Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and visiting Chelsea

Our youngest, Chelsea, is completing her masters degree in geology at the University of New Mexico. This year we visited her while the Balloon Fiesta is going on. It's a week long celebration featuring hot air balloons. We got up VERY early, 5:30am,you have to be there very early for the Dawn Patrol. If you go, you must get there to see the Dawn Patrol. It's so cool to see hot air balloons flying in the dark. It's very dangerous to fly in the dark, but, I was told the 550 plus balloons need to be able to know the direction of flights, etc for safety reasons. The people in charge of the safety and tell the balloonists when it is safe to ascend are called zebras. Then, once the sun begins to rise the other balloons begin to unfold and inflate anticipating the Mass Ascension.

You old time hipsters out there will recognize this balloon. They even had a quilted balloon. This is the raffle quilt made by the local quilt guild, all proceeds going to different charities.

I think there is probably nothing more exciting for fabric enthusiasts, than to walk out amongst a sew of brightly colored fabric rising around you like being in the middle of a bright colored bubble bath.

First I'll update my progress on the OBWE

This quilt block is addictive. If you want to find your excitement for quilting again, you need to go back to what got you interested in quilting in the first place. For me it was a love the unusual in the fabric/design world. This quilt block is such a project. You are working with triangles and the design elements are pretty much set, but, the fun comes, for me, in the layout and addition of the tumbling blocks.

For the quilting design, I used the spider web. It's a natural. A lot of you machine quilters out there, know that the quilt will tell you how it needs to be quilted. Lay it out and look at it and you will begin to see the quilting it needs-cause you know, it's not a quilt until it's quilted. The quilt told me it needed spider webs. The "spokes" are a natural with the seams in the ditch and you add two webs to connect. The quilting around the tumbling blocks outlines the colors only-no spider web quilting.

This is an easy free motion quilting design. This is me with the camera on my machine, my goodness it must have been early in the morning. Ah well, any time is a good time to finish a quilt.

One Block Wonder Encore Quilt

OBWE has so many options, it's amazing to see what you produce. Here is what I've done so far. I'm having a hard time deciding what to do for the borders. Oh well, it will come to me. That really is my process, the design just "pops in" and I know instantly that's what I should do to proceed. Now, I wonder if it's so much practice, I've been a quilter for 24 years now, or is design intuitive? Are we born with it? Do we have that "reckless abandon" in us to go for it? My, my, my cliches are getting the best of me. Oh well, it's probably I enjoy quilting so much, I just like it when a "plan comes together".

The inspiration for the One block wonder encore class

Natasha was one of our members that has take full time employment and will get back to us when she can. She left us with this quilt that has inspired the group to make the OBWE.

One Block Wonder Encore third tumbling block

The OBWE quilt is growing. If you like to be creative and experiment and don't know what you are going to get until you put it together, i.e. you mystery quilt people, then you would like making this quilt.

One note about fabric. The saturation of color from my holy fabric-Ricki Timms material 24.00 a yard at the time it was for sale-I think it's more now-really stands up to time. I got it several years ago and my goodness it is still bold. The yellow hollow cube on the left side is "regular" quilt material, from a LQS in town called Among Friends. I probably paid 8 to 9 dollars a yard there. It is no slouch fabric, except when put in a quilt with an extremely expensive, hand dyed fabric. The other yellow hollow cube in the middle is also Ricki Timms fabric.

Oh well, my quilting goes on and my scrap can runneth over!

One Block Wonder Encore first tumbling block

Not a lot completed today. My DH had to have emergency kidney stone surgery yesterday, and I've been hanging around just "entertaining". He goes in tomorrow for a follow up visit.

But, I did get one of the tumbling blocks done-at least to the point that you need to be to sew rows of blocks.

This a really nice quilt using the same pattern that won second place at our State Fair. It should have won a blue ribbon. I've got a long way to go!

One Block Wonder Encore background

Well, the background has begun. This is going to have floating cubes in it. I've got some holy fabric I'm going to cut up and use in it. It's some lovely hand dyed fabric from Ricki Timms. The background is really muddled and I think it need something with a strong contrast. We'll see.

I'm going to try to use some of my holy fabric for the hollow cubes-you know that fabric you bought because you just loved it and like looking at it, dare I say worship? Naaah! Just really like it. but, haven't found any use for it. I'm planning on working on cubes tomorrow.