Ever since I was old enough to have friends who took piano lessons, I've wanted to learn. But, it cost a lot of money to buy a piano and more to pay for lessons so that didn't happen for me. I remember being very jealous of my younger sister who did take lessons. My father got a line on a cheap used piano through some work connection and I thought she was so-o lucky. By then I was in high school and I guess there wasn't much extra time to take lessons. Even if it had occurred to anyone, including me.
When my kids were young, I came into a small inheritance. The first thing I wanted to buy with it was a piano so that they would have those lessons that seemed so important to me. The second was a chest freezer and the third was a pair of hiking boots but that's another story. The piano was found.
So, this week, we got a line on a keyboard. Hooray! Learning to play the piano is an unfulfilled dream no longer. This is a completely self-directed study program. We've been collecting (this is a shared dream, BTW) primary music books for a few months now and have acquired a nice little metronome. So yesterday there was much heaving of furniture around to make a space for the new keyboard. Not as big as an actual piano but not so little either.
The dolly bench had to go but I was reluctant to put all the dollies into storage. What would the kids do? How would they find the dollies? So, I dreamed up a solution and spent this morning rearranging the furniture in the sewing/hooking room. It works for now. But, adding another piece of furniture to our over full house is never easy.
We've both begun our 'lessons' and have discovered that our kids were right: music practice could be boring. Our resolve is strong, though, and we have our book of easy (really easy) Christmas music to look forward to trying. How's that for motivation? Time will tell, I know.
And, of course, a hooked mat is always a new life for so many garments. I seem to be obsessed with hit-and-miss at the moment. I keep experimenting with different looks. These big, raggy flowers remind me of Van Gogh and each one has at least 12 different types of fabric incorporated into the shape. Each stem and leaf has been done the same way. I'm into the background now and this will be a very controlled (only four fabrics) use of the technique. The flowers are controlled, too, but with more exuberance. My plan for the border is a striped effect using all the different fabrics that have been used in the rug. I am hoping that I can stick to hooking with random strips. Such a hard thing for a controlling soul to do...sigh.
