Category Archives: iPad cover

Farewell 2016, Hello 2017

Here’s to 2017! Specifically, here’s to lots of sewing and quilting in 2017. I’m already looking forward to several projects — and not just new ones. There’s a stack of UFOs beckoning that I am actually enthusiastic about tackling. But not today.

On this fresh new day of the year, I’m looking back on what I created in 2016. Rather than going in chronological order, I’m grouping my finishes by categories.

This was the year of the Junior Billie Bag, the quintessential quilter’s tote designed by Billie Mahorney. I made a bag for myself . . .

dawns-jr-billie-bag-2016

. . . and one for my friend Deborah . . .

Debeorah's JBB other sideDeborah's JBB one side
. . . and one for my friend Miriam:

mirs-jbb-1-800mirs-jbb-3-800
Next category: baby quilts. This is the first of two incorporating a charming giraffe-themed fabric panel:

Abe's quilt
Abraham’s Quilt, 40″ x 49″ (2016)

Here’s the second one, using the same fabrics in a slightly different setting:

Malachi's quilt 1.2016
Malachi’s Quilt, 41″ Square (2016)

I didn’t use a pattern for these quilts, preferring to play with simple shapes (squares and rectangles) so that the giraffes on the fabric panels would be the focal point.

My third baby quilt of the year was this one using the pattern Just Can’t Cut It from All Washed Up Quilts:

stefans-quilt
Stefan’s Quilt, 46″ Square (2016)

All three were quilted by longarmer Sherry Wadley.

All by itself in the mini quilt category is Ring Toss, based on the pattern Mini Rings by Sew Kind of Wonderful:

Coco's quilt
Ring Toss, 32″ Square (2016)

Mini Rings was quilted by Karlee Sandell of SewInspired2Day. Oh, and that’s our new rescue kitty Princess Cordelia (Coco for short).

Lap quilts is the next category. Once again I used a Sew Kind of Wonderful design, adapting the pattern Chic Diamonds into this quilt I named Dragonfly Kisses:

dragonfly-kisses-dh-aug-2016

It was quilted by Sherry Wadley.

The next quilt, Where It’s @, was started in July in a class with Karla Alexander of Saginaw Street Quilts. It’s based on her pattern Rewind. I really stepped outside my comfort zone with this quilt, and I absolutely love the result:

where-its-recropped
Where It’s @, 57″ x 72″ (2016)

The last quilt in this category is Stella by Starlight, a “kaleido-spinner” using the Spinners block by Heather Peterson of Anka’s Treasures:

stella-bound-front
Stella by Starlight, 51½” x 71″ (2016)

I call it a “kaleido-spinner” because the six equilateral triangles in each block were cut from identical repeats of the focus fabric, creating a kaleidoscope effect of sorts. The four small hexagon blocks are true kaleidoscope blocks.

Both Where It’s @ and Stella by Starlight were quilted by Karlee Sandell.

The next category is runners, both bed and table. I made one of each, using the same focus fabric in each (Wander by Joel Dewberry) and the same block design (Spinners by Anka’s Treasures) with completely different outcomes. Here is WanderLust I, the king size bed runner made with five blocks:

WanderLust complete
WanderLust I, 20″ x 88″ (2016)

I liked the focus fabric so much I made the bed runner reversible:

WanderLust back and front

It was quilted by Coleen Barnhardt of the Quilted Thistle.

Here is the same focus fabric made into WanderLust II, a “kaleido-spinner” runner converted into a wall hanging:

wanderlust-2
WanderLust II, 20″ x 53″ (2016)

This was quilted by Debbie Scroggy of All Quilted LLC.

The final category is a bit of a hodgepodge. I made a quilted cover for my stepmother’s new iPad Pro . . .

ipad-pro-cover-with-straps-from-back-to-front

. . . and a cardholder for her bridge hands:

2016-09-28-14-43-32
For my friend and fellow Quister (Quilt Sister) Vickie I made an iron caddy that doubles as a pressing mat . . .

iron-caddy-3
iron-caddy-2
. . . plus a matching 4″ x 4″ fabric box that she can use as a threadcatcher:

4x4-fabric-box
For myself I made some accessories to match my Junior Billie Bag: a rotary cutter coat made from my tutorial . . .

rotary cutter cut

. . . and a scissors case . . .

scissors-case-3
. . . and a sewing caddy that sits upright in a Lucite stand:

caddy-open
A 4″ x 4″ fabric box (yes, it’s a threadcatcher) completes the ensemble:

ensemble-2

dawns-jr-billie-bag-2016

As you have surmised, I’m crazy in love with that fabric line (Paradise by Alisse Coulter for Camelot Cottons). I expect you’ll see more of it in 2017, as I bought a lot when it was released a couple years ago.

I’m sending a shout out to the talented longarm quilters who transformed my 2016 quilt tops into beautiful quilts — Coleen Barnhardt, Karlee Sandell, Debbie Scroggy, and Sherry Wadley — and to you, my loyal blog readers, for your continuing interest and support of First Light Designs.

A toast to you all on this first day of 2017!

 

 

 

Posted in 4-Patch Wonder, baby quilt, bed runners, Billie Bag, cats, faux-kaleido quilts, hexagons, iPad cover, iron caddy, Junior Billie Bag, kaleido-spinner, kaleidoscope quilts, QCR Mini, Quick Curve Ruler, Quilter's Affair, Quisters (Quilt Sisters), rotary cutter case, sewing tool caddy, tote bags, update, wall hanging, wonky Greek key | 7 Comments

An iPad Pro Cover for Someone Special

The “someone special” is my stepmother Shirley, aka the Irish Princess. That’s what my dad calls her. They’ve been married well over 50 years, and I think she has earned the title.

Shirley asked me to make a quilted case for her new iPad Pro. She got the 9.7″-inch size, the smaller of two sizes the iPad Pro comes in. When I asked about fabric colors for the case, she simply asked for “something with green.”

“No problem!” said I, knowing I have more greens in my stash than any other color. I picked a brightly colored leaf print on a black background and then chose four other prints containing green for the lining, pockets, and binding.

Here’s a look at Shirley’s iPad Pro cover along with a mock tablet measuring 6⅝” x 9½” that I cut from a piece of foam core similar in thickness to the real thing:

ipad-pro-cover-for-shirley
When folded, as in the photo above, the cover measures 8″ x 10½”.

Here’s what the cover looks like on the inside:

ipad-pro-cover-inside
The striped pocket on the upper inside holds the charger cord; the lower pocket in the leaf print is divided. The wide side is for earphones, the narrow one for a stylus or pen.

Now for the back of the cover:

ipad-pro-cover-front
See those two green elastic strips? They come around to the front to hold the case together when it needs to be closed, say for travel:

ipad-pro-cover-with-straps-from-back-to-front
In their original position the elastic strips help hold the iPad Pro in place if Shirley wants to lay it on a flat surface to use it. The back of the cover is fortified with Peltex, a very stiff interfacing.

Shirley’s iPad Pro cover is modeled on one I made in 2013 for my iPad Mini. I made a few other versions, pictured here, for family and friends:

2013-3, iPad Mini covers

All I needed to do to make this one for Shirley was to change the dimensions.

 

 

 

Posted in family, iPad cover, update | 7 Comments

Birthday Party

Of the six women in my quilt group, the Quisters, three have March birthdays. We all lead busy lives so it wasn’t until yesterday — well into April — that the six of us were available to celebrate together. We congregated at the Portland White House for lunch, laughter, gift-giving, and dessert. (Dessert was so good it deserves a special mention: Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake served with Blueberry-Lemon Sauce and whipped cream.)

Now I can show you what I made for the birthday girls. For Lee and Peggy, I made iPad Mini covers. Here is Lee’s:

Lee's iPad Mini cover, front and back
Lee’s iPad Mini Cover, Front and Back

The three elastic strips on the back hold the iPad in place on a padded surface when in use. The elastic strips also wrap around to the front, holding the outside flap securely in place when the iPad Mini is being carried around.

This is what Lee’s cover looks like on the inside:

2013-3, Lee's ipad Mini cover, open
iPad Mini Cover, Open

 

Here is Peggy’s:

2013-3, Peg's iPad Mini cover (2)
Peg’s iPad Mini Cover

 

This is what Peggy’s looks like on the inside:

2013-3, Peg's iPad Mini cover
iPad Mini Cover, Open

 

It’s a little hard to see in the photos, but the iPad Mini covers have an accessory pocket on the inside to hold earbuds and a stylus.

For Deborah I made a custom sewing machine dust cover:

2013-3, Deb's sewing machine dust cover, side view
Deborah’s Dust Cover

 

It’s hard to get a good look at the lining fabric so for the next photo I turned the dust cover inside out:

2013-3, Deborah's sew mach dust cover inside out
Almost Reversible!

 

I’m working on patterns for both the iPad Mini cover and the sewing machine dust cover, so if you’re interested in making one for yourself or a friend, please check back with me.

 

 

 

Posted in iPad cover, Quisters (Quilt Sisters), sewing machine cover, update | 6 Comments

Quisters’ Retreat, Updated

There’s a lot of serious crafting going on here at my quilt group’s weeklong retreat in Central Oregon. Sewing, piecing, quilting, rug hooking, wool appliqué — you name it, the Quisters are doing it. Let me show you what I’m talking about, starting with a tableau of one of Vickie’s wool appliqué projects:

Vickie's wool embellishment

 

She’s working on a project begun in a class last summer taught by Sue Spargo. Working with a beautiful piece of purple plaid wool, Vickie added wool circles of different sizes and is embellishing the circles with a colorful assortment of beads, vintage buttons, ribbons, and embroidery floss.

Deborah finished her red and white Burgoyne Surrounded quilt top, which measures 57″ square:

Deborah's Burgoyne surrounded

It’s from the book Burgoyne Surrounded by Elizabeth Hamby Carlson (That Patchwork Place, 2004). The smaller red and white squares finish at one inch!

Peggy is working on a red and white quilt, too. She is recreating an antique Lone Star quilt featured in the Feb. 2012 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. This is one of four Blazing Star blocks that go in the corners:

Peggy's cornerstone for Lone Star quilt

 

The corner blocks are 20″ square so you can imagine how large the Lone Star is in the center of the quilt. If my math is correct, Peggy’s finished quilt will contain 1,480 diamonds.

My sister Diane asked for a cover for her new iPad mini so I made one from some of the same fabrics used in the iron caddy shown in the previous post. (Note to sister Reigh: I’ll make you one, too!)

Diane's iPad mini case

We’re here till Friday, so be sure to check back for more Show and Tell.

 

 

 

Posted in iPad cover, Quisters (Quilt Sisters), update | 2 Comments

Mad about the Mini

It would be fair to say that the Dear Husband and I are slow to embrace new technology. Not that we’re averse to it. It’s just that we get along with what we have and don’t recognize a need for something until it’s been on the market a rather long time. We were probably the last family in the western world to buy a microwave (which we use primarily to reheat coffee) and we still don’t own a flat screen TV.

So it came as a surprise to friends and family when we acquired a new gadget earlier this month: an iPad Mini. The iPads have been around for a few years but Apple released the Mini just a few months ago. I had been thinking about buying an iPad for a couple of years but never quite got around to it. By the time I was ready to take the plunge, the Mini was available. In a way, my procrastination paid off.

We’ve had this tiny little computer for only three weeks and have a lot to learn about its capabilities, but so far I love everything about it. I do feel guilty about something, though. I bought it for the DH and me, but I have monopolized it from the get-go. It has my email, my Scrabble, and my music loaded on it. I listen to Pandora Internet radio on it for hours in my sewing room. I even carry it around in my purse!

Of course, one of the first things I did was make a case for it:

 

The case is basically a padded envelope with a flap that covers the entire front. That’s because I wanted to protect the iPad Mini with extra batting. The back side has a layer of batting and a layer of stiff interfacing.

With the flap open, you can see how the iPad Mini is easily tucked into its snug little pocket:

 

Thinking the case might double as a cushion for the iPad Mini while it’s in use, I added four strips of elastic to the back corners:

 

I wasn’t sure of the proper position so each strip of elastic is in a slightly different place. This cover is a first attempt so the fact that the strips of elastic are not in perfect alignment doesn’t bother me (well, not too much).

As it turned out, the two top strips of elastic aren’t deep enough to hold the top of the device but the bottom two work just fine. The bottom strips actually do double duty: they come around to the front and hold the top flap in place, keeping my — er, our — iPad Mini very secure when it’s in my purse:

 

The divided pocket on the front is for earbuds and a stylus. I think the next version might have a zippered pocket on the inside for these items, leaving the front cover open to some creative patchwork.

Isn’t this robot fabric perfect for an iPad Mini case? The fabric is from the Mechanical Genius line by Mo Bedell for Timeless Treasures. You’ll be seeing more of the robot fabric before too long because I’m using it in two baby quilts, currently under construction.

 

 

 

Posted in family, iPad cover, update | 3 Comments