Tuesday Tip #1 - Quilter's Light Box App

There are times a quilter needs a light box. I've only just recently needed one to work on my Old Italian quilt project. But does this one time justify the need to go out and purchase a light box? For me, my answer is 'No.' I know several quilters will use a window in lieu of a light box. That doesn't always work for me since I do a lot of quilting after the kidlets go to bed--no sunshine outside after bedtime.

I was grumbling about this one evening when my hubby spoke up and said "There's an app for that." Well, of course there is. There just seems to be an app for everything. 

Heard of SoftBox? 

It turns your iPad or android device into a professional studio lighting system. But how does that solve my problem of needing a light box?  

This app is used by photographers for lighting areas while photographing. You can change the color from bright white to any other color in the rainbow. It also has different screen shapes like rectangle, hexagon, oval, circle, etc. There are several textures to choose from, but we don't need any of those.

For our purposes, you choose bright white color, no texture, and full screen shape. 

Voilà! Instant Light Box!

Is this this a perfect fix to replace a light box? No. 

My biggest complaint about this option is that it doesn't always hold still. Once you choose your setting, it supposedly locks into place. You can unlock it by tapping twice on the screen. However, many times the app thinks I've tapped twice while I'm working on my project and will either go back to the app's main menu or close it out completely. Annoying! But in all honestly, this app wasn't designed for how I'm using it. It was meant to just sit there and be pretty. Whereas, I'm basically drawing and pressing all over the screen.

Despite my one big annoyance with this, I'd still rather only pay $1.99 or $2.99 for an app than pay $35.00+ for a bulky light box I would very rarely use. 

You can purchase the app at these links

apple | android

What have you used in lieu of a light box? Do you do the window trick? Have you found another app that works better? I'd love to hear your thoughts, tricks, and tips. Because if there is something out there that works better, I'd love to hear it. It would save me some grief. 

Linked up with Quilt Story here.

Linked up with Free Motion by the River here.