Hot Water Bottle Cozy

This project comes from Amanda Blake Soule's Handmade Home, which I gifted myself for Christmas. I am so nice like that.

I'm planning to make a picnic blanket (Amanda calls it a beach blanket, but there's no beach around here) and the mouse pad from the book, but I thought I'd better hurry up and make this hot water bottle cover while it was still winter. So I got motivated and geared up and then I realized, yeah, this project is ridiculously simple. I should have made it ages ago instead of wrapping our hot water bottle in towel all winter. Lucky for me, I'll get lots of chances to use it--I just checked the weather forecast and temperatures are going to be below freezing for at least the next week. Woohoo!

 

Here's an in-progress shot. All in all, from cutting to sewing to finished, I'd estimate about 30 minutes.


(I am a messy crafter.)
 

The flannel cover makes the hot water bottle so lovely to snuggle up with under a quilt. This beautiful quilt was made by Denise, a friend of my dad's, and given to me when I returned home from Japan. Denise did a wonderful job on this quilt--it's hand-pieced and machine-quilted and was the perfect homecoming present. It's kept me warm on many cold days and nights!

Oh yes, and there's Etty again. We've been spending a lot of time together lately.

One last thing: I have to thank my father-in-law for donating the flannel shirt for this project. When I mentioned wanting to pick one up at the thrift store, he dug one out of the closet for me. Thanks!