Why aren’t my blocks in the Virtual Quilt?
I really DO appreciate when quilters who receive the sneak peek email find the time to make early blocks and send me photos. And I know that after you make that effort, it’s frustrating if you don’t see your blocks in the virtual quilt that’s made from those photos.
There are the four most common reasons why your blocks may not be included in the virtual quilt–as you can see, it’s all about me 😉
- I misplace your email. I’m embarrassed to admit that this happens … but, despite my efforts, I know it does. If you can send your photos as a REPLY to the sneak peek email, it’s less likely to happen, because all the block photos will be in a single discussion thread in my mailbox.
- I am unable to crop your photo into a square block. Here is an extreme example of a block photo and what happens to it when I crop it to create a square virtual block:
Given enough time and effort, maybe I could have manipulated the original photo on the top into something that looked like a nice square scrappy triangles block, but I rarely have time for that. In order to take nice square photos, if your photo is on the table or floor, your camera needs to be directly over it, facing it squarely. - I cannot easily color-correct your blocks. I think we all know that it is sometimes hard to get the correct colors in our photographs, but if, in your photo, a color that is specified in the guidelines is especially off and I cannot easily color-correct it, I may not include it. The reason isn’t so much a matter of aesthetics, but because there have been instances where someone didn’t use the correct fabric because they, “noticed that some of the blocks posted” didn’t seem to use the correct colors. There is an element of TRUST in the Block Lotto. We TRUST one another to follow the guidelines and we TRUST that the color isn’t always perfect in the photos we take. Still, for the virtual quilt, I am likely not to include your block if the color in your photo is especially off (even though I TRUST that your block is correct) … so as not to open the door for someone to make wrong blocks as a result.
- I am overwhelmed by the sheer number of virtual block photos. I try to include all the virtual block photos, but there have been months when I’ve received over 100 block photos and, again, I just don’t have the time it takes to crop, upload, and create the HTML that displays the blocks as a quilt. I will never complain when this happens (only ask for your understanding) and I promise that I will work on finding a faster way to put it all together so I CAN build a giant virtual quilt if you send me the photos.