2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge-June-Cindy Needham

Our guest teacher for June was Cindy Needham, http://www.cindyneedham.com/ who is an amazing quilter/teacher/artist!!! You should check her site out!!

Our task this month was to Divide and Conquer, or, do a swirl doodle and fill in the spaces with machine quilting. I decided to do kind of a free flowing, wavy sort of design and actually had first decided to do it horizontally.

This is my doodling on paper. I was at first going to add letters. I may still do this for my grand-daughter :^)

I first used my blue washout pens to draw the design on the fabric.

Then I began to fill in each space with quilting.

As you can see from the three photos above, I had the mind set of a horizontal design. But I did not like it at all, so it sat for awhile, untouched!!

Then I moved it a quarter turn to a vertical view, and it was a surprise!! I liked it so much more and it was begging to be filled in. How silly when you think about it!!!

So now that I liked the design, I could actually find my hummm-purrr like Cindy described. It is as though you are one with your machine gliding along at a comfortable, relaxing pace :^)

More photos to show some close ups and the beautiful texture this kind of quilting makes!!! I did a little shading with a crayon. I am not so sure I really like that part, but too late, it cannot be removed!!

WOW, what a great tutorial. I learned a lot and I learned tons from all the other members of our challenge group. I just love the sharing that is going on!!

Thanks to Cindy Needham for such a wonderful lesson and to SewCalGal, http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/
for hosting this year long challenge. The education and experience is priceless!!

Take care everyone, Happy Quilting, and keep those needles sharp!!
Martha

Hot air ballooning-the largest pieced work ever!!!

Yesterday my husband and I had the awesome experience of going up in a hot air balloon called Heaven Bound owned by Chris and Jennifer. This is an amazing hobby she and her husband share.

I work with Jennifer at Mid Valley, one of the Samaritan Health medical clinics in our area. Jennifer and Chris spent 11 weeks and 300 hours sewing this balloon!!! Can you imagine that? Talk about the largest air-quilt in the world and the largest blocks ever to sew together!!! WOW, I am so impressed by their work! Truly inspiring!

We arrived at their house at 5:30 am, loaded up and headed to the take off field not far from their house called Field of Dreams because of the baseball diamond that the farmer built for his children!!! He allows the balloonists to lift off from his farm!! A very friendly farmer indeed!!

We got to help the crew set up the balloon in preparation for our flight. It was so interesting and a wonderful learning adventure!! And hard work!!!

Filling the balloon with air

Once everything was done and ready, we got in the basket and prepared for take-off!! But first we needed our photo taken :^)

Chris the navigator on the left, me-notice my u of o duck sweatshirt, my husband Briese on the right

Once that was done it was time for us to ascend into the sky and wave good-bye to the hard working ground crew!!

Jennifer is the one waving :^)

and off we go

up up and away!!!!!!

The ground crew from our point of view, all packed up and ready to follow!!

What a view we had from above! The land looks like a quilted mosaic of greens and browns. It was so peaceful and quiet up there!!

 

OK, sometimes it wasn't completely silent, like when we needed a little heat to stay afloat!!! The propane is noisy but needed!!!!

And now to find a place to land!! This time of year is difficult because the crops are growing and you do not want to land in a farmers field that has not been harvested. We found a perfect driveway in between all the fields, so the crew went to the house and asked the homeowner if it would be OK to put the balloon down there. We got the OK and began our descent!!

Our goal landing site is that house in the upper middle right

Once we got low enough, Chris had my husband throw out the landing rope for the ground crew to grab and pull us to the driveway to put down on.

Our shadow on the field

The ground crew pulling us over to the driveway so we don't land on the freshly cut field.

Getting all the excess air out of the balloon in the bag!!

The Heaven Bound Crew!!! Jennifer is the second from the right and Chris second from the left, they are the two who sewed this balloon!!! Amazing!!

We want to thank the six of you for a wonderful ride and experience. You are such kind, generous people, and we are so blessed to have been given the opportunity to know you :^)

Thank-you Thank-you Thank-you!!!!!!

To everyone reading this, I hope you enjoyed this adventure!! If you ever get the opportunity to go up in a hot air balloon, or sky quilt as I see them, take advantage!!! It is so much fun!!!

Happy Quilting everyone, take care and keep those needles sharp!!

Martha

Quilt doodling for June, bubbles, birthdays and gardening!!

My new watering can-instant color!

A section of the backyard, Maddie is checking it out for me!!

So I have been very busy with life these days, which is a good thing! Summer is arriving soon, so I have been outside getting my yard and garden in shape which leaves little time for quilting :^(  OK, I love working in the yard, it is fun and excellent exercise!! While out there, Cooper and I blew a lot of bubbles-we always need time to play!!!!!

Cooper trying to pop ALL the bubbles!!!

A perfectly blown bubble!!!

Cooper also celebrated his 3rd birthday recently, wow, time flys by too quickly these days!!

Blowing out the candles :^)

Making sure he didn't miss any goodies in the bag

So I have been doing some quilting and sewing. I am doing some block testing for QuiltMaker Magazine for their 100 blocks publication. I am working on block #7 and #8 and cannot show anyone the finished blocks until the publication comes out. So no blogging on those!!! I am also working on a row robin quilt with my guild, and I have to keep those secret too!!!

I can share my work on my June Free Motion Quilting Challenge. I did some doodling and I am now quilting my piece. Here is a photo of some of my doodling which did not end up in the piece I am working on, but perhaps it will be in another one!!! Time will tell.

Well, time to get ready for work. Have a lovely day, take care, and keep those needles sharp!!! Martha