Hero Shots

The weather finally has cooperated enough for me to take some outside photos of my quilts. When I was a guest on the DIY Channel show “Knitty Gritty” way back in 2004, the knitted object that was the topic of the show—in my case, an Aran-themed afghan—was referred to as “the hero,” so you may think of these as the hero shots of my quilts.

The lighting inside our house is abysmal. I much prefer outside shots in diffuse light, either an overcast day or in the late afternoon, but in Montana, those conditions are only available from about March to October. The rest of the time, the snow is reflective, it’s too hard to get to certain spots to hang things, or the light is too weak. One of my favorite places for photos is the side of the woodshed. The north side has just enough of the right kind of light in the afternoon. (I did not edit any of these photos and the colors are fairly true.) I also like the rustic backdrop. I started with the Bear Paw baby quilt:

As much as I love the spiral square quilting, I think it did cause the linen/cotton fabric to stretch a bit around the edges. Oh, well, it’s a baby blanket, and it feels amazing. Again, it’s a great pattern and one I’ve added to the “go-to patterns” pile.

This is the Under the Big Top quilt:

I still have a soft spot for this quilt. It may never be my most popular design, but it’s one of my favorites. I need to finish this pattern.

And I finally got a good outside shot of Cobbles and Pebbles:

I plan to take as many outside and close-up shots as I can this summer so I can add the photos to my patterns.

The Beginner’s Choice wallhanging is trimmed and waiting for binding. I took it with me to the quilt store yesterday to do a “show and tell” with the ruler class instructor. I was the only customer in the store, so the staff and I stood there and looked it over and did a post-mortem on my quilting. (They had lots of positive comments.) The instructor asked me to bring it to the class in May. I also chatted with the owner of the store about possibly teaching some classes, but I won’t say more than that until and unless it happens.

[We were having drinks on the veranda last night and after I told the husband about my conversation with the quilt store owner, he said, “You just want to teach, don’t you?” I guess I can’t get away from it.]

I’ve got about half the binding sewn down on the purple and green quilt. I need to write that pattern, too. And the one for Beginner’s Choice. Writing patterns involves a completely different part of my brain and I have to be in the mood to do it. I got a good laugh from a Facebook post yesterday by a fellow knitting designer. She was writing a pattern and decided it was a good time to take a break after she had written “Figure it out your own self” on the pattern. LOL. We’ve all been there.