Cherry stones

I really need to start putting tags on my posts.  Perhaps then I would be able to find out when I bought the cherry stones, as I blogged about it at the time.  It was some time ago.

Friday night DH was very poorly indeed with stomach cramps among everything else.  He was desperate for a hot water bottle, and the only one that we had was one that came with a teddy bear that belongs to bear.  This turned out to leak.  We improvised okay on Friday night.

Poor DH was still suffering a little yesterday.  As the excavations in the dining room had made some space I could find the cherry stones, so I cut up a pillow case and hand sewed a few seams. Filling it was interesting.  I started off using a basic kitchen funnel but the cherry stones kept getting stuck so I cut the end off a very small bottle of lemonade I regretted getting bear and after a wash and a dry it was an excellent funnel.  Bear has helped fill the bags and I will be finding cherry stones for weeks.  Then we bunged it in the microwave for two minutes and we had a lovely heat bag.  I've done three in total from the pillowcase.  They don't look like this...

... which is a cherry stone pillow on sale on ebay at @ £13.  They are more sort of scraggy, with bleached white cotton.  However they are a lot less expensive as the pillowcase I cut up was more of a job lot of former hotel pillowcases I bought that worked out about 50p each.  I still have dozens of them, and I am not wilfully getting rid.  Pillowcases are very useful.

I looked at the bag and thought about it.  It would be lovely to get some really nice fabric and make some really nice bags that are sewn with a square seam and perhaps even have a decorated featured, like some chain stitch.  I looked at fabric on ebay.  I winced at the price for 'nice' fabric.  I decided against that and as I am going to the charity shops on Tuesday I will have a look for things that can be re-purposed.  It will have to be something like 100% cotton to take the heat of the stones and the microwave.  There is also a jumble sale on next Saturday at DF's church and I will have a quick look there.

Then I thought about the sewing.  I hand sewed them, of course, as I got rid of my sewing machines as I was scared of them.  Actually one was mine and far too big, one was given to me, and both had long since seized up.  I thought about getting a little one, there's one on ebay for @ £30 that would do basic straight stitching, zig zag etc.  I got a big one over twenty years ago because I was told I had to get a sewing machine that would do button holes.  If I was incredibly stupid enough to make something with buttons today I wouldn't hesitate.  I would sew buttons on the outside and then press studs or snap fasteners underneath.  I also haven't yet made the curtains for the two rooms yet and that is a lot of hand sewing.

However the curtains I hand sewed years ago haven't fallen apart, my seams seem to hold even in the washing machine, and once I had made the curtains I can't see me using a sewing machine for another ten years.  I may as well stick to hand sewing for now.