a cozy for my ipad

I didn't think I wanted a tablet. Until I did. Still figuring out what exactly to do with it.

One thing I did know was that I needed to shield some of that ultra-modern design with a sweet little handmade cozy. To keep it humble.

I've made two of these cozies now -- the first for my niece and now one for me. Mine had to be linen with red accents! I found this great tutorial online -- the instructions are excellent and it makes a great cozy. Just enough padding. For my interior fabric I chose a soft red corduroy to pamper the little ipad.

 

I like taking my cozied ipad to business meetings. I've gotten quite a few compliments.

Wedding Mini Quilt

The very first DIY project I took on for my wedding was this mini quilt.

I hadn't decided on a color palette or a theme or anything. Honestly, I found it all overwhelming! But a mini quilt I could definitely manage -- I thought it would make a great sign-banner-announcement-thing for outside the reception location.

I started with our initials in applique and surrounded by blanket stitch embroidery. Then I added some festive flags to the top. Flowers with button centers for the bottom.

 The reception location we ended up with had this great patio to display the mini quilt. We used a quilt rack of Julie's to hang it.

Another great thing about this project is that I probably spent about $5 on it! Most of the materials I already had on hand.

I didn't use the sewing machine at all on this project! I used Pellon Wonder Under to attach all the applique, then hand embroidered around each element (I always feel like I need to secure Wonder Under with embroidery -- otherwise over time the fabric will start to peel off). It's all hand quilted -- I don't think I even marked the lines. I just started outlining.

It was a great project for early in the planning process, when I was super excited to be working on something for the wedding.

It didn't actually end up matching the color palette I finally decided on. I kept the red, but ditched the blue. But I didn't care -- I thought it was a great way to welcome everyone to the reception. And it set the tone for a very handmade wedding!