The clock is ticking..............

Well, I really haven't said much lately have I?

It's that time of year again, coming up to the Ailsa Craig Community Quilt Festival. The quilts of Great Britain is the country of choice, and very beautiful they are too. I had the task of unpacking and cataloguing them all last weekend, and had a lot of fun doing it.

My home, my heart, my country by Hilary Beattie, one of the quilts sent from the UK for our Trunk Shows.

Now, it's down to the nitty gritty. Sorting through the registrations, making sure they are all accounted for, answering queries, sorting out lunches for those taking classes, making sure all supplies are available and making endless lists. I dragooned the husband into helping this year, as he said, if I wanted to yell at anyone, it might as well be him. I haven't had to yell yet, so I guess he is doing something right. He has also been a big help in retaking some of the photographs.

I don't know what it is with us quilters, but I know lots of us feel that we don't have to worry about photographs of our work. When I entered my very first quilt show which happened to be the International Quilt Festival in Houston, I read through the instructions and I thought "oo..er, what are they talking about?" The photos have to be a certain size so that the whole can be seen and then a detail. From that they judge whether or not your quilt is acceptable. Well, they must have been alright as I had a quilt shown in Houston every year for four years in a row. Unfortunately, I don't get to see my studio very often so I haven't entered anything for a couple of years now, although I have lots of ideas buzzing in my head.

My first Houston entry, Homage to Klimt

Abandoned, (the Laird House)

I used to take classes online with Quilt University, and actually made the husband take one that they had on photography. It has stood him in good stead ever since and I am forever grateful to him for taking it, it has enhanced my work immensely and whenever I finish a piece, the lights come out, the background is hung and then the piece can be pinned to it, and off we go. I think the two photos above are very good examples of his work and show the clarity of the subject.

Now, I am by no means going to deride anybody's photo, but........... some of them left a lot to be desired.  We always ask for photos for the Festival as we like to produce a DVD to sell to the public and also for us to work out a hanging plan. This is important as we need to see what will hang where, the size, what will hang next to it, will the colours jar, or will they blend? Lots of things to take into account when hanging a show. Quite often, the photo will bear no resemblance colour wise to the actual quilt, which really does not help.

 A lot of them were good and there were a small number that had me shaking my head as I say. So, I think I will publish a post in the future on the subject of photographs. The husband and I are in the process of writing an article on the subject for publication, hopefully later this year, but I'm rather tied up with other things at the moment so it is taking a back seat.

I will leave you to ponder on this subject for the moment as I really need to get on with other things, but just needed a short break to keep in touch with you all. I will be back...........