First Aid

Now that most of these are in their new homes I thought I could finally talk about this project. This was one of the most enjoyable "production" projects I have done. Usually when I make something I make one of it and don't ever consider making another. This time I was really excited to see what several somethings would all look like together and I was so happy with the end result.

The project was conceived sometime this summer, July 22nd to be exact. I was sitting outside on the front porch on a warm summer morning sipping my coffee, watching the kids play and reading through this really fantastic book. It showed a picture of an emergency kit that every home should have and I thought how wonderful it would be if Owen and Carmel could have their own kid friendly kit. Their very own first aid kit to help them feel like they have some control over their healing when they get those little cuts, scrapes, bruises and bumps that seem to happen everyday. They will love it, and I guess if I'm going to put one together I should make one for everyone...

Does six months of planning and making seem like too much time? Not for me. I only barely got them finished for the giving season. Which is why it's good for me to know the conception date of this project. Now I know it takes me about six months from conception to completion. No one ever said I was timely. I did manage to get it all done though and I really loved doing it.

One of the things I enjoyed was being able to extend the life of an old hand stitched quilt that we had laying around our house. It was getting to hard to use as a blanket and Andy had very kindly asked many times for it to be taken out of circulation. After having his arm pop through the tired stitching or hearing it gain another long tear through the middle, unable to part with it entirely, I finally agreed to pull it from our blanket bin and find another use for it. Many portions of that old quilt have found a new life in the shape of eye pillows and cold compresses. I couldn't be happier with extending its life in this way.

The other part I loved was making the healing salve. It felt like I was in chemistry class except I got to concoct something that would actually be fun and safe to use. I know I will come back to this sort of making again and again. Only the next time I make something with beeswax I will be sure to have one of these around to use exclusively for beeswaxy sorts of things. Andy got a hold of the pots I used to make the healing salve to clean it and apparently, ahem...I am told...it is not easy to remove beeswax from cookware. It can take a very very VERY long time, he patiently explained. Who knew?

And now, with the pots in the kitchen all dewaxed, it has been nothing but a pleasure to watch these sweet little people of ours show such loving tenderness to all things living or stuffed that need their care.