Category: photography

Inspiration in Blue

We revisited Slow Exposures this weekend.  Slow Exposures is a “juried exhibition celebrating photography of the rural south” (from their website, here).  I wrote about it after our first visit to the exhibit in 2018.

As is always the case when we spend the day with these photographs, we feel inspired.

The display of photos entered in the photo contest at Slow Exposures.

Sometimes it’s the techniques used in processing the photos, sometimes it’s the way the photos are displayed, sometimes it’s the subject matter.  This year, I was entranced by blue.

ferns printed on wood

Two pairs of artists in the PopUp venues were working with cyanotypes.  A cyanotype uses paper (or fabric or wood) that’s been treated with chemicals which are light sensitive. Laying an image on the paper, then exposing it to sunlight produces an image. Having done some of this myself with fabric, I’m intrigued by the new spin on things when other people do it.

Jim captured this image of Ashley and Danea’s cyanotypes under glass. Displayed in a coffee shop, the scene was impressive.

Ashely Jones and Danea Males shared their work in the popup Some Kind of Blue.  Their work included  cyanotype images on paper and on wood. 

You can see more of their work at https://www.daneamales.com and http://www.ashleymjones.com

Some of the jewelry made by Ashley Jones and Danea Males.  I had already bought one of their pendants when I snapped this photo.

In the Out of Town popup, Elizabeth Limbaugh and Tara Stallworth Lee had collaborated to share their interpretations of Alabama images.  They had photographic diptychs, collages, and cyanotype prints. 

Elizabeth is the one of the pair who works with the cyanotypes and she and I shared our love of the process and techniques we’ve used.  

Elizabeth is on instagram @ewlfotografee

Vintage photos in wax by Dale Niles (at dalenilesphotography.com)

I loved learning about the encaustic process used with photos on our initial visit to Slow Exposures.  This year another artist was exploring that process with vintage photos.  I was intrigued since I love collecting old photos of known and unknown people to populate my stories in cloth.

So now I’m at home contemplating new ways to make and include cyanotypes and photographs in my textiles.  

A few weeks ago, I pulled out some of my old images I had printed and assembled them into a quilt top. Another larger project is under the quilting needle now, but this is in the queue.

My earlier post about Slow Exposures is here.

Quilts I’ve made using cyanotypes are in these posts:

Fern Fronds and Fibonacci

GBI Blues

Annie Mae’s Lace is an older post with fewer photos, but here I describe the sun printing (cyanotype) processes I have used in detail.

And in Annie Mae’s Lace in the Garden, there are more photos of the same quilt.

Annie Mae’s Lace in the Garden

I love Queen Anne’s Lace.  Every year I get excited to see it emerging in our yard.  I’m always intrigued to see where it decides to show up.

I scatter some seeds and sometimes they actually germinate and I have blooms where I intended.  But there are many more along the edges of the flower beds, in the cracks in the driveway and between brick pavers. 

This year, there are more clumps than ever, and several of those are growing along the picket fence in the back.

I decided to pose the quilt Annie Mae’s Lace with this year’s blooms.  It was a dreary day yesterday, but I snapped a few photos anyway.

I wrote about Annie Mae’s Lace back in 2016. I was only posting one photo per blogpost back then, but the details of the making of the quilt are fully explained. Click here to read that post.

I’ve written about Queen Anne’s Lace before – a story about it during quarantine is here.

Another quilt with a sunprinted image of Queen Anne’s Lace is GBI Blues. That quilt and its story is here.

More sunprinted images (including some Queen Anne’s Lace) are assembled on my design wall right now. And, there are more in a box waiting to become something…

Not a Lonely House

On our country rideabouts I like to discover old houses.  Those that have been kept in good repair or remodeled are appealing and happy, but I also love those that have seemingly been abandoned.  I can imagine stories and people that once inhabited those now bare walls.

I occasionally snap photos of these houses for future reference for stitching or sketching.  

This is actually not abandoned…an old church now used as a community center of sorts…but we’ve visited it with cameras more than once. It’s so serene.

I’m not alone in loving these houses.  On some social media sites, these have recently been called “lonely houses”.  An enchanting phrase that describes the essence of these places.

But there’s one house en route to one of our antiquing hot spots that’s only lonely sometimes.  If we pass by at just the right time of day, this house has visitors.  The four-legged kind.  How fun is it to see these horses eating on the porch.

The horses don’t like to pose in perfect lighting conditions for a photo shoot, but on this day we happened by at feeding time and I got a couple of shots.  

An update on the red hearts on linen…

Since my last post, I’ve abandoned the ‘one-heart-a-day’ plan and have been stitching several down during tv time each night.  Almost all the ones I had pinned in the last photo you saw are now stitched in place.  I’ll probably add more small ones…but it’s nearing completion of the appliqué stage.

Red Hearts on a Quilt

If it’s February, then I need to stitch hearts.  

Somehow, every year, the second page of the calendar sends me to needles and thread with hearts in mind.

This is not the time of year for me to be taking great nature photos to use in my Good Morning Girls text messages.  Yes, I’m still doing that…today is day 665, by my count.  During December, I sent photos of Christmas ornaments, our Santa collection, and amaryllis blooms.  This January had warm days with some still blooming plants in our yard, but things are a bit bleak outdoors now.  A few daffodils are up, but I needed a photo scheme for February.

I’ve wanted to learn more about photographing indoor vignettes…some “sewing still lifes”, I guess you could call them.  So yesterday, I pulled some hearts out to shoot.  I found some jewelry, some buttons, and some fabric hearts I had made.

As I played with the red hearts and the companion fabrics I pulled to use as background, I began a plan for a heart quilt.  

I made a blue one a few years ago, Loving Blues , by stitching hearts on blocks, then assembling them.  

This toile heart is posing on the linen tablecloth I plan to use as my background fabric. See the red border already in place?

This time, my plan is to start with a linen tablecloth from Europe. It has a red border woven in, so that’s convenient…and I won’t have to assemble blocks when I’m done with the hearts. 

I’m planning some appliqué, some embroidery, and some who-knows-what for the hearts. I’ll use many of my vintage fabrics, but I have some nice commercial prints that I’ll likely include. I’m thinking one heart per day in February…but these plans may change.  They often do.  I won’t bore you every day, but I will keep you posted.

And I’ve begun with a heart made from my sister’s red and pink toile drapes that she moved with her from house to house over some 40 years.

I suspended this favorite February pendant of mine over the back of a quilt with red in it. I’m liking this kind of play with the camera.

Sandhill Tree Farm

Sometimes on our quilts-on-location outings, I plan the colors of the quilts with the anticipated background.  But sometimes, I just grab some quilts that haven’t been photographed lately and head out the door.  On our recent outing to the state park with the cypress trees (that post is here), I carried along a quilt with neutral colors.  

The beauty of the browns and grays colors in this landscape made me glad I had grabbed this quilt.

I love neutral color combinations, but Sandhill Tree Farm is one of a very few quilts I’ve made in that genre. 

As soon as I noticed the colors of the park office, I knew that quilt needed to pose on those rocking chairs.  The color of the building’s siding was a great background for this one.  

Walking down Squirrel Run Trail, we found more neutral colors..and a splash of blue popped in occasionally.  There’s a plan for a quilt I could love…all neutral browns and grays with a pop of blue.  

Sandhill Tree Farm posed nicely on the railing of the deck near our picnic spot, too.

This graphic quilt was oh-so-easy to make.  I used the “pine tree block” within the Tree Farm pattern I designed a few years ago.  By the way, all my patterns are now free.  If I have printed copies available, I will pop one in the mail to you if you ask for one.  Otherwise, I can send a .pdf file to you via email.  Again, free.

This pattern layers three or more fabrics, then you cut them apart following a preprinted pattern on freezer paper, shuffle the fabrics, and reassemble.  The original Tree Farm pattern is more complicated because there are other more involved blocks included, but if you just use the pine tree blocks, it’s a quickie!

I arranged the blocks on the design wall so the blocks having darker backgrounds formed a sort of border.  A quick vine for a quilting design, and this one was done!

I love how the natural light comes though the quilt on the railing.  For this quilt, I chose one of my go-to quick motifs for quilting, a meandering vine and leaves. Normally draped over a chair in our bedroom, this quilt enjoyed the outing.

Check out the publications tab at the top of the page for patterns, including this one.

Dots in the Cemetery

This is the time of year Jim and I frequently ride past the cemetery.  We are keeping a check on our gingko friend whose leaves provide beauty against the blue sky.  

We decided it was time to go with cameras and quilts yesterday.  The color was nice, but the carpet of leaves I like for spreading quilts on the ground was a bit sparse.  It was crisp and cool and glorious.

I’ve written about our visits to Rose Hill Cemetery before.  The posts here and here include more images and some history of the place.

I carried several quilts, but Dots and Vines was one of them.  I posed her on a bench near the big gingko tree. 

Then I looked behind me on another bench and there was a serendipitous find – more dots.  Someone left her paint palette behind…just waiting to pose with my dots!  

We took more quilts…I’ll share those later.  And, I haven’t forgotten the story of my challenge quilt….it’s coming.

The Orange Season

This is the time of year for orange.  It’s not always my favorite color, but it complements the hue that is at the top of my list.  

The quilt behind this pumpkin is one made by my dear friend, Mary Ellen. It’s wonderful all times of the year, but it is perfect with this orange pumpkin!
This quilt is Heaven in a Wildflower, a challenge quilt.. A post about it is here.

I have quilts about with orange in them that come out to play this time of year.  And I can’t resist buying a few pumpkins.

On a recent trip to Butterflies in Bloom at the Briar Patch, orange was the color of the day.  Some of these shots look like they want to play on a quilt.

And you might not be surprised to learn that I have some orange fabrics scattered about in my playroom, oops…I mean my sewing room these days.  It just seems right.

This is a block from the Bird Dance quilt by Sue Spargo…no, I haven’t written about this one yet. I will.

As I thought about gathering these orange images, I looked around and saw that I’ve sewn on orange a lot..and not just pumpkins.

Withered and Brown

Ya’ll know I love brown.  My grandmother’s tea leaf pattern china with its brown and white scheme, all kinds of treenware (usually a shade of brown), and vintage linens (often with a bit of brown stain somewhere) bring brown into view everyday. Oh, and my brown cows stroll around in the breakfast room.

I like brown plants, too.   I see beauty in the fading stage of a flower’s life as well as in the emerging beauty seen in spring.  So this time of year brings even more brown into my camera lens.

Some recent photos celebrate the fading stage. Enjoy some brown! 

This hummingbird doesn’t mind that its perch is drooping and brown.  He can still rest quite comfortably here.

 

This withering zinnia is the same color combination as Granny’s china and my creamer cows.
A Pearl Crescent finds something to like on this even more withered zinnia.

This praying mantis caught a ride on the “trash can to the street journey” one day and I brought him home to the porch.
Pink is never my favorite color, but the withering pink here captured my attention.
This red zinnia is aging (aren’t we all?) but look at the color scheme revealed! I see French General red fabrics with their companion browns and grays.

My sewing basket has a brown collection in it, too.  A long-term project at hand right now is one with brown irregular hexagons.  I’m hand piecing them with a modified English Paper Piecing process…I remove the paper before stitching them together.

Some plants in my yard are confused.  As I write this and share the glories of withering plants, I have three fresh-from-the-earth Queen Anne’s Lace plants scattered in the garden.  One is blooming delightfully now; others are ready to bloom. It’s like they are reminding me that “green is beautiful, too.” Yes, it is!

I’ve written about the beauty of brown before. Type “brown” in the search box in the sidebar and you’ll find more.

Trees at Smithgall Woods

Earlier this week, we found ourselves roaming around some of the mountains in north Georgia.  We ended up having a picnic lunch beside a creek at Smithgall Woods State Park.  The parking area was bounded by these fabulous trees – some species of pine, I think – so I was glad I happened to have some quits in the car.

This tree quilt is one of several I made many years ago, adapting a pattern by Caryl Bryer Fallert.  The tree is appliquéd to a batik background fabric which still pleases me.  The quilting is minimal stippling with an invisible thread (the early part of my quilting life, remember?)  and I never gave it a name or attached a label.  I actually made a couple of these as gifts; this one is still hanging around.  I think seeing it perched on a fence under those trees is worth the years of storage.  It measures 40” square.

I had another quilt in the car; one I’ve written about before.  But it is a showy quilt and wanted to nestle in the branches of one of these trees.  So we tossed Remember Me up on a limb and snapped some photos.  Details of the story behind and construction of this quilt are in an earlier post here.

My loyal companion helping with placement and photography. Life is oh-so-wonderful with him!
We weren’t the only ones enjoying a bite of lunch in this bucolic setting.

On the Road Again

Once the Covid vaccines were in our bloodstreams for two weeks, Jim and I headed to an antique mecca.  We went on a weekday, took a picnic lunch, and distanced ourselves from people.  

But we didn’t distance ourselves from the joy of antiquing.  Seeing items like these toys trigger memories and lead to writing forgotten stories for the next generation.  

Seeing color combinations and delicious fabrics always stimulates my quilt design.

Before Covid hit, a favorite old cotton mill filled with antique booths had closed.  We were saddened by that, but delighted to learn that it is now occupied by new owners, filled with upscale decor items and some antiques.  The exterior is spruced up, too, making a visit there a new kind of thrill.

You know I love blue and brown.  You know I love toile.  You know I love nice bows.  Well, who knew I would find them all in one place?

This sweet little train case was waiting for me…a brown case lined in a toile with blue accents, and a beautiful bow.  It had to come home with me.

Now it’s ready to be filled with indigo overdyed fabrics and trims to complement the lining.