Up, Up, & Away

Here is the quilt that I sent to quiltinkimmie in the MiniQT Swap on flickr. Our theme was Take Flight. My pictures are quite terrible since it is winter in Indiana and a blizzard was about to hit us when I was taking my pictures. So, indoor lighting it is.




The balloon was strip pieced and then cut at angles and sewn back together. I then fused that piece to some double-sided fusable and ironed it on to the quilt. I machine sewed around the balloon for a little extra stability. The basket is made from one inch strips of fabric that I folded in half (wrong sides together) and sewed a seam along the side. I then trimmed the seam and inserted a bias bar and fiddled the seam to the back before pressing open. I ironed the heck out of the little tubes and then cut them into smaller lengths and wove them together. I sewed the woven pieces on top of another piece of the same colored fabric just in case there were any gaps. Finally, I sewed that piece onto another piece of the same colored fabric and sewed the whole lot to the quilt by hand. I finished up with some embroidery and both hand and machine quilting. There's a little 'faux piping' (flat piping without the puff) in red along the egdes of the quilt before the binding went on.

As you can see, the basket is 3D, so you can add a little something (or someone) in there for a ride. In this case, I added a little Wicked Witch of the East doll for Kim (she loves The Wizard of Oz). I also sent along one of my fused glass pendants in coordinating colors.

Here's a close up of the pendant.

And, finally, a look at the gorgeous quilt that Kim sent to me. It is simply stunning. I love everything about it. So did my daughter, so it is hanging in her room. Eventually that kid will run out of wall space and I'll get to hang a quilt in my sewing room...

Thanks, Kim. I had a great time playing along in this swap!