Using an iPad for quilting
 

My wonderful husband gave me an iPad for Christmas....what a guy!! For those of you who have one, have you found any apps that would be helpful for quilters? Or a way to use it for your quilting projects?

Oh my yes! Robert Kaufman Quilt Calc, Quilt Reference, Quilt Fabric,Block Fab-HD, Fabric Journal, go into apps and type in quilt. I have a journal program as well. You can take photos of the fabric you have at home or want and compare them before buying them Also I am buying books for the nook and /or kindle apps that are quilting books. I can then use them at my sewing machine and cutting table. Enjoy! Luann

My hubby got me a Kindle Fire. I had an earlier version but really liked what could be done with this one. I will have to check and see if any of those apps will work on my Fire.

Just got an iPad too and will be looking forward to seeing responses to th is thread.

Me too!! bring on those ideas, fellow quilters!

Quilt shop locator app for ipad.

Watch you tube videos for instructions and how-to's

Cruise the Internet for patterns etc. store the PDF on your iPad for future use. No need to print it out. Prop the iPad up on your cutting board to follow the pattern.

Love mine!
Sandy

Yes KR my eldest son showed me the free Apps called Zite, it makes you your own personal quilting magazine, all for free.
My son went to the Zite site on his ipad, typed in Quilting, and that was all it took. It is a quilting daily magazine. <o:p>I have typed the details below and an example of one of the articles. (Any interest/hobby subject can be typed in for your own personalized daily magazine)

I was amazed that my big tall 39 year old Harley Davidson owner son thought of this Zite site for his mum. I don't have an ipad yet, we were just exploring my son's to see if I would like one. I did find it a bit heavy to hold to do lots of reading from, but I suppose I could always use a small cushion to rest it on. This Zite site is definately an Apps I would download.
</o:p>
Sent from Zite personalized magazine iPad app.<o:p></o:p>
Available for free in the App Store.<o:p></o:p>
www.zite.com<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
One of the articles in my free magazine Comfort and Joy with Selina....and her Rice Bag Tutorial ( some may have a headache lol)<o:p></o:p>
http://www.sewwequilt.com/2011/12/comfort-and-joy-with-selinaand-her-rice.html

At last, I can post a tip to someone! Members have been very kind answering my questions on here, so I am so happy to be able to give back for once.
Regards,
Anna Australia
<o:p> </o:p>

quilt shop locater is a very useful app. I have a janome machine and they have a app called footbook that shows all their feet and videos how to use them. It's great. There are several quilting apps too, just type in quilting in the search field and you will see them.

Hi,

I love my iPad and use all the apps mentioned above....love the Robert Kaufman quilt calc one, have it on my iPhone and have used it tons.
Bev

Anna, I have a a Samsung Galaxy Tablet and I like it lots! It fits in the back pocket of my jeans and I can carry it in my purse. I would look into this in lieu of the Ipad as I believe you will find it more manageable. I also have the Robt Kaufman quilt app.

My husband calls my ipad2 my best friend! It's 1:30 am and here I am looking at quilting sites. One of my favorite things to do is save pictures of quilts I'm attracted to from various sites. I also watch quilting shows on it with little ear buds. I can be doing that while " others" are watching football. YouTube is fantastic on an iPad. I can take it into my quilting room and watch techniques as I am sewing. I find I don't print as much as I used to because everything is at my fingertips. Now, I'm off to check out all the apps that have been mentioned.

Fabriholic,
Yes my daughter in law suggested a tablet and I had looked at the Samsung Galaxy previously but I think they were banned from sale in Australia recently due to a court injunction from Apple. Can you do emails with the Samsung Galaxy tablet? Sorry if I am going off topic girls, but I am wanting something to curl up with and read from when I travel, and I did find with my elderley wrists the ipad is heavy to hold for any length of time, unless I had a cushion under it I suppose.
Anna
Anna

WOw!!
Thanks for this info!

Ipad allows you to lie in bed and cruise Pinterest for hours! Just keep the battery charged!

So many great hints....thanks, ladies!! Can't wait to investigate all those app's!!

I have subscriptions to Fons and Porters and McCalls Quilting - both magazines allow me to download the current magazine (keeps all the previous ones on it) plus I take pictures of the current quilt I am working on and then when I upload them to my computer - iPhoto allows me to sync my iPad with the pictures and I can take them with me when I go shopping or want to share with a friend what I am doing. Love the iPad!!! Also good for Scrabble....hey, we all have other things we do!!

I have an iPad too..and love how useful it is for quilting, the best feature I've found is being able to watch instructional Utube while I'm quilting along!!!!I also use Ibooks to download all my quilting magazines.....I'm going over to the Zite site that was mentioned in an earlier post and checking that out...THANKS Ladies

iPad or book cushion
 

Anna,
I made an iPad cushion for a friend for Christmas based on a pattern I saw on a Kindle site that a woman was generous enough to share. I actually made 1 iPad cushion and 9 book rest cushions for my reading friends. Here's how:

Cut out 2 pieces of fabric each 12 x 14" (for the book cushions cut the fabric 20 x 24"). Right sides together, sew around all 4 sides leaving an opening to turn. Square off 3 of the 4 corners - like you do when you make a purse with a flat bottom, meet the front and back seams of the corner and sew straight across about 2" down. (For the big bags I sewed about 8" down.) Turn the bag inside out and fill about 2/3 full with the styrofoam beads that you use to fill bean bag chairs. I bought an immense bag of beans for about $13 and ended up using all of them because I made so many cushions. Hand sew the opening shut. When you put the cushion on your lap the point that you did not square off is on top. Smoosh the cushion around till you find a comfortable angle to hold your book or iPad.

You can fancy these up by making a fabric or ribbon loop to put in the corner that is not squared off so that when you turn it right side out there's a loop handle and I also put a pocket on the big ones to keep a pencil, reading glasses or a nice big bar of chocolate that you can munch on while reading.

I hope these directions are clear, it's hard to describe how to do something in words. Really, it took about 15 minutes to make the iPad cushion and once I started an assembly line for the others I had them done in an afternoon. I'll post a picture if I can manage to figure out how.

Char

Cool, have to get on board and get one of those devices.

I have not entered the world of technology any farther than my laptop and cellphone. lol

Go to the app store and get the iBook. You can save PDF files to it. Can also AirPrint for those patterns you want to print. Just make sure your printer can air print with wifi. The iBook app is free. I will be looking at the site app.

My husband just order one for me and it should arrive on Mon. Looking forward to using it. Glad this thread was brought up.

pardon me but i just cannot help asking

what kind of needle do you plan to use?

sorry.....old lady humor.......but that was my first thought

Thanks for all this great info. My hubby also bought me an Ipad for Christmas and I am still learning all that it does. Wonderful to be able to use it in my quilting too.

Thank you!! I'm going to the APP Store on my Ipad!!!

I don't have an iPad but I'll have to give my daughter the info about the Zite site. Thanks.

Download a PDF reader and you can have your PDF patterns on your iPad too. I use GoodReader. You do have to pay for it, but I believe there is a free "lite" version. I use it constantly for knitting and quilting patterns and articles. I like QuiltCalc as well and found another neat app I haven't fully explored yet called SewingKitLT. Looks like an inventory type app for patterns and fabrics and projects. Neat Stuff. I love the size of the iPad. Some of the other tablets are just too small. I have an iPhone too, so don't need the smaller screen tablets. The iPad is quickly becoming one of my favourite tech gadgets!

After reading this, I typed in quilting apps for Android. Came up with quite a few.

Thanks, Linda

Kindle owners -I got one for Christmas, and I'm a novice. Do we have anything like the apps Ipad owners have?

I have been sitting on the fence as to which way to go: Apple verses android.

Apple lost its suite you mentioned.

Thanks to everyone for all of your suggestions and encouragement. I will be making a choice in the near future and this info will be so exciting to explore!

Question for iPad owners: which models did you get? 16... ?

I think sewing machines make better stitches than I Pads! hehehehehe

I got my Ipad for Christmas. It is addictive! I checked out the zite site. A new addiction. Now to get to my sewing and maybe a New Year's resolution of trying to finish UFO's if I can drag myself away from this new toy! :)

I like touch draw, a graphics program, and reading this board! The graphics let me play with patterns I see on this board!

What is touch draw? An app for ipad? I never connected using my ipad for quilting - what a great thing!

thank you for that pattern (and the photo). Your instructions were very clear. I'm off to make a couple!!!

iPad user, please read the reviews before purchasing. The major issue that a lot of people are having is it crashes and looses the data that you have entered. I personally would wait until they release a fix.

Mine is 64GB. I was going to get 32GB but wasn't able to locate one in stock. I had to make my purchase by 12/31 to save 20% using my AMEX points.

Which app?

Have you looked into the Nook Color; I don't know that much about the Nook Tablet yet. The Nook does emails; can read in any light and is light weight. It has lots of low to no cost apps allowing you to use it as an organizer, journal and more. To enter info into a spread sheet or calendar you don't have to have it hooked up to the pc to do so; just enter. I have the 3-G black and white one and also the color Nook and will be looking into the tablet. I know that they are upgrading the software for the color in the next few weeks to be able to watch movies ect with it as well. Good luck with your search.