A Photographer’s Dilemma

My photographer, Glyn Davies, had a real challenge this morning. He was photographing my “Portraits in Lace” quilts for the cover of my newest pattern. When we hung the quilts on the wall, there were large shadows behind them because of the wire hangers I used to display them. So Glyn came up with a very high-tech way of photographing them. Using duct tape, a piece of string and a 4-foot length of dowel from Home Depot, we suspended the quilts from some metal poles that were in the studio. My job was to hold the string at just the right angle, so the wire hanger would stay straight.

Glyn is now working his Photoshop magic to remove the background from the photos, and by tomorrow, I will have some wonderful pictures to put on my pattern cover!

And now I have to figure out how to photograph these quilts?

Glyn Davies, quilt photographer extraordinaire!

Notice the high-tech equipment we are using. The string was especially important!

Watch for the finished photo coming soon!

Little Picture Quilt #1 (Pattern #305)

Little Picture quilts are quick and easy to make. They have a picture pocket that holds a 4" x 6" photo. You can change the picture whenever you like and, as you can see, you can use either vintage or contemporary pictures. The quilts can be hung either vertically or horizontally so they are quite versatile and they make great gift items.

I have just finished these new models using some of the new Spring fabrics. I hope you like them.

"City Girl" fabric by Benartex

"Mambo" fabric by Windham Fabrics

"Mambo" fabric by Windham Fabrics

Happy Easter

My daily photograph for today, Easter Sunday, is of one of my Little Picture quilts - A Touch of Nostalgia (#312). The pictures is a standard 4" x 6" printed photo, so you can change the picture whenever you like. The fabric is one of the new Northcott fabrics, "Seems Like Old Times".


I have been busy making new models of all of my Little Picture Quilts for my upcoming shows at International Quilt Market in Portland, OR and the TrendTex Show in Vancouver, BC. The new spring fabrics are wonderful to work with - bright and cheery, and many have a very retro 1950s and 1960s look. Watch for more pictures of my Little Quilts using these fabrics. I will be posting them in the next couple of days.

Portraits in Lace

My newest pattern, "Portraits in Lace" #331, is now finished. It will be on my web site in the next few days. The pictures are printed on fabric and then framed with lace. You could also make photo transfers of the pictures. You can use lace applique shapes as shown in these pictures, or use lengths of new or vintage lace to frame the pictures. I used the "Memories" and "Family" hangers from Ackfeld Manufacturing to display these little quilts.

Quilts for Chernobyl

For the past several years, the Thousand Islands Quilters' Guild has been making quilts for the orphanages in Belarus, the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster in 1987. 102 quilts were made in 2006 and 115 quilts in 2007. These quilts are distributed to the orphanages by Canadian Aid for Chernobyl which is based in Brockville, Ontario.

Most of the quilts are made from a simple design that is machine pieced and quilted in such a way that each quilt is reversible. Here is a picture of one of the recently completed quilts.

More from the Marianne van Silfhout Gallery

Here are pictures of some of my favourite pieces of art in the "Past, Present, Future" show at the Marianne van Silfhout Gallery, St. Lawrence College, Brockville.

"Ancient Angkor" Mixed Media Collage by Diane Godwin-Sheridan

Gnome Sculpture by Jean Marr

"Mad Hatter's Teapot" by Jean Marr

Marianne van Silfhout Gallery

I am pleased to have 6 of my quilts hanging in the Marianne van Silfhout Gallery at St. Lawrence College, Brockville, as part of the “Past, Present, Future” exhibit by former and present faculty of the College.

My "Working Girls" and "Thanks for the Memories" quilts

My "Hang Ups" quilt

This state-of-the-art community art gallery, opened in September 2007, is a focus for the visual arts for Brockville and the larger Eastern Ontario area. Creation of the gallery was made possible by a major half-million dollar bequest from the estate of Marianne van Silfhout, a graduate of the Fine Art program at St. Lawrence College, as well as numerous donors to the St. Lawrence College Foundation.

Finally, Some Good News About the Weather

In today's Ottawa Citizen, David Phillips, Environment Canada's senior climatologist, has stated that despite the fact that Ottawa has seen snow three out of every four days since November 20, there has never been snow in June, July or August.

Weather Obsession

As you can probably tell, Canadians are obsessed with the weather! Here are some of the latest statistics as published in the Ottawa Citizen this morning:

5,500 kilometres of roadways, plowed more than once in Ottawa this past weekend
$65 million snow removal budget in 2008
83 centimetres of snow fell this past week
56 centimetres of snow fell since Friday
400 snow shovels in stock at the Canadian Tire store at Bank and Heron at the start of the weekend
0 shovels left as of Sunday night
0 snowblowers left at the same location

The Colour of the Year

Pantone Inc., the global authority on colour and provider of professional colour standards for the design industries, has selected PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris, as the colour of the year for 2008. I wonder how this choice will affect the fabric and quilting industry. Pantone has a fascinating web site, with colour information for everyone. You might like to check it out!

The Country Quilter

The Country Quilter quilt shop is located in Richmond, Ontario, just a short drive from Ottawa. It is situated in a heritage home that, over the years, has also been occupied by a post office, shoemaker, tailor and undertaker. The shop, owned by Ann Mclean, was the site for the filming of The Great Canadian Shop Hop for QNN last Friday.

Stairs to the upper level where my segment for the show was filmed.

The shop is full of interesting nooks and crannies for fabric, patterns and quilting tools and the dedicated and helpful staff is most hospitable. Be sure to visit this great quilt shop if you are in the Ottawa area.

Display of Northcott "Quilt For A Cure" fabric.

More fabric!

Even more fabric!

The Great Canadian Shop Hop for QNN (continued)

After a busy morning of filming the Great Canadian Shop Hop for QNN, we all sat down to a healthy lunch. Ann McLean, owner of the Country Quilter, had arranged for our “catered” meal and even made the chocolate cake sometime during her busy schedule in the morning.

Because the focus of the show was on the Breast Cancer Support project, there was pink everywhere. Ann had beautiful pink quilts throughout the shop, a pink tablecloth on the table and most of the participants in the show were wearing pink as well. Even Barry, the camera guy, wore a pink shirt!

The Great Canadian Shop Hop for QNN

Filming for the Great Canadian Shop Hop programme for QNN (Quilters’ News Network) was done yesterday at the Country Quilter quilt shop in Richmond, Ontario. Shop owner, Ann McLean, was at the shop very early in the day, baking muffins and coffee cake, and welcoming the many quilters who were part of this event. The show, produced by Tricia Sherman from Vancouver, focused on The Quilt: A Breast Cancer Support Project. Co-ordinator of this event, Carol Miller, was there and it was a great pleasure to meet her.

Here I am with Barry (the camera guy) and Tricia Sherman, producer of the Great Canadian Shop Hop

I was thrilled to be the guest pattern designer on the show. I did a demo using some of my newest patterns, including my Hang Ups, Pop-Out Picture Quilts and Pop-Out Picture Books. I also talked about how easy it is to print pictures on fabric and incorporate vintage linens and lace in memory quilts.

Barry, the camera man, was amazing! He was interested in the whole quilting process, even to the point of wanting to film underneath the frame as the quilters were working, so he could show what was actually happening on the underside of the quilt.

Shop owner, Ann McLean was a wonderful hostess throughout the day. She remained calm and collected, while multi-tasking constantly. And of course, the shop was open, so Ann and her staff were dealing with the regular customers while all the filming was happening throughout the store. More information about this wonderful shop will be included in a future post.

"The Quilt" project co-ordinator, Carol Miller (l) and shop owner, Ann McLean

Here's Tricia getting a quilting lesson from one of the experts at the Country Quilter