The idea to create this Hot Air Balloon Quilt has been in my mind since I was looking through blogs and saw one with a gorgeous nursery decorated using hot air balloons (of course I can’t find the link right now…I will post it if I do…).  My initial roadblock to creating this quilt was all the other projects I had to complete first – it was Christmas time!

With this idea for a hot air balloon quilt in my mind, I read about the new challenge for team EtsyBaby:

Our Theme For January: "Be My Valentine"
Team EtsyBABY©  

Here are the following details to participate in the Challenge:
A.   A (new to your shop)  baby/toddler item that is Valentines Day inspired ( keep in mind that it should be an item that COULD be used all year long, so it can be re-listed after Valentine's Day)
B.  All Items should be listed by January. 12th
C.  Include in the title listing : Team EtsyBABY Valentine Challenge.
D.  Add the following tags to the listing: "EBValentine" and of course Team EtsyBABY
E.  A PUBLIC poll to vote for your favorite "Team EtsyBABY©  Valentine  Challenge" item will be available via our website ( http://shopetsybaby.com ) starting Jan. 14th   and the poll will close on the 30th .

It was the perfect solution!  I could incorporate a Valentine’s theme into my quilt, taking care of two things at once!

Just before the end of 2009 I was finally able to put together a background for the hot air balloon quilt.  And then, a few nights to go I put together the fabrics I wanted to use for each of the balloons and started the quilt project!

Children will love to play on and cuddle under this beautiful quilt.  I used a soft, texture fiber as the strings to connect the baskets to the hot air balloons.  The variety of color will be sure to stimulate their dreams of someday flying in one of these beautiful contraptions.  The backing of this quilt is a beautiful pink striped flannel fabric to make it even more  cozy.

I titled this quilt ‘Love is in the Air’ to fit with the Valentine’s Day theme and the fact that I used a Heart/Love patterned fabric for one of the balloons.  Also, if you look closely I free motioned the word ‘Love’ into the windy, swirly sky. 

The seven hot air balloons are all raw edge appliquéd onto this quilt.  I free motioned quilted the entire quilt on my sewing machine and the border is done with a fun decorative stitch which is my trademark for these beautiful, whimsical, and fun children quilts.

Voting is going on now until January 31st so if you could please head over to www.shopetsybaby.com and show your support I would really appreciate it!