Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Quilting designs

This is my quilting sketchbook. I took a class with Gina Perkes this summer...she is an Arizona Longarm quilter, and she has won Best in Show at our state quilt show several times. She showed us this "squiggle" design for free-motion quilting...basically a question mark. (Please excuse the flash on the white paper!)

I am using this design on the infamous log cabin quilt. The quilting won't show up in a photo because it's cream thread on cream fabric! Kinda tricky to quilt in places, too! I love crawling under the machine to look at the back side...it looks like tin-punch artwork with the light shining through the needle holes and outlining the design.

If anyone has good photography tips for photographing quilts and getting the quilting to show, I'd love to hear them! I am using a Kodak digital camera.

5 comments:

Kim West said...

I noticed when I was at our guild's show this past weekend, the quilts that were photographed outside in sunlight made the quilting really pop - even white thread on white fabric.

The Calico Cat said...

When you hang the quilt to take a picture, the light should come from an angle, not direct.

Darcie said...

You've got a darling blog here...I'll be back. Right now I'm just taking a coffee break from quilting a gigantuous quilt: 121 x 95". And the client who made probably stands at 5'3" and weighs in at about 120#! I'm afraid she'll get lost in her quilt when she binds it! ;-)

Anyway...you're on "no-reply" commenting...so in answer to your question about that 9-Patch Cross pictured on my blog: I don't know of a pattern...but then I don't even think I took the time to read the description for that quilt. I just couldn't take my eyes off of it long enough, I guess! ;-) Maybe we'll see if any of the other bloggers know of any patterns out there in quilt heaven.

Thanks for visiting my blog...I'll be back to yours, that's for sure!

Samantha said...

Sometimes you can post-process the photos in a photo software program- I love free Picasa- and sharpen the image. that can make details stand out more- including quilting

Patti said...

As Amy said, the light needs to come from an angle. If possible, you should also no use flash. Use the "landscape" setting. Since the aperture is open longer you have to hold the camera very steady.