Thursday 18 November 2010

The difficulties of entering shows.

Well over a week since my last post, how did that happen?
I ran out of spoons as my meds seemed to cease working properly. My dose is up 50% so the side effects of being sleepy all the time is back with a vengeance. 
I made some very pretty and very tasty cupcakes, I love the spotted papers, not so keen on the blue icing taking on a green tinge from the butter.
 I decided to enter one of the US quilt shows. They would like you to take your photos outside against a plain wall on a day with no wind. They don't live in wet damp England in November. Would you try and hang a wet quilt outside here at this time of year? And that is without the plain background. Most house walls in England are brick, not all but most. Stone wouldn't have helped much nor would a timber framed house.
So I used decorators tape to hang a sheet in front of the wardrobes then set up the quilt stand. I used the cheapie Finepix camera I'd bought but the distortion was too great, then I used the older one with the iffy focus motor but wasn't entirely successful. I ended up buying one of the super optical zoom cameras with a wide angle lens. Luckily my credit card gives me vouchers at John Lewis so I only had to pay a little extra. The close ups were amazing!
I won't show the entire quilt until it's had it's first show outing.

But the shots getting the whole quilt in still had a problem. Even though I had 360watts of light and forced flash,  the lighting conditions were such that the resolution wasn't high enough. So I have to move it out from in front of the wardrobes and closer to a window. See the problem? That's right, the sheet background can't come with me.
At this point I want to cry each effort takes it out of the small amount of energy I have and that's not even taking into account the pain.
I pin the quilt to the sheet from the back, then pin the sheet onto the frame (no I didn't make a sleeve for the sheet ).  At this point George has decided to add his 2c worth and distorting the sheet.

I got a good shot in the end and mailed it on time. Now I just have to wait to see if it's juried in...

And just so Rosie doesn't feel left out.
 She often disappears at the first sight of a camera and her fur confuses the lens most times I do get a shot, so this photo is a marvel.

10 comments:

  1. Hope you start feeling better soon Sally... and good luck with the show entry!

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  2. Good luck Sally, and hope the increase in meds helps a bit. I struggle to take good photos; every stage seems fraught with difficulties. I have quite a good camera, but it doesn't help! Fingers crossed.

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  3. Sally, I can't imagine your beautiful quilt not being accepted in ANY quilt show. Your work is always topnotch and the quilting on this one is just amazing.

    I know what you mean about photography, though. If I ever get a good picture, it's a total accident LOL :)
    Linda
    HP&A Yahoo Group

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  4. Quilt photography can be trying at times, but I have no doubt that your beautiful will be juried in.

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  5. Good luck mummy! And doesn't Rosie look gorgeous! X

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  6. Sally, I'm sure they will accept your quilt. It's gorgeous. And you can be sure: I know all the problems with taking pictures of wholecloths!

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  7. good luck! the bit you showed looks amamzing. i have similar problems with taking photos - limited wall space inside the house and no dog/cat/chook free space outside!

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  8. Fingers crossed!!Hope you feel better soon!!

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  9. Haha, yes it has not been great weather for outside photography lately - I'm having the same problem, and that's not with a massive quilt!
    The quilt looks terrific - good luck, I'm sure you will be selected.
    Hope you feel better soon.
    Lovely pic of Rosie - she's such a little puma!

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