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Saturday, January 13, 2018

"Mayor - No Joke" - Project Quilting Season 9, Project 1

This is the first challenge of Season 9 of
Project Quilting.

I'm so excited to join in this challenge, "Hometown Proud."

My entry:

Susanna Salter
Mayor - No Joke


Susanna Madora Salter was elected mayor of Argonia, Kansas in 1887,
(my hometown)
the first elected woman Mayor of the United States,
and so far as most people knew, the first woman elected to preside over any town in the world.

Hometown Proud!!!!  I think this meets the challenge.


She announces a challenge and you have one week to create something quilty.
Prizes can be won and it's a great way to meet new blogging friends.

Challenge 1: Hometown Proud
The Rules:
1. Be inspired by the best of your community - what makes you town special?  We don't care if it's where you live or where you have lived.  This part is open to interpretation but in the description of your quilt, please include the name of the town and why you chose it.
2.  Incomplete or unfinished does not qualify.  Every challenge piece must be a FINISHED project seen through from inception to completion during the challenge timeline (January 7 through January 14, 2018).  Each piece must stand alone as DONE to count toward prizes.
3.  Please remember that these projects need to be created during the week of the challenge.  (started on or after January 7, finished by January 14).
4.  Your project does not need to be a traditional quilt, but must meet at least one of these requirements:
  1. include patchwork
  2. inclued applique
  3. have 3 layers stitched together by hand or machine
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You may not recognize this picture, but if anyone from my hometown recognizes
 Susanna Salter from my quilt picture, I will be pleased.


I've always admired
Susanna Salter
 and how she overcame a big joke by bullies 
 to become my hometown's most famous.  
(I won't write the whole story here, but it's worth reading)

When the great women's suffrage leader, Susan B Anothony, was introduced to Susanna Salter at the Kansaas Women's Equal Suffrage Association convention in 1887, she slapped Mrs. Salter on the shoulder and exclaimed,
 "Why, you look just like any other woman, don't you?"

Looks can be deceiving.  This woman made an impact on my little town, the USA, and the world.

I even wrote a research paper in college about her 
so when this challenge was announced 
I decided to tackle
 a portrait quilt of her.  

A first for me.

Here are the steps I took to make this quilt a reality:

There are only a few pictures of Susanna Salter on the internet and in books I have.
This one is not copyrighted or the copyright is expired, either way I did research to make sure I could use it.



I cropped it and took out some details to make it a little simpler to make my template pieces.


I pulled white, gray, and black scraps and chose the values I would need.
Which means I can share this post with 


With tracing paper I made templates and then traced the templates onto HeatNBond Lite and fused the pieces to a white background.

Here's a few pictures as she came to life with fabric.




I added a faux piping and border then picked out a bunch of shades of my favorite 
Aurifil 50 wt thread.



I was very nervous to quilt it, but I managed to do it with very little regret.  
There are always things I would change, but I'm very happy with my first attempt at quilting the portrait.




Susanna Salter
Mayor - No Joke

Project Quilting Season 9, Challenge 1 - Hometown Proud

My hometown is Argonia, Kansas where I grew up and we are proud to have a
 museum of the home of Susanna Salter, the first elected woman Mayor in Argonia and the first elected woman Mayor in the United States

Made by Carla in Dodge City, Kansas
Size:  14" x 16"
Fusible Applique Portrait, Thread Painting, Faux Piping, 
Freemotion quilting on a domestic- by me

It's with pride I will hang this new quilt on my wall and be inspired by this great lady.
(I found my old research paper and will keep it handy to be inspired by her story).




You can see all the other challenge projects and vote for your favorites starting at noon central on
January 14th
by clicking 
HERE
This one is #68



It's been a crazy week, (I became a grandma this week)
but I managed to finish with 12 hours to spare.



22 comments:

Sew of Course said...

Well done, I love the protrait, and the story behind it!!

Skootchover said...

You did an AMAZING job! Wow!

Catfishsue said...

Outstanding work of art! Beautiful!

Calicojoan said...

Oh my gosh, that's just incredible. I've always been intrigued with portrait quilts. You've done a marvelous job.

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Beautifully Done! I loved learning more about your home town. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Carla, this is just amazing! I've never tried this technique, but admire it so much. And a great story, too!

Sum of their Stories said...

That's an amazing quilt and such a great story about an amazing woman.
My hometown also has a story about a strong woman but it was so long ago some is maybe myth and legend. I'm from Coventry in the UK and we are very proud of Lady Godvia - if the stories are true she was pretty impressive for her time too. (I have no idea if you know about Lady Godiva in the US, she is pretty famous here, she road through the streets naked to protest high taxes for the people.

Anonymous said...

I kept seeing your hints on IG, but it did no justice to the final work at all. This is amazing and beautiful. What a great tribute to the first woman mayor!

Kris said...

Absolutely fabulous!!!!! I just love this and love your process pics too.

Carol said...

Wow, Carla, I am blown away by this portrait quilt! She looks amazingly like her photograph, and when I look at your process photos, it was when you added the eyes that did it. Love the quilting too. Thanks for sharing! One of these days, I may attempt such a thing... And I'm going to look up Susanna Salter--I love to learn about women like her.

Pam Geisel - For Quilts Sake said...

Nice job!

works4me said...

Absolutely amazing. How you managed such a fabulous and realistic quilt in such a short time is beyond me.

Beausoleil Quilts said...

When I first looked at this I thought you had printed her on fabric. Such an awesome portrait and beautifully done.

Sarah Goer Quilts said...

Wow! What an amazing quilt and fascinating story. Congrats on a beautiful finish!

Amy said...

I am amazed at how real your portrait looks! If a person didn’t read the story about how you made it, I would have thought it was photo copy. It is absolutely beautiful!

Amy said...

You are so talented. Love all of the detail and the quilting. What a special lady she must have been. Girl Power!!

Paula Fleischer said...

Well done! It's such a leap to trust that those wiggly shapes are just the thing to create the lips and nose shadows. I think the whole thing is just perfect, and it is a great sense of pride to be in the hometown of the first woman mayor in the US. kudos

PersimonDreams said...

This is absolutely incredible! You should hold your head up high - WOW!!!!!

Sharon said...

WOW! Absolutely amazing!! I also thought it was printed on fabric. So incredible and love the story with Susan B Anthony... the first research paper I wrote in elementary school was about her. And so appropriate as we have a women's march around the country this weekend and so many women running for office and the #MeToo movement.... to think she did this over 150 years ago is amazing, indeed!

Karen @runsewfun said...

This is absolutely amazing and I'm so glad you linked up this post so I could find it. An inspiring story for all generations! I'll follow the link to give you my vote. Congratulations on this challenge...and on becoming a grandma!

quilter000 said...

I am so impressed and love your picture in fabric great job and keep it up

The Joyful Quilter said...

Incredible SCRAPlique!! Who knew those scraps had such a stunning future in an applique quilt?!?!