Ho Ho Ho: Covered Notebooks

On the 18th of every month there is a linky party with free Tutorials co-ordinated by Fiona @Celtic Thistle Stitches and Paula@Mud Pies and Pins.  It's called Ho, Ho, Ho and On We Sew.  The idea being to get a head start on presents and makes for Christmas that we always leave to the last minute.

I know Spring is finally here and Santa has been relegated to the North Pole but for some reason, I can never get myself motivated to start Christmas makes until after Halloween and then never get things finished by the time December rolls around.  So this year I thought I'd join in the fun.  After all my Night sky quilt was finished in January so I thought I was off to a good start!

February was crazy busy and then 18th March was the day after St.Patrick's day so I completely forgot!  This month though, I'm linking up to the linky hosted @SLIK stitches where Benta has a tutorial for a countdown to Christmas calendar (according to the xmasclock.com its 249 sleeps 'til Christmas in case you were wondering!)

So my festive make this month is a notebook cover.  I have 2 swaps I'm making for and in the nerds craft it better swap my partner is a big English Literature fan.  So for the small gift, I thought a covered notebook would be a nice idea.  I enjoyed it so much I made a second in Christmas fabrics.

Both are made from scraps!  I took some scraps left over from my Bounce quilt (still love this and can't believe I gave it away! It went to G's aunt so it hasn't gone too far!  Pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company).         

Using left over border scraps I added a few strips to make up a front and back piece.  I used Fluffy Sheep Quilting's easy tutorial to make up the cover.

To make up the rest of the cover you just need some fabric for the flaps and a lining fabric.  I used Me and My sister prints and for some reason I like the geometric madness with the old fashioned flowers which won't be seen anyway when the notebook is put in.

It is great fun and a quick make so I decided to make a second with Christmas scraps!  These are scraps from the Night sky quilt above and I love these blue, not quite traditional Christmas colours.  The dark blue is Folk Art Holiday and the light blue I got free with Quilt Now magazine last year.

As these were scraps I squared them up to a common size after putting together as half square triangles.  3 1/2" worked but left me a bit short on the width.  You need about an inch wider that your notebook measured all the way around.

So I added a navy strip to both sides and then trimmed back to the correct width.  The second notebook had a spiral binding and if I was making again I'd add another little bit extra as it pulls a little when closed.

Using so much white in the top might not have been the best idea!  It will get dirty easy; I can see one navy thread from a seam peeking through and it meant I had to use white for the lining too!

Still, I really like the navy pockets and the strip on the end.  Next time, I'd add a loop to carry a pen. So that's some small makes ticked off the list!  I think I might have to make one of these for me too.  Does it count as Christmas sewing if you keep it for yourself?

Linking up to