Quilt con 2018

Back in my backyard so it was easy to go! I only signed up for a few lectures, I spent most of my time walking around, seeing quilts, reconnecting with people and giving my business to vendors. Got to keep the vendors happy and in business!Being a modern quilt show, there were a lot of different styles. Simply because there is no real definition of modern, it’s all about the committee and judges choices.This was no surprise to me that my favorites were old art quilts from the 1980s-90s. This one is an original by Michael James. I bought both of his books early on, the photos were black and white. So to get up close and see the accuracy, the use of whatever cotton fabric he could get his hands on – was exhilarating. A true master.I wasn’t looking at the names of every maker. These are more of the old quilts, often a visual show is about what you see, not about who made what.I spent a few hours with my son in law Yoch, needless to say, Ma Ru was his favorite. It is very well done and fun! Modern and wonderful. Three years ago, everyone was doing straight line quilting with the walking foot. This year many people sent their quilts out to professional longarm quilters. That is fine, except I do remember when two years ago people complained that Luke Haynes created a show with 50 logcabin quilts and hired other people to make the quilts. But then clearly those people were either jealous or have no idea how the art world works. After a while, I realized that what interests me is the close up of some of the work.   A lot of it was really amazing. Great craftsmanship out there.People from Craftsy were there filming.Just because I really like this.Jen made this coat herself! There is no wearable category  in modern quilting, there should be.Sometimes the ‘mistake’ photos tell so much more of the story.

One thing I have to say here. I HATE all the angry, mean political quilts that were on display. I am so sick and tired of politics invading everything, and by politics I mean lefty angry hateful politics. There wasn’t a single patriotic quilt (well, there was one in the Bernina booth). Nary a quilt about Make America Great Again. I get it, modern quilters are in their tiny little bubble, they don’t think anyone could possibly Republican, or a gun owner or heaven forbid – even vote for Donald Trump and be grateful he is president.

I didn’t want my blog to be about politics, and in general it isn’t. But being slammed from every side (yes also in the lectures) with one-sided hate, I’ve had enough. For years I’ve sat silently with women who are ‘kind’, ‘open-minded’, ‘accepting’ as they have said the vilest things about people they don’t agree with politically. I haven’t argued, I and many others like me, just sit there and take it.  After this show, I felt that once, just once I need to publically state that not all of us buy into the left-wing narrative of how things should be. Yes, I heard people with a product to sell saying that don’t care – if these messages offend people – let them be offended. You better believe they are on my private boycott list.

I don’t think we all need to agree, I think different beliefs and opinions are a good thing. But when civility is gone and at least 5 quilts have the F word on them or other derogatory messages about white people, the Potus, or the awful state America is in. (go live in Iran or Saudi Arabia if you hate it here so much).  I know, woke people feel they have the right to take over everything and spew their garbage, I’m old enough that I want my quilting world to be about quilting, keep your politics out of my creative world, because I never inflict mine on the quilt world.

Quilting for charity

I have made a number of quilts for charity. The Valley guilds share a charity sew in day a few times a year. Presidents Day was perfect to sit and sew. I’m so impressed with what these guilds do for charity, placemats for meals on wheels, dog beds, pillows for veterans who have gone through heart surgeries, any size quilts and pillowcases for foster homes. Just a few of the women who brought their machines and were busy working.There are a lot of donated fabrics, more on that soon.People were tying quilts as well as quick quilting. These here are backed with fleece. A cheap option, especially here in CA, since it’s warm and soft, one doesn’t need to add batting. Sometimes they do add batting anyway.These had to be either old blocks or tops that were finished as quilts. Holly Hobby went out of style over 30 years ago, the colors are also quite old. That is the wonderful thing about quilts, no matter what, it will be a warm loving gift for someone.I brought all my orphan blocks, most are blocks I made for the purple challenge but didn’t use. Others are my practice blocks, there is the pineapple block,  the square I ended up using for Eyals’ quilt. Do you see the blue fabric? I picked that up here and proceeded to border the small blocks so that they all are 12.5″. I even used the blocks that I felt weren’t up to snuff for my purple challenge.Using the blue on all the smaller blocks helps tie them together.Yay! First time I traveled with my Featherweight. It worked beautifully, although I had to ask someone else to remind me how to fill a bobbin. She had her Featherweight there as well but didn’t quite remember. Together we figured it out.I sashed it all with light grey. Some people were surprised that I’m making this for charity. Here’s the thing, I love quilting, I don’t care how much time I spend on it. But, I don’t need hundreds of quilts. Yes, I do give many away as gifts, I think I have mentioned before that giving a quilt away is easier for me than giving a knitted item away.  So I am earmarking this one for the Thomas Fire victims. I’ve made many blocks for quilts, but I know, they will be thrilled to have a lap-size, completed quilt to give to one of the many victims of the fire and mudslide.

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… and I’m finally quilting!

I can’t say I’m in love with these colors. So in order to make it work for me, I am going with symmetry. I feel that it is more restful for the eye.The final two borders are busy. With the abundance of dark purple, I feel it acts as a good final border.The wind was blowing, so it gives some movement and life. Taken from the backside, shooting right into the sun, you can see how perfect my quarter inch seams are. Accuracy is important to me. I’m not a machine, a very close inspection will show otherwise. But no one, and I mean no one will ever inspect this that closely. I doubt I’ll send this to the kind of show that does that. Quilts aren’t meant to be studied under a microscope. I did my usual spray basting, using wool batting. It is so much easier to move the quilt around with the wool batting. It really glides better, maybe because wool is so much lighter than cotton. Polyester is really plastic and no matter how soft it is, it just doesn’t glide.Yes, I pieced the back, finally used up that Halloween fabric! There are some crimps and folds in the backing. I took this picture after using my walking foot to sew down the quilt in the ditch.  Those crimps will be quilted over and once again, won’t detract from the quilt. This way I can no move over the quilt and work where ever I want, the distortions are in place, nothing else is moving.Here I have done some background quilting, but haven’t touched the star yet.Here I quilted the star and not the background.  I am working with a very pale lavender thread, so I want to use it first, then I will go on to yellow and dark purple. I know, it’s a lot of intense quilting. I love all parts of the quilt, the cutting, the piecing and the quilting. Most of the quilting won’t be seen because of the busy prints. I don’t care, I love the quilting and enjoy the process.

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The Freehand hotel

Another old commercial building that was turned into a hipster hotel.Looking at the website, I see there is a pool on the roof, but I didn’t go up there. Of course, I love all these cool details. The tile floor, the tile around the windows, the wonderful archway. The lobby is small, yet mighty.  Where Nomad used exuberant colors, things here are quiet and subdued, yet no less beautiful.The Bar! I have no doubt that all the tile work here is new since this used to be the lobby of an office building. How wonderful that the designer makes the new loos so old. Not just the tile, all that woodwork!From inside looking out at 8th st.This chair! I don’t know how comfortable it is. But the workmanship. There were at least two of these. Once again, I don’t know if the tile on the floor is original or not. I am in love with all the textures here.It feels like a British colonial club in India. Pay attention to the sign across the street, that intrigued me.If I just posted this image, you’d say, San Francisco. I do not know if the upstairs are still a hotel. The Golden Gopher is a modern take on the dive bar. Created in 2004, although the website does say that Teddy Roosevelt bought this building and had a bar here in 1905. Who knows?Right next door to the Golden Gopher is another old building. Hotel Bristol, which is no longer a hotel but low-income housing. What that means in LA, is newly arrived wanna be actors live here. This is what happens in LA, cheap, low-income housing doesn’t go to the low-income non descript workers in this city. It goes to the hipsters. I guess that is just how the market works in this city.  It’s not like we don’t have options, it’s just a question of who gets those living spaces.

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The Huntington

I probably have at least on post a year showcasing the Huntington Gardens. It’s such a blessing to have this so close to home. It’s also great to have a friend with membership so we went together and just walked around, enjoying the beauty. Many of the cacti and succulents are blooming, often in orange. These wonderful South African flowers are blooming. These are Protea, they grow very well in Southern California, we have the same climate.The cactus garden here is amazing. 40 years ago, when I visited for the first time, it was one big mess. They got control of it again and it is stunning. Some of the aloe are really huge.It had rained in the morning, we still have these gorgeous clouds in the sky.  It was Valentines Day, couples were out enjoying the beautiful day. How cute is this? This comes from the anime world. Dressing up in cute dresses, looking like a baby doll. It would be fun to make a dress for someone like this.Some people were busy working, three people on one bonsai bush.Chinese lanterns for the Chinese New year are still hanging around the garden.Looking down on the Japanese garden, what a view!A lizard grabbing some rays.

Speaking of Ray, we had a cup of coffee and talked quilting. A young woman approached, she works for Hoffman Fabrics. She is the daughter of Helen from SewkindofWonderul. So we proudly showed off pictures of quilts we both have made from their patterns. Chatted about the textile industry (oy!). And told her and her husband to enjoy a wonderful day. Through Instagram I got in touch with Helen and we both had a laugh about the small world story.

 

Update on creativity

I’m slowing moving along with the purple quilt.I made more stars. I am very unhappy with these two. Working with mirror image and small sections – yikes! Many quilters these days embrace ‘improv’. I dislike that term and the resulting quilts. I like order, I like design. To me it’s a cop-out to throw things together haphazardly and then to pretend it’s some great design. Especially in quilting, I really like the accuracy of quilt blocks. So when I posted this on Instagram I got all kind of comments like: I don’t see whats’ wrong. Or I love the improv.

Two things, looking at these images on your phone means you can’t see the details. And no, no improv for me. So these two are joining a pile of orphan blocks. They may end up in a charity quilt. I don’t do my best work for charity. So be it, a bright handmade quilt is still a wonderful thing to give a needy person, even if it’s not my best work. I’m very selfish about my best work.I’m done with the stars for this quilt. Look closely and find the mistake, there is one. I’m not against using only perfect blocks. I like everyone else make mistakes, some are worth keeping.

So now it’s on to borders.Not bad.But does the narrow border come before the flying geese?Or after? I’m not sure yet. I really do enjoy having the design wall, it gives me a chance to try different options and step back. Right now I’m working on the flying geese border, and it doesn’t look like the picture, changes are being made.Other creative pursuits this time of year, making marmalade.I ended up not using the kumquats, I just ate them.  I found a new Meyer lemon marmalade recipe that worked really well. I may have added more sugar than I have in the past. It still is that wonderful combination of tart and sweet. I made two small batches, easier than one big batch.Knitting is happening. This will be a shawl. The interesting thing about knitting, I’m doing less of it. I don’t need a lot of sweaters, shawls or socks. I am very selfish with my knitting since it is created one stitch at a time. So I find myself knitting less. I am grateful to have reconnected with some knitting friends, we get together once a month. Honestly, it’s not about the knitting, it’s about the friendship.

 

Nomad Hotel

I gave a tour downtown. Here’s some advice nobody wants. If you have trouble walking and rely heavily on a cane, please do not come to a walking tour that is over a mile long, includes hills and many stairs.  I had an organized group from Orange CA, three people could hardly walk. I felt very sorry for the other tour-goers, I couldn’t abandon the slow walkers, so the tour was very truncated. At the end, I left them at the Bradbury Bldg, they were to walk another 3 blocks to Cliftons, I noticed that the three stragglers were left behind, no-one cared to walk slowly anymore.

I rewarded myself by checking out some new hotels downtown.The Giannini building was built for the headquarters of the Bank of Italy back in the 1920s. It stood vacant for years. then it was purchased and turned into a luxury hotel. A few months ago, I was watching an episode of NCIS Los Angeles, and a murder occurred in the LA Athletic Club, which is right across the street, since this building was still under construction, they got permission to film in one of the rooms, abandoned and empty. I love it when I figure these things out.The building is an example of Beaux Arts, a beautiful example.I am so grateful that none of the exterior details were destroyed during the years of abandonment.I’m sure all the terra-cotta is from Gladding McBean. I don’t know who made the metal work, but I see it all over downtown.The side entrance is small, it’s easier for cars to stop on Olive St. rather than 7th. So the Valet is here.The lobby, in all it’s glory!  So many details are original. The furnishings are new and gorgeous. I want all those lush textiles!There is a bar and restaurant in the lobby, the place was full. Always look up!I so want this chair! The guys’ hat just adds to the colorfulness of it all.Right next door is the Whiskey Bar, Seven Grand, I bet their business has improved as well. Across the Street in Bottega Louie, 7th st is one of the liveliest streets downtown.

Even the Broad Tower, the tallest building downtown shines over 7th st. To be honest, It shines over everything.

In another post, another hotel.

Santa Monica Airport

If you can’t beat them, join them.

My son lives under the path flight of Santa Monica Airport. There are many reasons not to be happy about that, but until they supposedly close it down, you live with it. So recently he told me about the observation deck. If you can’t beat them, join them. So Cam and I went to pay a visit.There may be a few commercial flights. Most of the planes are private. Also, most of the people who live under the flight path are in LA, no Santa Monica, so really Santa Monica doesn’t care.Here we are, up on the deck, feet away from the runway. I met a nice young man who was so enthusiastic about airplanes and airports. It was a pleasure talking to him, he knew the whole history of this airstrip.This plane idled for a while before getting the ok to take off. The command tower is broadcast from speakers, so it’s the whole experience.Here is it, getting ready to take off.Coming in for a landing!Across the runway is the terminal. How iconic is this picture?  Palm trees and a clear sky in February.A lot of wealthy people store their planes here. Some clearly aren’t quite in working condition. There are plenty of businesses here that cater to the small airplanes.

I think I was much more interested than Cam. This is what he really wanted to do. Luckily for us, this little park is right next to the airport, on city land. a perfect way to end the day.

Why I sew clothes

I love sewing my own clothes, there is a lot of creativity involved. But there is more to it than that. Clothes shopping sucks. From time to time I’ll go to Marshalls, or Nordstrom Rack and I’ll find a t-shirt or pants. Yes, I can sew pants, but I don’t. That is fine, but this weekend, when everyone was watching the Superbowl, I wanted to treat myself to shopping at a real Store, Macy’s to be exact.One doesn’t see displays like this at the discount stores. Cute dress, so I took a closer look. $90 before tax, which is quite high here in LA. I looked inside, the fabric is Polyester and spandex – not high quality at all. I didn’t take a picture of the inside, but it was like my sewing on my home serger. The industry has better machines than I do, I expect industry style finishing.Most of the store looked like this.Or this, an orphan jacket thown onto any old rack. Over fifty percent of the store is sales items – I might as well be at Ross.This looks like something I might wear, well no, I would have worn it twenty years ago. Once again, very cheap fabric.This is about $20, but really?? Ok, I admit it, I’m old, I don’t need to be on the cutting edge of fashion, especially, when cutting edge really means cuts.Or how about the inside out look? Ugh!Sleeves actually have more fabric than the front or the back. But that the sleeve has as much as both together? No thank you.I couldn’t even find a simple long sleeve t-shirt. You see how see through this fabric is? Most shirts were like this. Once upon a time, this was called – sleazy. It’s an industry term that describes a very cheap see-through fabric. For the last 10 years, it has been used in the fashion industry. I guess if you have to compete with H&M, you need to make sure that the cost of the garment is close to nil.

Sure, there were some clothes for Mature women, but they were soooo boring.  I bought nothing, but it just reinforces my sewing for myself. I will spend good money on good quality fabric and will make clothes that are unique to me.  And that is a real blessing.

Designing the quilt

Some people use graph paper, others use computer programs like EQ8. Me, I pull out the fabric, start making blocks and see how it goes. Here are a number of blocks I made, using purple. I have been using Deb Tuckers Lemoyne Star ruler. I’m getting different size blocks. It’s me, not the ruler, everything takes practice and no way am I going to have great results on my first few tries. Especially with an eight-pointed Lemoyne star.This is looking alright, even though the blocks didn’t come out the same size.More blocks and it’s one big hot mess.  Purple is a very hard color to work with, blue purple and red-purple don’t play that well together. My backgrounds were just too busy, it looks like a hot mess!So I went back to making new blocks, I figure – repetition is a good rule in design. So I made another star with the yellow background, just changing the position of the colors. Then I made two more stars, doing the same. I want to introduce the light turquoise, maybe not as background, but as accents, so a more neutral background it is.Much better, the mirroring, the symmetry, repeating the same star patterns twice. I think it has a calmer feel to it.Since it is a guild challenge, I brought it to share.When I got back into quilting 9 years ago, I bought this book. To be honest I was horrified at how much fabric was wasted with this technique, but I did use the book for some quilts.  So now I am busy trying to adapt these patterns using The Lemoyne star ruler, takes more work, but it’s working and I’m not having as much waste.The quilt is still going to be scrappy, I am using what I have on hand in my stash, I don’t have large quantities, so I just have to try and repeat as many of these fabrics as possible. Won’t always be possible, because some of the stash fabric is quite small.

I feel that sticking with pale yellow and grey in the background will help tie it all together. I am having fun, and that’s what matters.