Touring with American Made Brand

Have you been traveling to each state these past couple weeks, seeing some of the neat license plates I've seen? I hope so!

Today's stop is...

So many wonderful thoughts come to mind when I think of Florida, that it was difficult to narrow the long list of items I could have included on my license plate. Mind you... this license plate is my second attempt, as I had even more "things" on the first one!

With only a 6-1/2" X 12-1/2" (unfinished) space in which to convey Florida, I had to go with the obvious - sun, sand and surf. And I added my personal favorite warm-weather "thing" - palms. I've been all about palms since I started this blog in late 2008, while living in Iowa. Even then I was dreaming about living in a tropical place, never imagining that dream would actually come true. On June 23, we'll have been Floridians for two years.

And to give credit where it's due... we wouldn't be living in paradise if it weren't for almost 30 years of hubby's hard work while living in Iowa, working for John Deere. Believe it or not, John Deere manufactures cotton pickers in Des Moines, Iowa!

I remember when... in about 1989, all of us John Deere wives were invited to the factory for a luncheon and tour. The plant manager told us that to help the company and our family prosper, we should "buy cotton." He said, "Buy cotton clothes. Buy blue jeans." I completely understood his unspoken words - "Buy quilting cotton." - and took them to heart!

When this John Deere cotton picker - technically, a "cotton harvester" - photo appeared in an article about American Made Brand fabrics, in the March issue of American Quilter magazine... 

...my husband was the one to pipe up, "That's a model 7760 harvester!" Who else would know?! And would you believe, just one cotton harvester costs more than $800,000?! Wow!

So with hard work for a great company, our dreams have come true. We're living in a climate that suits our preferences for warmth and sunshine.

And don't you know? All our favorite people live in Florida!

From where we live, it's just a 75-minute drive to see them and many other attractions like Universal Studios (Blue Man Group!), Sea World, and Legoland.

We also like historic St. Augustine where lovely Tiffany furniture and glass can be seen at Flagler Collage. And oh! If you're Louis Comfort Tiffany fan (be sure to read "Clara and Mr. Tiffany" by Susan Vreeland), don't miss a visit to Winter Park, Florida to the Morse Museum where you'll see the largest collection of Tiffany glass. It's breathtaking. 

My license plate design uses 14 of the 50 American Made Brand solids. If you like what you see, you're welcome to download and use this design as you wish. Click here for instructions that include print-outs for the foundation paper-pieced sun, and appliqué elements. Appliqué pieces were backed with a fusible web, cut out, ironed to background fabric, and machine-appliquéd with a narrow and shortened-length zig-zag stitch.

If you machine appliqué on a Bernina sewing machine, use the #20 appliqué foot, and don't forget to feed the bobbin thread (I use #60-weight The Bottom Line) through the bobbin's "finger." This keeps the bobbin thread drawn to the bottom, forming a prettier stitch on top.

I pretty much exclusively use Aurifil threads for piecing, machine- and hand-appliqué, and quilting. I recommend two-ply 50-weight thread, the one on the orange-colored spool.

A Bismarck palm, in my front yard!

Have you seen some of the license plates that were posted to blogs during the past two weeks? Michele of QuiltsFromMyCrayonBox is doing a great job of creating a collage of each week of license plate blocks. All 50 blocks will later be made into one, very neat quilt!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

Thank you for visiting me during this tour! To enter my giveaways for a:

1. fat quarter bundle of American Made Brand fabrics,

OR

2. bundle of all extra samples and pieces of AMB fabrics not used in my license plate

comment to let me know where you would like to go on a vacation in Florida. If you're a "no reply" commenter, be sure to include an email address so I can tell you if you win.

I am stunned to find so many "no reply" commenters in the first 70 comments. PLEASE be sure you know if you're a "no reply." If in doubt, include your email address in your comment. Many of you will definitely NOT win because I won't be able to contact you!

This giveaway is open to international visitors! Giveaway ends Saturday, June 7 at 6 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

After commenting, stick with us as we continue on our tour. Visit today's other state blogger from Texas, and then go here tomorrow to continue on our road trip to the remaining 20 states! That's 20 more chances to win an AMB fabric bundle! Linda