Monday, September 7, 2015

Something for me.


This may sound like a funny story, but recently the church decided to replace all the old chairs with new ones.

Yes, the old ones were showing wear after about 30 years of use and they were a bit heavy for stacking and putting away.

Well, the new chairs came. They are certainly prettier and much lighter and stack nicely. The seat is also much larger and the choir is happy with the change ... all except me.

Now why is it that a person of my size and degree of padding can not sit for more than ten minutes in one of those chairs? I might blame my ADHD, but I never had a problem with the old chairs.  On the new ones the seat is not flat but is raised toward the front edge and the pressure on the lower side of my upper legs is so painful. I tried sitting on the front edge and sitting sideways but to tell the truth, standing or sitting on the floor would be better.

Last week I brought a small pillow and that helps a bit so I decided to make a pillow to leave on my choir chair.

Several times I have been attracted to "Swoon" blocks I have seen on other blogs. I made a sketch a few years ago in my graph-paper notebook and I decided to draft that pattern to fit a 16 inch pillow I have on hand that could be put to that purpose.

I dug out some musical prints and cut them up for take-along work. Above is what I came up with. The number on my choir robe and music is 21. It is kind of a joke because no one else minds which piece of music they get, but I have been singing these pieces for many years and have highlighted the tenor part and made notes where I need to pay extra attention. The other three parts may not care because the sopranos and altos are always written in the treble clef, and the bases always get the bass clef, but the tenors are forced to jump from one to the other at the convenience of the publisher... and often at very inconvenient parts when singing. Often when music is passed out, I begin calling out to see if anyone has #21 and it gets a lot of laughter. I am thinking I might applique or quilt a big 21 in the center of the cover. Good idea?

I brought three prints down to decide the outer light patches and this one is what my husband thought worked best. He usually doesn't pay much attention to what I am making but liked this fabric best when I told him I couldn't decide. I have another black music print with a keyboard and scattering of white notes that I plan to put on the under side of the cover, once I quilt the top. I am thinking of quilting this a quarter inch on each side of the seam line. The center square is four inches square and the largest piece. Should I applique the 21 or quilt it in ... well, even if I applique it, I would quilt around the edge.

I cut the templates out of green construction paper because I only planned to use them once but now that I see how fun it was to put this block together ... I might have to save them. A whole quilt of 16 inch blocks would go together much faster than all those one-inch pieces I just spent over a year on!

12 comments:

  1. I really like Paul's Choice for the outer fabric. I really like the block in general. Very sharp! (Not flat :))

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  2. Love the fabrics - great idea. Sometimes one wonders if there is any quality testing of products these days -many chairs don't fit bodies anymore - they just "look like" chairs so that is good enough.

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  3. Way back when I was pregnant, our Sunday School class had hard, metal folding chairs. I couldn't sit for more than a few minutes in them. I finally bought a large chair pad, and kept it in the class. After arriving, and having to ask for my chair pad back a few times, I wrote my name across both sides. No one sat in that chair again after that.

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  4. well done it looks great ... and hopefully will be comfortable for you xx

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  5. The principal is that pillow is confortable for you, in your church....for me, as you, I have also to take a pillow with me when I have to go and sit down for a while in public places as I have a spinal cord problem.
    wishing you confortables moments thanks to your new pillow :)

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  6. Sorry for you about the chairs. Good to be a handy woman! Love your fabric choice, Very modern. I made a block too but didn't go to a full quilt project. Only thing is you must have had a lot of y seams since I can't see any HST there.

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  7. Beautiful block, Julie Hope this cushion makes sitting in new chairs more comfortable. You always make beautiful quilts.

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  8. Great work Julie. The colours are great.

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  9. Making the music your own and the seat too. Now they will all want one! - Mary

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  10. Yes, I would applique a big 21 in the center square - then quilt around it. I like your husband's choice for the outer patches - very nice! And a new quilt of larger blocks would be a nice "reward project" after spending so much time on Ben's quilt and its little itty-bitty pieces - ;))

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  11. What a clever idea to make the cushion out of musical fabric. It looks fantastic ! My guess is that everyone will want one. :-)

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  12. I have a problem with our church chairs too Julie - I'm just miserable after 20 minutes or so. My lower back is very painful off and on and every time I sit in one of those chairs it gets worse. Pews aren't much better. I haven't resorted to taking a cushion with me but I guess I should consider it. blessings, marlene

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