Hand Embroidered USA Quilt - Big Reveal

Finally, the hand embroidered USA is finished.

 

AND...has beautifully been turned into a quilt by none other than the Queen of Quilts herself, my mom.

In her very capable hands and her professional long arm quilting machine, she stipple quilted a tight and detailed free motion design...

around the entire United States, into each detailed groove of each detailed state.

When you turn the quilt over, you can appreciate the detail she was able to achieve.

  She even precisely quilted around each of the states.

And, again, I am left in awe that the Queen of Quilts was able to take my hand embroidered USA...

And turn it into another beautiful quilt.

 Yes, another...this is my second USA quilt. 

We shall see if I get inspired to make a 3rd next year.

Both USA Quilts are for sales in the While Wearing Heels Etsy shop, along with other handcrafted items.

Go Manual - Additional Lighting

Sometimes, no matter how much you want, natural light just isn't enough.

This is typically the case when shooting something that is white on white, like the embroidered USA I just finished.  Natural light will reflect off the white on white subject leaving the lighting uneven and can compromise the details in your picture.

Have no worries, there is a solution and the solution is simple.  Add additional light.  Invest in some clamp lights.

Clamp lights which are sold at most home improvement stores for about $5 or $6 dollars a piece.  2 should be enough to provide additional lighting on each side of your subject. 

To build upon previous 'Go Manual' photography tips, set your camera to 'tungsten light' to push the quality of your pictures even further.

So, next time the sun isn't cooperating with you, get out your clamp lights and make your own light.

Embroidered USA Progress Report.

A week ago, I started my quest to hand embroider the United States of America.

Just as I did with the United Scraps of America quilt, I started with California.  Sunny California, depicted in yellow, felt like the perfect place to begin this journey.

By the time I reached Wyoming, I was wishing I had instead decided to embroider Canada or Australia.  50 states, when you've only finished 8, seems like such a daunting task.

Committed to finishing what I had started, I made my way into the Midwest.

I tried to keep the colors of the states bright and colorful but none too "girlie".  Of course, when I came to Illinois, home sweet home to this blogger, I selected a bright pink, the only pink used.

I spent 2 days on the East coast.  Very few states were given a color for a specific reason, with the exception of New York.  New York is apple red which seemed fitting for the 'big apple'.

The 50th state was finished on Easter.  Though the 50th state added to the union was Hawaii, the 50th state added to the embroidered USA was Connecticut. 

The embroidered USA is ready to be handed off to the Queen of Quilts, my mom, who will transform this into a quilt.

Perhaps I should go start on that Canada quilt now :)