Balloon's Over Ripon

I got up this morning at the very early hour of 4:00 am to see the balloon's over Ripon at the Mistlin park. It was very dark and cold with a wind blowing. We ate at the pancake breakfast and draped blankets around us to keep warm. This is the water tower at the park after the sun came up.
It was too windy to launch the balloons into the air.....but they finally filled them on the ground and let them set on the ground all filled up.
It was so cool as you could get very close to the balloons......here they are filling one up with hot air.
The balloon is starting to come up.
Here is my son in law Scott......watching the balloons.
The first balloon all filled up.
Other balloons......
Four balloons all in a row.
The two on the end are some kind of monster and a frog.......very strange.
I just took a short nap but still feel tired........I'm off to a BBQ soon....it will be early to bed for me tonight.....I'm getting too old to be getting up so early.

Judy's Trunk Show part 2

More pictures from Judy's Trunk Show......I took a lot of pictures last Thursday night. There were so many beautiful quilts and garmets.....I couldn't get pictures of them all as I was helping hold and show the items.
Here is a close up of the quilt above.
A jacket made of wool........simple and beautiful.
Black and white quilt.......love black and white quilts.....when some of the fabric used in this quilt was not the right color.....Judy used coffee to dye it so it wasn't so bright.
Bouillabaisse......with chickens appliqued on top.....see the baby chicken on the bottom right.
Here is Momma chicken.
A jacket made with bark cloth and embelished with buttons and old lace.
Another red and white quilt......wow!
Close up of red and white quilt.
A black, red and white coat....love it!
Back of coat.
The Road to California jacket......made for a challenge at the Road To California quilt show.
Judy made this cross stitched map of California for the jacket......attention to detail.
I am up before the sun this morning because I am going to the Balloons Over Ripon this morning and watch hot air ballons rise up as soon as the sun comes up. It should be fun.

Judy Mullen's Trunk Show

At Thursday night's Manteca Quilters membership meeting our own Judy Mullen gave us a trunk show of her work. Judy is a designer and maker of clothes and a quilt maker. Judy is very creative and talented and it shows in her work which is still evolving.

This is a poster of her prize winning out fit that won first place for Judy and a brand new sewing machine...its still traveling all around the country being displayed at major quilt shows.

Here is a picture of Judy's garments and quilts waiting to be shown in the trunk show.

Judy is talking about one of her many challenge quilts that she has made.

Detail of flowers that were sewn raw edge on a jacket that Judy made....beautiful.

Don't you just love this house quilt.......love the colors Judy used.
This jacket is made out of a old linen table cloth.....she then added the old lace and vintage embroidery.
Another beautiful jacket.....hand painted by Judy and then she appliqued the flowers over the painting.
Isn't this a beautiful star quilt....love it.
You all know that red is my favorite color.....and I love this quilt....lots of different reds were used.

A close up of the red and white basket quilt.
I have more pictures from the trunk show and will post more soon. I also took Judy's workshop today....More Than A Vest and took even more pictures at the workshop. So say tuned.

Gordian Knot Book

If any of my readers were wondering how to buy the Gordian Knot book.....I finally have the answer. A reader of my blog, who is looking for the book emailed me with the following information. The book is by Mary Whitehead, who has died and who's husband is self publishing the book, a teacher is using her book to teach classes on the Gordian Knot. If you call Eddie's Quilting Bee ( a quilt shop) in Sunnyvale, California at 408-830-9505 or 888 QUILTER you can get a copy of the book.

Thank you Kathy from Milpitas for the information....you are going to make lots of people who are looking for the book happy. Who knew.... when I started this blog that I'd be helping quilters find the Gordian Knot book!!

More Pictures From Meet The Teachers

This BQ quilt is made using a under the sea print.....very cool and love the colors. This class teaches you how to take a directional print and make it work for a BQ quilt.
This quilt is a good beginning applique project. Love the pink cherries.
Close up of the applique.....looks easy to me....love the dots going down the stem.
Hope you all enjoyed looks at some of the teachers samples from meet the teachers. I did not take pictures of all the classes. If you are interested take a drive to Turlock and Cloth and Quilt and see the samples for yourself.

Meet The Teachers

Monday night was meet the teachers at Cloth and Quilt in Turlock. I love to attend as it gives you a chance to see what classes are being held the next four months and talk to the teachers. I took some pictures.....of course. The quilt below is a strip quilt as they have a strip club.

Here is another quilt from the strip club. I really like the way the colored strips weave in and out and make a neat pattern.
I love the color red......so this strip quilt is right up my alley......love red and black together.
Here is two samples from Rose's paper piecing class. She comes up with new patterns every time I see her at meet the teachers....she teaches one paper piecing class a month and makes her patterns fit the time of year.
More pictures tomorrow.....I could not get them all downloaded last night....the internet was running slow.

The Final Pictures From The Retreat

More pictures that I took at the retreat......below is Gerry busy sewing....she was the oldest quilter at the retreat and during the week pieced a whole quilt. Look at her sew!

Marie made this apron.....and some of the ladies then went down to the pharmacy to buy fabric and make this apron. Very cute design.....apron's are big right now. Lots of patterns to buy to make them and an apron makes a good present.
Jan was busy quilting on her top from the class on the bella bella quilts. She spent hours machine quilting.....and she finished it.
The finished quilt is beautiful......I can't wait to get mine all sewn and put together.....Jan inspires me.
The center of the quilt......love the colors and batiks that she used.
Well that's all from the retreat.....my next retreat starts September 10th....with my very best of friends...my annual September retreat.

More From the Retreat

The final pictures from the retreat......below is Jan....busy sewing on a cabin quilt she's making for her daughter. She was busy all retreat either sewing on the quilt or quilting her Bella Bella quilt.

This is a picture of Marie busy sewing and Delores taking to her.
This picture is for Rena and Debi.......I did work on my scrambled eggs quilt and now that I look at this picture......the four patch on the top block below is sewn wrong.....more unsewing to do!!!!!
I finished the two wedges on my Bella Bella that I started on and managed to sew two more.....I have to work on this project.....lots more to get done.
Close up of two of the wedges sewn together......I matched the points.......wow.
This is my last project on the retreat.......a second Posh Tot.......cut out and finished this morning...this is the lap size and is made from batiks.....love the colors and the way it went together.
Close up of the Posh Tot lap quilt. It didn't take more then two hours to make this quilt.
Now I need to unpack and get everything out of my car.....I hate the unpacking part of going away. At least I have two days before I have to go back to work.