Hubby's Kites!

A few posts back, I mentioned that my hubby makes kites, and that I would post some pics very soon.  Well, between working weird hours, snow storms, rain, and totally gray days.....the pics just haven't had a chance until today!  So I made him get them all out, put them together, and stand out in the cold.   (Ok.....it's 33 degrees today....not THAT cold!)

These are the kites he has made himself......he has 100's of kites he's purchased, swapped, and/or bargained for.  Truly.....100's!  But these are the ones he has made, and we still have!  He's made a few others, but they were either commissioned, or he just made them for a friend, and they no longer live at our house!  I'm making him go through his computer right now trying to find pics of those.....we'll see if he finds them!

This is the first kite John ever made.  I just love it.  He doesn't name the kites, but for this purpose, we are calling it Moose in the Woods!  It is in a shape called Rokkaku (Row-ca-coo).....Japanese for '6-sided'.....but kiters refer to these as 'rocks'.

Kites are applique work on rip-stop nylon......it's very slick, so you have to use spray glue over the entire surface, sew all the edges with zigzag, then carefully cut away the different layers, unstick everything, then clean it all.  Then there's the process of attaching the rods and bridles, and getting it 'just right' so the dang thing will fly!  That's the trick.....you can make a kite in just about any shape or form, but can it fly?

Up next is a kite that John loves to fly when there are lots of kids around.....cuz they play "What do you see?"

 Is it a rabbit, or a duck?

This star looks like it should be on a quilt, doesn't it?

Here's another 'What is it' kite.   Woman, or saxaphone player?

This fishing Merlin was made for a friend who has a charter fishing boat, and he looks just like that (the beard does it!)  John actually made two of these, cuz he wasn't quite happy with the way the beard fabric came out on this one (he dyed it himself).  So now he has one, too!

John got this Salmon design off a box of Pacific Northwest Smoked Salmon.....I'm from the Seattle area, and we have always loved the Northwest Indian Art......I've been itchin' to make a quilt with some of this kind of design......add it to the list, right!

These are 4 of the 50 little kites (about 20" tall) that are all strung together to make a kite arch!  It is really quite nice to see it flying.....it arches about 30' up and about 100' across when flying.  And of course, it just had to have snowflakes on it!  This is the only kite project I've ever helped John with.....he sewed it all, but I helped cut away the snowflakes.  That was a lot of little tiny ins and outs!  Oy!

This is John's latest kite, and he just finished it yesterday!  He has been helping crew with this ballooning group, and he has got the whole crew into kite flying on their 'down' times.  It seems you can only fly balloons at dawn and dusk.......for wind reasons, I guess.....so when there is a festival, the whole day is pretty much sit around and wait!  So, the crew was really excited about getting to fly kites!  John made this for his friend who owns the company, so he could fly 'his own' kite!

John just found the pics on his computer of some more......here are the inflatable seahorses he made.  They hang off of the line of a larger kite (out of picture), so they are referred to as 'line laundry'.  Funny, huh?  These seahorses were made from a pattern designed by another kiter; when they are flying, they wiggle, and dance around.....very sweet!

This last kite was made for our cousin, Patti, who is HUGE Yankees fan.  She was thrilled with this kite, but is very nervous about flying it, cuz the first time she did, it got caught up in the lines of a really huge kite, and everything came crashing down, and she thought it was her fault, and was terribly upset.  Of course, when you're flying kites....that happens a lot!  So we never think anything of it.....you just got get them untangled, and move on.  So she is a little freaked about it.  I keep telling her she should take it with her when she goes to Spring Training (she goes every year....a nut!), and see if she can get the players to sign it!  Wouldn't that be cool!?!  Heck, it'd be her 'in' to getting to meet the players!  One day maybe!  We'll see!

So there it is.....my hubby's hobby!  We've actually spent more time, and vacations, involved in kites and kiting than we have with quilting.....and that's just not right!  lol  I guess my quilting cruise will make up for some of that, right?

Ok.....back to quilting the Sue and Sam.  I'm almost finished with the filler designs in the blocks, just 5 more of the 18 to go!  Woohoo!

Have a great day!

regan