Kayak Me Happy - See Ya Later, Alligator!

 Welcome to Creatin' in the Sticks 

and 
my day - the final day for the See Ya Later, Alligator Blog Hop.

To all that participated or commented -

Thank you so much!

My head is swimming with all kinds of wanderlust

and I can't wait to try some new travel projects.

But first, it's my day to show my

Kayak Me Happy Quilt.

The inspiration for this hop came from the idea of traveling to all 50 states.

Hubby and I had been visiting the idea

only we don't want to just visit the states.

We want to paddle in each state - kayaking that is.

I guess that means we would have to go back to Hawaii...

But for now, Kansas has beautiful scenery to see too.

To make the quilt, I tweaked the Crossed Canoes quilt block pattern.

I didn't paper piece, but went old school and made templates.

I found I didn't waste as much fabric or end up with as many bias edges.

Instead of 2 canoes, I appliqued paddles to one to make it a Kayak quilt block.

The block has so many possibilities - rotating the blocks makes a really cool secondary pattern.

But, that will be another quilt at another time...

Thanks for visiting my travel dream with me.

Adventure awaits!

I enjoy hosting blog hop events so much!

Joan from Moosestash Quilting, Carol from Just Let Me Quilt, 

and I, Carla from Creatin' in the Sticks

take turns hosting the blog hops and themes/challenges.

This month was my turn to host the

See Ya Later, Alligator blog hop!

And I'm sharing my day with these bloggers:

Thursday, August 25th

Creatin' in the Sticks - me

Quilted Delights

Food For Thought

Scrapdash.com

DayBrook Designs 

Just Because Quilts

You can find the rest of the schedule HERE.

This blog hop is for everyone!

Have fun visiting each blog and making new friends.

They have worked hard to show us some new ideas, so be sure to thank them with 

a sweet comment!

You can check out the Pinterest Board to stay up to date, too.

Happy Travels!

Fly Over Quilt For Him with Cuddle Fabric Backing

Mother's Day was so wonderful, does that mean it's time to concentrate on projects for him?

YES! I suppose it's time to share Father's Day ideas.

  It’s “Guy Talk” week on the Thermoweb blog 
and
 I’m excited to share a new quilt pattern and tutorial for you to make a super fun quilt.  

My guy loves to watch airplanes and this quilt is perfect for him.

ThermOWeb has a new width for Stitch n Sew High Loft Fleece - 60” wide.

 It is lighter than cotton batting and is perfect 
when adding a cuddle fabric to the back of a quilt.

Hop over on over to the Thermoweb Blog for the 

Free pattern for Fly Over

and

the full tutorial for adding cuddle fabric to the back of the quilt.

Photos were taken at the Nelson Ghost Town in Searchlight, Nevada.

It was such a fun place to visit and take quilt photos.

I can't thank Carol enough for the awesome fun we had!!!

I need to make another quilt so I can get out there and take pictures again!

Hearts on Fire - Play Ball!

 “Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.” – Yogi Berra

 Welcome to the first day of the

Hearts on Fire Blog Hop!

I'm happy to kick things off with

Play Ball!

Carol of Just Let Me Quilt has invited bloggers to make a heart project, 

only the heart can't be the color red.

Thank you, Carol, for inviting me to join this super fun blog hop!

My heart is on fire for baseball.

I quilt what I love.

It may be that baseball for me means family time

whether we are watching a little league game, big league (Go Royals!), or any game in between.

The game always seems to bring us together.

That's my sister, our dad, my son, me, and my sister's youngest son.  

We were watching my sister's oldest son play baseball last summer.

My sister has 3 sons that play baseball.  If they aren't playing they are practicing and not just during the summer, but year-round.

I made this quilt for her.  Baseball this time of year can be quite chilly.

The quilt is 54" x 60" and will be perfect in the stands.

I have been working on stash management and cut all the pieces from my white and grey scrap boxes.  

Next, I used purchased bias tape for the baseball stitches and quilted it with straight lines.

I sandwiched batting between the top and the very special fleece backing.

My sister's oldest just committed to play at Kansas State University!

I am so excited to go and watch my nephew play university ball

and

his mom can share her quilt with me.

Or, maybe I should make one for myself...  

Be sure to check out all the other Hearts On Fire this week:

January 18

Creatin' in the Sticks
Life in the Scrapatch
Freckled Fox Quiltery
All Thingz Sewn
Den Syende Himmel
That Fabric Feeling

 January 19
MooseStashQuilting
Websterquilt
Words & Stitches
Vroomans Quilts
Quilt Schmilt
Cynthia's Creating Ark
Songbird Designs

 January 20
Selina Quilts
Stitchin At Home
Samelia's Mum
Just Sew Quilter
Scrapdash
Karrin’s Crazy World
The Darling Dogwood

 January 21
Quilt Fabrication
Ms P Designs USA
Beaquilter
Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel
Ridge Top Quilt
For The Love Of Geese
Sew Many Yarns
Quilting Gail

January 22
Just Let Me Quilt
Karen's Korner
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Quilt In A Not-Shell
Storied Quilts
Kathy's Kwilts and More
Homespun Hannah's Blog

I love putting hearts in quilts, don't you?

I'm sure by the end of the blog hop, you will have more ideas than time.

I always end up that way...

Maybe if we could all go hang out at a baseball game the world would be a happier place.

Child's Play - Paw vs Pole

The September Challenge for the Island Batik Ambassadors is

Child's Play

and

today I'm excited to share

Paw vs Pole.

As Island Batik Ambassadors,

we were to create a juvenile-inspired project quilt

using the Accuquilt GO! Block on Board® (BOB®) Dies

that were included in the ambassador boxes we received in July.

My Block on Board® was the Accuquilt GO! Bear's Paw - 14" Finished Die

The challenge, for me, was to make the blocks into a child's quilt.

That's when I sat down with Electric Quilt to play with the design.

I chose to add a quilt block I designed called

 "Lunchtime"

and

with the

Bear's Paw blocks from the Accuquilt die

Paw vs Pole was born.

Would it be easier for a bear to catch a fish if he had a pole?

What I love most about using the Accuquilt GO! Bear's Paw block die was the ease of cutting the pieces and especially the triangles for the half-square triangles.  I was even able to cut the background squares and triangles for the "Lunchtime" applique block.  The piecing was so fast.

I just chain pieced all of the half-square triangles at once

and

then chain pressed with my pink Oliso Pro iron.

The Bear's Paws were made with an Island Batik fabric from the  "French Blue" collection by Kathy Engle. The background and borders are all Island Batik Foundations.

 The applique bear was made with my Island Batik stash fabrics

and

my favorite fabric adhesive with no tracing, HeatnBond EZ Print Lite.

The appliques were stitched with Aurifil 50 wt. thread # 2784

I quilted Paw vs Pole on my Handyquilter with Glide thread in white.

I think this quilt is perfect for a little fisherman.

I really enjoyed trying a different border effect with this quilt

and

certainly loved the ease of the cutting with the

Accuquilt GO! Bear's Paw block die

You can find the full list of Island Batik ambassadors posting for the 

Child's Play challenge

by clicking HERE.

Now, Let's go fishing.

Looking Fly - Project Quilting Season 8, Project 5

Looking Fly is my newest quilt made for Project Quilting.

When inspiration comes from the heart it just seems so right...

Kim at Persimon Dreams hosts Project Quilting.

She announces a challenge and you have one week to create something quilty.

Prizes can be won and it's a great way to meet new blogging friends.

This is the fifth challenge of 6 for Season 8.

Challenge 5: Well Dressed Man

The first thing to come to mind when I heard the challenge was my son.  He's been a sharp dresser since he started picking out his own clothes.

Then

and now.

The Rules:

1. Your project must be inspired somehow by menswear or a man.

2.  Incomplete or unfinished does not qualify. Every challenge piece must be a FINISHED project seen through from INCEPTION to COMPLETION during the challenge timeline (February 26 through March 5, 2017). Each piece must stand alone as DONE to count toward prizes. 

3. Please remember that these projects need to be created during the week of the challenge (started on or after February 26, finished by March 5th). 

4.  Your project does not need to be a traditional quilt, but must meet at least one of these requirements:

1. Include patchwork.
2. Include appliqué.
3. Have 3 layers stitched together by hand or machine.

5.  Link up a blog post, flickr image, instagram post, or public facebook post  by Sunday, March 5th, 2017, at noon CDT.

My son, Randy, provided me with lots of inspiration for this quilt, although he doesn't know it.  I went over to his Facebook page and started snooping through his pictures.  Moms do that...

I had seen the shirts patterns in EQ7 and had always wanted to incorporate them into a quilt.  This was the perfect opportunity.  I found out it wasn't going to be easy once I saw all the y-seams and piecing challenges, but by the last block I had it mostly figured out.  lol

Parts are foundation paper piecing and other parts (neck and background) are just strategic piecing.

Each block was inspired by a memory or a picture. 

 I won't bore you with all of them, but this is a fun one.

Here is the picture.

My little Alfalfa!

My little Alfalfa quilt block.  

This is the only block I did fusible applique on.  I used my favorite, HeatNBond Lite , and just drew the bow tie and fused it on the pieced shirt.

The rest of the quilt is completely pieced.

I wanted the quilting to be like pinstripes, so I used my walking foot and quilted diagonal lines.  I used my "go to" color of Aurifil 50 wt.  (#2600).

I  also wanted to jazz up the binding and tried a flanged binding for the first time.

Lorna of SewFreshQuilts has a tutorial that I used, but I like my binding a little thinner.

I used 1 1/2" and 1 1/4" strips.

It was so fun to use scraps and find just the right fabrics for each and every block.

I used every fabric for a reason, from his favorite team to his favorite color to little memories or thoughts.

So, this  one is for my son who is always "Looking Fly."

Looking Fly

Project Quilting Season 8, Challenge 5 - Well Dressed Man

Made by Carla in Dodge City, Kansas

http://www.createinthesticks.blogspot.com/

Size:  22" x 22"

Strategic and paper piecing, Fusible Applique, Flanged binding
Straight line quilting

I have another man that supports me so much and without him these pictures wouldn't be possible.  Hats off to my partner and bestie in life. 

A behind the scenes shot...

These things don't happen without team work...

 Thank you!!!

You can see all the other challenge projects and vote for your favorites starting at noon central on

March 5th

by clicking 

HERE

Looking Fly is #73