Who Loves the Sun?

The Willow Tree Quilt #2, shot in full sun

"Who Loves the Sun?" is one of my favorite songs by the Velvet Underground. It must be because I live in Portland, Oregon, where we get a fair amount of rain. It doesn't really rain as often as the residents like to tell others, though. They sometimes use it as a scare tactic to keep too many people from coming here. Oregon is such a sublime place, I can't really blame people for wanting to keep the population from growing too much.

So, who loves the sun, other than Portlanders? The answer: it's not a "who" - it's a "what" - whitework! Last year I acquired the second of the two "Willow Tree" quilts, but have struggled to get a decent picture of it. Last night I had it set up on a stand, and took pictures with backlighting - a good way to see the stuffed design.

The Willow Tree quilt #2, backlit

Today, it was still on the stand. I have been waiting for it to look right with the natural light coming in from the outside, but it's always looked flat, particularly because the foliage of the tree does not have as much relief as many of the other motifs. Before lunch, I went upstairs and saw sunlight blasting through the skylight on part of the quilt. Hmmmmmm.... 

Usually, when I see sun hitting a quilt, I run and take the quilt down to avoid fading. This time I realized there was no danger of the whitework fading, so I admired it for a few moments, took pictures, and then brought the whole setup outside to photograph the quilt in full sunlight. 

I look at this picture and think "omg, I can't believe I hung the quilt outside"

Anyway, I'm glad I did, because the sun is being fickle today, and went back into hiding shortly after I took the photos. It was an "a-ha" moment. I have never been happy with the photos I have taken of this quilt until today. As usual, I edited out the clamps and background in Photoshop. So, yes, whitework loves the sun!