Blog — Page 38

Fabric Scraps

February 20, 2015 by Angie Leave a Comment

My picture today is of the fabric I trimmed off my 8-1/2 blocks ….. and now they all measure 7-1/2 inches. (I’m speaking of the Lulu Roses Butterfly Quilt).

Brooke is working on taking pictures of Chase’s quilt tomorrow so I should be able to share them soon …. and although I messed up in more than one spot … the quilt looks really nice!

When I went to bed last night I had a scratchy throat …. and today I woke up with a full fledge sore throat …. I’m drinking lots of liquids … taking it easy and I hope and pray the sore throat is gone when I wake up tomorrow!! (I’m also taking Zicam.)

See ya!

How to photograph a quilt

February 19, 2015 by Angie 3 Comments

How to photograph a quilt … is the subject of the day!!

I’ll start off by saying that I’m no expert …but by the time I finish my research I will be (plus my daughter is going to help me… thanks Brooke!!)

Both pictures were taken with a Nikon D7000 with a 50mm Prime Lens (we took the f-stop as far as it would go on the D7000).

We were going for the blurred background look … but our lighting wasn’t working because the sun only came out for a few minutes. We have studio lights … but not the right background.

Our next test will be using a gray screen using a Nikon D90 or Nikon D5100 …not sure of the lens yet.

As soon as we figure out the best camera and the best set up …we will share the details.

This may be the time to chime in and say Brooke’s major is in Photography at the Kansas City Art Institute … but … I personally take all my pictures. I finally broke down and ask Brooke if she could help me master quilt photography (and I’m happy to say she said yes …plus she can include them in her portfolio).

I’ve read several articles on how to photograph quilts …. but none of them really explained how to hang the quilts temporarily. I don’t want to add a rod pocket because I’m not entering them in a show … I just want a really nice picture for my blog and my scrapbook. Plus most of these quilts are gifts for my family (long distance) and who knows when I’ll see them again.

As for hanging it on a tree or on a fence … it’s winter here in Kansas and the only way you can get me to walk in that snowy backyard is if I had to rescue Miss Bella!!

See ya!

p.s. I’m getting Chase’s quilt from the long arm quilter tomorrow … if my memory serves me right … you have not seen his quilt.

Work in Progress

February 18, 2015 by Angie 6 Comments

My picture today is my butterfly blocks ….that I thought were finished …. and what you can’t see is my huge mistake.

Several of you have told me to share my mistakes …. so here it goes … the salvage side of your fabric is very important … so much so that it can really mess up a quilt if you don’t cut your fabric right!!

Some would call me hard headed …and this time I would have to agree with them.

Every time I think about the word salvage … I try to avoid it like the plague!

The reason being ….it confuses the heck out of me. It has been explained to me many times …but for whatever reason I can’t grasp it…. I think I have it now …. think … being the key word!!

Here’s my problem …. My 8-1/2 blocks are not 8-1/2 inches. Some are …most of them are not!! Because I didn’t place them on the die …with the salvage side facing the correct position …. grrrrrr

Don’t let this scare you off quilting …. It’s totally my fault!!

I have to say that I received excellent customer service from Accuquilt! My blocks were all different sizes and I had no clue what I had done wrong … so I called them and she explained …. more than once because my brain just shuts down when the word salvage is mentioned.

My plan to use a Layer Cake to make my butterfly quilt … gets the axe and instead I’ll use yardage.

All is not lost …. I have a fix …. my 8-1/2 blocks are gonna be 7-1/2 blocks ….after I trim all four sides of all 80 blocks. (I always say I learn the hard way!!)

All this means is it will take me a little more time to show any progress.

See ya!

Lulu Roses Butterflies

February 17, 2015 by Angie 1 Comment

After finishing my last quilt (Lulu Roses) I decided my next quilt would be one that required zero thinking.

Since I’ve made several Flower Quilts (and one Butterfly quilt) … I decided it would be cool if we could make a Butterfly Quilt with 2 Layers Cakes and 8 Fat Quarters.

I will admit that buying yards of fabric is way more affordable!!! But for me I have to think about how much I use my arms and what causes me pain. Using a paper trimmer and a rotary cutter are two activities that I have to limit (for now).

This past weekend I cut all the butterflies using the Accuquilt Critters Die.

It takes one minute per butterfly to stitch around each of them … 80 Blocks + 80 Butterflies … 80 minutes of sewing. Break that down into 20 minute increments (It took me four sessions of sewing to finish). After typing all that I’m wondering … is that info helpful?

That’s as far as I’ve gotten … I’m sad to say I haven’t touched my machine since Sunday …. I’ll share more when I’ve made some progress.

Happy Fat Tuesday!!

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