Sunday, February 21, 2016

Welcome to my Planes, Trains & Automobiles Blog Hop for Island Batik!


I was so excited when I heard the theme of the Island Batik Ambassador's Blog Hop was Planes, Trains and Automobiles! The very sound of it makes me think of travel. And after being in the travel industry for many years, I knew this would be easy (or so I thought).

Island Batik sent me some lovely fabrics from their Coral Reef Collection! Aren't they gorgeous? They are available now at your favorite quilt store! Which is your favorite color?


However, the more I looked at them, the more confused I got as there were so many options! This wasn't going to be easy at all. I have to decide what I will make. Am I going to use a destination or mode of travel as my theme? Finally a decision was made and I knew it was "purrfect". I hope you will enjoy the journey with me. Here's some music from Johnny Cash to help get us started! So "Allllllllllllllllll Aboard".

 
I think you probably know by now, that I decided on the mode of travel rather than the destination. One of my motivations was my husband's love of trains. Both his father and grandfather worked for the Missouri Pacific line. He has wonderful stories of childhood train rides. 
Another motivation was my love of cats - Chessie Cat in particular. She was the mascot for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad also known as the "Railroad" Kitty! For her history, click on her name. So anything with kitties was great for me! I am sure you recognize her picture. My favorite is her kittens playing with the trains while she sleeps! But there is more!

My husband use to build model railroads. One of our kitties, Denny loved the Railroad room and it soon came to be known as "Dennyville". That was the name we put on the Depot and we still refer to that room as Dennyville today. 

This is Dennyville. Please notice that the large white building with the spots is "Purrfect Spots" Industries. My husband had big dreams!

So now you have looked at the fabric, heard the song and looked at pictures of trains. Are you ready to see what I made? 

Welcome to the "Island Batik ABC Express"!
Hop on board!

  Here are some more views.
I had so much fun making this cute quilt. The cars are pieced and the wheels and alphabet were applied with fusible applique. All the colors are from the Coral Reef Collection except for the sky which is a beautiful blue from the Caribbean Splash Collection. The black is a blender fabric and the train windows are from the Neutrals Collection.

I quilted with clear invisible thread made by Aurifil. It sews like a dream and it doesn't break! I will do more quilting, but do to time constraints, I didn't have time to do all that I wanted.

I already have somebody in mind who will receive this and he is a cute 3 year old boy (my husband's great grandson and namesake)!

I hope you have enjoyed your journey and as a way to say thank you I will be giving away four fat quarters from the Coral Reef Collection. For an opportunity to win, please comment below and let me know your favorite mode of travel and your favorite color in the Coral Reef Collection. Also be sure and check out the other Island Batik Ambassadors Blogs. You will see some beautiful projects. The list is below. 

 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

 But wait – there is more! As always! ;) Island Batik is giving away a couple of fabric bundles to celebrate these new collections! There are multiple ways to enter – see them all and enter below.  

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed your trip!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

66 comments:

  1. Awesome quilt! I love it. My favorite is any of the purples in this group (and I've used them!) And I love cars and boats and trains.

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  2. Your quilt is gorgeous and a perfect baby or toddler quilt!!! Such a great idea!! I haven't travelled often by train but the few times that I have were amazing and most enjoyable!! I love to sit and watch the countryside roll by!!

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  3. Thank you for sharing your project. I have on my bucket list to travel by train someday. I love all the colors of this fabric line so it is hard to pick just one color that I like. Thanks for the pretty giveaway.

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  4. I much prefer to travel by car. You get to see way more things that way! Your quilt is adorable--perfect for a little boy. I think I like the yellow fabric best. Reminds me of sunshine.

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  5. Adorable train quilt. I love the story that goes with it too. I love looking at all the little details people put into their model train sets.

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  6. Good morning Nan.....Just wanted to let you know how much I love this little boy train quilt. It's so darn cute, perfect for that cute little 3 year old who's so lucky to be it's recipient. Thanks for sharing with us.
    lv2bquilting2@comcast.net

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  7. What a precious quilt! I am sure a special little 3 year old will love it! Beautiful collection of fabrics!

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  8. They are all sew pretty. 121516207 is my favorite - lavender with a little darker shade blended in. I like to travel by train (Amtrak). You can get up & walk around, eat & drink (or sleep) and you get to see the local terrain as you pass through. Relaxing.

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  9. wow this is such a wonderful quilt. you had a fantastic idea. that little boy will love this. thanks for inspiring.
    quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

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  10. That quilt is adorable and the fabrics are so yummy.

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  11. That is a darling train quilt! Love the design, the colours, and the fabrics. That special, cute little 3-year-old is going to love it!

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  12. I like road trips, so I guess my fave mode of transportation is by car. I like the orange with little purple leaves.

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  13. Love your train quilt! We like to travel in our motor home with car in tow. I like all the colours in the Coral Reef collection.

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  14. Your quilt is so cute....how clever!

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  15. Lovely batik fabric and gorgeous projects. I like to fly to Hawaii and other exotic places. Love the pinks and purples in this Island Batiks collection.

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  16. Great quilt! I actually like to travel by bus. The light purple fabric is my favorite.

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  17. My favorite way to travel is in my mini-van with plenty of cargo space in case I want to haul something home.

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  18. The quilt is adorable! I love all of the colors, and I also like to use a lot of color.
    When growing up, my brother had a huge train set, and he would set it up to run through the whole house. We used to have the best time sending each other cargo from one end of the house to the other.

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  19. Oh that little boy is going to love this quilt!! My favorite mode of transportation is the passenger seat in my husband's 1957 Ford Fairlane convertible!
    Thanks for the opportunity to win!
    kakingsbury at verizon dot net

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  20. Love the quilt would like to know if I can get the pattern! Love all the colors but if I had to pick the purple. Thanks for the giveaway!

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  21. I love the hot pink CORAL REEF - 121511181....But the deep purple one is nice too..........I have only been to michigan witch is my home state..... happyness04431@yahoo.com

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  22. I like to fly - especially since I have a daughter who lives a 24-hour car ride away from me! My favorite color is the deep purple.

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  23. All the colors look fantastic! Would probably pick the bright pink as favorite but the oranges are close second. I like traveling by car so I can stop to see things along the way. Thank you for sharing your adorable quilt.

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  24. Love your quilt! I've never heard of Chessie Cat before - so cute! Cats, quilts, and trains - a great combination ;)

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  25. The quilt is so adorable and I am sure it will be well loved. I love to travel by car so that I can enjoy all the views in my surroundings. I can also easily stop whenever I like to explore what is around me. My favorite color is the green. Thank you for the giveaway.

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  26. My favorite mode of transportation is the car. Especially, our 1960 MGA.

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  27. Nice quilt. Train is my favorite, you get to see the countyside, they do the driving and you can move around the cars. 24Tangent@gmail.com

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  28. What a fun and educational quilt Nan. My favorite mode of transportation; that depends on how fast I need to get to where I am going. I love to paddle and float in a canoe. However, now days it seems like our car is the only thing large enough to carry all of the specialized equipment needed for travel.

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  29. I love kitties and I love trains. Your quilt is Puurfect and I love the story of Dennyville. Thank you sew very much for hopping.

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  30. Your quilt is very cute and I LOVE those colorful batiks. I use batiks frequently in my quilting. My favorite mode of transportation would be rollerskatting. I love to rollerskate but had to give it up because of my age (over 65), still capable, but afraid of falling and breaking something. I guess other than that it would be a car. I've taken several Quilt Shop Hops with my sister and we have a blast.

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  31. What a cute train, love it! There will be a very happy boy! Thanks for the chance.

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  32. I prefer to travel by car as it is less stressful. My fav Island Batik fabric is the London Fog Collection. Your quilt is adorable and your grandson will have fun with it.

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  33. My favorite color is Coral Reef - 121508200. Do love the clear colors in this line. Not sure what my favorite mode of travel is. Cars are fine but I'm hoping to try the train system in Europe which is supposed to be wonderful (no driving, quick and you can get up and walk about if you want!)

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  34. I guess it depends on where I'm going....if I were going a long distance, definitely by plane! My favorite colors in the Coral Reef collection are always the pinks...love bright colors.

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  35. The story about your cats and trains is delightful! My favorite way to travel is via train. Thanks for sharing this. My favorite coral reef fabric is the red flowers on the green background

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  36. My favorite is by car because then we can stop to go antiquing or visit a quilt shop!
    kellam.susan@yahoo.com

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  37. Wonderful quilt. I loved that you incorporated the trains into it along with the alphabet; what a perfectly lovely gift for a 3 year old.

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  38. This is a great kid quilt. I like all the colors in the Coral Reef collection, but purple and lime are my favorites. Never traveled by train and airplane flying has become too tedious, so I guess travel by car wins by default, although I usually wind up as the driver.

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  39. My favorite mode of travel is by airplane and red is my favorite color. My husband and I have a small airplane and your quilt has given me an idea for a similar quilt, only using airplanes instead of trains.

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  40. Love this Bundle! And your Quilt is soooo Crweative! Love it! That lil' 3 year old will Treasure it! Thanks for sharing about trains & your Husbands too. I have only ever traveled by car (or pick-up truck)..so only "favorite" mode of travel I can say giggle...

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  41. I like to drive. I know planes are faster, but such a pain getting to airport, security lines, waiting for plane, not to mention, I always get someone next to me who takes up half my seat.

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  42. I prefer to travel by car. My favorite color is that gorgeous purple! Love your quilt. My grandson would love it.
    Dmac5958ataoldotcom

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  43. Adorable! Thanks so much for the great ideas.

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  44. Riverboat. I love the purple that reads as a solid.

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  45. Cars are my favorite mode of travel: road trip!
    My favorite color of these batiks is the warm orange.
    Thanks for introducing me to Chessie. We have 5 tabbies in our family; I'm definitely going to need to see more of the Chessie cat artwork.

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  46. Such beautiful work. Travel when I was young was such fun and glamorous. Now a days it is a chore. I guess I choose a car for less then 1000 miles.

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  47. I love those pinks! I like to travel by plane.

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  48. My favourite mode of travel is by plane! Love the excitement of jetting of to a foreign location x
    Iain.ross30 at gmail dot com

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  49. My mode of travel depends on several things. But mainly if I need to get there soon, I love to fly. If it is somewhere not terribly far away, I love to drive so I can stop in at interesting places along the way.
    If I have to pick a favorite it is the red #121514188 with the "feather/swirl" design -- but I do love them all.

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  50. For most of the places I go I prefer to travel by car -- although I'd rather be the passenger than the driver. My son lives halfway across the country though, so flying is the way to go. The fabric I would pick as my favorite from this gorgeous collection is the pink one in the center of the front row in the photo. I just love your quilt -- quilts for kids are such fun!

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  51. Loved travelling by railroad - too bad there is not much service here!! Next best is by boat!!!

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  52. I love to drive places. Long road trips are the best! My favorite color is 121506206 - the purplish one with the small leaves. Love your quilt! Thanks!

    Please click on the delaineelliott above for my email link.

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  53. I doubt that Johnny Cash ever dreamed that this beauty would cross paths with his song! LOL!! Perfect intro. :-) This quilt just makes me smile! So bright and so cheery!

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  54. My favorite mode of transportation is by train, but that is hard to do anymore. My favorite fabric in this collection is the mottled orange and yellow. This quilt is so cute. I can just see a child snuggling with it while learning their letters.

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  55. I'd love to take a cruise in the Caribbean to see the coral reef, but mostly I travel by car. My favorite color in the coral reef collection is all the oranges!

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  56. I only traveled by train once, and it was an eight hour trip both ways. It would have been wonderful to have been hand sewing on it. I like to travel by vehicle, mostly. Love the purple and lime green.

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  57. My favorite way to travel is by cruise-ship, the only way to go. I probably know most of J Cash songs, my mother was a fan. Thanks for sharing and the chance to win!
    cork@pa.rr.com

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  58. I like taking scenic road trips and I like boat rides as well. My favorite colors are the bright pink and the yellow next to it, they look great together.

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  59. I love to fly. It gets me where I am going so that I can spend more time enjoying my trip. Plus i get to soar above the clouds. I love the fuchsia, oranges, yellows and purple. Can they all be one color. LOL

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  60. Trains most definitely I have on city metro etc here in the US would love to travel across country. Ayr to Edinburgh was a great trip kids we little and traveled free in Scotland

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  61. Love the trains. My father, grandfathers and uncle all worked for the railroad. My dad worked first for the Central and Eastern Illinois before it became Missouri Pacific and then worked for Missouri Pacific when it became Union Pacific.

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