rice bag

Today I re-arranged and re-organized all of my sewing stuff, so I came across some unfinished projects.  Like this rice bag; I was about two-thirds of the way done a couple months ago, but ran out of rice.  Today I finished it and it's ready to use!  And given the fact that I started the Couch-to-5K running program this week, I might use this sooner rather than later (I know, I must be insane).

You either put it in the freezer for an hour or so, or heat it up in the microwave for a couple minutes, depending on your pain-relief weapon of choice.  It has three separate compartments so the rice doesn't all flow to one side, along with some heavy-duty belting for the handles.  I used this tutorial from Make It and Love It and had no problems.  To be honest, this was my second time making one of these.  The first was for my dad last Christmas:

Note the masculine fabric choice.  Gotta love discounted remnants.  I think they're responsible for at least a third of my fabric collection.  :o)

I tried to take additional pictures of the one I made today, but sadly our camera appears to be dying.  Even with new batteries, it turns off after a minute of use (or even less if I'm using the flash), and no amount of coaxing can cause it to cooperate.  Given the fact that we have a growing boy and I haven't taken pictures of him in awhile, I hope we can fix this problem soon!