I've decided to give myself a photography challenge this year by joining a 365 group on Flickr. I've been finding myself more and more interested in taking pictures - framing, lighting, etc. - and thought a challenge like this would help me think this way on a regular basis. I'm storing my pictures in their own set to make them easy to find.

The picture above is one of my "out takes." I had a picture from yesterday that I liked better but wanted to share this one too. It is a clump of willows just around the corner of my building on my way downtown from work. There is a lamp just behind the little rise in the foreground. I walk past here everyday to meet Rob after work and I always think the illuminated trees look beautiful and surreal.

Now I just need to take today's picture.

ps. I'll have pictures of my new, blue studio soon. I'm still getting things set up.

Set,


Go!

 

When we got Abby everyone recommended that we put a hot water bottle in her crate overnight to help compensate for her missing litter mates. I already love hot water bottles but since I didn't want to give my good cover to Abby her bottle was wrapped in a towel until I could make a new one.

As the northern hemisphere heads into the coldest part of the year (we are already dipping below -40 degrees Celsius here) I though this would make a nice Christmas present for all of you. It's really simple and it will help keep you warm on chilly nights.


What You'll Need:


- A hot water bottle
- An old towel
- A large piece of paper (freezer paper, news paper, craft paper - whatever you've got that's bigger than your bottle will work)
- Something to write with
- A ruler
- Scissors for paper and fabric
- A sewing machine (though you could do this by hand if you want)
- Thread to match your towel
- Pins


What to Do:

Lay your hot water bottle on your paper and trace around it.


Smooth out your lines and use your ruler to add 1" (2.5 cm) all the way around your outline. This includes 1/2" (1.25 cm) for seam allowance and 1" (2.5 cm) total ease for your bottle when it's full of water. Cut out your pattern along the outer line.


Lay out your towel in a single thickness. Put your pattern on your towel and cut around it.  You can hold your pattern in place with pins or weights to keep it from shifting round.


Repeat the above step but this time cut around the bottom half of the pattern and then slide it up 1 1/2" (3.75 cm) before cutting around the top. Your second piece should be 1 1/2" (3.75 cm) longer than your first piece.


Measure 5 1/2" (13.75 cm) up from the bottom of your longer piece and cut straight across to make two pieces, a top and a bottom.


Press up 1/2" (1.25 cm) on each side of the cut you just made and top stitch it in place.


If you want to decorate the front of your hot water bottle cover now is the time to do it. Since this cover is for Abby I used Anna Marie Horner's Puppy Love Appliqué pattern (look in the sidebar under "Printable Playthings") and just followed her directions for attaching it to my cover front.


Place the front of your hot water bottle cover on the table right side up. Put your back pieces on top right side down, top piece then bottom piece. They should overlap by about 1/2" (1.25 cm).


Pin your pieces together and sew all the way around with a 1/2" (1.25 cm) seam.


Press your seam and trim the allowance to 1/4" (1 cm).


Turn your cover right side out and press it again to make it took tidy.



To use your cover fill you bottle about half way with hot water. Seal it up and wipe off any water that splashed around the neck while you were filling it. Slide it into the top of your cover and then pull the bottom piece over the bottom of your bottle (this can take a little wrestling but that's why you only filled the bottle half way).

You should be able to wash your cover exactly as you washed your towel depending on the decoration you added to the front. If you used an appliqué like I did, just make sure you've prewashed your fabric and it should be fine.

I like to put our bottle in the bed about half an hour before we got to sleep so that the bed is prewarmed. I push it down by my feet when I get in and it stays around body temperature all night (Zeke can usually be found sleeping directly on top of it in the morning).

Stay warm and all the best for the new year,
Peanut