Patchwork Quilted Cube Cover

Jogging bottoms gave up their life to save an eglu cube cover

Well, the weather finally warmed up enough for me to think about repairing the quilted eglu cover.

First I had to try it out inside next to the radiator. It didn't smell.....all that much :)

Next I needed to find some fabric to patch it with. This was much more difficult. I haven't done any sewing in earnest, as in making things, for quite a long time so I have no scraps. I ended up cutting a square out of the leg of some old jogging bottoms that I had used for painting white gloss work (and were therefore liberally bespattered with gloss paint).

I surprised myself by remembering actually how to sew and making what I think is a fairly good job of it

As you can see, there are still little mice chew holes on the green edging, and the fabric is cotton rather than the slightly water-repellent cube cover fabric. Nevertheless, I am very pleased with my efforts. Now at least I don't need to worry about the silver stuffing dropping out and flying all over the garden in the wind.

Preparing for the Snow and pesky mice

For the past two days, the Met office have been forecasting snow. It is shown at its worst over Ireland and the North and West of England, but certainly it was shown as coming as far as the south east.

So I assembled the cube, added a half-meter extension (I have a meter extension, but one of the side panels seems to be missing) and then went into the garage to pull out the quilted cube cover. As I did so what looked like silver tinsel scattered to the floor. It appears that mice have had a go at it and chewed a hole to try to extract the sliver filling to make nests.

I had previously realised I had mice in the ground floor of my garage when I went to top up my bird feeders and noticed that the metal lid was not on. I ALWAYS leave it closed, in case of mice. When I opened it I saw that the peanut bag had been shredded. Some muscular mice must live in my garage.

Hopefully they have good appetites because after the damage to my eglu cover, I've put down the rat poison.

I can repair the cover by sewing on a small patch. However in the short term I've just stuck some sticky plastic over the hole, rather badly. It needs repairing soon, but I wanted to get it all ready for this snow.....this photo was taken this morning in bright sunshine. Snow may well be around the corner, but it doesn't look like it.


Still, it is good to be all prepared so I can get my chooks all snug and safe should we get bad weather. My two bantam silkies, Velvet and Lulu, are not waterproof and my bantam frizzle as well as the silkies all have feathery legs which get very bedraggled in the wet or snow.