Yesterday was day one of three photo shoots this week for the book. We wanted three different locations so there would be variety in the shots and readers could see how well the designs crossed over from a 1914 bungalow (ours) to a 1920s apartment to a 2009 urban loft. We shot two quilts yesterday in four hours.

To provide atmosphere, we convinced one friend into bring over her gorgeous, very sculptural, gray standard poodle to pose on a white rug in front of a blue-green-gray quilt on a white sofa. We wondered how the dog would do in a new environment amid flashing light bulbs. But the dog knew just how beautiful he was and that he was worthy of the attention. So he sat up tall and smiled for the camera shot after shot after shot. It was amazing. He made our quilt look fabulous and gave a real-life quality to the pictures that you don’t get with the standard flat shots. Ironically, the shot above was taken prior to the arrival of the poodle. Once he got there though, Bill and I were so mesmerized by his incredible presence that we forgot to take our own pictures of him. Happily the photographer got it all and Cory the poodle got a big selection of dog treats personally selected by our daughter who loves him also. Leave it to an 8-year-old girl to choose a dog treat shaped like a doughnut with blue icing and sprinkles.

We’ve spent months scouting out locations for the shoots and more than once I have asked friends of ours to describe their beds to me wondering if they had the perfect bed for that one last shot we hadn’t figured out. While I wasn’t nervous about the photo shoots I was extremely focused. I wanted so much for every detail to be perfect. I drove around to four florists on Monday looking for just the right flowers and greens. We’ve spent a year planning and working on this book and we want it all to look so effortless.

Bill caught the picture of me above standing in the archway of the apartment while our photographer was doing a light check. For a moment I was dreaming about how beautiful I want this book to be and how excited I want you to be when you see it. We’ll do it all again tomorrow and Friday for the other quilts. Alas there are props to make and find before I sleep.