Car 54 where are you?

Back on July 28th & 31, I blogged about a project that I was starting. On the 31st, I gave you an idea of the process that I go through to accomplish the task. Today, I want to share with you the finished project "Car 54".

The idea for this project came to me after I finished the baby quilt of the Semi Truck (See the blogged dated April 6th & 21st). You see, I am the only girl in my family which has 3 boy. So for years, I've endured conversations about cars!!!! I know, it's a guy thing, but even conversations on where to get a cardboard liner for a 1952 Chevy while we where having breakfast is a bit much. So after doing the Semi Truck quilt, I decided to do one more special quilt.

My brother George is a Macomb County Deputy Sheriff and has a 1952 Chevy Styleline Deluxe that he's restored to be a reproduction of a 1952 Sheriff Patrol Car and also a D.A.R.E. car.
As you can see, he has his own collectors card which is 2.5" x 3.5" and my source of inspiration.

I scanned the card and printed out an 8.5" x 11" color copy



After making this copy, I took my 54" width roll of paper and drew out a 44"x 35" rectangle on it. I taped that to my dining room wall and put the color copy on the opaque projector and displayed it on the paper taped to the wall. I then traced the image.




After tracing the image onto the large paper, I now have to retrace each section onto tracing paper to make the patterns. Don't ask how many pieces as I didn't bother to count, as I didn't want to be overwhelmed by numbers.
You have to start with the back ground and work your way up from there. I try to give texture and detail. I wish you could see the real thing. The steering wheel is black vinyl, the seat cover is corduroy, the body of the car is satin to give it it's shine, and a thin plastic for the windows. I used gabardine for the uniform pants, vinyl for the shoes, silver lame' and silver dance fabric for the chrome as well as gold satin for the lettering. If you feel the uniform shirt, it is cotton and the pockets, pocket flaps and shirt cuff as individual pieces ans his tie is like a silk tie. The red lights and spot lights are dance fabric and iridescent sheer. I used calico's for the sky, hills and ground and a marbled black for the ground.
Back in July, my family got together for breakfast and I decided to surprise my brother with what I had at that point of the process. "All these years of car talk, glass pack mufflers, intake manifold, card board trunk liners, drag racing, demolition derby's, Indy 500, Dayton 500. I decided if you guys can build cars, well, so can I and from the ground up mind you. Here's my problem, when I'm done with it, where do I park it?" "Park what?" he answered. With that, I reached next to me and brought up the folded quilt. "This"! I replied as I unfolded it.



I got him!!!! I got him good. He was speechless and tears started to well up in his eyes.
It took a few more weeks to finish as I had other things to attend to, but now it's complete and ready to be parked anywhere he chooses.

I included this picture of me standing next to it so you get an idea just how big it is. A far cry from 2.5" x 3.5". I have no idea how many hours I've invested in it. When it's a labor of love, time doesn't matter. I guess all that car talk paid off over the years, especially when I can use my talents to give back.