BOMs Away - Wind in the Whiskers

Welcome to the link-up for BOMs Away Mondays!

Do you ever start Block-of-the-Months and then not finish them? 

Or maybe you just like doing a lot of them?

This is where you can share what you're doing on a BOM or anything you work on at given intervals. 

Show us what you accomplished in the past week or so!

(Linky at the bottom.)

This was a busy weekend, so I didn't get much BOM time. Wind in the Whiskers is up, and I managed only to get the pieces for the kitty and the insect creatures traces and cut apart. 

This is for the "Best of Show" block, which is the portion along the lower side of the tree trunk - the pretty silver point Persian cat and the daisy-like flowers.

Yesterday we participated in our Taekwondo school's annual fund raiser (benefiting the foundation to build a Children's Hospital in Colorado Springs).

We spent this morning moving another pickup load from Heather's apartment in the Denver area down to our place. Her upcoming 3rd and 4th years of med school are in the Springs, so she and Pat are renting our basement out at cheap Mom & Dad rates rather than paying full price for their own unit. I'm loving it.  :)  No pics from that.

After unloading and cleaning up, we drove up the mountain for a quilt finish photo op on this remarkably gorgeous day. Can you figure out where we went? Some of you will recognize this tidbit of the foremost landmark: 

Or perhaps this newest landmark? 

I really love the quality of this building's shadow, almost looking like waterplay.

But this is a BOM's Away post, so let's put the linky up!

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Kate over at Katie Mae Quilts has joined me in hosting this meet-up,

and linking up from either end puts you on the party at both sides.

:)

BOMs Away - Fancy Forest Quartered

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.

This week's link-up is at the bottom of the post.

Today I got all the quarters sewn together for Fancy Forest. Heather's down for the weekend, and I had a little help from her cute kitty. Gotta love cats!

I must have accidentally erased the pic of the first quarter that I finished. We took an afternoon jaunt into the city for a little sunshine-catching and Pokemon gathering. I love all the art points of interest to be found. Fun times.  :) 

A car on the wall and Wilbur in the flowers below.  :D

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Have you done any BOM work done this past week or so?

An InLinkz Link-up

BOMs Away - Out on a Lark

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.

This week's link-up is at the bottom of the post.

Oh, gosh! Sorry, everyone - I forgot to put the post up last night after we came home!

I didn't do any BOM work at all this week. Pin-basting Scott's quilt and getting the quilting started on it occupied Mon-Fri, and then this weekend was a flurry of activities. 

Saturday was belt testing day for Taekwondo. 

Patrick is up to blue belt, and Scott and Marissa and I are now at the Bodan level. 

This is where we've learned all the basic stuff and have to start putting it together and perfecting it. We'll have 4 poomsaes (rather like Tai Chi work), 10 kyroogis (sparring patterns), numerous different board breaks (strikes and kicks), lots of self defense moves, and a good bit of history and philosophy to focus on until the next test cycle. I think we're still working with our escrima sticks in the Leadership weapons class, too. Our normal class workouts also ramp up another notch or two of intensity! That part is hard for me to adjust to with my Lupus issues.

Patrick and Heather and I spent Sunday at the Renaissance Faire in Larkspur, doing a lot of shopping for ideas and a few items for their wedding in December. 

Pat had fun trying on some Tudor clothing.

We also met some neat people. I bought a necklace and earrings from this artisan. 

While I was telling her what drew me to the necklace (which vaguely made me think of an owl), she told me the inspirational story of the color choices in the earrings, which was the particular color "feel" of an obscure middle-of-nowhere highway in New Mexico. I love that stretch of highway!!  She couldn't believe I knew where she was talking about. We completely hit it off.  :)

Speaking of owls, this tiny full-grown fella melted my heart. He's a rescue bird of prey who can't rehabilitate to the wild, so they let him visit the Fair.

It was a fun, very busy, weekend!

Oh, and just to record a bit of silliness since we enjoy going out on walks together and doing a little Pokemon Go - this happened! I currently "own" the gym at the Masonic Lodge down the street from our house. Marissa was with me when I battled for it, said she didn't feel like battling (she was texting some friends), and then silently stole it out from under me twice in the gap after I battled for it and was opening the page to set my Pokemon on the platform.  :D   heh! Sneaky girl!! - This game will be a funny memory for us in a few years.

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How about you? Did you work on your BOMs or other interval projects?  :D

An InLinkz Link-up

BOMs Away & Colorado Balloon Classic

Welcome to the Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays!

 

We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.bo

This week's link-up is at the bottom of the post.

 

(BOM work in a sec - gotta journal some family fun first).

 

We had the best time yesterday! Scott and Marissa and I got up before the sun to drive down into Colorado Springs for the 38th Annual Colorado Balloon Classic. We wanted to catch this unique bit of fun in Memorial Park since it looks like it's the last time it'll be held here. Not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't an open free-for-all where crowds of people could literally walk right up inside the crush of densely-packed hot air balloon crews. Owners brought their balloons in pickup trucks and small trailers (sometimes just the trucks!), and they were literally being inflated within touching distance of each other. Some pilots didn't have enough crew members, so Scott and Marissa answered a call from the organizing staff to jump in. I would have been a superfluous helper, so I had fun catching snapshots of the process.

 

First you pull everything out - prep the basket, lay out the envelope, and then get to the big work.

 

Mr. Keller (owner and pilot) was very particular about the hoses being connected properly.

The entire envelope is in that canvas bag!

Hmm... not sure where the shot went of the top pulled out entirely -
it stretches out in a line maybe 20 yards long.

 Pilots "cold pack" the tops, which is blowing regular air into it first. As that is starting, folks up front hold the opening open, and folks in back attach the top to the top. (Don't know any more terms than "envelope.")  Somebody holds on to the tether line that is attached at the tip-top to keep the whole thing under control as the inflation process continues.

 

 

 

The fan behind Marissa is what fills the balloon in the first place.

 

Attaching the very top while the envelope fills

 

Once the balloon is full of cold air, the pilot oh-so-carefully sends jets into the opening to heat things up. It's amazing how fast the air in there responds, and very soon you control the tip of the basket as it all pulls itself upright.

 

 

 

 

Once the organizers remove the "hold" flag, the pilot gives a little boost to his hot air, and he's up - up - and away! 

 

 

Have a great flight, Mr. Keller!

 

 

What a great random adventure to be able to be a part of that process.  :D

 

Here are a few of my favorite shots after that. They had 80 balloons this year, and sent them off in two waves. Check out how the spectators are packed right in with the balloons once people really started arriving!  Also, you can see in some of the pics how the pilots love to come down and "kiss" the little lake in the park before re-ascending for the rest of their flight. Oh, and don't miss catching the crazy man sitting in a "Cloud Hopper." Two of those were there, and they just sit on a little aluminum chair instead of in a basket!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheshire has a tail, just out of sight -
hangs down almost to the basket!

 

 

It was a superb morning - definitely worth the too-early rise out of bed and the $10 parking we paid to get into the lot the Boy Scouts could use for fund-raising.

 

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So - for BOM stuff!  I didn't do much at all, cause the day at the Balloon Classic was too much fun and then I wanted a nap.  But I did do some hand work. 

The bottom of the first block for "Fiesta Mexico" is stitched now - that piece is over a yard long.

 

 

 

Navarre says to tell you it'll eventually have this design work stitched on it:

 

 

 And I hand basted the 48 berries onto the applique border for "Heart & Home."  But I didn't stitch them down yet - started to, but had to go take a nap!

 

 

 

Also, the second of my cousin Kelly's Joseph Smith quilts has been up to bat at the quilting machine for about 10 days. The stabilizing is finished and the stars are quilted.

 

 

 

The finish will be a lonnnng time coming, though - I only get two 20-minute quilting sessions per day as breaks in my thesis work, which is back at full-steam-ahead. Last semester!!

 

 

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Have you done any work on your BOMs recently? Hope my U.S. friends are enjoying their Labor Day weekend!