Quilt

  My piano bench...it's actually an organ bench with legs cut down to a shorter height...was rather uncomfortable. Having a towel folded over gave some comfort which is important because to sit there for more than an hour...You get the picture.
  I decided to do something more permanent and better looking than a towel. A couple of trips to a fabric store gave me everything needed. Foam, music themed fabric, thread and other bits and pieces to complete the project.
  This is outside my experience, doing a piecework quilt pattern. Using the sewing machine to do this sort of thing is also new. All my crazy quilt projects have been entirely done by hand.
  The design was laid out on graph paper based on bench dimensions. The fabric squares and triangles were cut out using a cardboard template. I even remembered to add extra for the seams!
  Okay, maybe I should have used a set square to make sure the templates were perfect. A fraction off over the space of the work has an impact, throwing the project skewed in several places. Ha, the ripple effect!
  Making the keyboard squares was the first step using strips of fabric for the black keys. Not perfectly despite being careful but at least they represent a keyboard. Call it modern art. (Smile.)
  It was a bit tricky when it came to piecing the rest together; to make sure I'd pinned the correct colour in the correct place. Yes, I had to redo a couple that had been sewn together wrong. Un-sewing and do-overs quickly taught me to be extra careful because I hate do-overs. It wounds my pride. (Smile, again.)
  You know, it's funny. When it comes to conversations with people, I have all the patience in the world. When it comes to projects, that same patience seems to fly out the window. I want it done NOW!
   I had thought tying the cover to the legs would hold the foam in place well enough but because the foam wasn't a solid piece, it tended to wander, leaving gaps in the padding. Thankfully, I have plenty of pillow cases so I sewed one around the foam to make a solid base. It was tied it to the piano bench before tying the cover in place over it once it was completed. It doesn't move at all and the cover can be removed and washed if needed.
  This was a huge learning curve for me. While the perfectionist in me sees the flaws, overall I am pleased with this project. It dredged up some long forgotten grade 8 home economics sewing skills from the dusty corners of my mind.
  There's something philosophical about a quilt. How small pieces of the various patterns and colours come together to create something whole, something beautiful. If wonky. At least, in this case. Wonky is okay because I learned from it.
  Wonky has no impact on comfort. (Smile.)
  I learned to take care with templates; that sewing fabric on the machine can cause it to gather, to shrink from it's original size; that I enjoy doing this to the point it might not hurt to take some sewing classes at a local fabric shop.
  And I know for sure the next one will be much better.
  "The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone." 1 Peter 2:7