IC 2: Hearts!

For the second Iron Craft challenge this year we were to do something with hearts.
My daughters and I made this heart garland.  We took a piece of the stiff glittery felt and cut them in half (so they were approximately 8.5x5.5) and then each half I cut into strips (about one inch wide). Then, my daughters sewed (they're working on learning basic hand sewing, you could use hot glue or even staples if you wanted) the narrow end of two strips with the right sides together (this becomes the top center of the heart).  Then, we sewed the other two ends wrong sides together.  The felt needed a little shaping still after doing that, don't worry about it for now.  We did that with all of the felt. 

I got out some pink, white and red heart shaped beads and some fishing line. One girl worked on one end of the line and the other worked on the opposite end.  They strung some beads and then using a needle threaded with the fishing line would add a heart.  We went through both sides of the heart as well as the inner point of it, it's better if it's a bit closer to the top, I think, so it's less likely to flip upside down.  Then more beads and more hearts until we were done with the hearts.  On the ends of the fishing line, I threaded one more bead and made a loop around that bead (so the bead is trapped in the loop) to keep everything from sliding off the end and to give me something to hang it with. 

After doing that and hanging it, I noticed the beads had a tendency to slide and squish the hearts, so I got out my glue gun and put a little dot of glue on the heart where the fishing line went through to keep it in place. This also helped a bit with the tendency to flip.  Start in the middle and work your way out to both ends.  They still flip some, so I'm going to add some weights to the bottom (one I glued a bead in and that worked pretty well, but you can see it, so I'm going to try to get some fishing weights and hide them a bit more).

Overall the girls did it in a few hours and had a lot of fun doing it.

IC 48: Wreaths!

Iron Craft Challenge 48 is to create a wreath.

I decided to make an ornament.

Take a sheet of green felt.  Cut it into 4ths lengthwise so that you have 4 long strips.  Then, cut those strips into squares.  Mine were about and inch or so, not perfect, but that's ok.  Take each square and  cut it into a circle.  Just free hand it, if the circles are uneven, it will look better in the end.

If you held several pieces of felt together when you were cutting, separate them and out into a pile, so they get mixed up.

Then with a needle and thread, string the circles by inserting the needle half way between the center of the circle and the edge (If you do it in the center, you'll need more circles to have enough to make a wreath, doing it offset, allows for the center to be bigger with this amount of circles).  Once all of them are strung, tie them in to a circle.  I sewed around one more time just to make sure it was secure.

Then, I sewed a bow of red ribbon on the front and then I sewed a loop of ribbon between two of the green circles to hang it from.

I considered adding some beads or fabric paint ornaments, but decided not to.

IC 45, 46, 47: Fall, gift, and for the table

For the first time since I started the Iron Craft Challenges, I missed posting my craft.  It was for the Fall Contest Challenge.  You know what the sad part is?  It was one of the few times that I knew right away beyond a doubt was I was going to do.  And I actually did complete the challenge, I just never got around to taking a picture of it! Things are really starting to pick up here for the holidays!



For the Fall contest, I decided to do a Thankful Arrangement.  I cut out leaf shapes from scrapbook paper, punch a hole in them put some string through the hole and then gave them to my daughters to write things they're thankful for on them.  Then, I hung them from some branches that I placed in a vase filled with silk leaves and tied with a ribbon.



For Iron Craft Challenge #46, I got back in the game and made some fabric fortune cookies for my grandmother.

 I bought a plastic Chinese take-out container to put them in.  She'll be able to open one each day in December, or would be, if I had gotten them in the mail on time!


Iron Craft Challenge #47 was "For the Table".  My favorite center piece for the table this time of year is really simple.  I take a glass bowl (usually a crystal one), fill it with water, pour in some cranberries and then float about 3 floating candles in it.  There should be enough cranberries to cover the top of the water and I think that white candles look best.   But is that really a craft?  I was going to do anyway, but I forgot to take a picture of it before guests arrived for my party early on in the week and didn't have any more floating candles left to do it again.  So, all I had was this really bad picture.



Now, I think I'm back on track.  Stay tuned for my craft for IC 48!

IC 43: Nothing to fear but...

This week's Iron Craft challenge is "Nothing to fear but...".  I have nothing to fear, but these:

They're feet for my sewing machine. My mom's friend gave them to me (this is only a portion of the ones she gave me) along with a 2 inch three ring binder of instructions on what I can do with them.  It turns out that the binder only covers what I can do with some of the extra feet I was given!  Very intimidating for this girl who feels adventurous using the foot that makes a rolled hem!

Couple that with my thriftiness (ie not wanting to pay to have things quilted), the three quilt tops I've got almost ready and this post at Crazy Mom Quilts.  Surely with all those fancy feet, there was one for free motion quilting?  There was!

So, this week, I tackled my fear of the feet and my fear of machine quilting on my little old sewing machine.

 
Fortunately I had enough sense though to do a small sample first, because I'm not very good at this:

I think that's it's probably something I'd be able to do if I had a lot more practice, but in the mean time, I'm going to look at alternatives for quilting the quilts I've got.

Check out the IronCraft Flickr pool to see what everyone else was afraid of!

IC 41: Boo!

This week's IronCraft Challenge theme is Boo! Halloween crafts.

I saw this hanky tutorial and liked the way the edges were done.  So, I decided to adapt it a bit.

Materials:
1 yard of fabric
Thread
sewing machine
scrapbooking stencil with a neat edge
sharp scissors

Cut the fabric into squares I did fat quarters, but in looking at them compared to store bought napkins, they're a lot bigger, so you could do something smaller.



Then lay the stencil on the fabric and with a pen or pencil trace the edge of the stencil around the square of fabric about half an inch in from the edge.



With your sewing machine set to a zig zag stitch that's pretty narrow and close together, sew on the line that you just drew around the edge of the fabric.

Next with sharp scissors cut the fabric away, as close to the stitches as you can get without cutting them.
And you're done!


I also did my nails for Halloween this week:

But my nails don't often stay painted for long since I do a lot of typing. So I did them again later in the week:


Do you have any fun Halloween craft ideas?

IC39 - Hold it! Cell phone case

Over at Just Crafty Enough, the Iron Craft Challenge is Hold it.  We're to make a case or a bag.

I recently got a new phone.  It was a new model that had just came out and there aren't many accessories for it.  The only case that Best Buy had when I bought it was a black one.  I really was hoping to get something a little more fancy since I couldn't do that with my old phone. So I started thinking about making one, not one that is a pocket for my phone, but one that I can leave on while I'm using it.

So, I looked through my fabric stash, found a piece I liked and decided to try making my own.

First, I took a piece of paper and traced around my phone.  Then, I took a ruler and added two inches to the top and bottom and one inch (twice the thickness of my phone) to each side and drew a larger rectangle around the tracing I had made before.

Next, cut out the rectangle and use it as a pattern to cut out the fabric.

Fold the long edges down 1/2 inch (the thickness of my phone) and sew both sides.

Next lay the phone in the center of the fabric, with the RIGHT side facing up. Bring the sides up and hold them there with a couple of rubber bands.

Next fold up the ends to where you want them. Ideally, not covering the screen or any buttons, but in my case in order to stay on, it has to cover the buttons, but I can still keep it from covering the screen.

Now, with needle and thread sew the corners and up the side a bit so that the bottom is closed. Then trim the excess fabric.

Next, I took it off the phone, turned it right side out and tested the fit. It fit pretty well, so I did the same thing with the other end.



Then I turned it right side out and checked the fit.

I was surprised by how easily it comes off and goes on.
I was also surprised that the buttons work ok even through the fabric (including the non hard ones).  So I don't need to cut a hole out of the bottom piece like I was originally planning to, unless I have problems remembering which one is which.  I'm planning on cutting holes out for the camera on the back and the top.

IC 38: Black and White

This week's Iron Craft Challenge is another color challenge. I almost did some silhouettes for this week, but didn't have the time. So I decided to do one for Halloween that I did last year.

Materials:
White plastic shopping bags
string
black permanent marker
Scissors
needle

Cut the front off the bag and trim off the handles. Ball up the front of the bag, the handles and another bag, and wrap the back of the bag around it. Then tie just below the ball with a piece of string. With the marker, draw on a face. Using the needle, run a piece of string through the top part of the ball to tie it to the tree.

Usually, I make a bunch and just tie them to the tree in my front yard and then cut them off after Halloween is over.

What's your favorite Black and White craft?  Check out the Iron Craft Pool for other ideas.