Shine Bright

Friday, February 17, 2017

This week's Project Quilting challenge prompt was "Brighter the Better."

I immediately knew I wanted to use reflective fabric. After I couldn't find any locally, I decided to repurpose some clothing items we had around the house. My first choice was this construction vest from the kids' toy bin, but I couldn't take that away from them!

Reflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi Quilts


My second choice was some of my husband's old work pants that had a reflective stripe down the side. I got out my seam ripper and had a couple stripes worth to work with in no time.

Reflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi Quilts

The hardest part this week was settling on an idea to pursue. (Do you follow me on Pinterest yet? You can see some of the pins I considered for inspiration.) I actually decided on one idea, made a paper piecing pattern for it, then realized I didn't have enough fabric for it - nor enough time to complete it!

Reflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi QuiltsReflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi Quilts

The challenge prompt included the directions: "your project must be bright and colorful - the more colorful, the better!" However, the more I dwelled on it, the more I wanted the focus of my project to be the bright reflective fabric. I'm just not a rainbows and unicorns kind of gal!

I decided on solid black fabric for the background and made a quilt sandwich with black for the backing too. Then I sprayed the back of the reflective tape with basting spray and cut the it into squares of decreasing sizes. The largest square is 1/2" x 1/2". I arranged the squares into a pleasing design. The basting spray allowed for the small pieces to stay relatively in place while I quilted over them.

Reflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi Quilts

I used black thread to quilt over the four sides of the reflective squares.

Reflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi Quilts
Reflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi Quilts
Reflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi Quilts

Then I used the orange fabric (it is more like ribbon) that was used on the work pants as the binding. (The orange color doesn't photograph correctly unless the flash is on! It was meant to be!)

Reflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi Quilts
Reflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi Quilts

It's definitely not going to be the most "colorful" entry this week, but it is bright in it's own unique way. Maybe even a reminder to us to "shine bright" among the darkness in the world.
Reflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi Quilts
Reflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi Quilts
Reflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi Quilts

"Shine Bright"
11" x 11"
Raw edge applique and repurposed materials
Made by Laura Piland in SW Missouri

Reflective mini quilt for Project Quilting by Slice of Pi Quilts



11 comments:

  1. That was an absolute rock star idea, and you implemented it soooo well! Wowza!

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  2. Great idea to repurpose the reflective tape!

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  3. I really like your use of unique materials - this is very bright!

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  4. Would this be an unconventional materials challenge?!? Very creative take on the challenge.

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  5. What a fantastic idea and great execution!! I was looking for some shiny fabric before Christmas and now realise that reflective strips would definitely work for what I had planned.

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  6. Cool! I love the overall shape of the design.

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  7. Wonderful idea for your project and I love the result! Well done!

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  8. Isn't it amazing the every day things that inspire us? What a creative project! Thanks for linking up with TGIFF @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge!

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  9. fantastic! I love reading your process - great work!

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