A little of this, a little of that

 Last week got busy at work.  I was asked to help with two research projects, plus the two projects I was already working on really took off.  I was creating and explaining my ideas and getting people to adopt them.  Then I spent the weekend cleaning house.  Way back in the corners and along the baseboards.  I took down my cutting table.  I wasn't using it as a cutting table, but rather as a collecting table and I kept thinking that if it wasn't there, all that stuff would be put away.  All the stuff piled on it kept me from cutting on it, so I took it down and made plans for multiple ways I could set it up temporarily when I need it.  I also got some Christmas shopping done and figured out what I'm giving Syd (the really big vintage pyrex bowl that we always made pumpkin pie in because it's the same one pictured in the cookbook with the recipe).  She's making the pie for Thanksgiving this year, so it seemed like a good choice.  

I really didn't do much this week but work and cook some really, really tasty meals...not sure what was up, but my flavoring was spot on!  I hope that lasts until Thanksgiving and that I didn't spend it all last week.  I looked back at last week's photos and I'd taken pics of two strumming patterns from ukulele how-to videos and two recipes for Thanksgiving (green bean casserole (where is my recipe???) and poppy seed dressing).  Nothing of interest, so I'm going to share some I took a while ago of the small quilts on my studio walls.  

This is the quilt I made in a thread painting class a couple years ago.  I want to do something like this again and have some great ideas that I haven't executed.  

This is from a kit I bought many years ago at a quilt show boutique to make 4 or 5 small quilted Christmas ornaments.  It was vintage when I bought it.  I added some additional fabrics and picked some additional blocks and made this from it.  Each block is 3".

I love miniatures.  It's TX and really, how many bed and lap quilts do I need?  But, taking a full size quilt and making it as a miniature makes it much easier to store and display.  I took a class and made a basket block pincushion.  The basket block was the same as this quilt, so I made the quilt too.  The blocks are 3".   While it might take less fabric to make a miniature, it doesn't necessarily take less time.  

From a paper piecing kit I bought at a quilt show.  

I made this so long ago that I can't even remember where the pattern came from but I'm going to bet Alex Anderson't Simply Quilts had something to do with it (I was a BIG fan).  It has curved piecing and a little appliqué.  

3" blocks again.  I love taking a print and buying it in multiple colors and then making a quilt out of it.  I did that as part of a BOM many years ago and I've done it several times since.  I have a couple of really cool lines bagged up in the studio closet.  

I read a Jennifer Chiaverinni book about a quilter that moved to Hawaii and it inspired me to try Hawaiian appliqué.  Around that time, we were vacationing on Arkansas and there was a quilt shop there that specialized in pre-cut appliqué.  He sold it as pre-cut kits, but offered to machine cut mine using any fabric I chose.  I bought his kit and the next year, when we went on vacation, I took that as my project.  There is a bag in my fabric stash with a piece of golden buttery yellow and a slightly off white to make a bed sized quilt like the one in the book.  There's even a pattern in the bag.  One day.  

Another class.  She sold an apple core ruler and we learned to make the blocks.  My first experience with curved machine piecing.  

When I was really studying color, I bought a brown, multi-colored fabric and then chose fabrics from my stash to go with it and I made several quilts.  There's at least a table runner and another wall hanging, but the smallest one hangs in the studio.  The squares are 1".

There are some others, many be for another day.  

I finally had the nerve to let Rob hear me practice the uke.  He was setting up Christmas village on Saturday and I played everything I can play from my songbook, except the Christmas carols.  He said he enjoyed it.  I sang, but very quietly and sometimes I could hear him singing along.  Singing is my weak point, but it's getting better as my ability to control my breath gets better.  I've been buying inexpensive ukes and decided that for Christmas, I wanted a nice one, so I did some shopping and found out that you can spend as much as $4100 on a ukulele.  A UKELELE!  Anyway, I found out who the best makers were and kept a watch on what was available and found one that has a "blemish" and was on sale for half price and I pounced on it, getting twice as much for what I was willing to spend.  There are reasons to have multiples.  They sound differently, and I've found that some songs sound better on a small instrument that sounds a little like a banjo and some sound better on a larger instrument with a deeper resonance that sounds more like a guitar.  They can also be strung differently to give different voicing, so I plan to string two differently so I can try that out.  I still play like someone that's only been playing for 5 months, but it's a little better every day.  

Everybody have a great week!  Find something you can enjoy NOW!  Don't put it off.  We don't know what's going to happen.  All we can do is enjoy today as if it might be the last day.  

Lane