DIY Felt Tablet Sleeve

I was lucky enough to get a tablet as a gift this last Christmas and, after a while without any protection save the odd magazine, it was in danger of getting a bit beat up in my bag.  I was looking around at cases and kept on seeing all these lovely really thick felt tablet cases (sleeves?) around that I liked but I didn't want to spend the money they usually sell for.  They are generally made of really thick wool felt which is beautiful but is quite expensive to buy for the home crafter (3 sheets can be around $18 and up).  So, I decided to make mine out of 29 cent craft felt sheets instead which happen to be just the right size.  Yay, I love a bargain solution!

You will need:

4 sheets of craft felt

Sharp scissors

Sewing machine

Ten minutes of your life

1. Line up 2 craft sheets on top of each other and stitch a straight line across the top leaving a small border.  Do the same with your second 2 sheets.  These individually stitched sides provide the opening when the other sides are all stitched together.

2. This shows your two sets.  Don't worry too much about lining them up perfectly as felt sheets are rarely exactly the same size.

3. Lay one stitched set on top of the other set in your chosen colour combination and pin the heck out of it so it doesn't skew too much when you sew it all together.

4. Stitch around the outside 3 seams and not the top one where you have already stitched obviously.  I used generous seams because my Asus tablet is smaller than an iPad.  I think with smaller seams the iPad would still fit (someone try this out and let me know!).

5. Use your sharp scissors to trim off the seams all around and give you a nice clean edge.  That's it, you are done!

For another one I made, I used pinking shears for a more decorative edge. 

On this one, I chose yellow for one side...

and grey for the other.  Going with the whole colour blocking trend right now.  I am so hip... ;-)

I really like the colour effect on the trimmed sides and the double thickness on each side makes it nice and sturdy.  Best of all, because it is so cheap and quick to make, if I want a different colour combination it is no hassle.

Fabric samples from Spoonflower

I recently received some new fabric swatches of my designs from Spoonflower.  I am really happy with how the grey and blue graphic ones turned out but I think I will re-work the daisy flower one.  The background was too pale and the effect was kind of lost.  What do you think?  You can buy yardage of my designs here if you like!  (There are only 3 designs being offered publicly as yet but I will be adding more regularly).

Happy Friday everyone!

Strawberry and nutella crepes

It is Miss E's birthday today (10!!  holy cow!!) and she requested crepes for breakfast.  Just like the strawberry ones from the Original Pancake House.  Oh good.  No pressure.  We looooove the Original Pancake House and we love their crepes.  I have never made crepes but was inspired by my good friend Melanie when she whipped up fresh peach crepes for breakfast (with bacon on the side mmmm.....) when we stayed with them on our way back from Kentucky.  Oh My Goodness, they were good.  I am a decent cook so I gave it my best shot and I think they turned out great!  We all feasted on these for breakfast and I was satisfied when Miss E declared them the best birthday breakfast ever (awww, way to warm your mama's heart).  Miss E customised hers with a slathering of nutella on the inside before we piled on the fresh strawberries.  I had mine without the nutella but they were good either way.  Here is a link to the recipe I used.  The only adjustment I made was to add a splash of vanilla and I doubled the recipe (we have enough for leftovers for the kids tomorrow morning - yum).

Match bottle

I saw this idea awhile ago but I can't remember where I saw it.  I thought it was a genius recycling idea and I just happened to have a little bottle sitting around the house that I hadn't recycled yet (I am a sucker for cute bottles).  I am pretty sure the original had an engraved bottom for striking the matches on but I don't have a dremel so I used the striker on the side of the matchbox and affixed it with double sided sticky tape.  Works great and looks cute!

Shaker Village in Kentucky

Well I have been AWOL for a bit longer than I thought but am back now!  My family and I actually just did a big road trip and saw some of the good ol' US for ourselves.  It was a blast and the highlight for me was staying at the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Kentucky during our trip.  This is a place that I have wanted to visit for a long time and it didn't disappoint at all (despite E and I getting violently ill on the morning we were supposed to leave - ugh).  It is a BEAUTIFUL place and I want to just move right in and live there pretty much.  I know my Mum and sister's would love it too.  I took so many photos (about 400!) so I have whittled down as many as I could to give you a little look at this spectacular place.  I am already planning a return visit next year.

   

 The tree lined centre road (turnpike) of the village that is only for pedestrians now.

They had these lovely wooden benches dotted everywhere, sometimes accompanied by a table.  Don't even get me started on the white fences everywhere.  So beautiful.

The east family dwelling where we stayed.

The windows everywhere had deep sills and these simple white linen curtains (this window was in our room).  Perfection.

A door to the central meeting house.  They work very hard at their restoration work here and do it beautifully but I also think there is beauty in the old peeling paint.

Another bench and some of the miles of stone fencing everywhere.

View of the Central Family Dwelling from the Meeting House across the way.  This building is made of 2 foot thick limestone from basement to roof top.  Note the two gates and two doors.  One for women (left) and the other for the men.  They had separate staircases inside too.

Like these.  This is a view of the hallway heading to their common meeting room.

Part of the basement kitchen area in the centre family dwelling.

 One of the bedrooms - love those rugs and bed coverlets (hand loomed on the property).

 Love the simplicity of this bedroom.

Gorgeous and very tall cupboard in a bedroom with a stool.

 I loved this big old cupboard in the baking room.

  

 Beautiful upper hallway in the centre family dwelling (my favourite building).

 

The kids got to pat a baby goat....

and play on a wooden swing (there is one of those benches again - seriously want one or three)...

 and stand on fences at dusk while we waited for the fireflies to come out.

Best time ever.