How I Designed a Quilt From a Cookie With the HP Sprout

Special thanks to HP for sponsoring today’s graphic design project.

Hey guys!  I’ve got something really fun to show you today.  I’ve been working with the new HP Sprout, an all in one desktop computer with a 3D scanner, and it’s been making my job with some graphic design concepts infinitely easier!  Today I’m going to show you just how quickly you can turn an everyday object into a .png image, so that you can overlay it onto your custom design, or turn it into a repeating pattern to create wallpapers, backgrounds, and more.  In just minutes, I turned a cookie into a custom fabric order that I used to make my son an adorable quilt and matching pillow sham.

The HP Sprout is a dual-screen computer with image capture and touch screen capabilities.  Today I’m going to show you a few photos of what it can do, what I made with it, and even offer a free iPhone wallpaper download if you’re as big a fan of chocolate chip cookies as my family is!  If you’d like to see more I even put together a 5-minute video tour showing you how easy it is to scan something, manipulate it on the touch pad, and create images and patterns that you can use in your graphic design projects.

The primary screen is touch-enabled, and you can use it for all your normal tasks – I check my email and use it to write blog posts – everything I’d do on my laptop, I can still do here.  There’s a tablet-style touch keypad, or there’s also a wireless keyboard and mouse for those of you like me, who do a LOT of writing and need the clickety-click of the keys to get into your groove. :)

The bottom screen is a projection screen with a touch-enabled pad.  Here’s where you scan and manipulate both 2D and 3D images.  For my project’s purposes, I used a 2D image of my cookies, but you can scan 3D objects or artwork on the 3D turntable, manipulate them virtually, and even print them on the available HP 3D printer.  (The 3D scanner is also great for 2D projects where you just want to showcase another angle of the image.  Say, for example, that I’m creating a beach theme pattern but I only have 2 seashells.  By 3D scanning them, I can turn them any direction with the software, giving me many, many more visual options to combine them and give the illusion of a whole bunch of seashells.)

For my purposes, I created a .png file and uploaded it to Spoonflower.com, a custom fabric printing service.  I ordered a couple of yards of cotton for my simple quilt set, and got to work!  It took me less than 10 minutes to create my image, and about 2 hours to make both a quilt and matching sham for my son’s crib (and soon-to-be toddler bed but I’m postponing that for as long as I can, haha).  What’s really special to me is that it’s not just any cookie, but these are my cookies.  It’s my go-to recipe that my family has used for years.  This is homemade at its best – an everyday way of celebrating a special treat.  (Also, if you’re drooling over this print and you want the recipe, you can find it here.)

I’m not doing a full tutorial for the blanket today because quite frankly I get impatient with sewing projects, haha.  I’m not the best teacher!  If you’re wondering how I put it together in such a short time, I made a binding-less panel quilt, similar to this blanket project.  The whole thing is layered and stitched inside-out, leaving a hole for turning it.  Then, I just top-stitched around the edge to finish it off, and square-quilted it.  I made the blanket 52×36 inches, and the standard sham 20×26.  2 yards of custom-printed fabric was plenty, and I have some leftover!  My son just loves it, and I hope it’s special to him for years to come.

Now, if you’re interested in seeing a little more of the HP Sprout, let me give you a quick tour straight from my studio!  This 5-minute video highlights the things you can do immediately out of the box with the Sprout, which also works brilliantly with Adobe Illustrator and Autodesk Sketchbook – the two star applications for the graphic design industry.  Additional applications to bring your work to life are light stencil, stop motion, Size Up, 3D Workflow, Mischief, Video Capture, and more!  Take a look:

I’m so glad you joined me for today’s project, and I hope you enjoyed learning about the HP Sprout and how it can speed up your design time while giving you the ability to incorporate meaningful objects.  If you want to browse for more ideas and inspiration beyond what I’ve shared today, you can visit the Sprout Creator Gallery, and you can also find a Sprout retailer here and get started with your own ideas!

This post has been sponsored by HP, but all the opinions and project ideas I’ve expressed are genuinely mine.