A masterpiece?

I am not a brilliant maker of quilts; there are certain aspects of my hobby I really need to improve upon (and I will) but this finished quilt is one of my all-time favourites and I was immensely proud of my work when I handed it over to my boss this week.

 

When I was at the thinking stage, knowing Mike played the piano at home, I googled 'piano quilt' and found this image of a set of coasters: 

 

There was no pattern but I worked one up pretty easily with 5" squares, HSTs and the piano keys. I raided my stash and made a few purchases:

 

The image was a real help guiding me on the correct fabric placement. The piano keys took some time as I appliquéd the black onto the white first and then built the rest of the quilt in stages around them:

 

 

With lots of 5" squares came lots of pinning and chain piecing so I had to keep my book close by ... to avoid confusion, I gave each fabric a letter (A-Q ... so that's 17 different fabrics used):

 

 

The quilting was tricky, using different threads to FMQ the light and dark sections and I hand to hand quilt around the black keys; I think that part alone took me 8 hours but then I have never hand quilted before (and may never again!!) 

I FMQ'd a little musical note in each corner:
 

 

It finished at 60" x 70" (one of my biggest) and I estimate I spent around 100 hours selecting, ironing, cutting, sewing, appliqué-ing, pressing, pinning, piecing, basting, quilting, binding, labelling ... and it was worth every minute:
 

 

My boss was speechless (a first!) and after 37 years of service, it was lovely to present him with such a unique quilt - a memorable gift for a memorable boss, who's been hugely supportive of me and my work over the past 4 years - I will miss him. Happy retirement, Mike x


Linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts and Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict.