I know that we use our cameras to show off our work, but a note in another thread just solved a huge problem for me.

jaciqltznok wrote a suggestion about putting a HST quilt together, but the thing I'm holding on to is ... take a picture of it laid out, then sew.

THE PROBLEM is I'm working on a quilt for my husband - I have it laid out on a spare bed and keep it covered with some backing material. I take a few blocks at a time back to the sewing machine (have to go through the living room where he's sitting to get there) and then sew those few together. BUT I sewed 8 of them together WRONG. I can't remember how they go once I get to the sewing machine. Even though I picked them up very carefully - one set was right and the next set I've had to totally rip out. Now I'll take my camera back there with me, snap a shot, pick up those blocks, go and sew!

So ... what else do you use your camera for? This little hint just saved me on this particular quilt! (AND I should have thought of it myself!)

What a great idea! Sure would save a lot of ripping.

I have my quilt laying on the floor next to the sewing machine, picking up one row at a time and sewed the row wrong. What could I use for an excuse?? Ripped it out twice only to discover I had dropped one piece and that was the reason it was wrong to start with. I shut everything off at that point and walked away.
I use my camera to take pictures of my china cabinet so when I remove things to clean the shelves I can get it back the way I had it.

Absolutely! I can be distracted easily, so I always take a picture of what I'm doing or follow the picture on the pattern. Here's an example.

I take a picture of the quilt laid out on my design wall before I sew it together. Quite often the camera shows something that just does not go together better than I can see with my eye

I made extensive use of my camera for a watercolour quilt I just made. Made it really easy to check the values (in black & white) to make sure I had the arrangement right. Plus, I often snap a picture just to have something I can see from a distance, as it were. Gives a different perspective on the quilt than looking at the design wall, and has helped me decide on borders and block placement in the past.

My design wall hangs in front of my machine, so if I can't keep pieces straight when I move from the wall to the machine, a camera wouldn't help me much :)

I label my blocks.

When I lay a quilt out I pin the pieces as I pick them put to sew. Even if you only put one pin. I might sew 2 together and then go back and lay the sets of 2 down and then pin again. Of course I do all of mine in my sewing room.

Aren't the digital cameras great!

I also use a digital camera to help when I'm putting the blocks together on my design board. If the design is one where I am playing with which way I want to set up the blocks, I'll take pictures of each set up and then review the pictures when my mind is fresh.

When I was making my daughter's quilt, I use EQ5. I had a lot of the same blocks in about 6 different colors. It took a lot to figure out how to set the blocks so that the same colors were not too close to each other. After I finally had it figured out, I printed the quilt out and pinned it up on the design board so that I could refer to it whenever I needed to do so.