the water I brought down for filling my iron.

I put everything away in its rightful spot, and the after photo:

I even got the left leaf put down.  I typically keep it down so I am not tempted to put stuff on it.  Then, I can slide my table over a little and give me more room in my tiny room.  As you can see, this unfinished portion of the basement is not the most beautiful space for me, but it's working.  Now, I need to empty the garbage cans!  haha.

I like to keep my rotary cutting tools handy, along with a couple of other things (like my glasses).  And it always seems like there are other little things, like marking tools, etc. that tend to collect on the cutting table.  So, I put this little green pouch I had laying around on the table to corral those little items.

When I start cleaning up, it's sometimes hard for me to stop.  So, I did a few other things in my room this morning as well.

I have been working on getting these drawers organized for a couple of weeks now.  When we moved, I sort of just threw stuff in them.  I had ink pads, magic markers, etc. in these.  Oh, and quite a few UFOs and unstarted projects.  I completely emptied these and found new homes for that other stuff (still working on some of that).  I decided I wanted these drawers just for fabric storage.  So, my fat quarters, jelly rolls, and charm packs are in the small drawers.  I have wool and wool felt in some of the big drawers.  But most of them are for scraps.  I have a goal to get all my scraps cut up ala Bonnie Hunter style (I'll say more about that later, but if you want to read about her Scrap User System now, click here).  I have had that goal for a few years and haven't made much progress.  On my last few projects, I have been cutting my scraps right away into strips so they don't even hit the scrap bin.  I labeled my drawers for different widths of scraps (1", 1-1/2", 2", 2-1/2", 3", 3-1/2", odd sizes for larger scraps, and half-square triangle scraps.  Now, in the new year, I can start cutting up my scraps from the scrap bin and get that bin empty.  I can use that big bin for yardage storage.

I'd like to get some of those boards you wrap your fabric around to better organize my yardage and fat quarter storage.  I'm pondering that one a bit and will get back to you.

While I had the label maker out, I also labeled my drawers on this semi-new cabinet:

I got this this fall when my local sewing machine store was selling things really cheap.  The owner was retiring.  It's one of those really nice cabinets they make to go with the sewing tables.  I love all the skinny drawers.  I think it retailed for $380 and I got it for about $120.  I couldn't pass it up.  It's on wheels and fits under my desk.  I wheel it in and out when I want to use it.  I have been organizing all my thread in it.

I love Aurifil thread so much, I gave it its own drawer.

The quilting threads drawer.  Some day I might bet the little organizers they have to fit in these drawers, but right now, I am just making due with these little plastic trays I had laying around.

In the process of cleaning out drawers, I found an unaccounted for UFO.  I started this when I got my embroidery machine to learn how to do appliqué with my embroidery machine.  (In looking at this photo, I see there is a real problem on this lower border.  Look how crooked that sewing is!  Egad!  What was going on with me that day?!

I only got two of the 12 blocks made.  I feel like this project served its purpose (for me to learn to appilqué in the hoop), and now I'm sort of done with it.

I was never all that happy with my fabric selection for this project.  The store I took the class at had a limited amount of fabric, and I selected from that.  I still like a lot of the fabrics independently.  I just don't like them together.  And I'm not all that crazy about the harlequin fabric.

So, I tucked these blocks away and will eventually put them in an "orphan block" pile I'll start (I only have a few right now).  I put all the other fabrics back in my stash to be used in other projects.

I still have the embroidery designs.  I'll hang on to them for a bit.  I may end up doing a giveaway with it at some point.  We'll see. 

But there's another UFO I've dealt with.  That feels good.  It's off my plate now.

So, how are you coming?  What are you working on?

I'm feeling a little discouraged, because I think I might have made an error in my Super Mario quilt blocks.  I am trying to study it and see what I need to do differently.  The instructions aren't clear, so I'm not exactly sure.  I need to do some playing around.

We are experiencing a real January thaw here.  It's in the 40's today, and it's been raining!  Thundering even.  All the snow has melted.  It's pretty dreary, but I'll take the warm weather.

One more off-topic thought I forgot to mention yesterday.  Have you ever played Just Dance on the Wii?  I played it yesterday with my 8-year-old nephew.  It's pretty fun.  It plays music and shows an animation of a dance.  You have to follow along, and you earn points for imitiating the model well, staying on beat, etc.  It was really fun and quite tiring!  Great exercise.  My nephew kicked my but a few times, and I kicked his on some others.  If you have a Wii, this might be a fun game to check out!  I think dancing with kids is fun.

It's New Year's Eve.  Be careful out there tonight.  I am excited.  I'm driving to Grand Rapids tomorrow to go to the Attic Window and meet another blogging friend.  I'll give you an update!

Happy New Year to you!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

2010 Final Countdown

Sorry I didn't get this posted sooner.  I meant to post it this morning but ran out of time.  My brother's wife's brother (how's that for confusing?!) lives about 30 miles from me.  My brother, his wife, and his kids live in Boston.  They came to Michigan to visit my SIL's brother for the holidays, and my SIL's brother invited us to his house today for a visit.  We had such a very nice time.  My SIL's family is just wonderful, and Sweet Pea had such a nice time playing with her cousins and with her cousin's cousins.  I gave my SIL her phone cozy, which I blogged about here, and she really loved it I think.  I was really happy she liked it so much.  It was a really great day.  I don't get to see them enough.  We just got home, and I'm just now having time to sit down and make this post.

Shelly, over at Prairie Moon Quilts, is having a fun 2010 Final Countdown.  I decided to join in because I just adore Shelly.

She's giving us tasks to do each day, and she tells me there will be prizes.  :-)  I'm just in it for the fun.

She gave us our first task.  If you want to read all about it and join in, click here:

http://prairiemoonquilts.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/2010-final-countdown-task-one/

In short, our first task is to find our oldest UFO and do something about it.

Okay.  I consulted my spreadsheet of UFOs that I created this past spring before I moved again.  (It's a scary list due to the sheer quantity of UFOs.  I have only gotten back into sewing for about 8 years now, so I don't have UFOs that are too old, compared to some people.  But I bet the quantity of UFOs I have rivals that of people who've been sewing for 20 years.)  I don't date my projects (or at least I haven't to this point), so I'm sort of guessing at what one's the oldest.  I'm pretty sure it's the Promise Stitch Log Cabin project.  I've been going through all my projects and sort of reorganizing them.  So, it wasn't too hard to find it.

(I had to take photos with my phone, because my camera battery was dead.  Sorry these aren't the best photos.)

Here it is.  All the parts neatly tucked inside this plastic container.  You know me.  Queen of plastic containers!

These are little log cabin blocks, made from 1" strips of fabric.  You hand stitch them with a 1/4" seam allowance, open up the seam, and then do a little running stitch on the top a scant 1/4 inch away from the seam.  When I first bought this, I loved the blocks (who doesn't love log cabin blocks?), I loved the little embroidery around the blocks, and I loved the idea of framing a little wall hanging with log cabins.  I thought htis would be a good travel project, since it's handwork.

I cut a whole slew of light and dark 1" strips so I could "grab 'n go" and take them with me when I travel.

I even have everything assembled in this little travel kit...a cutting mat and rotary cutter to trim the strips to length, needles, thread, marking tools....

Heres how far I got.  I hand stitched all this.  See the little running stitches on the dark fabrics?  They are hard to see on the light fabrics.

Now that I've found it, my next task is to determine what's holding me up from finishing this.

Hmmm...I am really having to think about this one.  I still like the project and think it's cute.  I'm not sure where I'd put it in my house, so I don't have a definite plan for it.  It was really just something to do while I was traveling once.  Truth be told, I put it away and sort of forgot all about it.  Also, I'm concerned that when I started this, I was not a very accurate sewer.  I am not sure how accurate my piecing was, and so I don't want to get far along and realize I've spent a lot of time on something that isn't going to work out well.  I just don't really feel like finishing this.

My last task is to decide what to do with it.  I have decided this is one UFO I am not very invested in and am not going to finish.  So, what am I going to do?  I'm going to repurpose my strips into the 1" strip scrap drawer I am in the process of starting.  (As you'll see, one of my New Year's goals is to organize my scraps, and this will get me started on that path.)  This little block is so small, I will be okay with throwing it away or maybe turning it into a pincushion.  I think throwing it away sounds better.  I'm going to put away all the parts and pieces so I have an empty project box that I can put some other projects that need a home in this box (like my Soul Whisperer doll pieces right now).  It's late tonight, so I'll take care of that tomorrow morning.

Shelly has already posted task two, which you can find here:

http://prairiemoonquilts.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/2010-final-countdown-task-two/

I will tackle this task tomorrow morning, too.  It is to clean off a horizontal surface in your sewing room.  Emptying this box will allow me to make progress on task two, because it will give me a home for some items currently on my cutting table, which is an absolute mess.  I'll show you that tomorrow, but I'm sort of embarrassed about it.  Come on back then, and I'll show you why.

Shelly, this is fun.  Thanks for doing it.  You got me to move forward on something I really needed to move forward on!

Why don't you join in on the fun of this, too???

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Commit-Take Action: The way to happiness and a long arm machine?

I just wanted to share something with you all.

Caroll over at The Attic Window (who is also a Michigander--I hope to meet this blogging buddy this weekend!) posted an interesting article today that is very timely, given that it's almost New Year's Day and time for resolutions.  (I'm not realy big on New Year's resolutions, but more on that later.)  Hop on over and read it.  The article suggests that the way to happiness and getting what you want is to dream it, commit to it, and start doing it.  If you start on the path to what you want, then the universe seems to deliver.

I thought it was so timely, because I have long wanted a long arm quilting machine.  Two years ago, I went to the Home Machine Quilting Show in Utah and test drove a whole bunch of machines.  It was so much fun.

I found two machines I really liked.

One was the Tin Lizzie 18.  I liked how it "drove" and it was in my "somewhat affordable" category.  (It's all relative, right?!)  I liked how you could be winding a bobbin while you quilted.  Cool.  It seemed to be a really good option for the "hobby quilter."  (I don't plan to do this for a business.  Just for my own enjoyment.)  My SIL just got the Ansley 26, also made by Tin Lizzie.  Color me green with envy.  No, seriously, I am sooooo happy for her.

The other was the APQS Millennium.  This is my dream machine.  I REALLY loved this machine.  But it was expensive (again, relative--they are all expensive!).  To own this machine, I would feel like I'd need to be a professional quilter--be doing it for a business--to justify the expense.  But it is an amazing machine.

Now Linda, over at The Quilted Pineapple, is getting an A-1 (click here to read about it), and there is an awesome dealer right here in Kalamazoo, which would give me great support (click on the "click here to read about it" link above to read Linda's account of the dealer here).  That would be important to me.  And, it appears to be priced somewhere in the middle....  So, I will definitely give that a closer look.  I remember at the show, I barely looked at the A-1, because by the time I got to it, there were only 15 minutes left before the doors closed, and the dealer was busy talking to someone else.  I knew someone in Idaho who had one, though, and she loved it.

So, I have been wanting one of the se machines for 2 years.  And I'm not any closer to having it now than I was 2 years ago. 

I keep thinking, everytime I send a quilt out for quilting, that I could have the machine half paid for by now, for what I've paid for quilting.

Yes, I know, I could solve this problem by quilting my quilts on my home sewing machine.  But I really do NOT enjoy quilting big quilts that way.  It is just NOT fun to me.  I have tried long arms, and I really enjoy that.  I don't want to spend time doing things I don't enjoy.  I am mildly excited to free motion quilt on small things, like wall hangings (you all know about my reluctance there)...but not big stuff.  And I like making big quilts as well as smaller stuff.

Papa Pea and I have been talking, and he said he sees us being ready for it in about 3 years.  (Honestly, we will need to build an addition to our house to house it.  We want to build an addition anyway, to add a dining room and remodel the kitchen upstairs, and to increase the size of our family room.  At that time, we can enlarge my sewing room, which is beneath the kitchen.)

I started thinking that I want to be ready in 3 years.  Therefore, today, I opened up a new savings account at my local bank.  It's called a "Goal Setter Account."  You set a savings goal and when you reach your goal, the bank will match any interest you've earned along the way.  Not much when interest rates are so low, but as my banker said, "It's enough to go buy yourself a celebration dinner for making your goal!"  Cool.

Also, the account is not linked to my checking account, so no temptation to transfer money from savings to checking on-line.  And no ATM card for the account.  You have to actually go into the bank to make a withdrawal.  But you can transfer money FROM checking INTO the savings if you want to.  Just not the other way around.  I like it.

I had a little extra money this month due to some consulting I've been doing and got paid for.  I thought this was a good time to start the savings account so I wouldn't piss that money away.  That is what I started the account with.

So, there.  I committed.  I took action.  Now, perhaps I will actually achieve my goal of owning a long arm machine in 3 years.

As you ponder your New Year's resolutions (if you make them), what are you going to commit and take action on?  Food for thought.

Thanks, Caroll, for the timely post!

Until next time,

Mama Pea

 

 

Progress on Super Mario Quilt

The past couple of days I've been trying to make progress on the Super Mario quilt.  I've made some pretty good progress...I've used the excuse that I have to try out my new iron, so I need some time to work on this.  Works for me!

You can read my original post for this project here, and you can see the overall pattern on this post.  (It's a Miss Rosie's pattern.)

I made a big stack of 9-patch blocks.  I need 99 of these babies.  I think this stack has about 60 or so in it.  I didn't count.

The are all some variation of this...some have the dark on the corners and others have the dark in the middles.  They are all greens, tans, golds, and reds.

I made a couple of miscuts.  Oops.  Don't know where my head was.  Had to dig through my scraps and find enough of these fabrics to cut a few more 2" squares.  No problem.  I had plenty of scraps to work with.

There.  That's better.  These finish at 5" square.

I combined those with the ones I had already completed, and now I have 99.  (At least I'm pretty sure.  I've used all the strips I cut for that purpose, so there should be 99 there.)

Then, I made 16 of these hourglass blocks.  They look okay.  A few, like this one on the top, don't have the points exactly right, but most look pretty good.

I don't have many more blocks to make for this.  I think I can finish the blocks up this weekend.  The question is, can I get it all laid out and sewn together this weekend?  I could then count it as another top finished in 2010.  Or, should I start the year out right and finish it on or after the 1st, so I am off to a running start in 2011?  Hmmm...a dilemma.  What would you do?  (I'm leaning toward starting 2011 off right.  I sorta feel "done" with 2010.  Plus, it will still have to be quilted, so technically it won't be "done" until sometime in 2011.)

Hope you're all having a good week.  New Year's Eve coming up.  Can you believe it?  Where has the time gone?  I'm sorta ready to say good-bye to 2010, just like I was ready to usher 2009 out the door.  How about you?

Until next time,

Mama Pea

Initial Product Review: Rowenta Pressure Iron and Steamer (Thanks, Santa!)

Hi Everyone,

I didn't mean to take a little blogging break for 4 days.  Sorry.  I was just...well...totally fatigued.  I don't know what my problem is.  Right now, I feel like I just can't sleep enough!  I just couldn't get enough oomph to get it together and write a post.  But, I'm back.  I'm still tired, but I'm getting back into my routines again.

So, what did Santa bring you?

Santa (Papa Pea) brought me exactly what I wanted....a new iron!  And he brought me...

the Rowenta Pressure Iron and Steamer!!!!!  (I have Model DG5030, if you want to know.)  I have been using it for a few days and thought I'd give a little product review, because when I tried to find reviews of this on-line, I had a hard time finding many.  (There were lots for their regular irons, but not much for this one.)

Here is a link to it on Amazon if you are interested:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MT519O/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

As you can see, this iron has a rather large base, in which you put the water.  It seems to hold about 1/2 to 3/4 gallon of water.  There is a power cord (which is really quite long) and a cord that connects the iron to the base.  It is also quite long...I'd say each is about 6 feet.

Here's the view from the front.  The large knob on the upper right (on top of the base) is what you open to fill the tank.  It comes with a nice funnel that has a little red "bobber" in it that pops up when it's full.  Very helpful so you don't overfill.  There is no "window" or anything on it to show you the water level (which is a slight weakness in the product, in my view), so you really need this special funnel to know when it's full.

On the back here is the on/off switch (far left) with a light that stays on as long as the iron is on.  Next to it is the indicator light to indicate when the steam is ready.  It goes off when it's ready to steam and comes back on when it's generating more steam.  The knob on the right is your steam adjustment.  You can adjust steam from minimum to maximum using this dial.

Here is the iron, itself.  You can adjust the temperature of the iron using this dial, just like on a traditional iron.  What I like, though, is that temperature is adjustable separately from the steam...unlike my conventional iron, where when temperature is high, steam is high (if you have steam turned on) and low if temperature is low.  I like that you can regulate it separately.  You can see the indicator light here on the iron, which indicates when it is heated up to the desired temperature.

I have the iron sitting on one of those silicone pads on my ironing board.  That was something I already had (my mom gave it to me a while back...thanks, Mom!).  It did not come with the iron.

The sole plate is stainless steel, not teflon.  That's fine with me.  I sort of like the stainless steel and don't really care if it's teflon.  But that imght be important to others.  There are a fair amount of steam holes, and there are some small, concentrated ones near the tip of the iron.

When you fill the base, it is a little heavy.  The picture on the box has the base sitting on an ironing board extension, which my ironing board has. 

I don't know how well you can see this, but this is a metal plate that extends off the back end of my ironing board.  You are supposed to be able to rest your iron here.  My old iron never fit here well, anyway, so I've never really used it for anything.  (I have considered removing it, but it also has a cord minder on it that I like.  So, I keep it on for that.)  I thought about resting the base of the iron here, but you know, it's just not that sturdy.  It felt really wobbly to me when I put it here.  And it seemed to make my whole ironing board feel unstable.  So, I didn't think it was a good idea to put it here.

So, here is my solution.  I have a rolling cart right behind my ironing board.  I put the base on that, and it felt much more stable.  I am keeping the iron on the silicone pad on my ironing board.  I have several reasons for this:

1. It saves me from reaching so far to get the iron and have to set it back on the base all the time.
2. I could keep the iron up on its end on my ironing board when I'm not using it, but you know, irons are pretty wobbly on the base.  And if I bump the ironing board with my big hip (like I've done before), it's so easy for the iron to fall over and fall off the ironing board (like I've done before).  I think keeping it this way will be more stable, and it will be less likely to fall off my ironing board by accident.
3. The iron does not have an auto shut-off feature.  I think some people find this to be a serious limitation and others find it to be a serious plus.  I really don't care.  I like auto shut off, because sometimes I'm not very responsible and I forget to turn off the iron.  But I find it really annoying when the thing shuts off all the time as I sew blocks, and then I have to wait for it to heat up again before I can press.  So, there are plusses and minuses both ways.  I figure, my strategy/rule for remembering to shut off the iron will be:  If it's down and on my board, then that means the iron is on.  If it's on it's base, it's off.  I will shut it off when I put it up on the base.  I think that will work.  (I have heard of other people who wear something on their wrist and take it off when they shut the iron off, but I don't think that will work for me.  I can't stand stuff on my wrist when I am cutting, piecing, etc.)

The instructions suggest it's good to have an ironing board that looks like this on the bottom...that is lots of openings for steam to pass through...not a really solid board.  My board was already like this, so that worked well!

And, it's probably a good thing.  This baby CRANKS out the steam!  I have only set the dial at about half way between minimum and maximum, and I'm getting PLENTY of steam.  It's awesome.  And, I could sew and press for several hours at a time without having to refill the iron.  With my regular Rowenta, I got lots of steam (I always felt like I was getting a facial when I pressed!), but I had to fill the iron after about 20-30 minutes of pressing.  I would guess if I was doing continuous pressing, I would run out even sooner.  I can iron a long time with this and still have water with it.

Another thing I like about the steam is that it comes out with FORCE.  I wasn't expecting that.  But I should have, since it's called the "Pressure Iron and Steamer" on the box.  This forces the steam right through the fabric (hence the need for this type of ironing board).  So, it gives me a pretty "dry" steam...in the sense that my fabric does not feel damp when I am done pressing.  I like this a lot.  With my other Rowenta, it also cranked out the steam, but it left my fabric really damp.  Therefore, it was easy to accidentally stretch the fabric.  I don't feel like my fabric is as likely to get distorted with this.  This is what I liked about Jill's Eurosteam iron.  I feel like I got the benefits of her iron with this one.

The trigger for getting steam out is on the handle, like a trigger.  You activate it with your index finger.  It's easy to pull and egonomic (rather than having to reach your thumb on top to push a steam button). 

Another thing I like is that I can press a seam open without any steam, get everything set, and then after it's set, press the steam and get good, continuous steam.  On my old iron, the steam was either on or off.  If it was off, I could get a burst of steam, but I couldn't get a nice continuous steam.  I could only get that if steam was always on.  Again, I think by not having it on when I open my seams, I'm less likely to distort the fabric.  Then, once it's open I can steam it while I'm just pressing straight down.

And...I get a really nice, crisp, flat press.  I like how nice and flat I can get my blocks.

You might recall that one of my big issues was my other Rowenta leaked like a sieve.  (Read this previous blog post to read about that iron and the irons I was considering.)  It leaked out half the water just sitting upright on my ironing board, and when I went to iron, a whole bunch of water would frequently come out.  But I don't blame the iron for that...remember, it had fallen on the floor a couple of times.  That's my fault.  (Hence, my solution above for keeping it on the silicone pad).

While the base on this iron does not leak, I am finding I get a little spritzes of water from the steam holes on the iron when I first press the steam trigger.  This only happens after the iron has been sitting for a bit...like when I got to my sewing machine to sew some blocks.  When I come back and press the steam trigger after it has sat, I get a little initial spitting.  It then stops after about 2 seconds.  And if I press the trigger again immediately after that, no spitting whatsoever.  My hypothesis is that when I stop using it for a period of time, the steam that's in the line between the iron and base cools and condenses.  So, when I press the trigger at first, this has to clear out of the line--it gets pushed through the line and iron as the first new bit of steam comes out.  It's an easy fix.  I just first steam on the ironing board for a couple of seconds, and then I go to my fabric.  I pick up my next block, press dry, and can immediately steam without worrying about dripping.  The dripping does not come back unless it sits again for a while.  That works for me.  No big deal.  An okay trade off for all the other great features I am really happy about.  (Don't get me wrong.  It would be great if it didn't do this, but I can live with it.)

It takes 11 minutes for the steam to generate and to build up pressure.  That's okay.  I turn it on and get set up for my sewing.  The iron heats up faster, so I can press with a dry iron for a while, if I need to, and I come back and hit it with steam in a little bit if necessary.

The instructions say you can also use this as a vertical steamer to steam clothes you don't want to put on the ironing board.  I haven't tried that feature yet, so I'll have to report on that later.

You can use tap water in this iron.  They specifically say DO NOT use distilled water.  However, it says if your water is softened with salt (what water softener doesn't use salt?  is there another kid?) you should use cheap spring water from the grocery store.  Also, if you have a lot of iron in your water, you should use cheap spring water from the grocery store.  We have a lot of iron in our water and we have really hard water, but our water softener takes both out.  I didn't want to use special water.  Papa Pea reminded me that our filtered water faucet on the kitchen sink would work.  So, that's what I'm using.  (We soften even the water in our kitchen faucet because our water is so hard and so full of iron, it would stain things.  So, we have a drinking tap that filters the softened water to remove the salt.)  That should work fine.

The instructions say to wait for an hour after you turn it off to let it cool down (and presumably to let the pressure release) and then open the base and empty the water out.  I can see there will be times where I will not be able to stick around for an hour to empty it after it cools.  Or, I will simply forget to come back an hour later.  So, I suspect water will sit in mine a lot.  I hope that will be okay.

So, in summary--

What I see as the strengths of this iron:

• Lots of steam without constantly filling the iron.
• Being able to press dry and hit the fabric with a good solid bit of steam after opening my seams and pressing.
• The "dry" steam I get from this...my fabric doesn't feel damp after steaming.
• No auto shut off means I don't have to deal with my iron shutting off as I sew.
• Really great, flat presses mean really nice looking quilt blocks.
• Separate temperature and steam regulation.
• The pressurized steam is awesome.

Potential considerations if you are thinking of this iron:

• The base is a little heavy, especially when loaded with water.  Will you keep it on your ironing board or do you have somewhere else where you can keep it?
• Lack of a window to monitor your water level.  Wish it had this.
• No auto shut off means you have to be responsible about making sure the iron is shut off when you are done.
• Still getting a little water spitting, but not bad and controllable/easy to deal with.
• Some might dislike the fact that you have to wait 11 minutes to get steam.  Not an issue for me.

I'll probably come back in a couple of months and review this again, because you know how irons can be.  They might work great initially, but over time their performance may decline.  So, I'll keep you posted on how that goes.  Right now, I am happy as a clam with my new iron!  I am lovin' it!!!

Hope Santa was good to you!  Tell me what Santa brought you.  I'd love to hear about it.

I hope this product review was helpful!

Until next time,

Mama Pea