I'm SO on a roll here. Seriously, I think I'll be done with Christmas gifts before Thanksgiving! Okay not quite, but I've got a great start on it. I would show pictures, but my family reads this so I must refrain. I have taken pictures though so I can share after the holidays...trust me, I will. I'm totally in the Christmas spirit and I've decided to do mostly homemade gifts. Not just because money is tighter this year, but because I completely enjoy giving gifts that I've made myself. It gives me a sense of pride...I'm very humble, right? Haha!
So here are a couple things that I can share with you. I'm a sewing machine these days. Last year for Christmas I made microwaveable rice bags for everyone in my family. I seriously made 10 of them. And neglected to make one for myself, and I've needed a new one for a couple years now. So I splurged for myself:
So here are a couple things that I can share with you. I'm a sewing machine these days. Last year for Christmas I made microwaveable rice bags for everyone in my family. I seriously made 10 of them. And neglected to make one for myself, and I've needed a new one for a couple years now. So I splurged for myself:
Nothing terribly exciting or difficult skill-wise, but I'm personally excited about it.I saw a tutorial for a plastic bag holder made out of a dishtowel. So Haddie and I made a trip to Dollar Tree and got this dishtowel that matches my kitchen.
I would have hemmed it so it wasn't quite so long but I didn't want to cut off the cute stripes on the bottom. So it will suffice, at least until I find another dishtowel that I like better. For now I love it, though!!I've made some super cute purses and aprons this last week so those will be in my next post! Watch for them - They are darling! There goes my humility again :)
Hey how do you make the rice bags? I so want one! I cant wait to see your gifts! I am doing alot of homemade gifts too! Like you I cant post them until after Christmas! I am thinking that ideas posted after Christmas will make for great Christmas presents next year! Keep up the great Crafting and Posting!
ReplyDeleteThe rice bag was really easy! Seriously one of my quickest projects I've done lately. I got a $1 dishtowel and 5 lb bag of plain rice from WalMart. (I have about 1/4 bag of rice leftover)
ReplyDeleteI folded the towel in half length-wise to create a crease. Then unfolded it and folded in each long side to the crease & pinned it. Then I sewed right down the center of it to create two long 'tubes.' Make sure to backstitch really well. Then I sewed up one of the ends. I actually did 2 seams - I had problems and ended up breaking a needle where all of the finished edges met up - that's a lot of fabric! So I did a seam right on the edge of the bottom and also next to the end of the hemmed edge of the bottom where there was less fabric. I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't have to worry about rice falling out the end.
Then I used a funnel and filled up each 'tube' with rice. I didn't completely fill it because I like the rice to be able to move around in there. Plus I don't know if they would heat as well?
Once I had it filled, I pinned and sewed the top closed using the same method as the bottom for 2 seams.
*I've seen tutorials to make these online, and some of them used:
* Uncooked rice
* Wheat
* Feed corn
* Buckwheat hulls
* Barley
* Oatmeal
* Beans
* Flax seed
* Cherry pits
Also, some want to create an aromatherapy-type bag, so they'll add lavender, rose petals, ground cloves, nutmeg, ginger, rosemary, cinnamon, peppermint oil, or crushed mint. They add that to the rice & mix well before filling the bag. There's lots of tutorials out there, so if I'm not making sense just Google it!
Thanks for visiting my blog! Can't wait to see what you have made for your family!
ReplyDeleteThis whole being on a 'role' thing is really messing with our 'us' time! I'll be glad for it to soon be done, not that that means I will really have time...but one can hope!! :)
ReplyDelete