Taking pictures of quilts and Mother's Day Happiness

Taking a picture of a quilt can be quite a challenge. Either the quilt is so big you can't get it all in and focused properly or you have to shoot it at an angle. I think I've solved this dilemma, at least for myself, by bringing my quilts outside and photographing them in nature or on my front porch. You can see the difference the shade makes verses the full sun
and mottled shade.

This is an Arced Double Wedding Ring quilt that I made for my daughter Chelsea when she was very young. The front is pieced with a whole cloth back. I say whole cloth when I don't piece the back with different fabrics to use up the stash. Shame on me there is no label on the back, and you know how I feel about labels-they must be there for the future, so this will move to the top of my handwork pile by the TV and I will put one on it. The sad thing is I think I made it around 1992. I remember taking several classes at that time and I imagine that's about the time frame. But, you know at least it will have a date and designate whose it is. Perhaps, in the future my girls decide they both want one of my quilts, there will be no doubt to whom it was given.

I started following the design of the print on the fabric for the quilting, which is a perfectly viable option for quilting, but, I just don't like that quilting design for this quilt. I think I'll redo it and will have to come up with another design for the center of the rings. I love this quilt and it's soft colors. Notice the all over soft harmony of color. The curved binding is one of the most difficult things to do in quilting. This is a twin size quilt, made for her bed at the time. Some quilts really do make our hearts smile.

Next is another quilt I made for Chelsea, I try to switch back and forth between my daughters, it just so happens I've picked up two for photographing for my blog that are Chelsea's. I'll try to get 2 for Jennifer next time. Anyway, this is made with my favorite block, Ohio Star. The offsetting squares are Kaffe Fassett bright clear fabrics. These are set against the dustier/duller Japanese fabrics, which give an illusion of the bright squares floating on the quilt. I like the use of color and quilting to add another dimension to an overall quilt design. This is a full/queen size quilt made for her bed later in life.

The back is stash busting supreme,

using huge chunks of fabric sewn together.
You can see my free motion quilting on the back and

there is a label.

So much for the quilting part of the this post.

I had such a great Mother's Day yesterday. We went to Marengo Cave, in Indiana, which is about 45 minutes from Crestwood, Kentucky, where we live. For about $30.00, we were able to go spelunking (cave exploring),

have a picnic and also go on a float trip on the Blue River with Cave Country Canoes. Great fun. I hope everyone got to have a great special Mother's Day. If you live anywhere near that area, I highly recommend visiting. There was also a pretty good restaurant, the Blue River Cafe, although, I think they were slammed with people and understaffed for Mother's Day, so service was pretty slow. But, it was right next to the canoe rental and we worked up an appetite canoing.

Happy Quilting!