Meet Molly the Mangle :)

I was so incredibly fortunate to receive this "old girl" last year from a generous freecycler.  I have always wanted a rotary iron, but could never justify spending the money to own one.  Can you imagine my total disbelief when I saw a post come up for one on my local freecycle network?  I just about fell over!   The lady got back to me right away saying she thought nobody would want it, let alone know what it was :)  Lucky me!!!   It's in pretty decent condition considering it's age and it operates very smoothly (with a nifty knee control) leaving hands free for guiding cloth into the roller.  "Molly" makes very light work of ironing napkins, tablecloths, curtains and other linens and I'm grateful to have her!  I'd love to have her refinished one day as I've seen pictures of these models in new condition, and I think they are really glamourous :)  Imagine how happy a homemaker would have been to own one of these back in the early/mid 1900's?

Today was a busy day indoors ~ the weather was cool and windy ~ not a good one for me to be outside as I'm recovering from a nasty cold so I set to work in my sewing room.

These shorts were made by cutting the legs off of a pair of my 6 year old's tattered pants.  The knees were blown out and the bottom edges were frayed.  It took all of 5 minutes to cut them, iron the hem up and stitch them.  I mended a bunch of other things and ironed my heaping pile of linens and clothes and made this little clothes pin holder.

It's crude, made from an old organza curtain.  No pattern, just some fudging and guessing to make a shape that would work around my hanger.  I sewed french seams to keep the organza from fraying plus to provide more stability.  I've tugged on it and pulled and it seems pretty strong.   Hopefully, the gauzy fabric will let rain water drain through and let the wind in to dry the pins.  I may not get more than one season out of it - but I'll get lots of laughs while hanging laundry!

The whole thing took me about an hour to make.  Not because it was hard, but because my kitty was "helping" :)