Try This to Survive Winter
Projects to keep warm this winter and stop the cold from freezing your fun.
January/February 2005
By Susan Wasinger
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Honor the seasonal changes in your environment by displaying precious specimens found in your winter wanderings. Even mundane objects—weeds and debris to some—show their true beauty when displayed with reverence. Be sure to involve kids in your foraging; they’re natural collectors and always ready for a treasure hunt.
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Elegantly simple, infinitely practical, absolutely doable projects
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Treasure chest
Winter color. Drab, dreary, bleak, gray. By February, with few flowers in the gardens and no leaves on the trees, the winter palette can seem pretty subdued. But winter insists that we come in a little closer and open our eyes wider to discover its secret charms. This old wooden typesetter’s tray provides the perfect tableau for appreciating the minute blessings and tiny treasures hidden in the winter landscape. Bring a little something home with you from your evening walks and Sunday hikes. Each velvety tuft of moss, perfectly spiraling pinecone, and cluster of jewel-toned berries will be a quiet testimony to the beauty of nature that constantly surrounds us.
Change your display often. Let it evolve. Allow it to reflect your close-to-home rambles as well as far-flung travels. Most of all, let it mirror the changes in the landscape
as the seasons move along.
Stop the draft
Draft evader. Even the best insulated houses have places where cold air can sneak in. Under-the-door gaps are notorious for allowing heat to escape, yet they’re simple to fix. This colorful, hip, easy-to-make draft blocker looks nice doing its job, then it folds in half and hangs so it’s always at the ready.
1. For the front, cut a piece of black felt about 31/2 inches wide and the width of your door plus 2 inches. (For example, our 36-inch door needed fabric 38 inches long.) Cut an assortment of circles, rectangles, squares, and lozenge shapes out of contrasting colored felt. Make sure they fit on the black strip so there’s at least 1/2 inch between the top and bottom and the black felt edge. Sew the shapes either by machine or by hand onto the background felt. In a pinch, you can attach them with nontoxic fabric glue.
2. For the back, cut another strip of felt in a contrasting color (here, loden green) that’s about an inch wider and longer than the black piece. Line up the black front on top of the contrasting back, leaving about 1/2 inch of the back fabric exposed all around the edges. Machine stitch all the way around, leaving the top edge open to add the filling.