iron craft 11

Yay! I'm back in the swing of Iron Crafting!! I missed a few weeks because my life was taken over by the play... I will be catching up on those weeks' challenges, just on principle, but for now, here's this week's challenge.

Green.
Green, as in the colour.
But I thought, hey, why not see just how green I can get with this.

So here is my green-ness:

1. I used both fabric that is green, and fabric that has green in it; thus fulfilling the main requirement of the challenge.

2. Both fabrics are natural fibres: the solid green is linen, and the print is cotton. No synthetics.

3. Both fabrics are thrifted... the linen was found at Value Village... apparently someone changed their mind about using it. The print is a vintage sheet that I got at the Sally Ann.

4. I used my green, recycled fabrics to make a re-usable lunch bag that is exactly the right size to carry my...

5. ...glass (not plastic!) square container in which I transport my...

6. ...salad!

So pretty. And so very, very green!

Edited to add: I totally forgot to mention that the bag is adapted from the Lunch bag pattern in Akiko Mano's book Linen Wool Cotton. Sorry about that...

iron craft 6

Do you know how hard it is to think up a winter-themed project when the trees are starting to bud outside? Spring is just around the corner, people!

Well, at least, it is here in my corner of the world...

I do realize that there are still many places where the country is in the middle of winter still. I both feel sorry for you, and am envious of you, all at the same time. I really love winter. And snow. And having four distinct seasons. That's what I grew up with. And now, I live in a place that gets winter for a week or two every second or third year. Sigh.

And of course, I can't forget about those of you on the southern half of the world, where fall is just approaching. Lucky you! I love autumn.

But, lucky for me, I also really love spring, and I'm so happy that it's almost here!

Back to winter, though. It wasn't easy to tear my thoughts away from the new haze of bright green that is starting to blanket the world here, and think of something winter-themed. But I did eventually manage to do it.





Snowflakes.

Cold shiny silver.

Glittery ice-clear facets.

A necklace fit for the Snow Queen herself. (I'll be sure to give it to her, the next time I see her.)

iron craft 5

Be mine.

That was the challenge this week: to make a valentine. A card, a plushie, a sweet treat... anything. So I'm going to show you the beginnings of what I'm making for my sweetie for Valentine's day. (Ray, if you see this, please at least try to pretend to be surprised.)

This is page one of several. And that's all I'm going to say for now.

iron craft 4

My mug cozy, created for week 4 of Iron Craft.

It's not as beautiful as I had envisioned, but it works.

I wet-felted some wool roving around the mug, and then waited for several days for it to dry fully. I patched up some holes, and gave it some additional shaping using some felting needles; then I embroidered with blanket stitch around the top, and added some little stars for fun.

The bit that holds it in place behind the handle is a piece of covered elastic, with a button sewed down on each end. I cut button holes in the felt, and buttoned it together from behind. I rather like how that turned out.

And the cool feature about this mug cozy is that it also acts as its own portable coaster. The thick layer of felt underneath the mug protects whatever it's put down on. So no scorch marks, or condensation (should I happen to use the mug for a cold beverage in the summertime). Bonus!

iron craft 3

As late as this morning, I was lazily looking at pictures of buntings, hoping that inspiration would strike me. The week three challenge for Iron Craft was, indeed, buntings.

Then suddenly I realized. Today is Thursday. The deadline for IC3 was yesterday.

Yesterday.

Oops.

So my choice was either to blow it off, and tell myself that I really didn't want to make a bunting; or to scramble something together.

I scrambled.

Killed two birds with one stone, even.

These fabrics are all from the quilt top that I made for Ellie a couple of weeks ago. After I cut the squares for the blocks, the rest of the fabric just sat in a heap on my cutting table. So, as I cut triangles from each of the fabrics today, I folded the remnants up and put them away.

I'm so proud of myself!

iron craft 2

The challenge for week two of Iron Craft was a draft dodger/door snake thing.

I can't stand them. Any door in my house that could possibly benefit from having one of these at its foot opens inward. That leaves a big lump of fabric/stuffing that prevents said door from opening. Also it adds to the collection of things that are already cluttering my floor at any given time.

No door snakes for me.

Okay, some people do use them on window sills as well. Again, doesn't work for me. I have aluminum-framed windows, which means that they collect condensation and deposit it on to the window sill. A draft dodger there would just soak up all that water and hold it against the sill, damaging the wood. And as it is, I cover up my windows with plastic anyhow, so there's doubly no point there.

I did, however, come up with one place that would happily accept something with draft-blocking capabilities, and would also not add to the clutter in my house.

For some reason, our house has been graced with not one, but two mail slots. The one in the front door is used regularly. The one in the back door is pointless. Really. Who needs two mail slots??

The back door slot is now happily full of a mini draft dodger.

And my kitchen is a wee bit warmer.

I think.

iron craft 1

You may have noticed a new button on the side of my blog... I've joined Iron Craft - a weekly themed crafting challenge. This week is all about lights.

I made a knit-and-felted tealight holder... goes without saying that this one (as with all lighted candles) should not be left unattended; however, wool is naturally flame-resistant - it's actually self-extinguishing. Cool, hey?

The combination of knit and flame is the perfect antidote to the wet cold gloom outside my windows.