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. 

The Handmade Gifts of Christmas

Several friends and family members received homemade gifts this year.  This is my favourite part of Christmas--figuring out what to make and then getting to work in the sewing room to get it all done.  I would rather sew than spend time at the mall shopping for gifts. 

I made this pillow for my brother. As long time readers know, our Dad passed away last year and I decided to make this pillow using his shirts.  The background fabric is Essex Linen in dark grey-my Dad often wore gray flannel pants so this seemed like the perfect background fabric.  My brother lives far from here so I actually just mailed the pillow cover to him and suggested where he could buy the right size of pillow form.   I would like to make myself a pillow too. 

My husband and I were in need of some new pillowcases for our bed.  We have lots of squirrels in our backyard and my husband grew up in a home surrounded by oak trees, so this fabric is very appropriate and fun for our new pillowcases.

My daughter picked out the fabric for her pillowcases in the summertime.  I had hoped she would  forget about it, but she hadn't so was not really surprised when the pillowcases were under the tree.

Almost everyone received a bowl cozy.  I was in full bowl cozy production for a while, with special fabrics picked for each one.  I forgot to take pictures as I was making them but here are the two I made for my husband and I.

I've been hoarding this blue fabric for a while--obviously a favourite in my stash.   The outside of the bowl cozy is little birds.

This past summer, my husband and I were in Scotland for three weeks and I purchased some Scottish fabric in Inverness.  My husband's bowl cozy features Highland cattle.

Everyone in my husband's family and several of my friends received bowl cozies this year.  There will be no more burned hands when getting a bowl of soup out of the microwave!

My slow stitching projects continue to be a welcome break in the midst of the busy-ness of the season. There was some early morning stitching with Finn early in the week...

as well as some car stitching.  No change in colour yet, but soon. 

My daughter and I had some crafting time yesterday afternoon.  She received this kit from her Aunt, Uncle and cousins for Christmas and got started on some of the stitching. The kit is from Diana Watters Handmade.  I made a couple of Christmas ornaments with her kits last year. 

I worked on my snowflake ornament. I found some beads to add to it when the stitching is done.

In the meantime, all of the excitement has worn Finn out!  He took a lot of naps yesterday to recover.

He is up and playing now.  There will be a long walk later today.  Sunday morning, I will be linking up with Kathy and the other slow Sunday stitchers--take a look to see how everyone is relaxing during the holidays.

Coming Home and FLW

I have finally finished the second part of my Coming Home BOM quilt.  Everything is fitting together well so far with minimal un-sewing.  The four corners are up next and I have the pieces cut out and ready to applique. 

The applique tulips will be turquoise and magenta (two of each).  I have started to applique one block and hope to get them all done before the third set of instructions come out at the end of April.

If you read my previous post, you will know that I am making a string quilt with material from my Dad's shirts.  Here is my second of 16 blocks.

I have made a couple more Tula Pink sampler blocks in the last 3 weeks and need to get back to making the rest of the blocks for this quilt.  I seem to have a lot of irons in the fire at the moment. 

Frank Lloyd Wright's Office Window counted cross stitch is done!  I finished the last few stitches of outlining one morning this week.  Now, to get this one washed and pressed and ready for framing, along with the other two FLW windows...

I will be working on my applique for Slow Sunday Stitching this week.  Take a look at what the other hand stitchers and knitters are doing this week over at Kathy's blog. 

Sewing with Strings

Last Friday marked one year since my Dad died.  I had signed up for a quilting workshop with Mary Elizabeth Kinch, author of "Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts" a few months ago and decided I would use my Dad's shirts for my project.  Mary Elizabeth spoke at our London Friendship Guild meeting on Thursday night and we had a great trunk show of her quilts, including the workshop quilt, "Go with the Flow". 

I met Mary Elizabeth several years ago at Gwen Marston's Beaver Island Quilt retreat in Elk Rapids, Michigan.  It was fun to see her again and catch up.

After some discussion about string quilts in general and different ways to make them, we cut into our fabrics and started sewing the strings together.   Mary Elizabeth also showed us pictures of several antique and newer string quilts.  Here is her "Go with the Flow" quilt.

By lunch time, everyone had made at least one row of strings.

Here are my two rows, not pressed yet

Two more, pressed and ready to trim.

Tonight, I made a couple more rows and then made my first block of the 16 needed to make this queen sized quilt. 

As I sewed, I thought about my Dad and the times that he wore these shirts.   Dad loved to stop at Shaw's Ice Cream for a Black Cherry Cone so my husband and went there on the weekend. 

It seemed like a fitting thing to do. 

Coming Home--Applique

Finn joined me on the couch this week for some applique for part two of Coming Home, this year's Sarah Fielke BOM project. The instructions for part two came out at the end of February, so I am a little bit behind, but I'm sure I will catch up at some point.  I am just enjoying the process of picking out fabrics and working away at the various parts of this quilt.

I finished sewing the starts to the magenta squares and cut them out into circles for the next stage of the applique.  Finn provided moral support as I sewed the stars to the chartreuse background squares.

Kathy asked last week about how I used my block book...I use it to organized the parts for my applique blocks and to keep the completed parts flat and safe from being lost in the shuffle.  Since it has a hard cover, it is also handy as a work surface on my lap as I sew, as shown in the first picture above.

This afternoon, I put the first of four sections together for the next border.  The other sections are laid out, ready to sew.  I hope to get to them early next week. The templates for part three are cut out of cardboard, ready to trace on yet to be chosen fabric.  Look for more progress next Sunday.

Finn and I enjoyed some porch time in the sunshine one evening this week.

I attended a quilting workshop on Friday, which also happened to be one year since my father died.  It seemed appropriate to be starting a new project using fabric from his shirts.  I will do a post about what I am making with these strings sometime next week.

I will be linking up with Kathy in the morning for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Foothills Quilt DONE!

I have not completed a bed sized quilt for a couple of years and I am very happy to finally have one finished and ready to share!  The above picture shows off the oak leaf quilting that I chose for Cathy at Eagles Wing's Quilts to use for my quilt.  You can read more about why oak trees are a special part of our family story on this blogpost from 5 years ago.

I had the binding all made before I took the quilt to Cathy's so I would be ready to sew it one as soon as I picked up the quilt.

The binding is the same navy blue Kona cotton as the sashing and borders.  I made just the right about of binding!

There was a bit of a breeze when I was trying to get a picture of the back of the quilt today.  Besides the navy fabric, all of the rest of the fabrics in this quilt came from my husband's discarded shirts.  I pieced the shirt backs together to make the back of the quilt.

Another shot of the quilting, taken outside today.

And, here is the completed quilt!

This will be going on the single bed in my daughter's old room.  

This quilt was made during a quilt along with Mary Elizabeth Kinch over the course of several months earlier this year.  It is based on an antique quilt that she showed on her blog last Christmas during her annual 12 days of Christmas quilt show.  The original quilt was 5 X 5 blocks but I decided I wanted a bed sized quilt rather than a square quilt.  The piano key border was added to make it big enough for the bed...I think it frames the quilt nicely!  The original quilt had some quirky piecing and so there are a few quirks here and there in my piecing as well. They are not mistakes...just an attempt to match the flavour of the original quilt.

Today, my husband and I went to the annual Christmas Carol service at the Old St. Thomas Church.  I love to kick off the season by attending this service.  It was a beautiful day with the sun streaming in the windows.  The Salvation Army band played and there were church shaped cookies and mincemeat tarts, and hot apple cider for everyone.

This church service has been held annually for the last 27 years and we have attended it most years since it started.

I will be doing another blogpost about the London Friendship Quilter's Guild sewing day later this week.

Foothills Quilt Flimsy DONE!

I have been working on this quilt for several months now as part of a quilt-along with Mary Elizabeth Kinch. The block pattern came from an antique quilt that she showed on her blog last December and so many people liked it, Mary Elizabeth decided to offer a quilt-along so others could make the quilt. I started making blocks back in February and gradually, the design wall filled up with 25 blocks.  The original quilt had 5 rows of 5 blocks which resulted in a square quilt.  At the last minute, I decided to make my blocks into a single bed sized quilt with a 4 X 6 layout and a piano key border.

It was not quite big enough for a single bed without the extra borders.   The fabrics for this quilt all came from shirts that my husband was not going to wear anymore after he lost some weight (on purpose).  The sashing is navy blue, although it is hard to tell in the picture above.

I made hourglass blocks for the corners.  Believe it or not, I still have two bins full of shirt fabric.  I have cut out the backs of several shirts to piece the back of the quilt.

I added a final 2.5" navy border this afternoon and my husband held up the quilt for the first picture in this post when he got home from work. His arms were not quite long enough to hold it from corner to corner. I'm very happy to have this flimsy done!  This is the first bed sized quilt I have made in a few years and it will look great in our guest room.  I'm aiming to have it quilted, bound and on the bed by Christmas.

Guess Whoooo is Here?

A colleague at work is having her second baby any time now and her last day of work is tomorrow.  I started this quilt last week and finished it up on Tuesday night.  I brought it to work today to give it to her.  I included washing instructions!  Mom was thrilled with the quilt and promised to send me pictures of the new baby and her big sister with the quilt.

The name of the quilt, "Guess Whooo is Here?" came from the owls on the white fabric.  The quilting is a wavy cross hatch.  I used some solid yellow for the binding and a soft flannel for the backing.  All fabrics were in my stash...

I don't think there are any more babies coming soon so I will take a hiatus from baby quilts for now.  I did find another charm pack in my sewing room that I will likely use for the next baby quilt...

I will be working on the last 5 Foothills blocks this next week.  I finished two more last night...

I am so close to having all of the blocks done.  I have started the last 5 blocks and just need to make the geese and the HST's for the remaining blocks.

I will be linking up with Kathy and the other Slow Sunday Stitchers on Sunday Morning.  I love hand sewing the binding on a quilt!  I will be working on my Frank Lloyd Wright counted cross stitch this weekend...no progress so far this week but I hope to get lots done this weekend.