When you’ve had kids for a while, your arms have probably become much stronger. And to keep the universe balanced, something else usually becomes weaker – your back, knees or whatever bears the weight of your children when you carry them. Luckily the nature gives us a helping hand here and that hand are in fact cherry stones. I will show you how to make a heat pillow from them that will relieve the pain and also look nice.
You will need:
- a rectangle 50 x 24 cm from cotton canvas (for pillow)
- 0,5 m of cotton canvas, width 80 cm or more (for pillowcase)
- 0,5 kg of cherry stones
- whatever you want to decorate the pillowcase with, I used red and green fleece and matching embroidery cotton
First fold the 50 x 24 cm rectangle in half.
Stitch the three open sides 1 cm from the edge and leave an unstitched opening of about 5 cm.
Use that opening to turn the pillow right side up and fill it with the cherry stones. Then stitch the opening with a hidden ladder stitch.
The pillow is done and now let’s make the pillowcase.
You’ll be making an envelope pillowcase for which you don’t need neither a zipper nor buttons. From the canvas for the pillowcase cut a 25 x 25 cm square and two rectangles of 15 x 25 cm.
If you want to decorate the pillowcase, now is the time. The square will be the front side, thus the best side to decorate.
Take one of the rectangles and fold one long side 0,5 cm to the wrong side. Iron and stitch. Repeat with the other rectangle.
Place the square right side up.
Place one of the rectangles on it so that both pieces are right sides together. The stitched side of the rectangle should be in the center.
Now put the other rectangle on the other side of the square, also right side down and also with the stitched long side towards the center. Stitch all four sides with a straight stitch about 0,5 cm from the edge.
Turn the pillowcase right side up and iron.
Where the two hemmed long sides overlap, there is an opening through which you insert the pillow.
How to use the heat pillow
Take the pillow with the cherry stones and spray it lightly with water. Place it in the microwave oven a heat for about one minute on a higher temperature (each oven is different so you have to try what works best for you). When you take the pillow out, it should be quite warm but not too hot to hold in your hand. Insert the warm pillow in the pillowcase and place on your knee, back or wherever you feel the pain. Keep it there as long as you feel comfortable and repeat as many times as you want.
