Thank You for the Music (Music Challenge Quilt)

About a year ago, the Elgin Piecemakers Guild issued a challenge:  create a quilt that depicts a song.  We were given a piece of fabric with musical notes on it that we were to use in our quilts. The quilts were to be revealed last Spring but we were unable to meet at that time so there was an extension on the deadline.  We have now shown our quilts to each other so I can finally do a blogpost on my music challenge quilt. 

When I think of music, my first thoughts turn to my dad.  He played the fiddle from when he was a small lad taking lessons in Scotland until he died at 88 years old a couple of years ago.  Dad played by ear--if he heard a tune he liked, he could just pick up his fiddle and play it.  He had a huge repertoire of songs that he knew and would often take requests at various family events, dances, concerts or at the retirement home where he spent his final years.  He was a member of various music groups and bands over the years and I have tapes and cd's of him playing.  Sadly, the music gene did not pass on to me -I enjoy music but can't play a musical instrument or sing well enough for anyone to want to listen to me for long. 

When choosing the song I wanted to depict in my quilt, my first thought was ABBA's "Thank you for the Music", specifically, the chorus:

    So I say
    Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing
    Thanks for all the joy they're bringing
    Who can live without it? I ask in all honesty
    What would life be?
    Without a song or a dance, what are we?
    So I say thank you for the music
    For giving it to me

The tune and the words danced around in my head as I cut my fabrics and sewed my quilt. 

I chose to use my Dad's shirts for the background and backing of my quilt. I machine appliquéd the fiddle onto the quilt after it had been quilted.  The music fabric is in the f-holes on the front of the violin body. It was originally white but I tea dyed it. 

 Here is the back--another shirt. 

My Dad came to Canada from Scotland after WW2.  He had $80, a suitcase of clothes and his violin when he arrived.  Like most immigrants, he came to Canada for more opportunities and a better life. His violin was his constant companion and opened many doors to friendships that lasted a lifetime. 

Thank you for the music, Dad, for giving it to me.