How to Photograph Quilts Outdoors

My new pattern, Tree Frog Peekaboo, is a single bed size quilt and matching wall quilt. I needed to photograph the bed quilt for the pattern cover, so my hon came up with this great idea!

Materials: 2 sheets of rough plywood (cost - $15.77 each)
- 1 cotton painter's drop cloth (available at hardware or paint supply stores)
- wood tacks to attach the drop cloth to the plywood
- deck screws to attach the plywood to the deck railing
- a deck (if you don't have one, ask your hon to build one for you or build it yourself)

Tip: photograph on a bright overcast day - avoid direct sun, hot spots and shadows.
Bring your dog with you so you can take a photo like this:

Find A Quilt Teacher.com

Ami Simms (funny lady and American quilt artist) has come up with a great idea - create a website that showcases quilt teachers from around the world. As of today, almost 100 international teachers have registered - me being one of them.

Any one or group wishing to hire a quilt teacher can visit the site, register to log on, and obtain workshop and bio information. You can search teacher's names and geographical area. There are six of us from Canada so far. Check it out!

www.FindAQuiltTeacher.com

CBC Radio One Sudbury Gardening Phone-in

I'm doing a gardening phone-in this afternoon between 4:30 pm and 5 pm for my favorite radio station: CBC Northeastern Ontario on 99.9 FM!

I did these for 2 summers previously, until I got too busy with other commitments.

Spring has sprung, lawns are lumpy, hedges are shaggy. Time to spruce things up...

Pieceful Nights Quilters Guild Lecture

I had the pleasure of giving a lecture/trunk show at the Pieceful Nights Quilters Guild in Toronto on Wednesday. The guild is a small but welcoming group of quilters who meet in the afternoon to work on projects, then have their meeting in the evening.

Showing my Asiatic Lily wall quilt

The Sugar Maple Dance wall quilt

The members asked lots of questions and we had a nice visit afterward. Thanks for the invitation, ladies!

Loon Quilt - Quilt Canada '92 Logo

The Thunder Bay Quilters Guild hosted Quilt Canada in 1992. The guild held a contest for a design to be used to create the logo quilt for the conference. The winner of the contest was Virginia Antoniak, a talented designer and quilt artist.

Virginia Antoniak's winning design for the Quilt Canada '92 Logo Quilt, incorporating trees, the Sleeping Giant (a landform visible from the city of Thunder Bay), the waves of Lake Superior, a needle and thread, and the loon. The design style is the Woodland School of native art.

I was contacted by Krystyna Perron who represented the guild and asked if I would make the logo quilt incorporating Virginia's design. I agonized for 3 months over how I would use it, because I thought the drawing was perfect in itself and would not translate well if plunked down in the middle of a bed quilt. The Quilt Canada Logo Quilts had always been bed quilts, and I strongly felt that Virginia's drawing wouldn't translate well to that format.

The risk was that the Canadian Quilter's Association members would not appreciate a wall quilt as their conference logo. I talked to Krys about my idea, and she encouraged me to do whatever I felt was right.

I worked out the construction logistics in my mind, then spent 3 weeks making the quilt. It is foundation-pieced, hand-appliqued, beaded and machine quilted. I used silver metallic thread for the needle, and a large green faceted bead for the eye.

Quilt Canada '92 Loon Logo Quilt
Designed by Virginia Antoniak,
adapted and created by Janet Rice-Bredin

Fortunately the quilt was well received! Yesterday I was contacted by the Thunder Bay Quilter's Guild and they have been given full rights to use the quilt and image as their new guild logo. You can see it on their website home page.

Lily and Jim

The great stand-off. Do you think Jim the cat doesn't realize he is safe behind a door? They sat for many minutes staring at each other!