Just in time for the weather!

My husband doesn't like an electric blanket, but my feet get very cold at night.  We've found a compromise: we keep a heating pad at the foot of the bed for my feet.  He isn't overly hot and my feet stay warm.  As you can see from this picture, the heating pad cover has seen quite a few nights.  I've been saying that I'd replace it.  I finally got to it.

I pulled out two unfinished pieces from a class that I taught last summer.  They were almost the right size--all I had to do was find a few 2 1/2 inch strips to add as borders.  I auditioned several and finally settled on a yellow and a stripe.

Richard wanted me to use the original cover because, he said, it is treated with fire  retardant.  I said that any chemicals it once had are now long gone, but I didn't argue: in it went.  And, in fact, I used it for a pattern.

A piece of muslin backing, some quilt batting, the original cover and the pretty tops, and we were in business.  I stitched the front and back pieces together along the bottom to make one piece.  It didn't take long to quilt. 

After quilting it, I folded it in half along the bottom seam with right sides together and stitched the side seams.  Then I stitched along the top edge leaving a space open against the corner.  My particular heating pad has the cord coming out from a corner.  I used the open space to turn the cover right side out, then hemmed the raw edge with a small piece of binding that I sewed down right side together and turned into the opening.  

That's it.  All done.  I really should have done this long ago.  It was much easier and faster than I imagined it would be.  That said, if you have something small that you want to cover, get busy with it.  It doesn't take very long.

Happy Quilting,
Mary