A Lasting Impression

It's time for another Project Quilting challenge! The theme for this week's challenge is "well-dressed man." I had a unique way to interpret this one!

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

If you're new here, hello! I'm Laura! I design quilt patterns, and I'm a self-proclaimed deal hunter! Be sure to join the popular Quilting & Sewing Deals Facebook group where I post sales, deals, and coupon codes from all around the web!

Project Quilting has its roots from the television show Project Runway. There's a theme posted on Sunday, and you have one week to make something based on that prompt. Your project has to have at least one of three things: include patchwork, include applique, and/or have three layers stitched together by hand or machine. This is the fifth challenge - there's only one more left until the end of the season! See my previous makes for this year here: Challenge 1, challenge 2, challenge 3, and challenge 4. The challenge is really helping me get a good start to my "17 quilts in 2017" goal!

I also feel like the challenge prompts are the start to a game of Chain Reaction (remember that gameshow??). The game gets you to go from one word to another using phrases or compound words. Here's an example that shows how to go from HALF to PLANT.

HALF
PIPE
DREAM
TEAM
ROCKET
POWER
PLANT

So....for this challenge, I did a little chain reaction thinking to come up with my idea.

WELL-DRESSED MAN
MAN IN UNIFORM
MILITARY UNIFORM
MILITARY BOOTS
BOOT PRINTS

My husband is an Air Force veteran, but has been out for over a decade. I decided to try and get a picture of a current boot. My friend's husband is in the Air Force and sent me a picture of his boot.

I originally thought about using tan fabric for the whole cloth quilt, but decided I wanted to go a more symbolic route, so I chose Kona white by Robert Kaufman fabrics. White symbolizes peace.

I printed the boot print lifesize in grayscale and taped it to a window. Then I taped my white fabric over the photo and used a disappearing ink pen to trace the boot prints.

I made a quilt sandwich using two layers of cotton batting and a red, white, and blue fabric for the backing and pin basted the layers together.

Before Christmas, I bought a Juki TL-2010Q sewing machine, but hadn't ever used it yet. This was the quilt to start! So this is the first quilt made with my new-to-me machine!

Using white Aurifil thread, I began by densely quilting the boot prints. I used a micro stipple to create very dense quilting.

Then I had to stop and make supper. After finishing up the dishes, I came back to this.

The disappearing ink that claims it disappears in 2-10 days, disappeared completely in just 4 hours!! I had to sleep on it to calm down.

I decided to un-baste the quilt, and retrace the rest of the boot print (only one this time!).

I finished up the quilting for that boot, then un-basted again to trace the second boot.

It was like a quilting race to finish before the ink disappeared! Crazy!

I originally planned to quilt the background with pebbles to mimic the ground/sand, but after finishing the boots, decided adding anything else would just take away from the boot prints.

Once finished, I trimmed the quilt to 16" x 18" and bound it using more white fabric. I wanted the quilting to be the star, and thought a colored binding would draw your eye away from that.

I tried many new things with this quilt - even a new sewing machine! This is my first whole cloth quilt too. And just like every time I try new things, I learned a lot!

I wanted the quilt to speak for itself. I wanted the viewer to be able to interpret it the way that most impacted them. I have my own thoughts, but I hope that the quilt has meaning for you too.

I wanted the left boot print to be farther forward to symbolize how military marching always begins with the left foot.

Did you know that 6,868 6,875 men and women have given their life for America since 2001? One Three this year. (Sadly, the numbers change often. In the few days this blog post went from draft to published, the numbers changed. You can get an up to date count here.) The footprints on the quilt represent the soldier(s) that left a mark, but is no longer with us. Even though we can't see the soldier, he/she has left a lasting impression. On us. For us. For America.

"A Lasting Impression"
16" x 18"
Wholecloth quilt
Kona white and Aurifil white
Designed, created, and quilted by Laura Piland of Slice of Pi Quilts
Southwest Missouri

Head over to Persimon Dreams to see all the "well-dressed man" inspired quilts and vote for your favorites!


Linking up to Persimon Dreams for ProjectQuilting Challenge 5, Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday at Celtic Thistle Stitches, Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, Show Off Saturday at Sew Can She, Finished or Not Friday at Busy Hands Quilts, and Fabric Frenzy Friday at Fort Worth Fabric Studio.


__________

If you liked this post, you may also like these:

Honor, Courage, Bravery, Valor

ONE Pink Hummingbird Quilt

Little Pink Peonies