making a kindle cover

I am preparing for my trip to Thailand and Cambodia at the end of this month to pick up my baby girl.  I blogged about her going to school in Cambodia here.

One essential for my trip is my Kindle and it has been naked up until now, so a cover was needed ready from my trip.  A search on the internet came up with a tutorial for making an ipad cover over at One Shabby Chick.  Using the principles of this tutorial I made my kindle cover.

I loved quilting on such a small scale and used it as an opportunity to try random diagonal lines on the lining.  I liked doing this and will be trying it out on my next quilt (whenever that may be).

The finished cover is a little snug and so if you are trying one yourself my tip would be that  the batting does take up quite a bit of space and so allow a little extra room to manoeuvre.  I used the fusible batting which was wonderful to work with.

upholstering chairs using echino fabrics

A number of people have asked me about the suitability or not of using the echino fabrics for upholstery.

Occasional chair with Viewfinder fabric in the shop

The echino fabrics are not manufactured as upholstery grade fabrics as such and they have not been subjected to the Martindale test, which gives a rub count, so you know how hard wearing upholstery fabrics are.

But I have used the heavier echino fabrics for upholstering occasional chairs and I would also use it on a dining seat (you know the ones where the padded seat pops out).  Reupholstering these types of chairs does not take long or a lot of fabric and I love the effect the echino fabrics have.

I would also be mindful that New Zealand has very harsh sunlight and I most probably wouldn't place one of these chairs in full sun for a very long time.

there's a mouse in the house

...well mice plural.

To celebrate the arrival of a new shipment of fabric, which included Country Mouse by Heather Ross, I asked Louise whether she might be able to make me some mice for my window.  I don't think my photos begin to do them justice.

Baby mouse is asleep on Mummy Mouse's back. And did you see her crochet bag.  They makes me so happy I could squeal.

The detail on the bike, the basket and the strawberry are exquisite.

I feel very privileged to have these mousies gracing the window in the shop.  Louise they are more than I could have ever hoped for.

P.S.  so happy to be back blogging I never meant to take such a long break, but it was exacerbated by blogger deciding I did not have a blog!