Wee Quilts

I finally turned some of my Spring photography into wee quilts.

Images were printed on specialty quilt fabric.  (The blue in this picture and the one below is really purple.  Nothing I tried made it photograph purple.)

I was going to make one big wallhanging.

But the wee quilts appealed to me more.

 Plus they will each be going off to a special graduate soon. Shhh....  They might not read my blog but some of their mommies do. 

Light Snow

This was the scene out my front door at 11 pm last night.  It was actually quite dark in a bright, snowstorm kind of way.  The digital camera compensated. 

We ended up with 4 inches of snow.  Not bad for a forecast of light snow. 

Change in Perspective

Mr-analyze-the-photo-instead-of-the-quilt thought this picture could use a bit of a twist.  It definitely changes things.

Things (I've been making) and Stuff (I've been doing)

Some random projects and pictures to share today.  I've been working pretty hard on things, making progress and getting some small finishes.  Here are some of them...

These are my first blocks for each partner in the Craftster block swap.  I am NOT a precision piecer.  Fortunately they are working out so far, but....

 I think I love this block, but I am not sure that I want to make a lot of them.  Using templates was problematic for me.  Once one of the partners came up with a rotary cutting process it was a lot easier.

  I think that I like these paint box blocks.  They are not very hard to do and look really cool.

This partner wants boy-ish log cabin blocks.  They are kind of a funky log cabin with variations on a color scheme in each round.  I have all of these done but no pics as of yet.  I had plenty of boy fabrics to use. 

Sadly, this picture is all my own.  A pile of patches all ready to trim.  I was working hard to get things finished before my machine decided to go back to the shop. I am hoping this is a recreational visit rather than a serious problem.  Either way, I'll be unable to stitch for at least a week.  Ugh. 

  This is a special order.  I love the way it turned out! 

  Another special order.  These ladies 'friends of M' don't want a patch, they want a pin.  I put Christmas fabric on the back and will hand stitch a pin or pin back onto them.

  I know it doesn't seem like much, but I was able to successfully draw (electronically) and digitize the open heart on the left.  That is a big step for me.  Drawing with a mouse is not easy for me. 

 I think I've shared these badges with you already. But I don't remember talking about the book.  It was able to clean it up quite a bit and then added the wee tiny heart on the cover.  This was the first digitizing project where I felt like I had some control over the process.  (I'm using free software called Design ERA and learning by trial and error so this is a big step for me.)

Today I will be putting away all of the spools of thread tossed hither and yon in my mad dash to finish before the repairman arrived at the shop.  (Else it would be 2 weeks before I might have my machine back).   I will be pulling out my wee BL9 and doing some piecing. I  have a fair number of quilty projects to get going and an appointment with a long arm quilter on Thursday.  (OK, the quilt group has an appointment and I am sneaking one in the batch.) 

My friend Miss H has been taking some pictures for me.  Here is Mr B and the orange quilt. 

Lastly, I've been winding down my GN year.  Our annual meeting was this week.  It would be a really fun celebration if I didn't have to prep and present the annual report!  But it is done for another year and I've only a couple more meetings before I can take my annual powder until after the holidays. 

Craft Fair

Craft Fair Booth*

I don't do a lot of craft shows but I do like to participate in shows at the spuds school.  I figure it gives me a chance to support the cause and try out some new projects.  Last Saturday was one of those occasions.  I had a booth at the school fair to raise funds to support Grad Night.

It was the first time I'd actually spent some time physically setting up my booth prior to the event.  My Mother-in-law, an art show expert, was in town and helped me figure out how to organize things.  That was an enormous help.  Set up was a breeze.  I was able to have the spuds help quite a bit without having to think about what needed to be done. 

I had a couple of glitches with the tablecloths and a table skirt that wouldn't stay attached.  I re-arranged a few things throughout the day.  But for the most part the arrangement was as I intended.

Here is one section with mug rugs and chickens.  A lot of people looked at the mug rugs but none of them sold.  I imagine my prices are a bit high for this economy, however, I'm not willing to give them away.  

 

Here is a bit of my new banner with one of the teacup bird feeders in the background.  The banner was made using some stretch denim jeans that I was given.  The stretch denim doesn't work as well for badges.  I also used my new bias tape maker.  I love it!  I want one in every size now.  Between that and the binding foot for my sewing machine... wow!

 

In this last shot you can see the t-shirt and infinity scarves that were hidden by the sunpainted clothes in the first shot.  

I know I need to edit down the number of things that I sell.  I haven't quite figured out how to do that since I don't know what to do with the things I would no longer take to the shows.   Plus, I have to figure out what I want to make the most of.  My sales were scarves, sunpaint shirts and badges.  At any rate, your suggestions and comments will be greatly appreciated.  

* My camera is officially in need of work.  The lens is so gunky I can't get a decent picture out of it.  I took a whole bunch of photos of the booth and these are the only ones that are even close to being in focus.

Skipping September

An altered image of one of the spuds from a few years ago.  A perfect day on a September beach.  I call it "Skipping September".  I recently had it printed on canvas by cafe press.  It turned out OK.  

Quilter's Fun and a Question of Choosing

If you don't already know about Michele's Quiltering Gallery, you should.  It is an amazing resource. I  found it while looking for local quilters.  She has literally thousands of links to quilting bloggers sorted by location.  I have found many new friends browsing through that section.

She also has a section called Quilter's Fun.  It has quilt-a-longs, swaps and the Weekly Themed Contests.  I love to join in the contests.  It is absolutely amazing to see the skill and creativity that are represented by the quilts that are entered. 

This week the theme is Embroidery/Stitchery.  I decided to enter my first embroidered, stitched quilt.  It is this Slime Mold quilt from the 2011 Mini Art Quilt Swap.  I LOVED making this quilt.






I love entering Michele's contests.  I don't have any expectation of ever winning.  My goal is to break into double digit percentages!   What I really enjoy is thinking about which quilt best fits the theme.  I spent some time today looking at images of quilts I have made that fit into the theme of embroidery/stitchery.  I actually had quilt a few that met the requirement.  Even looking at some of the ones that didn't, I could see how adding some stitching would enhance them. It is fun for me to imagine new quilts or re-imagine old works to fit the weekly theme. 





The one thing I really struggle with is choosing an image for the thumbnail that will accurately represent my work.  Is it better to show a long shot of the whole piece, an artful staging or closeup of the details most relevant to the theme?  I never really know how to choose so I usually pick my favorite picture and hope that it appeals to others. 




I like to think I am getting better at taking photos of my quilts, but it is a real struggle for me.  I am working between a small Nikon and an unwieldy Kodak.  I'd love to get a better camera but that isn't in the cards at the moment.  What I really need to do is work on lighting and staging.  That will work for future projects, but I am stuck with the limited photos I have of the projects that have long since sailed off to their new owners.  Like this wee quilt.  I am stuck trying to enhance what I have.



So...  how do you choose the images that represent your quilt on-line?  Are there 'tricks' or staging ideas that work better than others?  Do the quilt photo police have rules?  (I can't say I'd follow them, but it would be nice to know which ones I'm breaking.)  Let me know in the comments.  And in the meantime, be sure to check out all the cool quilts and features on Michele's Quilting Gallery. 

Quilt Stand

I am always struggling with taking good pictures of my quilts.  One of the biggest problems is finding a way to 'display' them outside in the sunshine.  You may have noticed this rather unique quilt stand from my post about the family reunion quilt. 

It wasn't the most stable quilt stand around.

When the wind picked up it became particularly difficult.

Aaaah.... the secret to my quilt stand. 

Composition

I was all set to tell you about this baby quilt this morning. I was looking through the pictures I took of it a couple weeks ago before I had the binding completely stitched down and I noticed that they ALL looked like this!


EVERY one of them had the other rumpled quilt in the background. Not pleasing rumpled, as in oh, there is another quilt in the background. Rumpled, rumpled, as in what is that strange thing over there. And, of course, it is just close enough that I can't get the whole quilt in the shot (OK, the whole quilt that isn't in and of itself all rumpled as I was trying to keep it from sliding further). I just had to laugh at the whole set of pictures!

A Quilt for My Brother

Here is another quilt I haven't blogged about. It was made for my brother on the occasion of his earning Full Professor. Quite an accomplishment. I started his quilt well before the celebration. I had purchased several fabrics that were pretty staid, but appropriate. I used printed fabric photos left over from another project.


I made the first few blocks and became stalled out completely. I didn't have a plan or a clue how to make a crazy quilt. I just started sewing fabric onto the photos until it got to be kinda, sorta big enough. The problem was that I did not have enough different fabrics. I had to go back to the stash and the store and find more fabrics. The spuds got into the act. They started finding all sorts of fabrics that would work perfectly, or in some cases, totally annoy the monkey's uncle.

Once I had enough different fabrics, I still didn't have a clue, but I kept going with the basic plan and was able to finish it out.


Here you can see some of the quilting and some of the fabrics. The sock monkeys were perfect. There is a red tractor fabric in the center. The monkey's uncle is a red tractor kind of guy so the abundance of green tractor fabric was no help at all.


The pumpkins are a long story, as are most when talking about the monkey's uncle. Suffice it to say I do my best to bake him a pumpkin pie every October. Of course I try to find the strangest version of pumpkin pie, but again, that is another story for another blog.

Here you can see the whole thing. You might notice the one little picture with the broccoli frame. Again, perfect. There are also some raccoons, corn and dinosaur bones.

The quilt is a a good sized wall hanging. It has a hanging sleeve on the back. The quilting was done by Terri at Feather Touch quilting. She did a fantastic job with a very difficult quilt. I'm sure she had several, there is no way I can quilt that out moments with it. All of the blocks are randomly pieced and there are some decorative stitch elements around some of the photos.

Stuck

May I just say that I am stuck. Stuck on what to do for this week's Iron Craft challenge. We are supposed to be doing black and white. Anything. As long as it is black and white. I've got lots of projects lined up and waiting* but nothing that is black and white. The picture is an old altered photograph... doesn't count. For this week, I got nothin'!

Your suggestions greatly appreciated!

*Projects are waiting until after I host a meeting tomorrow night. So far the house is pretty clean so I don't want to get my stuff out and make it harder.

A Summer Visitor

The Mr was out snapping pictures of our little summer visitors. I'll just 'borrow' one to share with you today.

At the Parade

In keeping with the summer-time theme.... How about a parade?


Some altered photography. Pictures of the young spuds at a November parade waiting more for the tossed candy than the arrival of Santa at the end. Ok, so it is a November parade, but most places hold their parades in summertime!

City Boys

A city boy looking at some sheep on the farm.

A couple of very curious city boys exploring the barn.

These are some images I altered. They were taken years ago after a day at the farm. This is just some more of my work I am collecting from various posting places across the intertubes. It is actually quite fun re-discovering older work.

Alpine flowers

We spent some time in the mountains and managed to escape the heat. A day spent photographing some Alpine flowers on Windy Ridge was the ticket. There are a lot of pics to process, but here is the first installment.

I have to look this one up. It has been a long time since I've seen it, let alone so many.

Elephant Bells. See their little trunks and big ears.


Two whole stalks of elephant bells.


Reflections in a beaver pond.


Meadow full of flowers.

OK, so these aren't exactly alpine flowers, but the spuds did have a grand time playing in the snow on a fine July afternoon. And the snow ought to be enough to qualify this as my Iron Craft 30: Hot. Hot. Hot. entry.
There are more great entries in IC 30 to be seen here.