Kindle Cover

Hooray! I've got my first crafty goal finish of August! :) I've been meaning to make a new kindle cover for a long time. When I first got my kindle I just threw together a couple of pre-quilted fabric pieces and formed a very drab looking pot holder to hold the kindle. Recently it's been falling apart more and more, so I desperately needed a new case.

I decided I was going to use just scraps for this. I've been saving scraps ever since I got back from the quilt retreat I went to over Mother's Day weekend. It's taken me a while to get some scraps accumulated. Most of them were little squares left over from my Super Mario quilt. So, I put those to good use along with some pieces from blog hops I've participated in recently or chunks from other projects.

To put together the front and back panels I just started grabbing scraps, not really caring which color I picked up, and started sewing them together. I'd trim/square up as I went. I finger pressed the seams to go the way I wanted them to and then ironed the whole slab at the very end. So, I ended up with some tiny 1 inch squares and some larger chunks as I built the slabs out. They were so much fun to put together!

I didn't want to fuss with turning out a pocket, so I decided I was going to make a double quilt sandwich. I layered the slabs with batting and some left over aqua fabric from a pincushion I made earlier this year. Any shade of teal is my favorite color, and I love the pop of brightness when you open up the case.

I used my walking foot to do an organic grid quilting on each slab. Once they were quilted, I trimmed the extra batting and backing fabric. For the smaller slab (the front side of the cover) I added a binding in the same aqua fabric as the back to the very top. This way I could get a really nice finished edge before I sewed the two main pieces together.

Once that little bit of binding was done, I used left over binding from the Super Mario Quilt (yes, it was the perfect length! I didn't have to add anything and just cut off a 1/2 inch! So perfect...) to put both pieces together. I layered them with the blue backing fabric sides together and sewed the binding on as if it was just a single layer quilt. The batting I used was very low loft, so it was no problem at all for my heavy duty Janome.

I finished it off with hand stitching on the back side of the cover. I still need to add the clasp yet, but I'm debating if I want to use Velcro or if I want a couple large snap buttons. I think I'll just go peruse the fastener section at JoAnn's one of these days and make a decision. Either will be very easy to add to the cover.

I made this case to be 7 inches wide by 10 inches long when it's closed. The back piece was 7 inches wide by 14 inches long. This is bigger than I probably needed to make it, but I wanted to be able to keep the cord in the case along with the kindle. The extra room also gives me the option of putting a pen and small notebook in there if I ever read anything worth taking notes on. (Someday I'll finish that marathon training book!!!)

So, one crafty goal complete, just tons to go! Happy crafting!