When I saw this weeks Iron Craft Challenge – Get Cozy I knew that if I could find the time I would participate. I’ve seen coffee cozies everywhere – I’ve even bought one for myself – but I hadn’t played around with making them.

I thought about how to put a ‘twist’ on my cozy, and I finally decided to go with the orphan block route. Orphan blocks are quilt blocks that either didn’t work as planned for the quilt, or an extra one that ended up not being necessary for that particular quilt. Because it’s hard to throw good things away, quilters tend to get piles of these blocks. The big question is – what to do with them? In the past I have made table runners out of mine and even some cute ‘Orphan’ Owls. I thought some of the smaller, skinnier ones I had around would make perfect cozies! Here’s what I came up with:

Here’s the first of my Americana series. I had a long pieced strip of blue, red, and beige that I’m guessing was going to be a border at one point. My cozy pattern fit just perfectly. To add an extra touch, I used beautiful beads I purchased from TessaAnn.

The second Americana cozy I created (it was a really long strip…I could probably make 3 or 4 more of these style yet…) I also probably went a bit overboard with the ‘insulation’ of the cozy. I used a layer of insul-bright insulation between the quilt block and the flannel back. With this, if you were in a jam and couldn’t find a pot holder, you could use your coffee cozy! I’m thinking this was probably a bit unnecessary…Here’s a more muted, rustic coffee cozy using scraps of Geese in the Field Blocks.

And here’s the cozy I’m going to enter as my piece for the challenge – my

Purple and White Pinwheel Quilt Orphan Block with a Ruffle Coffee Cozy. I made the ruffle while experimenting with my new ruffler foot and it seemed to go perfectly with these orphan blocks. I just couldn’t resist!

I’m excited to see what next week’s challenge is! I love how inspiring they have all been!

To see the other cozies created check out the flickr pool: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1525156@N25/pool/

I really thought the ‘Stay Warm’ Challenge #2 was really fun and inspiring – but with all the Project QUILTING craziness going on – it just didn’t happen for me. That didn’t stop me from going for the third challenge – Time to Bunt.

When I first saw the bunting challenge I thought that I should really make a bunting for my table at shows that says my shop name 'KimsCraftyApple'. I really wasn't feeling it though and kept putting it off and putting it off. I finally decided that I just wasn’t going to do it.

BUT then…last night, as I was driving my girls I thought...why not make a necklace with mini bunting that would be great for Valentine's Day! And so...that's what I made. This has inspired some other jewelry thoughts in my mind so we'll have to see what comes from this... I fussy cut out the hearts and the word ‘love’ from some fabric I had to make the triangles. A small piece of batting is sandwiched between the heart fabric and some red fabric I had. I then zigzag stitched around the boarders and sewed it to a red ribbon I had. Since fabric isn’t very ‘weighty’ I wanted to make sure it hung properly and so I wove the ribbon through some chunky silver chain I had to complete the necklace. Here I am – modeling my new necklace (and taking a self-portrait).

Because of this challenge I wanted to share with you some fabulous bunting that I found on etsy!

Birthday Part Banner Bunting in Red, Black and White Fabric Flags from BlueMoonStudios

Love Cards from LazyLightningArt

Celebration Necklace from BlockPartyPress

AND one of the Project QUILTING entries this week – submitted by HeatherLairDesigns- was an adorable bunting fabric postcard that happened to go perfectly with the Iron Craft Challenge as well!

Keep an eye on the flickr site to see what other ‘Iron Crafters’ came up with for this inspiring challenge: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1525156@N25/pool/with/5370134746/

I also was inspired to create a treasury on etsy purely with bunting findings. Click HERE to check it out!