All good things must end

First of all, here's my quilt -- finished after a very long time sitting in the quilting hoop!  The quilt is actually a bit more turquoise than the photo shows... I had some lighting issues when I took the picture.  (One thing I have learned from my "silly photography" class is how vital it is to have good lighting -- but  knowing that is one thing, and achieving it is something else entirely!)


Here are some detail shots of the hand quilting:

My "silly photography" class is now over, and I have to say it was a fun way to get me to read the manual for my camera!  Here's my final image for the class, which I processed with two layers of  Kim Klassen's "golden" plus one layer of Shadowhouse Creation's "faux daugerrotype."  Check out Kim's Texture Tuesday party to see all the wonderful images that people create with her textures each week.


For me, the hardest assignments in this class were the ones involving strangers.... like the day we were told to take at least 100 snapshots of random people on the street.  I was planning on taking daughter #2 into the city for some shopping anyway, so I figured I could easily do both at the same time.  Let me just say that our shopping expedition was much more successful than the photography!   Although my eye is beginning to see things I might never have noticed before, I was stopped again and again by an inner voice that said, "don't go too close, you might offend someone."  I saw so many interesting things that day:  a toddler sharing his ice cream with a dog, a street vendor dozing in his chair, a little boy in front of a cupcake display trying to make a decision, a couple walking arm in arm oblivious to the crowds on the street.... but I was too afraid of intruding to capture any of those images.  How do street photographers get right into the scene and shoot?  

Here are the pitiful best of my shots that day:

(cupcakes sans little boy -- I didn't want his mom to think I was a stalker!) 

(I cheated here... this is my daughter!)

Sigh. Maybe I should stick with bees and flowers... and quilts!

(I used two layers of Kim Klassen's "golden" and one layer of her "dreams")