Rice Heating Pad

My coworker Elbie asked me to make him a microwaveable rice heating pad so I did!

He offered to pay for it, but I refused because 1) it is for the healing wrist he broke at my birthday party* and 2) it is made with inexpensive materials I had on hand.

This microwaveable heating pad has rice encased in a muslin pouch and a speckled grey drawstring cover. I finished the edges of the muslin pouch with a double seam and trimmed using pinking shears. The drawstring cover has french seams (possibly my favorite type of seam) and uses cotton yarn for the string.

Elbie, I hope this helps sooth any wrist pains you are having!


*I went rollerskating for my birthday and invited Elbie and his family. He ended up falling a number of times and had a sore wrist once we left. It turns out he broke a dead bone in his wrist and needed surgery to replace it. My birthday parties are hardcore!

Loaf Pan Planters

I had two old bread loaf pans that had seen better days. Instead of tossing them, I spray painted them with Rust-Oleum and turned them into planters for my mint plants.

I cut the Apple Mint variety (top plant) back quite a bit when transplanting it, hopefully it keeps on growing!

This weekend I planted nearly everything in the little garden.

The tomato plants were getting so tall. I forgot which ones I put where so I will have to wait until they start fruiting to see which plant is which. (I think it is Lollipop, Belize Pink Heart, then Green Zebra... We'll see if I remembered what each plant looked like.)

I ended up buying some marigolds because the ones I planted are still so tiny and not really growing.

Swiss chard, lettuce and some more spinach is in the ground too. I still have the corn to plant, will probably do that this weekend. Hopefully everything keeps growing!

How to wrap a present with fabric scraps

Lately I have been wrapping presents in fabric scraps and string. It looks great and makes the gift look extra special. Here is a tutorial on how I do it.

First, gather your materials. You will need:
1. A present
2. Enough fabric to wrap the present
3. String or Yarn
4. Scissors

Now align your present on your fabric and begin wrapping it. I used two pieces of fabric, because the scraps were slightly to small to completely cover the present without the other.

Once the sides are wrapped, prepare your string by pulling out a long section. I do not cut the string at this point.

Tie the string around the present.

Fold over the ends of fabric then wrap the string over the ends to secure them.

Continue wrapping the string around the present. Cut the string once you determine how much more you need.

Tie the ends of the string in a bow and cut off any excess.

Your present is now ready to give to some lucky person. Here is another fabric and yarn wrapped present I have given out recently. The rainbow yarn looks so fun!

You could also use this technique with tissue paper, or some other paper and any type of string or rope. It is especially handy if you don't have any tape.

My Photo 365 Series

In March I started a photo 365. So far I have posted 62 pictures, here are a few of my favorites.

You can see them all here on my flickr.

Plums and Chocolate.

I made this chocolate cake for my mother's birthday. There are surprise plums lurking inside.

About a week ago I saw a recipe for a chocolate plum cake on Baking Bites, it sounded delicious and decided I needed to make it. While at the store picking up plums I decided that instead of following the simple recipe, I would just buy a cake mix. Even after making some cupcakes with a bit of the batter I ended up adding too much to the cake pan so the plums disappeared inside the cake instead of poking through the top and looking pretty. You can sort of see them through the side of the glass pan if you look closely.

These are the cupcakes that I made to use up some of the cake batter... I should have made some more. Next time I need to remind myself not to be so lazy and just follow the recipe.

Wiener Dog!

Do you remember this? I finally finished it!

It's an extra long dachshund softie! See how long it is:

...About three and a half feet long from noes to tail. This very long dog was made with the beige upholstery fabric and stuffed with poly pellets and fiber fill.

Some Flowers: A Free Embroidery Pattern

I can't believe it is already May! To celebrate the new month and the spring weather I made an embroidery pattern for you!

It is simple but a bit versatile; you can embroider just the main pattern on the left or add any of the extra flowers. This weekend I made two samples using this pattern.

The first was the pink on this beige 'waffle textured' fabric. When iron-on transferring the embroidery pattern I accidentally moved it and three of the flowers were wiggly so I just omitted them. I think it would look really nice with a satin stitch to fill in the flowers.

My second time using this pattern I decided it would be fun to use iron transfer crayons to color the petals. They looked nice before I added the embroidery, but the embroidery really makes them stand out.

Here is the free embroidery pattern: Some Flowers
If you make something with this I would love to see pictures!