American Made Brand: Blog Tour and Giveaway

 Have you heard about AMB fabrics? It's a new line by Clothworks, which produces quality, solid quilting weight fabrics here in the U.S.A.  The cotton is grown in American soil and milled right here, a philosophy I can vibe with.  You can read more about the AMB story HERE and see all 50 great colors HERE!

I am incredibly honored and thrilled to have been selected by American Made Brand {AMB} to represent my home state of Michigan in their virtual blog tour of each of the United States, it's a road trip! No gas required. This challenge asked each contributor to design a license plate for their state, with the idea that each block will be incorporated  into a quilt, it's the ultimate national quilting bee.

My License Plate Block:

Far from perfect, and not quite as I first drafted, but I'm super pleased with it. The letters are paper pieced using Carol Doak's 300 Paper-Pieced Quilt Blocks book, and yes, I tediously reduced the  patterns  to 1 inch, leaving 1/4" seam allowance around the perimeter for sewing the pieces together. I'm just hoping nobody looks at the back of this block ;) For the state, I fused Heat and Bond to the back of the fabric, traced the state on the paper side, used really sharp snips to cut around it, then fused it to the background fabric with a steamy iron. To finish the state, I took a single strand of embroidery floss and made tiny blanket stitches around the edges. The block is 6.5" x 12.5" So if you're a glutton for  tiny piecing punishment, give it a shot.

My State, Michigan: 

Michigan is the Great Lakes State, it's the Mitten State, it's home to Motor City, the birthplace of Gibson Guitars, Bell's Beer, the Kalamazoo Promise and Motown music. Michigan is home the largest freshwater coast in the world, which lends  well to the fruit and wine producing industries. If you haven't traveled to Michigan, I recommend you do so. Please enjoy some of my favorite Instagram photos depicting some of the beauty of Northern Michigan. You can find me on Instagram at @cbhandmade

Old Mission Peninsula

Where the Platte River meets Lake Michigan,  Sleeping Bear National Park

Downright sweet example of a Michigan Made vintage 9 patch quilt.

Because you can't do Northern Michigan without fudge...

and you can't do the fair without a truck.

Enjoy the rest of the blog tour! You can find all of the participating designers HERE! 

Please leave a comment for chance to win a bundle of 8 fat quarters from American Made Brand fabrics! 

Giveaway open until Monday, June 9.