Project Quilting 12.3: Virtual Vacation

This week's Project Quilting 12.3 Virtual Vacation theme invited participants to start and finish a quilt that celebrates past vacations and/or dreams about future vacations. My expired United States Passport includes stamps from my travels to Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland back in 2000/2001. Alas, my new passport has yet to be stamped, so I took this opportunity to document some countries that I would like to visit once it's safe to travel again.

For the stamped pages, I used a mottled periwinkle fabric and a purple Sakura Gelly Roll pen to mark the purple grid. 

I searched around the house for items that I could use to create a circular and rectangular stamp. An old bottle cap and a Lego Minifigure Base fit the bill and were brushed with Jacquard's Lumiere Paint (Grape, Pearl Violet, Indigo, and Halo Blue Gold) and then stamped into the grid. 

While conducting several test auditions on a variety of pens, I started to compile a list of countries that were on my travel bucket list.

Selected pens include: Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust purple pen, Hybrid Dual Metallic Pens (Blue, Purple, and Green), along with a Uniball Posca Paint Pen (to add page #s 20 and 21). 

While the stamped page was drying, I shifted gears to create my Passport cover. Bright Gold Lumiere paint was applied to a Star rubber stamp as well as a smaller bottle cap and stamped onto my cover, along with several brushed lines. Passport was hand written using a Uniball Signo metallic gold pen. 

Each panel was layered with batting only and free-motion quilted using a Sulky variegated (stamped page) and a navy King Tut 40wt thread (cover).

Both quilted panels were carefully layered right sides together for assembly. I stitched around the perimeter, taking care to leave an opening for turning it right side out.

The center line was stitched to create a crease to easily close the Passport. All that was left was a little handwork to close the opening.

Passport Potential, Finishes 5" x 7" closed, or 10" x 7" open

My new official and quilted Passports are ready to head to Australia, Japan, Austria, Greece, Italy, South Korea, France, and New Zealand! I'd love to know what countries are on your travel bucket list and/or any recommendations you have for my list. Perhaps I will get a few more ideas as I check out all the amazing entries made for this week's Virtual Vacation Project Quilting 12.3 Challenge!