Purrfect Spots: My Mini Madness Quilt for March

Purrfect Spots: My Mini Madness Quilt for March: Well it is that time of year again when basketball prevails with March Madness! But not so here. Island Batik has taken it to a whole new...

My Mini Madness Quilt for March

Well it is that time of year again when basketball prevails with March Madness! But not so here. Island Batik has taken it to a whole new level and invited the Island Batik Ambassadors to make a Mini Madness Quilt this month of March! 

The rules are no quilts bigger than 24" x 24". We can use any pattern or design our own!
And of course use the lovely Island Batik fabrics! 

My main focus fabrics are from the Jersey Shore Collection and I think I created a unique way to display them. However  I did use a fabric from the Lavish Collection and Sea Salt Sandy Collection plus a neutral. 

 

I got the idea from one of the cross stitch patterns  that I designed which plays on the technique of Millefiori with different colors of floss and beads.



 







 Millefiori comes from a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware. It is a combination of the two Italian words "mille" which means thousand and "fiori" which means flowers as it looks like 1000 flowers! It is mostly associated with Venetian glassware today. An example is shown here. Isn't this neat?




Also since it is "officially" Spring now (although in some places it doesn't feel like it) and the week of Easter when "bunnies" are everywhere, this was just a natural fit for my Mini Madness Quilt. So having said that, let me present my quilt - "Flower Bun".

The bunny measures 16" x 17" and all the little yoyo's represent flowers. I have him holding a flower in his paws as the basket is just too full! Aren't the colors wonderful? I used a charm pack of the Jersey Shore Collection of fabrics! The bunny is from the neutral collection "Sprinkles" and he is placed on a Lavish collection background. The border, binding and backing are from the Sea Salt Sandy Collection. Isn't it nice that he has arrived just in time for Easter?
 
I hope you have enjoyed my Mini Madness blog. I will have another one for you next week. These projects are quick and too much fun, so stay tuned. 

I am so honored and pleased to be a part of this group. The projects that have been shared over the month are all winners! I will have a complete list for you next week so you can enjoy the fun!

Thank you for stopping by!

Until next time,

Nan 

Purrfect Spots: I have winners from the Island Batik Planes, Train...

Purrfect Spots: I have winners from the Island Batik Planes, Train...: I want to announce the winners of my two blog posts with the Island Batik Planes, Trains & Automobiles Blog Hop. First of all, I want ...

I have winners from the Island Batik Planes, Trains & Automobiles Blog Hope - are you one?

I want to announce the winners of my two blog posts with the Island Batik Planes, Trains & Automobiles Blog Hop.

First of all, I want to thank all of you who participated and left such nice compliments! I really appreciate it.

OK - the winner of the "Island Batik ABC Express Train"  Fat Quarters is Beth (who said)

"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."

Beth, please contact me and let me know your mailing address as you have won four Fat Quarters of  the lovely Island Batik fabrics pictured below.

The winners of the "Night Movers" are Lisa Marie who said
"We have been to many wonderful places, so I'm not sure I have just one favorite. But I will say that one trip we took several years back and really enjoyed was the National Parks in Southern Utah -- such amazing scenery!"

and

Gran Chris who said
" I have really enjoyed this Hop. Beautiful projects and fabric."

You both have won my pattern "Forest Nights' shown below:

Please contact me with your email address so I can send you the pattern.

Thank you again for all who participated in this Blog Hop.

But please check back as there are more projects coming later this month.

Until then,

Nan

The Island Batik Planes, Trains & Automobiles' Blog Hop Final Journey!

Welcome to the final journey of the Island Batik Planes, Trains & Automobiles Blog Hop. 
 I hope you will enjoy traveling with me. We are going to go to a very special place!

I love this collection of Island Batik - Holiday Happenings. I designed a quilt using this fabric that was introduced at Quilt Market in Houston last fall. (But more on that later.)

Look at these gorgeous fabrics!

I even love the logo for these fabrics as it contains a moose.

I have three favorite places in this world and I plan on taking you to one of those. I live in one but love traveling to the other two, a desert and a forest. Can you guess which one I choose for our trip by looking at the fabrics?

If you are still not sure, please watch this video. Those who have read my blogs before know I love to share a little something to give you a hint. I hope you enjoy!

Now you know, we are traveling to Alaska and the Denali National Park! The best thing about this trip is we are going to go on a night tour to see the Aurora Borealis. How neat is that!

So why do I love Alaska and why did I want my quilt to take you there? The first answer is pretty easy - there are some wonderful animals there and the scenery is just magnificent. Such a fascinating place and because of that, I have Alaska pretty much scattered throughout my house in Florida!

in the dining room

also in the dining room

where else - the dining room

Living Room

 


This rug we got in Juneau! It shows the owl, eagle and raven. It is in the living room.




 

 This little guy is on the wall in the living room.

This is in the bedroom. Can you see the bear symbol on the rock and reflected in the lake?

 

This guy is also in the bedroom. He is one of my favorites.

I think you get the idea that I love Alaska and I want to thank Island Batik for giving me the opportunity to take you there by way of their lovely fabrics!

Here is my quilt and I call it "Night Moves".  My pictures do not do justice to these beautiful fabrics which are lovely greens, golds, and cranberry.

This quilt was made using applique, piecing and Broderie Perse. I will show you different parts of the quilt so you can see each example.

This is applique in the middle panel showing the bears and the trees. If you recognize the bears, that is because they were featured in my Island Batik Summer Country Blog Hop on my placemats last August. However once the hop was over, I removed the bears from the placemats and they became Kennel Quilts which were sent to an animal shelter that was recovering from floods. Read more about Kennel Quilts here! 
So the bears are back and they have found a home! Hopefully my Florida bears won't mind the cold weather in Alaska.

Here you see piecing and of course, the best part about Holiday Happenings is all the wonderful animals pictured on the fabrics. I had to use them. Here is a wolf and below is a moose.

Aren't they wonderful? Does it get any better? I don't think so.

Next are the hills and the snow capped mountains. The green hills are celery from another Island Batik collection and the mountains use one of their neutrals. They worked together beautifully with Holiday Happenings. And don't you love the colors of the sky? It was just "purrfect" for the Aurora Borealis.

Here is where I used Broderie Perse. The green fabric placed on the quilt has lots of lovely little trees. I cut them out and applied them to the hills in the background to create depth and perspective.

I used lovely Aurifil Threads in my quilt and they matched this collection beautifully.

Now I told you earlier that I used Holiday Happenings in an earlier quilt. This is Forest Nights and the pattern is available on my website.The same collection but used in two totally different ways! That is what I love about Island Batik. So versatile! Holiday Happenings will be available in April so check with your local quilt shop. 

I hope you have enjoyed your journey and as a way to say thank you I will be giving away two of my Forest Nights' patterns. For an opportunity to win, please comment below and let me know your favorite place to travel.  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  – 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!

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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!

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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Blog Hop

The Island Batik Ambassadors have been very busy getting ready for the "Travel" Blog Hop!

This is just our way of showing the newest fabrics from Island Batik that are now on the store shelves.

Every day over the next couple of weeks, a new fabric collection will be showcased on different blogs.

There are great give aways and lots of fun projects, so please load, get on board or jump in your car for the Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Blog Hop! 

Here are some examples of the fun designs you will see!

Here’s the schedule:
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.


a Rafflecopter giveaway