My sister is having a baby and I designed this baby quilt for her. I'm very proud of it; it's the most original quilt I've made (and it was a pain sometimes!). I love balloons, and we went to the Albuquerque balloon fiesta last year, which this is supposed to represent. You get up really early, before sunrise, to go out there, and wait for the mass ascension of hundreds of balloons. It's really amazing.

The sun is a partial Russian Sunflower. I have a thing for that block because I have a quilt passed down from my great-grandmother that is a Russian Sunflower. I've wanted to try one for some time. Turns out it is still a little beyond my skill level. Maybe you can tell in the pics, maybe not, but there are quite a few tucks and wrinkles in the green points of the sun.

The quilting also gave me fits. I'm not as good at FMQ as I'd like to be, and I used a stencil, which it turns out is just not a good method for me, although now I'm better at it, and I spent the money so I'll probably use it again.

The lunch sack I made from a pattern I found online at http://melissaesplin.com/home/2008/0...-for-everyone/ It was also for my sister, as her birthday gift, since she takes her lunch to work and had been using a Wal-Mart bag (It's recycling, but not very cute).

Both very cute. Good job.

This is beautiful. And, what a lovely treasure for them.

Very nice! I love the baby quilt! Nice work on both, but esp. the quilt!

So sweet.

both very nice love the balloons

So cute. I love it. You did a great job on it. :thumbup:

Thank you for the nice words, everyone!

I had to show it to someone - I meant to take the quilt to the baby shower on Sunday, but ran out of thread the night before for the quilting (and it's better that way - I would have been up until two in the morning trying to finish). Don't know when I'll give it to my sister, I won't see her maybe until next month. Baby hasn't been born yet, anyway, so she won't miss it.

I love your balloon quilt and the sun is perfect! Cute lunch bag too!
I would love to go to the Balloon Fest sometime. I have a great quilting friend/instructor that lives in Albuquerque. Maybe you have seen some of her patterns and/or books. Her name is Debbie Caffrey. She writes and publishes alot of mystery patterns that I love doing!

I love your balloon quilt, so creative! Nice work too on the lunch sack. Your sis will be thrilled!