Another image from Mothers Day. I love how Westley loves Einav, he really is into little babies. No she’s not that little anymore, but he sure loves her. I love how three of them managed to fit in the hammock.
This is the huge box that the large dining room Chandelier came in, it is out on the curb now, waiting for the bulky item pick up guys. So we had to get some fun use out of it.
And finally, went to the park with Aytan, this crazy past year has been awful, it’s nice to have one on one time with him again.
He loves ‘gym’, so we stopped at every piece of equipment so he could work out.
As a young child he hated the swings, sensory issues, now he like them, but they tend to be too small. At least he is enjoying them now.
This year it was glorious. All of us together, first we took a walk around the bird sanctuary, ducks, hawks, geese, vultures and rabbits. Then to my sons’ house. New playhouse, a slip and slide. Good food and wonderful memories.
I walk the streets, half the people still wear masks, and in my neighborhood, they all have been vaccinated. Its depressing. It needs to stop, the numbers in LA county have dropped and all I hear about is there will be another wave. Government loves the control it gained and won’t give an inch. Depression is real, so I stitch.
I finished April, I worked on both February and March.
You can’t really tell here, but I have added a few stitches from May, then I took a break.
Pulled this out of the bag, it is so much easier working on 28 linen.
I frogged this diamond much more than stitching it. It was worth the frogging to get it right, well almost right, but soon, even I won’t know where the few mistakes are.
That was the largest motif left, so filling in the smaller ones.
Spring flowers are blooming.
Love this firecracker of a bottlebrush.
First tomatoes of the season have started growing!!!
I’ve been watching a lot of floss-tube, rather boring, people talking about those little exes on fabric. Then the trouble starts with gadgets and ideas. So Lori Holt was showing some cute project bags. I could have figured it out, but I ordered an old pattern from By Annie. Since it was a seller on etsy, she probably didn’t make anything off the sale.
I then went into my new stash and made a bag.
Yes, using Annies Soft and sturdy, or the similar product from Pellon, I quilted the back. Having a study bag is nice. I’ve made a few that are just too flimsy.
Yup, all the fabrics are from a fat quarter bundle I bought last week at the sale. Yes, Annie recommended using webbing for the handle, I didn’t have any, I didn’t even reinforce the handle with interfacing. It works.
I did make a vinyl window, nice to see what is in there. Like those loose threads that I neglected to clean up. Also, from Loris’ video I sewed in a large lobster claw.
It can hold the thread keeper.
Or scissors. I think I like the scissors better. Oh you may have noticed the scissors.
Nothing wrong with the red handle scissors, except, the blades were wide and they didn’t stay in their little sheath.
You also may notice that I upgraded the silver sheath. I ordered some knitting needle tips. The large size is perfect inside the silver bead cap. Yup, I did glue it in place. Its always fun to pick up new tools.
We had a birthday for Cam at the beach on Sunday and no, I didn’t take pictures. I just enjoyed the day. I was fighting a cold and now I’ve lost my voice.
I know, the photo distortion here is unbelievable. Its not this big. This is a shark night light. The whole theme of the party was Sharks.
This is what the bedroom looks like. I’d go crazy, no way could I sleep with this much light.
On our way up from the beach, a guy was practicing on a tight wire, he offered to give Westley a few pointers. Good pupil, great student.
He wasn’t there long, he never lasted long on the rope, but just watching him try was worth it all.
I think here he is pointing him where to focus his eyes.
Both feet on the rope!
I love this kindness. This past year has been so hard on all of us, the stress isn’t over, in some ways its’ getting worse, so to see this kind of interaction is so good for the soul.
I find it very surprising that someone can be so dedicated to a craft like quilting, and not be part of the local quilt guilds. Here in the San Fernando valley we have three, four if you include Glendale. But no, this woman hoarded fabric, but didn’t seek out the company of other quilters. She died recently and a friend is working to get rid of a lot of the fabric, machines and other stuff. Not sure how the Modern Guild heard about it, but they did and word went out to go and pick up fabric Whatever could be stuffed into one legal box – for $50.
I almost didn’t go, I have been quilting less, and really don’t have the room for this stuff. Well, I can make room. Anyway, I went, first of all, there were 4 of us in the condo- not wearing masks!!
There was a large selection of this Provincal fabric, never worked with this, so why not? I took a bunch, after taking the picture, I found more in the bottom of the box.
I dont know how Liz did this, when I left, all of this as crammed into one box, once I started pulling things out – it exploded.
As you can see, these aren’t old cheap fabrics, this woman was first a nun, then a nurse, then she did work at Quilt Emporium, so it’s not like she didn’t know about the guilds. I was drawn to bright colors.
As well as precuts. Mostly fat quarters, but I did take a jelly roll. Honestly, I think I Doubled my fabric stash and what I took was a drop in the bucket. Others had been there before me, one woman took 7 boxes. It really was a hoarder house. a number of women had been clearing, cleaning and arranging by theme and color. Sad, the friend who was taking the money (I think there are some debts to be paid, not surprising, seeing that fabric arrived here as late as Dec. 2020. He claimed that she made many quilts that she gave a way, I hope so, because I know, the acquisition of fabric is as much of an addiction as actually making quilts.
I picked up a few pieces of Kaffe fabric. I know that I just got the remnants, others before me too most of them. I have never bought Kaffe yardage, I’ve used some small pieces that I have gotten. It will be interesting what I do with these, they might become project bags or smaller items.
A few chickens, because they are cute.
These are 5″ x 6″ hand dyed squares. I don’t think t6his person is in business anymore, never heard of her, she was local. Lovely dye job
These two are newer, the computer printed fabric from Kaufman. This is something that fabric companies have been playing with, the one of the left is Monet water lilies. No need to count screens, the depth the variety of colors are endless.
I have already made a quilt using Elizabeth Hartmans Fancy forest. Quilt Emporium put together blocks of the month. Not sure I’ll use them for this pattern, but they are great color combos.
I have a few more fabrics I didn’t photograph, like some from French General as well as some very pale low volume fabrics. Did I mention that I think I just doubled my stash??? And these days I can’t get enough of cross-stitch, although I will be making some more bags as project bags, I’m sure I’ll use some of this fabric soon.
These guys are Indio, the whole Cochella valley has interesting public art.
My grandson discovered the leftover Easter bunny.
Love all the classic cars one sees here.
I always enjoy these kind of tiled stairs.
We paid a visit here!! I had no idea this has been around since 1924. In those days it was only date farms around here, now, it homes, businesses and a lot of people.
The restaurant was busy, we walked the walk, which was all about the life of Jesus. Which makes sense, back in 1924 Jesus was a very big part of peoples lives. Now our governments are trying to destroy Churches in the name of ‘health’. The grounds are beautiful.
Lets’ just say the ray of light is from God. As long as my Jewish God is acceptable. I find that the Christians are accepting and understanding, it’s the godless people who get all upset. At breakfast the next day we spoke to a couple, their Christian grandson went to a Jewish preschool. The Jewish teacher told him that we had Jesus first – we all shared a good laugh.
There still are date palms here, not sure they are harvesting much. Fun to see the ladders, I guess you can get a cherry picker up to a certain height, then the tree needs its own ladder.
The birds like them.
Had a great time with these guys. Then when we got home, it was dinner with oldest son and family. Monday night was dinner with youngest and family. I am blessed.
Last Friday I went with my daughter in law to the Desert to look at a house they want to buy as an investment. 3.5 hours in traffic going, 15 minutes at the house, dinner and 2.5 hours home. It was worth it, we got the house. (we’re the silent partners.)
So this weekend we went down so both our husbands could see the house and the inspections and interviewing contractors could start.
Here it is!
With cute grandsons out front.
The grandsons stayed with us and were spoiled rotten. Ice-cream – Check!
miniture golf at the hotel – Check!
Swimming in the pool – check! Even I went in, it was 90, which is pleasant down there. Got home to low sixties and overcast. Waiting for more warmth here!
Oh, and it was Elk and Mandys’ 8th anniversary. So they had two nights out on their own! More pictures soon.
I did promise you flowers. I don’t think these are wild flowers, I think they escaped when people lived here and they found a way to flouris
Lupine always reminds me of our visit to New Zealand. They grow there like wildflowers, even though they came with the settlers. I consider them as gone native. The whitest people around there consider them invaders – so they’ll get rid of the flowers but not themselves.
A closer look.
even closer.
Same color, different flower and no, I don’t know what it is.
We have yellow, a bush close to the ground.
And a tree with big puffs of yellow flowers.
Now is the time in CA to get out, hike in reasonable weather and enjoy the flowers.
LA isn’t easy to live in these days. Our city government simply doesn’t care, the mayor is MIA. The vagrants have taken over every corner, graffiti is everywhere, its the bad all days. I’m noticing that this past year is bringing the worst out of people everywhere, shootings all over the county, so I can blame our government reaction to the wuflu – but that just makes me hate the more.
After our hike we went looking for a taco stand. Not in Santa Clarita, if you want good Mexican food you do not stay out in the burbs. So we drove back to the valley and I Yelped, we found ourselves in an area I’m familiar with, but apparently not that familiar. along the main street its just bland store fronts, but go park in the back, and a whole incredible Paseo.
All the walls are painted, tables and chairs abound. People are out in force.
We are always trying to save old buildings, I love it when someone takes newer blander buildings and puts the effort to make them more interesting.
Like here, putting up a set of old shutters that probably don’t even cover a window.
There is a lot of tile mosaic here as well. Some compared this to Olvera Street in downtown LA, the difference is there are plenty of services here for the local residents. Its not just cutesy shops. I tried to find some info about when then was created, don’t know. But I love that Panorama City, a neighborhood most people (not Hispanic that is) avoid has created this wonderful hub.
This very much reminds me of Puerto Vallarta or even La Boca in Buenos Aires. I will be spreading the word, because people think they have to travel far for this kind of experience – you don’t.
A number of these directories are around the plaza. It was Sunday, so some thins were closed, yes, there appear to be Covid closures but there also were plenty of businesses open. We never made it to whatever place I found on Yelp. But there was no lack of food. We got Tacos at Taqueria Jerez, the lingua – yes that means tongue was nothing like the Jewish stuff I ate as a child – it was beyond amazing.
Sculptures, murals and a large play area. As we sat waiting for our food, another non Hispanic woman started talking to us (she was Korean). Asking us how we found this place. She was from the city, she used to bring her boys to practice at the ice-hockey rink next door. She had just been to Grace Community church, the one that defied our awful government that approved open strip clubs – but not churches. Anyway, we had one of those wonderful conversations that I used to have and hope to again. This is what is so lovely about LA, people are friendly, people talk to one another. of course no image of the food, we inhaled it so quickly.
Here is a realistic mural.
They have the angel wing wall as well as butterfly!
I LOVE how they used these glass circles to enhance the mural!
More tile.
Fun fountain.
Of course there is no Mexican plaza without a religious store with the Virgin of Guadalupe front and center!
