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

Friday, February 26 – Sea Salt Sandy
Tamarinis
KISSed Quilts
Moose Stash Quilting
Pamela Quilts
Bejeweled Quilts

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

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

Friday, February 26 – Sea Salt Sandy
Tammy Silvers
KISSed Quilts
Moose Stash Quilting
Pamela Quilts

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

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!

Feb. Blog Hop with Island Batik

Starting Feb 15 I'll be participating in a blog hop with Island Batik Fabrics and the Island Batik Ambassadors.  I hope you can  view each day to see the new creations and the beautiful new Island Batik fabrics.  Join us for 15 days of quilting fun!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone!

I'm excited about this new year and all the things I want to do and accomplish.  I've started the year by finishing a project (a kids quilt) for an upcoming Blop Hop with Island Batik that will be starting in Feb.  That's coming soon so keep watching for more information.  I'm also finishing two projects for Spring Quilt Market using new and beautiful Island Batik fabrics.  Isn't that a great way to start the year!

I wanted to start the year with a fabric giveaway to viewers.  Starting a new year with fabric is wonderful isn't it!  After looking over my Island Batik fabrics I decided to giveaway some Winter Wonderland fabric because it just looks like winter!  Because I already made a project with this fabric (Quilter's Newsletter online free pattern Dec/Jan 2015) I didn't have a lot of fabric left.  I am giving away 2 ten inch squares of six Winter Wonderland fabrics (two squares of each)

This contest is open to US residents only.  To enter, leave a comment about how you might use these fabrics, or any "winter" project you are working on.  Contest ends Jan 29.

Wedding Blessings

This past year has been full of wonderful events, but the biggest blessing was the wedding of our daughter this past November.  This isn't a quilting post, but I thought it would be good to mention what has taken up much of my time this past year, and some of the wonderful experiences I've had.

I was so blessed to be able to share with my daughter in the wedding planning.  From her dress to arranging flowers, to decorating the reception hall...What fun we had planning, shopping and working together.

She was able to find a wonderful buy on a plain satin gown and I was able to add a lace overlay top with beading around the neckline. We added buttons from my wedding dress to the back of her dress for a touch of "something old".  We took embroidery from another dress and added it to hers for a touch of elegance.  The end result was lovely and it was one of a kind, suited just for her.

So many memories and I treasured each moment we had together getting everything ready.

The wedding day went off without a hitch- except for the 7" of snow that came to add a little more drama to the day!

Here's a photo of the happy couple

I hope your year was also full of many wonderful memories.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas