Owl rice bags with tutorial

We call these warmers "Owlies".  One night a few years back, in a desperate attempt to get my 4 kids to actually sleep when we put them to bed, I decided that a warm, fragrant buddy would help.  So I whipped up an owl shaped rice bag.  I figured owls are nocturnal, and we could tell our kids that they'll stay up watching for anything to happen, while the kids sleep.  And they did sleep!  Even my babies have responded beautifully, and are quiet within minutes of getting their warmed up Owlie.

 This is version 2, with a few improvements.

 To make these beauties, Download and print off this template.  

Trace them on fabric.  Cut each piece in different coordinating fabrics, if you want.  Use pinking shears, so the fabrics don't fray excessively.  Then lay the pieces out in front of you.

Begin pinning all of the pieces together, leaving the back of the owl aside until later.  

Sew the large eye circles on first, in a rounded stitch like I did, or a simple straight stitch.

Sewing the eyes will also catch the beak and the belly piece, so keeping them all tacked together won't be hard after this.

Now stitch over each eye pupil shape, and around the belly and beak.

Finally, sew up the front and back together, wrong sides touching.    Sew directly on top of the pieces of fabric you've already sewn on there.  It'll just reinforce them.   Be sure to leave a 3 inch gap open so you can add the rice!  I recommend sewing midway along the flat bottom to begin, that way you'll end off at the wing. 

Now get 2 Cups of rice per bag, and drop about 10 drops of fragrance oil into it.  We chose vanilla Spice, citrus grove, and lavender from Wal-Mart.  It was only 97 cents, and is the same stuff you'd put in a ceramic dish to diffuse.  Put only one scent in per bag, and beware they're really fragrant when you heat up the owlie, so don't put too much oil in!

Next, let your toddlers scoop the rice into a funnel that you're holding, with the owlie fabric stretched around it.

This is how it will look with the 2 C of scented rice added.

The Owl will be baggy enough that you can still scoot the rice over to one side of the bag and sew up the 3 inches of gap on your sewing machine.  Be sure to back stitch on the beginning and end of the 3 inches.

And now you have a cute little guy who smells nice and keeps the night watch while your sleeper sleeps.

My boys made sure that theirs had tools and gears on them so they were boy owlies.  So funny!

One happy buddy!  Enjoy!