Wowza. February started off rough for me. If you follow me here or on social media, you may remember that I am making a special quilt for myself this year to commemorate my 15th year as a brain injury survivor. Flying geese pointing up indicate a day I quilted. Flying geese pointing down mean that my health kept me from sewing. I hope that others might find the quilt helpful for understanding what it's like to live with a brain injury, but I am surprising myself with how clearly it shows my limitations in such a stark way. It's not always this hard, but February sure was.
Things started turning around mid-month after a girls weekend with my long time besties, my Cloud of Witnesses (COWs). Thus, the cute little bovine block above. (Pattern by Sew Fresh Quilts).
Now, back to my One Monthly Goal. Thanks to Elm Street Quilts' gentle nudge, my goal was to make a quilt for my son's music teacher. It's his last year at his school and she has been teaching him for six years. Definitely quilt worthy!
My inspiration was this quilt by Deborah Lord Mosley. It was shared on a Facebook page. She didn't share a pattern, but it doesn't seem to be hers.
I loved the way she added the sheet music. It was perfect because our school has a special song I was trying to figure out how to incorporate.
This version was made by Lynne Hartman. She didn't have sheet music, and the edge of the piano is different. I contacted her about the pattern and she said she made this several years ago and thinks maybe she saw the pattern in a magazine. A reverse image search and Pinterest peek didn't help me find the designer either. Anyone know? I'd love to give credit.
To make the quilt my own, I wanted to make a vertical quilt, I sketched my version with a piano seat and the bottom part of the piano.
The keyboard had me stumped for quite a bit. I wanted the perspective to be right if you were looking at a piano straight on. With a lot of trial error, I figured out that they finish at half inch squares for the black keys and .5" x 1" for the white keys. So tiny.
Speaking of tiny, the part of the quilt I'm most proud of is adding the Steinway logo. I've never thread painted before, but it's on my bucket list of techniques to learn. Normally I would make things like this with my Cricket, but the letters are only about 1/8" wide, so that wouldn't work. I'll share more of how I did it in the full post I write when I finish the quilt. I'm tickled with how it turned out.
And of course, I added the sheet music. I realized, after I took the photo at the top of the post, that I attached the third page f the song, not the first page. I'm debating if I can get it off (I used Steam-a-Steam) so I can replace it. Sigh...
All in all, I'm pretty chuffed with the quilt. Teachers have one of toughest job in the world. I am so grateful for the teachers at D's school, and wish I could buy his music teacher a real Steinway. Hopefully this will show her a little bit of my love and appreciation for her.
You'll be able to find pictures of this quilt on Instagram at #MillerMusicQuilt. To see what I'm currently working on, including my 2019 Brain Injury quilt, follow me at deJongDreamHouse.
Previous OMGs:
August 2018 - Kindred Spirits Quilt (full post)
June 2017 - Niels' Weighted Blanket (full post)
May 2017 - why I gave up on Brutus (full post)
