Overcoming Little Dilemmas for Blog Pictures

My work table is in front of a window, which gives a nice bright light for working, however the placement causes all pictures to be back lit and dark. So for photo sessions, I close the curtains and turn on my work light which casts a bright reflections; usually on the ruler. Then I adjust positioning of the project, ruler and lamp to minimize the affect. And since the work table is the right height for cutting it’s too high for good pictures, so I bring in a dining room chair to stand on so I can look down on my subject for the picture. I regret that the project isn't nicely squares to the edge of the picture in the tutorials. Perhaps I should put everything on the floor. I used to be a photographer for my college yearbook, but I’m not a pro. I take the best snapshots for you that I can and then I tweak them - lighten, sharpen, crop, label.

Back lit even though the curtains are closed, cropped

Lighting tweaked, cropped

If I want to write a post or a tutorial on something I am not currently working on, I rummage through my fabric, threads, notions, tools for what I need. For the Binding Tutorial pictures my favorite rotary cutter was at work, so I dug out my old fav and put a nice fresh blade in it. 

Taking a series of illustrative pictures is a very slow process. Do one or if you're lucky two things, stop, take a picture, do one more thing, stop, picture time...repeat...repeat. 

Every little phase of creating a tutorial is time consuming. 

I really do hope that when you read a blog with articles and illustrations that you feel is well done and helpful, that you will take the time to encourage the writer by leaving a comment. Sometimes bloggers feel as though they are talking to a vacuum  where no one listens, no one cares, no one is helped along their personal path because of what they read in the writers blog.

My Two Cents,

Shilo

Chair Slings x 3

My latest sewing project is three sets of director's chair slings. Each set is three slings; two for the seat and one for the back. Plus one sling with "bais" tape for a large wooden deck chair. I say "bias" because the person who wanted them cut the strips and folded them appropriately; however they weren't cut on the bias.

Handing them to me already made was done looking to save me time. It did, however they weren't folded evenly and the strips were too short and needed to be sewn end to end. It took me 30 minutes just to cut off all of the long dangling threads!

I also needed to rip out the bias tape on both ends of the original sling which held a sheet of thin foam to pad the wooden boards and make it more comfortable.

I'm so proud of my sewing machine. It chugged through most of the multiple layers with no problem, only balking at the very thickest part. It did go through a portion of it, which consisted of two layers of grill cover, eight layers of plain weave cotton home dec fabric, and one layer of thin foam! Yikes!

This is a picture of the original director's chair slings.

Here are the new ones

And here is my absolutely necessary teenage kitten helper.

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2013 Wrap

We have quilters that make a point of stopping by the Fabric Hut to shop in route to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival each year, quilters that take time during the festival to shop, and many that come by afterwards either heading home or because they worked the festival and couldn't come during it. Not all of the quilters notice that we have a nice coupon in the Festival program each year.

This past couple of weeks work has kicked my tush. Consequently I am posting my wrap-up of the festival later than I had intended.

But I can't let it slip away. I would like to share with you a few of the quilts that grabbed my attention at the festival. Left click on pictures for a larger view.

There were three portraits in a row all handled differently, which I felt captured raw emotion.

The Asian quilt isn't quite in focus. Sometimes I wish I still carried my big old Olympus camera. I wanted you to see the entire quilt before looking at the detail that follows it.

There are rhinestones on the bodies and wings of the cranes!

Artistic interpretation and embellishment were key to many quilts. Notice the beadwork on this hanging which was made in linked pieces.

There is a maximum upload for each post, so I won't be putting the full quilt up for this one. Embellished candy skulls!

Look closely at the white background for an excellent example of quilting.

I want to wrap with the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival 2013 Best of Show. There are rhinestones scattered over the background and accenting details such as the harness.

I heard several complaints about the scarcity of traditional quilts, and the lack of hand quilting. It was present, there were extremely good pieced quilts on display with hand piecing and hand quilting. However they were certainly in the minority. The sweeping trend is toward art quilts, excellent machine quilting and embellishment.

I love embellishment. My applique, bead work  couching, embroidery is usually on clothing or accessories and not quilts. I enjoy looking at it on quilted projects, and felt that there were wonderful examples of every technique I could think of at the show.

I don't know names to go with the quilts. If you do, please include the name along with anything else you would like to say about them in a comment.