Originally Posted by charity-crafter

Mine's a nerd too. I love my nerd. Wouldn't trade him for the world.

Originally Posted by DogHouseMom

I'm determined to get a big board type ironing board (homemade). I read the tutes & testimonials, and I even bought a new cover that will be perfect for a big board.

So I tell the husband "please cut a piece of 1/2" ply 18 x 48". Simple. Precise. Concise.

Naturally he wants to know why. So I tell him. I explain what and how I want to iron, and I show him what happens on my current (regular) ironing board.

He has found several things wrong (in his mind) with the concept and has spent the last two weeks over-engineering (in his head) my SIMPLE and CHEAP ironing board.

It will be too heavy.
It will be too wobbly.
It will soak up steam and starch and the ply will separate.

It seems like every time I have an idea to make something, he steps in and over-engineers the heck out of it and tells me I need something completely different than my original specs. You should have seen the whelping box he made, my bitch hated it and the puppies didn't like it much either.

So he looked at ironing boards online, you know the cute little ones that fold up into the wall (which are fantastic if I was only ironing shirts!) and told me "this is what you need". NO IT'S NOT!! Why can't he listen to me when I tell him what I NEED. I want to iron 44" of fabric across the board ... pretty simple concept isn't it?

Then there was the brilliant idea of ... 1/4" aluminum. We have tons of that stuff in stock (it's used for the beds on our machines). Thankfully the widest he can get it is 12". Whew!! Caught a break there!!

At the moment in his head I "need" a 1" thick (!!) piece of solid Birch (!!!), my dimensions (how'd I swing that?), marine varnished (indeed!!), and I need new legs that have a wider spread for stability.

Oh save me.

Being married to an engineer is trying sometimes.

Originally Posted by RkayD

If you have the room do this...I went to Lowe's and bought a kitchen cabinet without a top. Its the one that the sink is suppose to go in. It has two doors that open in the middle and one on each side plus two drawers. I got a piece of plywood and covered it with batting and an old sheet and set it on top of that cabinet piece. That takes care of your wobbly problem. And there's not much engineering to it. =)

Originally Posted by charity-crafter

Why is it so many of creative quilter types have married analytical spouses?

Originally Posted by dljennings

LOL amen to that..brought home a couple of those office partitions to put together, put batting on & use as a design wall... well, dh, the aerospace engineer... made it such a project, it took a weekend... i wanted simple bolted together, that i could TAKE APART AT WILL....this "frame" he made will never come apart & god forbid we move, we can't get it down the stairs... i'm afraid to ask for the ironing board... i am waiting until he goes out of town for a full week & making my own from the tutes on this board... and i'm going to use some of his 19 drills to do it... !