Live and Learn – Kindle Cover Edition

I was blessed with an early birthday present from my parents – A Kindle!  I’m loving it!  I had some Christmas money left and thought I’d look at covers for my Kindle.  Then I saw the prices – Yikes!  They were $30-$40 each.  The cheapskate in me My frugal nature couldn’t see paying that much.   So the wheels started turning, and I consulted Mr. Internet.  I found a great tutorial for a DIY Kindle Cover and realized I had all the supplies already in my stash.  So it wouldn’t cost me a thing!  I had a new excuse to sew and it saved me money – how cool is that?!?!

This is the tutorial I used:

http://www.onepearlbutton.com/2009/10/tutorial-book-style-kindle-cover.html

I  made a few modifications.

2 pieces of fabric for the body of the cover, 14 x 9" (though I probably would add ½” to allow more room for the seams)
1 piece of accent fabric, 6.5 x 9"
2 pieces of sturdy cardboard or bookboard, 5.5 x 8"
Narrow elastic, half a yard or so – I initially tried to use pony tail holders instead.  They looked great, but weren’t very secure.   So I had to go back and redo it by hand with regular elastic.

1.       1.  First, I hemmed and sewed the accent piece.  Instead of hand sewing the pony tail holders, I attached them to the accent piece while hemming it.

2.       2.  Then I used Heat N Bond to attach the accent piece to the inside cover.   Then I topstitched around the accent piece.

3.      3.  Then I placed the cover pieces right sides facing each other and topstitch around them – leaving the Right Side open.  I then clipped the corners to make them more crisp when I turned the fabric right side out.

4.       4.  Put the cardboard piece inside and stitch next to it to create the binding. And then I did the next stich ¾” apart.  Added the second piece of cardboard.

7.       5.  Fold the raw edges to the inside and pin the cover shut. I used another pony tail holder for the elastic. (This one worked just fine).

And here’s the finished product after I fixed the elastic.  The pony tail holders were too stretchy so they were not securing the Kindle to the cover.  

The perfectionist in me sees all the little flaws, but overall I think it turned out pretty well.  This is the most advance project I’ve attempted with my new machine.  I learned some things about my machine with this project and I learned some things about the project itself.  Now that I know what to do, I think I could do this a lot easier for a gift for someone.  And I love my unique cover!  I like it even more because it didn’t cost me a penny!!!!

Sneak Peek

Long time, no see - I mean, read...I mean, write... 

I haven't had a lot of time or motivation to either write or be creative.  I've finished a couple of small projects, but they were more "need to" than "want to" - none of which really satisfied my need for creative therapy.  Brother Blessing has been extremely clingy and we've just been very, very busy.   I'm starting a new project and thought I'd give you a sneak peek at what I'm doing.  I cut everything out tonight, so hopefully it won't take me too long to finish it.

Stay tuned for a post about the finished project.

Ice Day Ponderings

We are having some very cold and icy weather here in Texas.  Schools and Chief Blessing’s work have been closed since Tuesday.  They will be closed tomorrow.  I have a little bit of cabin fever, but honestly – it’s cold out there!  I used to live somewhere where it was really cold, but I have officially lived in Texas too long to like the cold anymore.  I don’t like ice either.  I know, I know – drive slowly – it’s not that bad.  I don’t care!  I don’t want to drive on it!  And since  I don’t have to be anywhere, we will enjoy staying in our pajamas, baking and playing.  Not much sewing because the kiddos have wanted a lot of attention.  And I’ve been trying to keep them occupied so Chief Blessing could do some work from home.  That all being said, the unexpected down time has led me to a lot of pondering, wool gathering, whatever you want to call it….

Some of the thoughts that have popped into my head:

• ·         Why does the top of our dishwasher fill up before the bottom?  Does yours? Or does your bottom part fill up first?  Do you run it before it’s completely full? Or just go ahead and run it?

• ·         Why do babies/kids only cough at night?  Brother Blessing has had a cough for almost a week, but after the first couple of days, he’s been fine during the day.  Then at 3am he has a coughing spell.  This wakes us up and makes it hard to go to sleep again.

• ·         Why if we have a fully stocked pantry do we want/crave things we don’t have the ingredients for?

• ·         Why is it when you have a lot to get done babies decide they have to be held and you are the only one that they want to hold them?  Even if someone else they normally love to hold them is available?

• ·         How can three people and a baby make such a big mess in such a short time?

So I know a lot of you have been cooped up too?  How are you combating cabin fever?  Anyone have any strange ponderings they would like to share with the peanut gallery?