Saturday, February 20, 2016

Don't Give Up!

My theme for today is "Don't Give Up!".  When I was designing a quilt for the Planes, Trains and Automobile Blog Hop (see yesterday's post), I had a completely different design in mind.  I planned a quilt with roads running back and forth across the quilt in a more modern looking design.  In fact- I even cut out the whole quilt and had most of the blocks finished.  And.... I didn't like it!  Hubby didn't like it....I looked at it for days.

The quilt only had one block- the border block that looks like a road that you can see in the border of the quilt below.  I used a variety of colors and placements.  I mean I had the WHOLE thing cut out and mostly done!  I almost went ahead and finished it because I was so far along, but I just wasn't happy with it.  I don't have a photo of it to show you, but you aren't missing much!

So - after a lot of consideration, I redesigned and came up with the child's "Oh the Places You'll Go!" quilt.  I was MUCH happier.  The modern quilt was designed to be quick and easy but the child's quilt with the appliques took a lot of time.  Also had the time of taking the first quilt apart block by block, but it was worth it in the end.  I did save a few blocks to use around the borders of the kids quilt which was helpful.



So - don't give up if you have a quilt you aren't happy with.  There just might be a different solution!













Friday, February 19, 2016

Planes, Trains and Automobiles Blog Hop

Welcome to another stop of the Planes, Trains & Automobiles Blog Hop.  I want to first show you the beautiful Island Batik fabrics that I worked with for this hop - Florida Oranges.


Here is a photo of the Florida Oranges strip pack- it shows all the colors in the collection.
These fabrics will be available in shops this April/May- look for them!  If your local shop does not have them- ask them to carry them for you.


I used 8 of the fabrics from this collection for my quilt for this blog hop.

The quilt I designed was a child's quilt I called "Oh, The Place's You'll Go!"  named after the Dr. Seuss book by the same title.

Here is my little poem that combines the Dr. Seuss's title and the meaning behind the quilt.

                         Oh, the places you'll go!
                         By plane, train or car
                         Oh, the places you'll go!
                         Be it near or so far.
                         Oh, the places you'll go!
                         Oh, the sites you will see
                         Oh, the places you'll go!
                         Over land or over sea.
                         Oh, the places you'll go!
                         Have a wonderful time!
                         (and now at last is the end of my rhyme!)

Here is a photo of my quilt titled "Oh, the Places You'll Go!


Planes and trains and cars- just think of all the places you could go with these!  The vehicles are fusible applique with buttonhole stitching around them.  The blocks around the outside symbolize roads, and 2 rows of little cars are quilted on them-one going each direction.  Here's a photo of the quilting, although it is a bit hard to see.

(Come back to my blog tomorrow to find out what this quilt was before it became a child's quilt )

Aurifil Thread has a thread collection made especially for this line of Island Batiks.  The box includes 12 different colored spools in 40 wt. which I love.  They were very kind to send me a box of this thread to use with this project.  I had a lot of fun using them on this child's quilt.  The colors matched so well that I had fun using 7 out of the 12 colors on this quilt- different colors for each vehicle, button hole stitching, quilting, etc.
*You will see a photo of Tammy Silvers on the cover of the box of thread.  Tammy was the curator of this thread collection- choosing all the thread colors to match the Island Batik Florida Oranges fabrics.  She did a great job!  Tammy is one of our Island Batik Ambassadors- look for her projects in this blog hop.  She is also posting a blog today.



These threads were a dream to work with.  The colors matched perfectly.  I love the thread size and the fact that they are very lint free.  I also liked the spool and how easy it is to secure the thread ends to keep them from coming undone.  Check out these and other thread colors at your local shops.

I wanted to give my viewers a fabric giveaway of some of the Florida Oranges fabrics. Here is a photo of five quarter yard pieces of Florida Oranges.  Leave a comment below telling one of the "places you'd like to go" to be entered.  USA residents only for the drawing.



Here is the listing of the daily stops so you can continue your blog travel trip.  Each day lists the name of the fabric line and the blogs to visit. Be sure to visit Carol Steely (Fun Threads Designs) and Tammy Silver's (Tamarinis) blog posts today to see how they both used the Florida Oranges fabric.

Monday, February 15 (TODAY!) – Caribbean Splash
Bejeweled Quilts
Pamela Quilts
Tuesday, February 16 – London Fog
Moose Stash Quilting
Wednesday, February 17 – French Roasted
KISSed Quilts
Made In Scraps
Happy Cottage Quilter
Thursday, February 18 – Crystal Cove
Freemotion by the River
Friday, February 19 – Florida Oranges
Fun Threads Designs
Kauffman Designs
Tamarinis
Monday, February 22 – Coral Reef
Mary Mack Made Mine
Purrfect Spots Designs
Tuesday, February 23 – Sweet Georgia Peach
One Quilting Circle
KISSed Quilts
Wednesday, February 24 – Hollywood Hills
The Fit Quilter
Maria Michaels Designs
Thursday, February 25 – Desert Rose
For Quilts Sake
Lemon Tree Snippets
Monday, February 29 – Jersey Shore
Beaquilter
Lemon Tree Snippets
Tuesday, March 1 – Tuscany Sun
Tammy Silvers
Wednesday, March 2 – Lavish
Freemotion by the River
Moose Stash Quilting
Thursday, March 3 – Fire Island
KISSed Quilts
Friday, March 4 – Tinsel, Holiday Happenings
Purrfect Spots Designs
KISSed Quilts
Moose Stash Quilting
Be sure and also enter the rafflecopter below for chances to win a bundle of Island Batik fabric!
  a Rafflecopter giveaway









Monday, February 15, 2016

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Blog Hop


Today is the start of the Planes, Trains & Automobiles Blog Hop.  The Island Batik Ambassadors have 15 days filled with photos, projects and prizes.  Be sure to stop by everyday- some days even have two places to visit!


Monday, February 15 – Caribbean Splash
Bejeweled Quilts
Pamela Quilts
Tuesday, February 16 – London Fog
Moose Stash Quilting
Wednesday, February 17 – French Roasted
KISSed Quilts
Made In Scraps
Happy Cottage Quilter
Thursday, February 18 – Crystal Cove
Freemotion by the River
Friday, February 19 – Florida Oranges
Fun Threads Designs
Kauffman Designs
Monday, February 22 – Coral Reef
Mary Mack Made Mine
Purrfect Spots Designs
Tuesday, February 23 – Sweet Georgia Peach
One Quilting Circle
KISSed Quilts
Wednesday, February 24 – Hollywood Hills
The Fit Quilter
Maria Michaels Designs
Thursday, February 25 – Desert Rose
For Quilts Sake
Lemon Tree Snippets
Monday, February 29 – Jersey Shore
Bea Lee
Lemon Tree Snippets
Tuesday, March 1 – Tuscany Sun
Tammy Silvers
Wednesday, March 2 – Lavish
Freemotion by the River
Moose Stash Quilting
Thursday, March 3 – Fire Island
KISSed Quilts
Friday, March 4 – Tinsel, Holiday Happenings
Purrfect Spots Designs
KISSed Quilts
Moose Stash Quilting




Monday, February 1, 2016

Island Batik Ambassador/Island Butterfly Quilt


I'm happy to announce that I am once again an Ambassador for Island Batik!  It has been wonderful to work with and promote these fabrics for the past two years.  This year the Ambassador program has grown to 28 wonderfully creative women.  There is a full calendar of things planned for this year, so stay tuned for lots of exciting creativity with beautiful Island Batik fabrics!

I thought this would be a good time to share with you the Island Butterfly quilt I finished this winter. I used the mini butterfly template from Edyta Sitar for the butterfly blocks.  All the fabrics are Island Batiks that I used the first year I was an Ambassador in 2014.  I wanted a quilt to showcase all the beautiful fabrics and this worked wonderfully.  Each butterfly has two different fabrics and many of the bodies are different fabrics.  Then I used extra strips in the borders.  This was a great project for winter - a breath of spring!