Do you quilt and forget?
As in – are you a ‘love ‘em and then leave ‘em’ kind of quilter?
You spend all this time thinking about the perfect fabric combo, matching THE perfect quilt pattern that you’ve been dying to make. Then spend hours pressing, piecing, basting, quilting and binding her before sprucing her up for her close-up. You nail the shot and then…move on to the next quilt!
See.
Love ‘em and leave ‘em.
I get it. I’m a serial quilter too. I have no shame. I do fall deeply and madly in love with my quilts and then I move on, only to think of them…well, some I don’t think of and have actually forgotten about them until I’ve looked at photos. EEP. Horrible to admit. But totally true – ha!
Well, the other week, I revisited an oldie but a goodie!
Here’s what happened.
One morning, up at the lake, there were a few days where the weather was just gloomy – wet, rainy, foggy – and it was kinda magical.
Those conditions are the pits if you’re trying to soak up the summer days before the deep cold darkness of winter sets in. These darker rainy days are not exactly what us living in 6 months of cold and dark want – ha!
BUT.
When you don’t have to go outside, and you can sit and look at the weather change while dry and warm inside – it’s quite enjoyable.
And while I was sitting there on day-3 of this magical weather, I couldn’t resist the NEED that had been stirring inside of me to go outside and capture some quilts in the wild.
So – I did!
I grabbed my camera, a stack of quilts and my trusty quilt holder and we ventured out.
Pictured above is the Reverberance quilt pattern.
The fog has a tendency of rolling into the bay, disguising the islands and mountains beyond, before rolling back out – it’s fascinating to watch (who knew?!).
The weather changes in a nano second up there, so I only caught the tale end of the fog, but I adore how the light and setting allows the colours in my original Reverberance quilt to pop. It really emphasizes the design and showcases those gorgeous prints by Tamara Kate Design. Plus, paired with those matching solids – magical!
#1 PHOTOGRAPHY TIP
I often get asked about my approach to photographing quilts and it’s this – explore! Keep at it! Try and try again!
I had a vision in my head as to what I wanted to capture when I set out camera and quilt in hand. The fact that I got it is outstanding.
There are plenty of fails that precede these shots (and some from that session didn’t turn out).
Fabric, colour, nature, lighting – it’s an interesting mix to play with. And you won’t know how it all interacts until you get out there and try.
There have been days I’ve shot the same scene at different times of the day, just so I can understand how the light is playing off the quilt.
So, what I can say is this: avoid harsh sunlight. It’s the worst. You want bright, but not too bright. Too bright over-saturates your colours.
Here’s a fun look at this quilt in 3 different lighting settings:
I hope this inspires you to go digging in your quilty closet, pull out an old fave and give her another close-up. You might just fall in love all over again as I have with my Reverberance quilt!
To make your own, grab the Reverberance quilt pattern in the shop!
Happy quilting!
xo
Shannon
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