Saturday, October 11, 2008

Update and a little craftiness!

Let me start with a mini update on my healing...the first 3 days were great, and then I started to heal, oh my gosh...me and swallowing are not exactly the best of friends, but me and Roxicet are. I am having problems not only swallowing but turning my head...and keeping my eyes open. I did watch the food network last night and it was a special on KFC, Wendys and McDonalds, and never before has a big mac and fries sounded so amazing...I drank water instead.

Okay so in March I worked on this project and I just realized that I never posted it. My mother and I are always freezing. Growing up, my mom got these corn packs that you can throw in the microwave for 3 minutes and you are good to go for like an hour or two. They can also be put in the freezer and used as an icepack. The thing about them is that they always smelled funny and there wasn't an easy way to clean them. They were made out of corn, so they smelled like popcorn. Well, I decided to do a little research and then make some of my own. I went with the easiest thing possible. you can use Flax seed and other things like that but i used the following.
  • Cute fabric
  • 1 towell
  • 1 bag of long grain rice
  • herbal tea bags
  • Fragrance beads
  • sewing machine
  • sewing supplies
  • ribbon and buttons

I started by cutting my towell into the size of heat pack that I wanted, then I sewed it inside out, just like I was making a pillow. Once I was done sewing, I turned it rightside out and filled about 2/3rds with the long grain rice. I made more than 1 so for some of them I put fragrance beads, not too many though, and in some of them I put 2 of the same "flavored" herbal tea bags, such as chamomile. once they were filled, I whip stitched the filling opening shut and then I shook them up to disperse the fragrance. Then I took my fabric of choice and made my own simle pattern to use as a cover for the heat pack. If they are cute or they match your accents, you can leave them out and they aren't an eye sore, but more importantly, you can take off the cover and throw it in the wash.
Here is the photograph of the heat pack and the cover. then I stuffed my heatpack into its cover and threw it into the microwave for 3 minutes.
Warm feet for a few hours.
you can close them anyway you want, with buttons, or zippers, or just a big tuck, but i like the buttons, It gave me an opportunity to try different things and use a fun accent color.

So, If your life is filled of cold people, think Christmas!

What is something that you would like to try to make?

5 comments:

omamarge said...

Your heat packs are so fantastic!
And you made them yourself!

This idea is great for me. Im always looking for project/art ideas to do with my Alzheimer residents. Its important that the projects are at a preschool level but finish out as adult projects. I can make these cases and my residents can fill them.
Thanks Sarah!

Anonymous said...

i love mine! i use it as a cold pack.. love to throw that around my neck after a long day and ease that stress right out! works great for hot flashes too.. thank goodness i won't have those again for a long time!!

Kim J. said...

These are so cute and would make great gifts for the holidays!! I am new too sewing and these look pretty easy! I will post pictures on my blog when I make some and let you know!!

Tramfrau said...

I'm glad you're doing something to keep your mind off of your sore throat. Those are the cutest things ever! It'll take awhile to feel better - Sam felt much worse before he felt better after the first week. Hang in there, sweetie. At least you don't have all your food and liquids squirting out your nose! Do you???

Sarah said...

NO! thank God! there are times when I swallow that I think, "I understand how Sam could have done that!"