Guest Post

Today I have a special guest post for you, Kristin from Kristin Holt Photography and Modjeska Designs (check out her button on my sidebar).  We were talking a couple weeks ago about how I struggle to take pictures in doors during our long wet winters up here and I finally asked her if she would do a tutorial. She is a fantastic photographer!  She is also the one who put my new blog header up and she designed my awesome new watermark and taught me how to use it! You really need to check her out!

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You have an item you want to take pictures of for your blog but, you’re having a problem with lighting. Maybe you’re limited to only taking photos indoors because of the weather. Maybe you have a piece of fabric that you’re trying to take pictures of but, the pictures make the fabric look like your wadded it up and threw it on the table? Are you getting a lot of harsh shadows in your photos? Maybe the colors are true to what you’re seeing? Sound familiar? Then, this tutorial is for you!

What you’ll need:

• Window with sunlight (preferably north or south facing window)

• Portable surface to place your item

• Step stool or small ladder

• Reflector*

• Camera

*A note on the reflector: A reflector can be purchased from a general photo supply store. However, if you do not want to spend the time or money, there are quite a few inexpensive ways to create a reflector. One way is to use white foam core. This can be purchased at most big box or office supply stores. You can get the science project tri-fold foam core boards. You can also use a plain piece of cardboard and cover it with aluminum foil. I have also been known to use a white cutting board for a reflector. If you have a car window sunshade with a silver or gold reflective surface, that will work, too! Use what you have!

This is a pullback of my setup. This is a south facing window. These photos were taken in the afternoon. I am right up against the window.

This is a pullback of my setup with my trusty tri-fold foam core. In this photo, I do not have the foam core close enough to the objects I will be shooting. I will adjust the distance between my reflector and my focal point to get the effect I am looking for.

This is a photo of my subject without the reflector. Let’s face it, I love flat linens but, it’s not always easy to find time to iron. LOL

The cloth napkin is wrinkled. There are harsh shadows from the cup and the cinnamon stick. The colors aren’t really true. I’m seeing something lighter than what this photo represents.

Then, I add the reflector into the mix. I push that reflector right up to the subject I’m shooting. I want the light from the window to reflect off of the foam core and fill in the shadows and brighten my scene. Check out those wrinkles! Hee hee hee. Magic. They’re almost gone and I didn’t have to break out the iron. LOL

The shadow of the cup has lightened considerably. The dishes seem closer in color to what I’m seeing.

You will have to adjust the reflector to your object. Here are two similar photos. One has the reflector far and the other close. Can you see the difference a simple reflector can make?

That’s it. Simple.

You can do this!! Give it a try! I’d love to hear how it went for you. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Thank you,

Kristin 🙂

Kristin Holt Photography

www.kristinholtphotography.com

www.facebook.com/kristinholtphotography

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I fully plan on applying these tips to my quilts and quilting tutorials from now on! My fabric always looks wrinkled and…I’m always ironing it, this might be the solution to my problem!

Hi Everyone! Today I have my wonderful blogging friend Kim here. Kim blogs at Persimon Dreams and also runs Project Quilting!
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Happy Friday everyone! I’m so excited to be doing a guest blog post for Melissa! Melissa was gracious enough to let me squeeze in here to tell you about something really exciting that will be starting on my blog this Sunday, January 6^th!

Now that I’ve got your attention it’s time for me to tell you more about ‘Project QUILTING’! Project QUILTING is a quilting challenge that I run on my blog. It’s based off my love for Project RUNWAY but since I don’t know how to make clothes I thought, “Why not make quilts?”  I immediately called up my mother-in-law, Diane Lapacek, and recruiter her to be the ‘challenge giver’. She always jokes with everyone that when I get an idea, she gets a new job.

How does it work?

During the seasons of Project QUILTING (we’re about to start Season 4) my mother-in-law, Diane Lapacek, posts a challenge every other Sunday at Noon, CST. You have exactly one week to FINISH the quilt to fit the challenge. Yes – finish it – piece it, baste it, quilt it, bind it. I know it sounds scary and maybe even undoable, but trust me – it’s very doable and only a little scary.  Then you get a week to ‘rest’ before the next challenge goes up.

The first project QUILTING Challenge went up on April 11, 2010.  Since then I’ve hosted 28 Project QUILTING Challenges and 372 quilts have been created. Many participants have discovered that the key to finishing your piece is to think small.  I have created 24 wall hangings, 1 diaper cover, 1 kite, 1 mug rug, and 1 bag.

I completely realize that ‘things happen’ and you can’t always finish a quilt during a particular week (although we’ve had quite a few hand stitched ones entered too…). If that happens – no big deal! Just join in again when you can and use the challenge you missed as an inspiration for a future challenge.

What types of challenges are there?

The challenges each week range greatly – sometimes it incorporates a classic quilt block, like the shoofly or log cabin. 

‘Ebby and Augi Drive to Pensacola’ by Ebony Love (definitely recommend clicking on the picture above.  Ebony made a quilt like a roll of film sharing memories from her road trip)

Other times the challenge is a theme – architectural elements, road trip, or Stars Over America for example.

‘Palettes’ by Quilties inspired by a trip to the Hardware Store

And then, my favorite challenges are the times we get to go on a little trip to an office supply store or hardware store to find inspiration.  I don’t know how my mother-in-law comes up with these great challenges but I sure have enjoyed them.

What do I love about Project QUILTING and why would you love it?

Inspiration!  These 28 challenges have inspired me to create some pieces I never would have dreamed of without the inspiration.

The quilt I made for the ‘Large Scale Print’ Challenge was accepted and displayed at the Madiso Quilt Expo in 2011.

The quilt inspired by ‘Stars Over America’ made it to the finals in the NASA/Etsy contest and now hangs on the wall of the Kennedy Space Center.  Others have been purchase and are happy in their new homes.

I was very excited to have the Apple Tree quilt I made inspired by the Log Cabin challenge purchased for a child’s nursery.  These challenges have inspired me to ‘think outside the square’.  I had been in a rut before Project QUILTING started and was focusing on making what I thought ‘would sell’.  It turns out, when I create by inspiration, I’m more likely to actually sell!

Why do people love Project QUILTING?

It gets my mojo running again as it sets an attainable goal for each challenge – I LOVE participating to get the creative juices flowing again! – Kristin H.

Love having a finish line to work towards. Plus, it pushes me to try new things with the different challenges. Can’t wait for it to start again! – Carolyn D.

It encouraged me to work daily, think outside the “quilt”, met incredible friends, and motivated me to move away from patterns to find my voice…xoxo – Jennifer R

It was a great “jump start” to the year! – Lizz P.

Hope I’m not too late, but seeing everyone else’s interpretation of the theme is probably the best part, plus it really got my creative energy going!! Loved it!! – Becky J.

Since I haven’t been able to do a challenge yet, I love seeing the creativity of everyone who participates – always blows me away! – Melissa D

How do I join in?

Simple.  Just head to PersimonDreams on Sunday, January 6th at NOON CST to see the first challenge.  Take the challenge, be inspired by it, make and finish a quilt in the week time frame, post pictures of the quilt (or email me pictures and I’ll post them for you) to the Project QUILTING with Persimon Dreams Flickr Group.  Once you’ve done this your name will get put into a hat (literally) and you may be randomly chosen to win one of the great prizes from our sponsors that week!  In just over a week you’ll have a quilt and maybe a great prize on it’s way to you – seriously, how can you beat that?

Also – these challenges fit in really well with Melissa’s A Lovely Year of Finishes.  With the schedule of Project QUILTING you will have 2 quilts FINISHED each month for three months!  A great way to enter into her fun challenge and possibly win prizes too!

I hope I’ve sparked some interest in Project QUILTING with you and you decide to join in the fun!  Feel free to help me promote this fun challenge by grabbing the button below and adding it to your blog.

</p> <a href=”http://www.persimondreams.com/project-quilting/season-4″ target=”_blank” border=”0″><img border=”0″ alt=”Project QUILTING Season 4″ src=”http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g423/KimsCraftyApple/logo200_zps3476a62a.jpg” /></a>

All 28 of the quilted pieces I made during the 28 Project QUILTING Challenges. I’m so excited to be adding 6 more quilts to this mosaic by the end of March!

Find Project QUILTING on

• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Flickr

Today I have a special treat for you, Susan from The History Quilter.  I met Susan on Twitter – gotta love that social networking thing! We quickly discovered that we had so much more in common than just quilting. Susan is working on her master’s degree in education to teach High School History…and oddly enough before my wonderful daughter was born, I was doing the EXACT SAME THING!  Susan does a regular podcast that you can download and it is so much fun, I usually listen to it while I am cooking dinner – make sure you check it out!  One of my favorite things that Susan does every week is a food post – and she just hits it out of the park every week!
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2. Dust with cocoa or flour.  I like to use cocoa to change things up a bit.  Plus I like the color at the end. You’ll see….

3. Mix first six ingredients together. I usually use a stand mixer.

4.  Pour in 2/3rds of the batter into the bottom of the bundt pan.

5.  Mix up the Streusel Mix in a separate bowl.

6. Sprinkle 1/2 of the streusel mix over the batter.  Then drop in chocolate chips very precisely just like a quilter would do.

7. Oh come on….forget that – add them all in haphazard.  Who cares if they look nice?  Like our mother’s have said, it all mixes up in our stomach.

8.  Pour over the remaining batter.

9.  Take a knife and go down deep enough to swirl the streusel/chocolate chip layer with the batter.  Do not over swirl.

10. Sprinkle the remaining streusel over the top.

11. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Remember this is the bottom so cracking is just fine.

12.  Let sit about 30 minutes before you un-mold the cake.  I like to run a knife around the perimeter of the cake and the center to catch any chocolate chips that might have adhered to the sides that may prevent the cake from coming out nicely.  I usually do a quick 1, 2, 3 and flip…ah success.  See how dark it is?  That’s the cocoa.

13.  After the cake has cooled I sprinkle with a bit of sifted powered sugar but sometimes I leave it plain.

A huge thank you to Melissa for inviting me to guest post today.  I’ll be sending her a virtual piece of cake right away. Please come visit me at The History Quilter to see what I’ve been working on – quilting, sewing, gardening and cooking/baking.

Ciao,

Susan
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Thank you so much Susan! Everyone has to cook this and tell me how good it is because I’m allergic to chocolate and I need to enjoy it vicariously through all of you!

I will officially be back tomorrow and I have some really special things up my sleeve for you that you won’t want to miss out on!