What a fun day!

Plano, IL  aka Smallville. The hometown of Superman!  This is one of the building that was used in the Man of Steel movie that came out this summer.

Andy, my son and I went to the Sandwich Fair today in Sandwich.  It is the last fair of the season.  We had a fun time.  Hamburgers, steak sandwich, french fries, water and to top the dining pleasure, homemade chocolate eclairs!  The eclairs are the best.  So much filling in them.  They just melted in your mouth.
Andy needed to be back home, as he was going out tonight.
My husband had heard there was to be a hot air balloon launch at 6:00 tonight.  We like to see them, so back to the fair we went.  We got there at 5:50 and the one and only balloon was in the air!

It landed not too far away in a subdivision that had a wonderful open area.

After they landed, Bennett Schwontkowski, the captain (he is the one in the white shirt with the green and blue sleeves) asked those that were standing around if any would be interested in a tethered ride.  My hand shot up so fast!  I got to go up!!

My husband was kind enough to take the pictures.  This is the same person I got to go up in a hot air balloon on Mother's Day 2010.

No fear.  Even a tethered ride is better then no ride!

Oh, it was so neat!

I really don't know how many feet we went up.  I was listening to everything that Bennett had to say.  He was telling everyone about how the fuel heats the air to make the balloon rise, and then what had to be done to bring it back to the ground.

I was grinning ear to ear.  Can you tell????

It was a fun day!
Mary

Random thoughts

This morning as I was reading blogs I ran across some interesting thoughts. At Magnolia Bay Quilts, Kim referred to a blog on on Dawn Heese site, Linen Closet Quilts, about being a better blogger. Sometimes I think what is going on may not interest anyone. Actually, since we came back from my husbands family reunion earlier in August, I have just plain been in a funk. No machine sewing, a little hand work, cleaning out a couple closets, putting some card making supplies in order and a little reading. This past week, sewing started looking up. I had purchased this great book by Mary Lou Weidman recently, and have been thinking about trying one of her great ideas.
Recently, I had won this great tote bag, and fabrics from her blog Mary Lou and Whimsy Too.
She has such great ideas and creativity. Maybe I need to step out of my comfort box.

Last Saturday my husband and I drove to Lincoln, Illinois for a balloon festival and outdoor art show and flea market. The balloons did not launch at 5:00 as it was too windy. They did, however, have a balloon glow. About 17 balloon were blown up and tethered at dusk. As the sun went down you could see the "glow" as they light up their balloons. It was fantastic. You could walk around the crew and balloons. The announcer would give a command and the balloons would light all together.

This was the only "special shape" balloon called "Sea Fantasy." It was so cool to see. There were was a fish and a star fish and a dolphin attached to it.

Here are 3 other balloons being inflated. On our way home we stopped in Plano, to see if we could catch a glimpse of any changes on the Superman movie set. Did see this overturned car. We have found out that there is a sequel being considered to this movie. Everyone is anxious to see it and check out all the area where filming has been so far. Movie is not scheduled to come out until June 2013. Bummer!! There is a site on Facebook devoted to this movie and Superman sightings.

At our scrap club meeting this past week Donna showed this darling pinwheel quilt made out of half square triangles. It is such a sweet wall hanging.

Last but not least this is what I have finally been working on. It is the "Zippy Strippy" bag by Atkinson Designs. As you can see 5 are done, and 5 more need zippers. Naturally, I don't have the right color zipper. More shopping to do!

I am keeping busy, but at a slower pace right now. I am getting ready to go on a quilt retreat at Iron Mountain, Michigan the middle of September. My friend Pat and several of her quilting buddies and I are going to "Quilt Camp". I think they are going to work on the "Civil War Diary"quilt, and I am going to work on one called "Apron Strings". I need to start pulling fabric.

Have a great week, and thank you for stopping by.


Mary

Hot Air Balloon

This is me in great happiness!!!! We went out for dinner and on the way home saw a hot air balloon in the distance. Well, I had to chase it and see where it was going. We (hubby) and I followed it for a pretty good distance. At 127th and Ridge Rd we saw the pickup van. We stopped to talk and found out the balloon was about ready to come down. We followed to a subdivision off 127th. I got the thrill of watching "Bennett Schwantkowski" bring it in for a landing. (Bottom picture) They needed help moving it and getting the balloon down, air out, and packed. We were right there.

Here I am helping, by holding on, as they deflate the balloon. The precision used was awesome. I could not get over my good fortune. I really want to go up in a balloon some day. I missed a chance a couple years ago, mostly because of the weather. It is my dream. I got to help, which was almost as good. Some day!!!!!!!

The gentlemen were so gracious and fun. We learned a lot and got to help pack up everything. In return we received trading cards, and a bottle of Korbel Champagne. I got the extra special gift of a hat. (See top picture.)

I know to some people this is small potatoes, but to me it is a big deal. I have chased balloon since I was a kid, growing up in Flushing. We would see one now and then in the farm country and we would go to see it. As I got older I went to balloon festivals and continued to chase them. We have been to the festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico twice. (The biggest one I know of.) There are various small festival in Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois that we have been to. They are fascinating to watch. The shear size and the shapes and the colors are wonderful. What fun.
My big adventure. Someday I will fly in one!!!!