a quilted cosy
2010
The light outside is steely and crisp. Slow and steady sheaths of rain are falling. And it’s cold. And we all have the sniffles. Especially poor old Abby – her sniffles have matured into a sinus infection. So we have antibiotics, and jam doughnuts, and pink grapefruits and lots of cups of tea, and a beautiful peppermint oil to help her breathe better in the oil burner … and a new wee quilt.
Such gorgeous fabric!!! On Saturday, Jules and Abby took the train into town to check out the Dachshund UN live exhibit (good thing Toph wasn’t there, she would have been declared a rogue state!) and I got to put dinner on for a sweet family that came over that eve, give the house a wee tidy up, and go shopping.
All by myself. In the car. Woo-hoo! That’s the first time in 9 WEEKS. Needless to say, I snuck over to Amitie (luckily, it’s only 5 minutes away :-) and spent an utterly blissful hour looking at all their pretties, listening to the news on one of my favourite quilters – the truly lovely Sue Spargo’s imminent visit – I think I’ll have to sign up! – and buying some bits and pieces of this and that. I’m very frugal these days – no truly! – and only buy 30cm cuts of what I love. Yep, scrappy quilting is my game. And when I lay all my pieces out – ooooh! it’s like a bouquet of colourful, happy flowers. Yum!
This morning I put together a wee quilted item that I’ve been promising for a long while. We here in Bootville are hot water bottle fans. I love wheat packs and have made my fair share, but we don’t have a microwave and they’re a bit hard to heat without one. So hot water bottles it is.
And here in Melbourne, it is lovely to have a hot water bottle to snuggle with in bed. Abby likes hers at her feet. I’m partial to clutching it to my chest. I put boiling water in them so they stay hot for as long as possible but this means they are too hot to touch for the first hour or so. When I was a wee girl, my mum used to swaddle them in hand towels but why do that when you can make them a wee quilt from scraps in the sewing shed?
I pieced the simple design onto a piece of woollen blanket (a long scrap left over from a quilt), quilted it, then made another for the back, sandwiched them together wrong sides touching, sewing 1/4 inch in around the edge leaving the top open, then bound in using a 4 inch wide binding. It is so cosy and the hot water bottle keeps hot for HOURS.
Now I need to make mine and I know there will be adjustments to the top binding – I need to bind the top edges before I do the sides otherwise it’s too thick. And I was going to put a tie on it but that made it all bulky so we’re just leaving it like a paper bag at the moment. It’s deep enough that we can. After a whole day in Abby’s bed, the hot water bottle did not come out, nor did it lose its heat.
Very pleased. Very pretty. Very cosy. And it doubles as a sleeping bag for the stuffed friends that push Abby out of bed. Lovely.
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What a dear piece of fabric! Poor Miss Abby — feel better soon! Once again, it is sounding utterly cozy there! That is one lucky dolly with a warm sleeping bag! We have just turned the corner into the heat and sticky sweat. Seems a little early. How lucky — five minutes from Amitie AND you get to see Sue again. ::sigh:: Wonderful!
Hi there
We use a nose shower/rinse with sea salts and works wonders.
Hope you are all better soon
cheers
Christine
Awwww, I hope Abby feels well again soon. I always love teh eye candy of your fabric choices, always perfect in my book.
I have to second the nose rinse, it helps me a lot! Hope Abby feels better soon, you are taking such good care of her. I finally have a fun quilting store to go to too, so I am not SOOOO jealous, but it sounds like you had a good time and that is always nice!
I’m just loving it!! Such a comfort for poor, sick Abby! I didn’t even know they still made hot water bottles and saw one the other week at our local Walmart. Brought back lots of memories! Now I know why I need to buy one!! Get well quickly, Miss Abby! ~karen
Oh that is so sweet. So cute. Love the fabric. I made a cover for my heating pad I use nearly every night in bed. Same idea I guess. I love it.
A quilted hottie – what an absolutely vrilliant idea! It’s certain to help a small someone with a sinus infection to feel better
Very pretty! Don´t forget to wear wollen socks, when you go to bed. You fall asleep like babies, when wearing them!
How sweet..that is a DARLING little quilty thingy!!!!
Hi Lily, hope you are all feeling much better and staying warm :)
The little goat is so utterly adorable. Love the blue flowery binding too… Lovely & snuggly pouch to hold the hot water bag.