A Pair of Nightingales

 

This is Susan B's Nightingale quilt. Susan is the quilter who strongly encouraged me to write a tutorial for this quilt, and then admitted that you could probably be blind and still make a successful Nightingale quilt. (That means anybody can do it.) I think she has done a spectacular job. 

If you have made a Nightingale quilt, I'd love to see it. You can email me at PatcheryMenagerie AT gmail DOT com. (you know how to put them together properly)

This is my first Nightingale quilt. I have been waiting for the weather to warm up and for the sun to come out so I could photograph mine, and it kinda sorta did that yesterday (although it was still pretty windy.)

This particular quilt has a home already, and when it has been gifted I will tell you the story.

My Mother has laid claim to the second Nightingale quilt. Gee, what a surprise! (She loves ALL my quilts.)

If you want to make a Nightingale quilt of your own, you can get my tutorial here.

Morning Garden Beauty Shots

 

The Morning Garden quilt is complete and here are some of the beauty shots.

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Taking Beauty Shots is always interesting and occasionally challenging. To wit:

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Beauty Shots Asterisk Quilt

 Got home from work on Monday and I did not feel like making dinner. It was sunny, so I packed some quilts in the car and went out to take some beauty shots.

In the full sun you can lose a lot, but this looks pretty good.

It's really nice to see all the true colors in this.

It always interests me that a photograph you almost didn't take, or think will totally not work, turns out to be the definitive shot. Like this one.

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After I was done, I brought the quilt home and washed it. It is now soft and wrinkly, and if possible, even prettier than it was before. I wasn't quite sure if this was a quilt for cuddling, but now I am convinced.

Incidentally, although I wash every single piece of fabric before it comes into my studio - and I wash it in WARM water no matter what the label says, I always throw a couple of color catcher sheets in the washing machine when I wash the finished quilt. These two pink sheets came out after washing the Asterisk quilt. And I washed it in cold water.

Quilt in the Wild

 

It was unseasonably warm Tuesday afternoon, and it was gloriously sunny. I brought the "Awash in a Sea of Blue" quilt outside for beauty shots.

I think it's important to back up a bit when taking pictures of a quilt outside, so you can really get a sense of the scale of the quilt. This quilt is so graphic, it can really stand up to being seen from a distance.

I really like the way the sun highlights the quilting.

I wrote the quilt's story as I was making the quilt, so I was able to complete it after I took the beauty shots, while the quilt was in the washing machine. I had it printed and picked it up Wednesday at lunch, which was a good thing because I will be gifting the quilt soon.

I don't remember if I wrote about it, but this quilt was made in a specific person in mind. He's a very reserved, quiet guy, who loves baseball, hockey and fishing. He says he loves fishing so much he'd fish in a puddle. That was the impetus to make this quilt - a quilt about water.

This is a scrap slab triangle quilt, and if you want to make one, you can get my tutorial here, at my Etsy shop.

Outside Shots!

I love taking photos of my quilts outside. Even if it's 29 degrees out. You can learn how to make free pieced letters using my tutorial, available here. 

As I was taking my pictures one of my neighbors came by and offered to take a picture of me with my Not Paper Pieced quilt. This photo also  shows how big the quilt is.

This is the River of Light quilt, in all of it's bright and wild glory.

Here's the back, which was made from a lot of leftover bits and stash.

Fourth of July Beauty Shots

A beauty shot of a quilt shows you the photo of the quilt so you get the whole thing, and to scale. This is a quilt that calls to ming the Fourth of July in New England. It's the first of October, and I don't live near the beach, which would have been an obvious setting. Still in New England, we have a lot of green, and this shows it.

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Sometimes something happens you didn't see coming. When I was taking the photo below at the entrance of the community garden, the wind lifted the quilt right up. Which is funny, because the image on the back of the quilt is sailboats blowing in the wind.

The scene behind the quilt in these photos is a story about what has been happening in our community this summer. As you can tell, some power lines go through my community. This summer, the local electric

company has been replacing the wooden power towers with metal ones.

The gate where I've taken the photos is the temporary access road the electric company uses to access the towers you can see in the distance. We drive by this small turnoff every day and hardly seen it. I almost did, but then it registered in my head, and I turned around.

Pink Panther in the Snow

 

There's something really cool about taking beauty shots of a quilt on fresh snow. This is the Pink Panther quilt.

It's hard to arrange a quilt because I don't want any footprints in the snow, so I have to toss the quilt and hope it lands OK.

It's also hard not to cast a shadow.

Overall I'm pleased with these. But my all time favorite shot of this quilt is the one below.

When I was taking the photo above, Millie wasn't in the room. Suddenly she jumped on the couch, and then walked from one end to the other. One of the things I have learned as an artist is to take advantage of anything that happens, so I took the picture as she walked by. I love the casualness of it.

Sheri, these triangles are twice as tall as they are wide, so yes they are elongated.

Alegretto in the Snow

 

The day after I finished the Allegretto quilt we had a bit of snow. When I saw it I hurried to get dressed so I could bring the quilt outside for some beauty shots. This was taken in my driveway. The day was partly sunny, but windy. Here the quilt is in the shade, which makes it seem much bluer than it really is.

Here the quilt is draped across the large landscape rock in my front yard. I love pictures of quilts in the snow because it is NOT where you expect to see them.

I like this picture because the tropical birds are NOT part of a snowy landscape. If you ever wondered why the shadows of snow on a bright day are blue it is because they are reflecting the blue of the sky. 

In this picture, the sun was behind the clouds, so the quilt has a decidedly blue tinge.

The wind blew the clouds away for a few minutes, and I was able to take this picture. It isn't perfect, but it was FREEZING! (It really was, the temperature was below 32F (0C) and it was really windy so with the wind chill factor it was about 15F)

You can see the colors a lot better, and you can see the quilting too.

When I showed my Mom the finished quilt on Christmas Eve, she said, "Oh, look, my quilt!!" Her partner, M, started laughing. My Mom and I have agreed that she can BORROW the quilt for 30 days at a time. You can read here for the background of that story. But she has to give it back.

How Many is A Lot?

 The other day I told you to take a lot of pictures when you are taking beauty shots of your quilts. How many is that?

Actually, I don't know, because I don't think of numbers that way. I just go by feel. So I decided to find out so I could show you.

I opened the photo app on my phone and then started counting, but about halfway through I thought, "why don't I just take a screen shot?" That worked out so well I decided to go back through my photo history and see what else I could find.

So here are the photos I took for Yellow Ribbons...

This group of photos of All Together Now is great because down at the bottom you can see Janet-Lee wrapped in it!!

Here are the photos of Waltzing Matilda.

So I don't know if what I took is "a lot" for each quilt, but I do know I got terrific photos of each quilt, so clearly I took "enough." 

It also gives you all a chance to see ALL the pictures I took, and my thought process for each.

Happy Looking.

The Beauty Shots

 

Cats live in our world, but most of us know that's an illusion. (Cat owners know we live under their control/training in theirs.) After I wrote yesterday's post I got ready for bed, and where did Millie go?  Yeah.

This post is about Beauty Shots. Megan, my friend from Sydney Australia, would say the photo above is the perfect beauty shot. But Megan is biased. She loves Millie. (The feeling is mutual. Millie loves Megan too). I think a beauty shot should be a beautiful picture of the quilt in question in a setting that shows of the quilt to its best advantage. Outside in natural light is best. The point is to see the quilt in all its glory. Like most things, it is harder than it looks.

First, you need a good location. You want something big enough to hold up the quilt. This gate to the community garden meets that requirement.The photo above show that you need a bit more than that.

Secondly, you need good light. Good light will show off the colors of the quilt (yet not be too bright so light colors get lost) and the quilting, but not so extreme that all you can see is the quilting and not the patchwork. This photo shows you need something else though.

The third thing you need (aside from clamps, a step stool, a camera and/or an assistant) is a calm day. Wind is the enemy of beauty shots. A quilt of any size, displayed outside is nothing more than a potential sail. Clamps or weights can hold a quilt in place, but Mother Nature is unpredictable and stronger than anything or anybody. 

Just as in quilt design, I'm a big believer of taking advantage of every opportunity. In this case, the wind has flipped the quilt over so you can see the backing. 

The last thing you need is patience. Once I figured out the garden door OPENED, I re-positioned the quilt and then kept taking pictures. That's the most important thing. KEEP TAKING PICTURES. Sometimes you don't know until later that you took a perfect photo. Wayne Gretzky said "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." 

Sometimes you know as soon as you take it.

 

(I kept the last photo full size, so you can click, and then click again to see all the details of the fabrics and the quilting.)

Aquamarine Out of Doors

 

I stayed up late the other night finishing the binding on the Aquamarine quilt. I had twelve inches left when it was time to go to bed, and I decided to just keep going. The next morning I brought it outside to take some beauty shots. 

I wasn't really feeling it. I knew I'd have to try again, but it was OK, because I have time before I give the quilt away.

Just as I went into the house I decided to throw the quilt over the railing. As I stepped back to take the picture I knew it was the best shot of the morning.

You never know.

I have a definitive date for re-entry at the office. My new workspace will be set up essentially where my old one was. It will be built specifically for my needs and consideration has been given so I won't be in a high traffic area and will have some privacy. All but one person (who has her own office) in the "front office" where I will work is fully vaccinated. This one person refuses. (Don't ask, I could go on for days...) I will be able to work mask-free for most of the day, I can mask up if I need to move around or go out into the factory. 70% of my coworkers have had at least one shot or are fully vaccinated and another 20% have appointments scheduled. That makes me feel very good. (Except for that one person, of course, but that person has been giving me grief since I started WFH so I just open my ears wide and let the invective in one ear and go straight out the other. I don't report to this person, so it makes things much easier.)

The Beauty Shots

It was my pal Julie, who first suggested taking beauty shots of all my quilts. I thought they were kinda dumb. Over the years, I have had to admit that Julie was absolutely correct. Beauty shots are almost a requirement. What makes a good beauty shot, however, is all in the eye of the beholder.

Over the fence, near the snow, angled so the sun could emphasize the quilting??

On the granite steps? You can see the clamps I use to hold the quilt in place at the top corners, and the shadow of my phone at the bottom.

I thought this was it,  but I have learned to take a closer look,

I stepped back, to better appreciate the quilt on the granite steps of the old town hall. But the quilt wasn't the center of attention in the photograph so I thought I would hook one corner on the door handle. I have learned to bring big metal clamps with me, so the quilt will more or less stay where I put it. Since I do this all by myself, it's kinda tricky.

This isn't bad, but then I noticed the mullions on the windows stuck out about an inch. I wondered it the clamps would stay...

Indeed they did, but OH! But I had another thought.

When you have a setting like this, you should take advantage of it. But the sun was behind me, and it was shining on the screen of my phone, so I could hardly see what was in the frame. Hmm, this wasn't centered and I cut off the peak of the portico. Can you say re-do?

So I backed up some more. This one was actually taken across the street. I bring a step stool with me so I can get a photo like this with no distortions. And yes, I had to wait until there were no cars coming to take the picture.

Satisfied with these shots, I brought the quilt home and washed it to get it all soft and crinkly. I have found that if you do not do this, the folks you give quilts to will display them, but not use them because they look too perfect to use.

There are some people, though, who think a beauty shot of a quilt isn't a beauty shot unless it has a cat curled up on it. 

Who am I to refuse?