I grew up with two younger brothers, and like most families with both boys and girls, you tend to play with your siblings' toys.  Although my brothers were not so keen on playing with Barbies, I loved playing with their Matchbox cars.  As a matter of fact, I had a favorite, it was the Cadillac Seville.  It was two-toned silver and burgundy, and I played with it all the time.  I would use crayons to create roads and paths for the cars to drive in, and I also drew huge parking lots so I could park all the Matchbox cars.  When my brothers started getting Legos for Christmas, I was all in.  I loved laying out the roads to create some sort of city and drive the Lego cars on them.

This is some of our handiwork. 

You would have thought I would have gone into city planning, but no, it was for something much bigger, my collection On The Go.  Needless to say this type of play, this exposure to being able to create with my brothers toys, fostered so much inspiration for On The Go.  Would you have guessed that what I created with my brothers would lead to this cut-and-sew panel?

Isn’t it crazy how strong memories can be?  I hadn't seen the first picture in over thirty years.

When I proposed this concept to Moda and they let me go forward with it, I was so excited.  I started with a list of what modes of transportation I wanted to feature, then I narrowed it down to cars, construction and airplanes.  Then I had to figure out how I wanted my city to look.  I quickly decided that it should be representative of most cities.  A school, shopping, hotels, construction site, airport, neighborhoods, and the all important parking lots were key components for this playmat.

Construction, because every city has it.  And a roundabout. 

Houses.  Apartments.  Retail.

 A neighborhood and Fire Station. 

Every city has a school.

The On The Go Playmat Panel is printed on 100% cotton canvas so it can withstand years of playing. 

I wanted the prints for this collection to support the panel so I created a variety of prints from everyday life via transportation.  

I love all the prints, but I think my favorite print in On The Go is the airplane/runway scene - it's called Take Off. 

As someone who has put in some time at the airport, I always find the runway so interesting with people and trucks going every which way while huge planes are taxiing through the maze.

 

From left to right, the prints are titled:  It's A Sign - Take Off - You're On The Radar - Eat My Tread - Stay In Your Lane - Eat My Tread.

You're On Radar - Beep Beep - It's a Sign - Stay In Your Lane - It's A Sign - Eat My Tread - Let's Build

It's A Sign - Beep Beep - You're On The Radar - Five Alarm - Eat My Tread - Beep Beep

Five Alarm - It's A Sign - You're On The Radar - Let's Build - Eat My Tread - Take Off - You're On The Radar - Five Alarm - It's A Sign - Stay In Your Lane.

Beep Beep - It's A Sign - Eat My Tread - Stay In Your Lane - Eat My Tread - Let's Build.

I also created five quilts for On The Go, all celebrating different modes of transportation. 

The new quilts are:

• Traffic Jam - 66" x 66" - SIH 051
  
• Truckin' - 66" x 76" - SIH053
• Road Map - 54" x 66" - SIH052
• Intersection - 58" x 58" - SIH054
• Let's Fly - 61" x 72" - SIH050  (This is also a Moda Kit - No. 20720.)

I hope you have enjoyed reading about how the On The Go collection was created and brought to life. 

On The Go is in shops now so be sure to ask about it.