Sewing with Certainty #6: Showcasing Your Work

As you can tell from the title, this two weeks' topic in the Sewing with Certainty series is about showcasing your work.  Laura, from Little and Lots, did a really nice post on this topic over at Jess's blog.  I really like her statement that "that a quilt isn't finished until you have taken good-quality photos and shared the quilt or the photos with other quilters."  I definitely need to work on this - especially considering it seems like there have been more than a few occasions when the quilt came out of the dryer, went directly in the gift bag and I headed out the door to the event!

Jessica's suggested prompts for this topic are: What are your favorite ways to share your quilting? Why do you think people should share their work? What kinds of venues would you like to try (Instagram, joining a guild, entering a show, etc.)? Tell us your favorite photography tips.

1.  What's your favorite way to share quilting?
My favorite way to share quilting is through photos on this little blog.  I also have an album of photos on my Facebook account, and I have a Flickr account too, but it's hard to upload photos to five million different places, you know?  I'm bad enough about keeping up the "Finished Quilts" tabs up there on the header!  (Note to self, gotta work on that - 2013 is over!)  To try and get as much bloggy exposure as possible I try and link my posts to relevant linky parties.  I also make the effort to comment on others' posts too - comments are the best!

2.  Why do you think people should share?
Well if people didn't share it would be much harder to be inspired, wouldn't it?  I'd like to think that this blog could inspire a new quilter/sewist at least a little bit!  And I certainly take a lot of inspiration from the (many) blogs I follow.

3.  What kinds of venues would you like to try?
Don't laugh, but I don't have a SmartPhone, so Instagram's kind of out for me.  I did learn of a Modern Quilt Guild chapter here in Louisville, but I keep forgetting to mark the meeting dates on the calendar.  I signed up to be an individual member of the national MQG a few months ago but I really should get to one of the local meetings!  I've also toyed with the idea of entering a quilt in our KY State Fair, but this is probably a "venue" for next year.

4.  Photography tips
I have no business offering photography tips, as the only thing I know about photography is that natural light is your friend.  (You'd laugh if you saw my little point and shoot camera - it matches my non-SmartPhone perfectly!)  I do think that a good tip/something I need to work on is finishing up quilts, especially those that will be a gift, in a more timely manner so that I can at least try and get more creative photos before they move on to their intended recipient.  I have a nice wooden fence in my backyard and I don't live too far from a park so there's really no excuse for trying to get a bit more creative.

Creative photo attempt #1 with the Pooh quilt

Creative photo attempt #2

Fall-back over the landing railing shot

My only question about creative photography is how do you keep the quilt clean??  Throw a sheet over a limb before you lay the quilt over?  Or just not worry about dirt because you do the photos before you wash it?  I'd appreciate your thoughts on creative photos while not trashing your quilt :)

Linking up with the Showcasing Your Work post at Quilty Habit!