I think, therefore iPad...

I have a client who wants to produce print material for electronic readers and smart phones. Since I had neither, and will eventually need to see how our work looks on an actual device, what better excuse could I have to go out and get one?

My new iPad is shiny and beautiful, and I filled it with apps as soon as I got home, all the while wondering how I could keep it shiny and beautiful because it doesn't come with anything to put it in. That, of course, is all extra.

As it turns out, there is no end to what I can make from 40 yards of old slipcover material. The iPad was exactly and inch smaller than the width of the slipcover skirt. And, of course, I have a gazillion yards of piping, so why not add that, too?

I probably should have trimmed threads before I took the picture.

I hinged a Timtex base at the folds and added two layers of scrap batting on the inside. It's quilted through a few spots that are going to get some extra wear and tear (like around the Velcro), and the sides are hand stitched because there was no getting all that bulk under the presser foot of my machine. The iPad fits nice and snugly -- it's not going anywhere!

There's a coordinating pocket on the back for the charger and a little stand. I makes it a little lumpy, but I'd rather keep it all together than forget the plug somewhere.

I'll probably make a couple changes to the next one I make, but for a first try, I was pretty happy with it. It isn't the most stylish cover you'll ever see, but it sure is functional!

Time out for a UFO...

We interrupt the creative "flow" (so to speak) of the previous posts to return to something that should have been finished months ago:

"Jack of Diamonds" really needs to get done before it gets sucked into the Black Hole of Unfinished Tops and its (newborn) intended recipient is graduating from pre-school. So I'm ignoring the Wave blocks on the kitchen wall and am quilting this week.

Matching relatively high-loft batting with homespuns probably wasn't the best move on my part because the combination of the looser weave of the cottons and thick poly, it turns out, just invites stretching and puckering. Another lesson learned the hard way, but I'm trying to avoid crossing over my vertical lines and (hopefully) won't get any pleats on the back. So far, so good -- it's turning out to be nice and puffy and will be extra cuddly.

The hourglass squares, however, need something special in the centers. Buttons are out since it's a baby quilt (yes? or am I wrong?), and I'm not crazy about the idea of yarn...any ideas out there?

Making adjustments...

As random as I was trying to make this look, the wavy lines still need to meet up from block to block so they run the length of the quilt. This takes some of the improvisation out of the process (no more swiping that rotary cutter willy-nilly across those batiks!) -- now I've had to lay it all out ahead of cutting and need to be much more careful and calculating in how I slice up the remaining curves and strips.

Chalk it all up to a mild case of OCD, I just can't let those waves run into nothing!

After stepping back from my wacky wavy sewing for a few days to figure out what I was going to do, the layout's pretty much set, though of course each time I walk by, I change a couple blocks out:

Sorry, bad kitchen lighting = washed out colors

It needs enough squares for one more row so it's long enough, and a few others to fill in the blanks and get the color balance right. Once those are chosen, I can start making waves again.

In the end, it's still going to look as organic as I knew it would -- just with a little more thought behind it than I intended!

Happy Easter!

The eggs are colored, the cookies decorated, the Easter baskets full...and to top it off, after snow last week, the weather has turned surprisingly sunny and warm(er).

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Catchin' a wave...

All those greens and blues and ones in between made me think of water, so I came up with this:

Creating the wavy, random-width lines has been fun! It's a someting I've never done before (intentionally, anyway), and after producing a couple really wacky blocks, I got the feel of this technique and I'm encouraged enough by the results to keep going...which is a good thing, because I'm only about a third of the way through all the squares I cut.

I think I may put on a little Beach Boys music and spend the afternoon surfing!

OK, so I got impatient...

At a time when I really should be doing about five other things, I couldn't wait. Those batiks were taunting me, and the only way to make them stop was to start slicing them up.

I went through my batik stash (which isn't very large, but as it turns out, is pretty focused on the blue-green-purple side of the color wheel) and found a few more to use. Here's the final pull:

I started cutting this morning. The mix is probably a little too heavy on aqua/turquoise right now (lots of leftovers from this quilt), but I'll work with the balance later.

I have a very cool idea for these, trying a new technique and working more improvisationally than I've been doing these past few months. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it looks as good in execution as it does in my head!

Driven to distraction...

There's been a lot going on lately -- between drywalling and aruging with insurance adjustors and scheduling repairs and chasing down AWOL contractors, lots of freelance work and a whole bunch of other little take-care-of-this-NOW things, I haven't been quilting. At all. I've been sewing here and there, trying to rid my house of all the scarf samples draped over the furniture (and, in fact, am up to my ears in pillows and cat beds), but it's just not the same.

You know what I mean -- there's just something so satisfying about the whole process of picking fabrics and letting pattern ideas swim around in your head until one of them rises to the surface, and then slicing and piecing and arranging until it becomes a reality. I'm itching to get all this other stuff done and spend some quality time with my sewing machine -- but I'll have to wait just a little while longer, because there's one distraction I don't mind putting it off for:

My Monkey Girl, who's back in the country for Spring Break with her parents. We met up at the beach house for a cold, damp and drizzly visit, and she and I got to enjoy our one sunny afternoon playing among the mounds and trenches sculpted by Lake Michigan's winter winds.

Man, I miss this kid! I miss her bear hugs, her chatter, her sense of humor. She's getting taller and smarter and funnier half an ocean away. But they'll be back for two months this summer, and she already has a plan for our visit.

She apparently dragged her mother into a quilt shop in Gatlinburg, Tennessee to look at fabric (I know! I couldn't be more proud!). She picked out a bundle of gorgeous batik fat quarters for me, and a kit with an easy pattern and more Sock Monkey fabric (as if two quilts from the same line weren't enough, I made her this one in 2007 for Christmas and this one the year after that -- "but this has different colors!") for us to make together. She kind of lost steam the last time we tried quilting, but two years makes a lot of difference, and she's pretty stoked that she got to pick everything out herself and will have a chance to show off her sewing skills.

So my agenda for July and August is set, it seems. Who am I to argue?

On the way back to Chicago, I stopped at my little hidden gem of a shop and found some green batiks to go with the new ones. I'd like to make a throw to match last year's pillows and the new(ish) sofa, and I think these will work just fine.

Archie seems to like them, too.

I have a couple more things that HAVE to get done, but then I get to dig in. The ideas are already swirling around in my head, and I can't wait to get started!