Keepin' Warm - Fleece Scarves and Rice Hand Warmers

We have friends living overseas where it gets very, very cold in the winter, and I wanted to send some gifts over for Christmas to help keep them warm. I actually did these a year ago but forgot to post them.

JoAnn's had a great selection of fleece fabrics so my little girl and I had a shopping date to pick some.
For the 2 girls in the family, I found a great tutorial online for a layered fleece scarf (but I can't find a link to it now.) It was pretty easy. Cut the fleece to length, layer it, then sew a straight line down the middle. After it's sewn, cut towards the center (without cutting through the sewn line) every 2" or so. Repeat on the other side to create fringe, then fluff.

These are much cuter when they're fluffed up. I don't have a pic of that though. :(

For the guys, I picked solid fleece, cut it to size, and then used a blanket stitch with embroidery floss to dress up the edges. To represent their various personalities and interests, I cut out shapes to applique at the ends, using fat quarters. I ironed the shapes onto fusible webbing and then ironed it on to the scarf and then zig-zagged around the outside edge.

One Phillies fan, one politics guru, and one music teacher

Coordinating hand warmers all around. Cut 2 rectangles of fabric, sew around 3 sides with right sides together, turn inside-out, fill with rice, sew the opening closed. You can make it any size you need. (A more in-depth tutorial here: http://www.ehow.com/how_6669510_make-own-rice-hand-warmers.html)

Just pop them in the microwave along with a mug of plain water and heat them for about 30 seconds or so. They'll stay warm for awhile. I read, on another link that I can't find, that you should be sure to put a plain mug of water in with them so they don't dry out your microwave.

It's that time of year when it's really starting to get chilly. I should maybe make some of these for us!