There is a First for Everything

Hi Knitters,

I don't know if I can describe this well enough but I will try. It was so funny. I was sitting looking out my front window after school and my girls were in the room with me. All of a sudden my daughter starts laughing really hard. "Mom, look!" All I can see is my son backing into the driveway with the back end of the car open and two more boys inside hanging on to some huge piece of furniture of some sort. I kept trying to figure out what it was....

Of course! It was a really old dust-covered organ that they had found on the side of the road. Why wouldn't you stop and load that gem into your car? I remember lots of people had these upright organs in their homes when I was growing up but the kids had never seen one of these before. It looked so archaic. Do you remember these like I do? I am sure they were thought to be a real luxury at the time. I had friends with these exact organs in their houses. We always had the regular old piano at our house.

The boys set it up on our driveway and my son dug up a really long outdoor extension cord. I was bracing myself for the loud organ playing that would take place in my driveway. You're not going to believe it but it didn't work. Go figure. I told him I didn't want the organ inside of our house. We really and truly don't have room. My son said not to worry they would put it out on the curb if they couldn't get it working which I wasn't thrilled about either.

They fiddled around with it for awhile to no avail. Then they got all excited thinking they were going to sell the organ. They were laughing really loud and running around the house. They got online and saw that similar (however working) organs were being sold for a couple hundred dollars on ebay. They even found a minister who collects organs and restores them. However, I told my son again I didn't want it left in our garage or in our house. I tried to consider it staying but I just couldn't do it. They loaded the organ back up in the van and took it to one of the friend's houses. Sorry to the other sweet mom who now has an organ at her house but I am glad it's not sitting in my garage right now. I think my son emailed the minister so we'll wait and see what happens.

This was a first and hopefully a last.

There is never a dull moment around here. Honestly. I would enjoy a few dull moments. To the mothers of young preschool-aged children, you think it's busy and crazy now but just hang onto your hats.

Okay, all of that was going on when I started writing on the real topic for today's post. It was so silly I had to take the detour to, "The Great Organ Adventure." I am so excited and proud about this: I finished my first ever large-sized quilt!

Do any of you remember when I first posted about this quilt I started making? I just found when, July, 15th, 2009. Click here to see the first post on this quilt! Our house had just begun a massive renovation where almost every inch was gutted and every inch was dust covered. I decided at that time to put it away to finish after the remodel. You know how that goes. You forget.

The other day last week I was cleaning out my studio and I ran across the finished quilt top and the backing fabric and batting I had picked up at Stitcher's Crossing way back when. I had since taken a really great quilting class at Stitcher's so I kind of remembered how to finish a quilt. We had made a small quilt in the class. That was a year ago. Click here to see my fall-inspired quilt.

The fabrics for the quilt top were all bundles I had purchased online at Spool in Philadelphia. I had quite a collection of summery-themed bundles. Spool puts together fantastically coordinated fat quarter bundles. Click here to see what they have pulled together right now!
For the backing I used two colorways sewn together of this Amy Butler fabric. Since I didn't use a pattern for my quilt but instead stitched up random columns of squares and rectangles both skinny and fat my quilt ended up not being a standard size. It is a great and generous size though.
It is so summery and juicy. The colors are refreshing and light. I love it so much.
I masking-taped the backing down on my floor and did the basting that way. It wasn't too bad. I made sure not to scratch the wood floor with the pins. The quilting lines I stitched on my old 1970's sewing machine which took a lot of maneuvering. It was quite an accomplishment for me. I only broke two needles. I did random lines, no measuring and no marking or planning. The quilt lines are quite fun and not so straight at all. I actually like that the lines are not straight and even. It's more charming, natural and playful to me. I really prefer that kind of quilting without the precision cutting and stitching.

For the binding I used the extra fabric from the backing after I trimmed it off. I loved seeing it come together. It was very exciting. The binding looks so good. Again, there is nothing perfect about this quirky quilt.
I enjoyed the hand-stitching of the binding to the backing. I feel much more in my element when hand-stitching. I am not much of a machine girl. The kids are excited about the new couch quilt. I am actually surprised by the amount of attention the new quilt has received. I barely get a nod from anyone about my knitting projects around here. My son (the organ collector) and his group of about six friends, who were over for lunch one day, have even admired and commented on the quilt several times. That made me laugh. They all stood around the quilt in my living room to take it in and compliment.

It will be heavily used no doubt.
Now I am back to reality with the writing and knitting. It was a fun short-lived break with the quilting. I signed up for a Barcelona skirt (Amy Butler pattern) class at Stitcher's Crossing in a few weeks. My sister is joining me for the class. I have had this pattern for a long while and have never made the skirt. When I saw that Stitcher's is offering a class for this pattern I jumped right in! I will share what I learn and hopefully I will end up with a cute new skirt.

It's Wednesday already? Really?
best, susie
p.s. By the way I watched the Fiddler on the Roof with Peachy this past weekend. I forgot how much I loved this movie. My family went to see it in the theater in 1971 when the movie was first released and I loved it then even though I was little. We had the album of the music and we listened to it all of the time. I remembered all of the words to the songs. It was really fun. The movie is rated G! Hooray for the long-lost art of the G-rated movie. I miss that and it can be done well.