Today people are visiting the mission again because of the mission. In the 1930s, in order to get tourists to the ruins, the town publicized the swallows. They told the story of the swallows returning on March 19th en-mass. Songs were written, a festival was created. Nature runs in cycles, with many renovations being done in the 90’s the swallows left.
Efforts are being made to lure them back and maybe it’s working. A handful of nests are on some of the buildings, not sure if these are new or old. They certainly are very interesting. 
The colonnade of the mission yard.
It takes a lot of work, restoration work to maintain a building in arrested decay.
As seen in the upper right corner, it takes strong steel bolts to hold the structure together.
A beautiful tile in the colonnade honoring St. Fatima, love how the wooden frame mimics the tiles.
Inside, of course, it is the Virgin of Guadalupe.
The old Sera Chapel is still in use, repaired and in beautiful condition.
In 1986 the new Basilica was completed. They tried to recreate the church that fell in 1812. Without exact building plans, they had to look at other Mexican churches of the time. This is a large complex with a school and Franciscan monks. I saw one on the street, with his habit, his modern sneakers and a cold latte from Starbucks. Being a monk does not mean living in the distant past.
A mission bell of course! Thanks to my friend Becky, who did a better job of sluething than I did. I found out that Mrs. A.S.C Forbes had a real name, not just the initals of her husband. Her full name is Harrye (Harriet) Rebbeca Piper Smith Forbes. She came up with the idea for the bells, created them in her foundry and even created an idividual bell for each mission, based on the bells found there. Most of the originals are long gone, but a new foundry bought her mold and the State has been putting them back up along the El Camino Real – mostly the 101 freeway.
Secret Knitting project
I have been working on a knitting project I couldn’t share until now. It was a group project. I have some friends on Facebook who are scattered all over the country. One friend has some issues so we all decided to do something personal. Since some of us knit, we decided on a knit blanket.
Might as well show off the final object and work backwards. Sarah is a scientist, a geek and a Christian. We combined everything we could.
From our group that we called Sekrit Blanket group. Someone found this awesome banner.
We ordered yarn, every knitter ordered the blue for background, along the way we send the other colors if someone ran out.
I bought the Outerspace blanket which was the basis for some of the patterns. Other’s scoured the internet and found other great ideas.
Like the Christian Fish.
Or ‘friend’ in Elvish from Lord of the Rings.
The moon and Orion
Saturn and Startrek.
Spacemen and stars.
As the blocks came in, I once again learned the lesson, knitting is so subjective. Same yarn, same needles, same measurements and yet the blocks ended up very different size. No problem, everyone sent me the extra blue yarn so I was able to enlarge the smaller blocks and make the nice crochet border.
Not everyone knit something. Look at this incredible necklace from Boondock Studios. Look carefully, there is a rocket ship in the stone.
A large box of the best soap ever from Goatboy Soaps, the only soap I use these days. Others sent book or other gift items. 
Our paper guru from Prepare to Dye made the card. 
Luckily Sarah lives in the same town as another of our group, so they met in person. I’d say this is one happy blanket recipient.
The necklace and daughter are great accessories.
Some more close ups.
And finally, some artistic shots of the blanket.
This isn’t the first time we have done a joint project. Over the Facebook and mail, we made a baby blanket for one of us and well as a baby blanket for a man who discovered he was a father from a casual dating situation. He yanked that baby out of foster care so quickly and is raising his own son. For all the complaints about the intrusion of the internet and social media, if you learn how to work the system – the benefits are incredible.
How to turn a mundane shower gift into something special
I know, when it comes to shower gifts you don’t want to be the one giving the mundane objects, even if they were on the registry list.
Of course this isn’t a problem when one is creative.
I went to Smart and Final to buy a #10 can full of whole tomatoes, I’ve used some of them, but most are in smaller containers in the freezer. Following the instructions for #10 Caddy I got to work.
I payed attention to other items on the registry, looks like the bride likes simple grey fabrics. I had to really dig in my stash to find quiet fabrics.
I added an insert in the bottom, a tin can is a tin can, better have it completely covered.
The instructions are well written. I followed the measurements exactly and it fit the can perfectly.
.The pockets flaring off the side are practical and pretty.
Those spoons and spatula suddenly don’t look so boring.
And look! It matches the apron!
You can’t quite see, but I also made 4 napkins out a simple white text fabric. Some of the bride’s girlfriends wanted to know if I sell these items. No I don’t, no one pays me for the time it takes to make something handmade. I am thrilled to make gifts to share with people I care about, but it isn’t worth the money.
Basically what I’m saying it, it is worth being my friend.
Summer dress
I have been sewing clothes, I just haven’t been too good with the photos. So it really helped to be out with a friend and have her take pictures.
Amy Butler fabric with trim of some other quilt fabric I had laying around.
I love that I am so good at sewing and visualizing patterns and fabric that the end result really looks nothing like the pictures on the package. It doesn’t feel derivative, it’s mine.
I just bought the hat, this style suits me well, it also matched the outfit perfectly. As we wandered around the shops, one shopkeeper mentioned how adorable I look. The dress, the jewelry, the hat. What a compliment! Of course I said I sewed the dress, I am very proud of my creations. I love looking good. Funny, women say that after 40 you become invisible, I’m already past my mid 50’s and I’m anything but invisible.
I’m not trying to look like a 20-year-old. I now wear sensible sandals, the dress is form fitting but not tight, I know I just look good. And yes, that makes me very happy and confident.
Which is why I’m smiling. 
Trying to find fun poses in fun locations. I listened to a sewing podcast which is all about garment sewing, not quilts. The hosts both decried the use of quilting cotton in garment sewing. I beg to differ, it took me time to learn what kind of fabrics will work with what garments. In this case, the more structured quilting cotton gives the dress great body, which to my mind is better than a very flowy rayon.
I will probably use this pattern again and it will be fun to try some other fabric. Trial and error, I have learned what fabric works for what type of garment. I don’t like the idea that fabric has one purpose only. Clearly, the woman who complimented me didn’t see a walking quilt. She was selling adorable dresses, and would have loved to have this in her store. Fabric is fabric, how we use and manipulate it is up to the sewer, not some fabric police.
Somewhere in California
This is the kind of picture you expect someone to take in Spain, modernity in front of a ruin. Most people don’t think of California as having anything old and certainly no ruins. But then most people don’t know history, so it’s easy to excuse them.
These are remains from a massive church built for the Mission San Juan Capistrano, built in the early 19th century, destroyed in an earthquake in 1812.
The mission was rebuilt, but not on the same large scale.
One thing that fascinates me is the building materials, people use what they have on hand. In this case, not much of one building material, so they used many. Adobe, of course, rocks as well as some fired bricks.
There were strong wooden beams for support, had to have been brought in from somewhere else, either up from Mexico or on board ships. And they weren’t strong enough when the earthquake hit.
Each mission has it’s own character, to me, it’s the remains of the large church that really stand out. I couldn’t help wondering, is this girl listening to the audio tour or is she playing Pokemon go?
These are the two larger originals bells, they stand on the footprint of the original bell tower, with an image of Father Junipero Sera peeking through. There is a special exhibition about him inside the mission building.
When the Church was rebuilt, no tower. Instead, the bells were installed in a wall, the two big bells are replicas of the original and the two small ones are original. Tradition is to ring the bells by hand, using the rope. Although for visitors there is a sign, please do not ring the bells.
I love all these textures. Another thing about this mission is the decision to stay with arrested decay. In San Fernando, all has been repaired except one small wall. Here the decision has been to leave the effects of time out in the open, although it wouldn’t surprise me if some maintenance is being done.
Often it’s only when I have the chance to take a close look at the photos do I see the details. Like the fact that the bracing for this bell is shaped like a cross.
Or the design around this window includes a cross as well.
Unlike the window next to it that doesn’t.
Of course, old windows were very small, this one may not have been glazed. The iron support is new, had there been iron to support the church, it may not have fallen.
What looks like a reflection in the glass may not be. I don’t think there is any glass, it’s just blue sky with what looks like chicken wire in the window. I may be completely wrong about this, I just took the picture.
I know, this image of Father Sera welcoming a young native to the faith is completely un-PC. But then I hate political correctness. This is what was important at the time, civilizing and taming these new lands. Of course, Catholicism was a big part of that effort. I know people like to bash the Missions for destroying native life. Funny how none of those people ever bash Islam for it’s massive expansion – where it was convert or die by the sword.
Once the Mexicans took over Alta California they secularized the missions and this one became a ranch. The original document signed by Abraham Lincoln returning the missions to the church used to be here. Although I’m not Christian, I love seeing these old missions being used for their original purpose again.
Back to wonderful textures.
Today we enjoy something that shows it’s age, I wonder if this weren’t such a busy tourist spot if the people who worship, learn and live here wouldn’t prefer a refurbished site.
Love it when lichen becomes part of the architecture.
Or algae in the fountain.
I have more images, but that I don’t like the posts to get too long.
Hollyhock
A post dedicated to one flower.
I have been remiss in my garden, but busy with the camera in other gardens.
This is an easy flower to grow in California, so I can’t explain why it isn’t all over mine.
The pinks get darker and darker.
Some are already red.
But translucent as the sun shines through.
And then we get one so dark, it could almost be called black.
Which is why it is so hard to photograph.
Not even a pretend hollyhock, but I couldn’t resist.
Beaches
We have great beaches in Los Angeles, even if I’m not much of a beach person, and certainly not one to go into our frigid waters.
I’m happy to go and be the photographer, while the young uns have fun.
This year Cameron is in Mommy’s arms, by next year he’ll be right there in the water with his brother.
This needs to be on a greeting card.
Ok, I wasn’t even here, I took the pictures from my Dils feed. But it’s a great picture of grandma and Shira heading to the ocean.
While Atyan plays in the sand.
I did go the the beach with Yish and Yoch, we just walked along the water. And burned our feet on the sand during the 1/4 mile hike down to the waters edge. Not only are LA beaches beautiful white sand, for the most part they are pretty wide. Not sure how they prevented development right up to waters edge, but in Santa Monica they succeeded.
Santa Monica Pier on a hot July weekend. We rode the new Expo line from Palms to Santa Monica, it was lovely. The train was full of weekend beach goers.
Somebody got very creative. I understand someone does this on a large scale up in Ventura.
What a balance, not only in the structure, but in the shape and textures of the rocks. Better than many an art piece I’d find in a museum or gallery.
Sometimes it’s nature that provides all the beauty all on it’s own.
Butchart Gardens
As a lover of flowers and colors, Butchart gardens in a must.
The day was overcast, but no rain. Probably better to see flowers that way than in bright sunlight. Notice I am dressed for a California winter.
The old cement quarry in all it’s glory. A collection of gardens this size is an ongoing project. Still in the hands of the same family, they are doing a magnificent job, of both maintaining the gardens and sharing them with vast numbers of visitors.
This is my second visit, I have only been here in summer, each season has it’s own beauty. This could be an inspiration for a quilt or artwork, the shapes, the shades of green, the pops of color.
Flippossibilitiesing for black and white open up all kinds of new posiblities.
But back to color
One can take a boat ride out on the water, this is an island after all.
I only rode the bronze horse, not the many fanciful animals on the merry-go-round.
And now to the flowers, interesting how in a compact grouping, they include mostly common flowers like geraniums and coleus for contrast in color and texture.
The individual flowers are irresistable.
The bees are busy, without them, no flowers.
Nature produces the most vibrant colors.
Often the texture and color of leaves is more impressive than flowers.
Sometimes it’s just the flower.
and sometimes, it’s how one looks at a tree.
Especially if it is the strange monkey puzzle tree.
Or
Of
Splendid Sampler VI
Almost to the halfway point! 
I take liberties with the blocks, this was supposed to 6 tiny hexie flowers on a 6.5″ block. Sorry, but no. I enlarged them a little and fell back into what I was doing two years ago – making an all over hexie quilt.
Then a nice pieced block, with flying geese and half square triangles.
A very fussy applique got easier when I simply made the block with Broderie Perse. This is a very old technique of cutting out elements from a print fabric and appliqueing them down. Used mostly with flower motifs.
Ahh! Paper piecing, very intricate paper piecing. I even fussy cut the four central blades. Designers say that paper piecing is extremely accurate. Yes and no. The real issues arise when sewing together separate sections. I haven’t found a solution and I don’t care to, quilting isn’t about perfect accuracy. The makers hand – in this case mine, is more important than something that was stamped out by machine.
I tried to see if this could be paper pieced – waste of time. So a lot of starch and patience. People love the little elephant. I got him in a pack of 2.5″ mini charms, so he won’t repeat anywhere on the quilt. As time goes by, more and more fabrics get added in.
Another Hexie block. This technique of machine sewing the hexies was developed by Nicole of Modern Handcraft, came up with this technique. The idea is to glue the hexies down and quilt and applique at the same time. Since this will be sitting around for at least six more months, I appliqued them down already, I’ll figure out the quilting later.
Easy paper piecing! No question, I like piecing and paper work.
Time for group photos, rather than laying all the blocks out, I categorized them.
Applique and embroidery.
Paper piecing, by machine on the left, the two hexie blocks are English paper piecing. the all over one is completely done by hand.
Most of the blocks are pieces, so I’m dividing them by ‘theme’.
Of course they don’t all fit into neat catagories.
As
Another
Maxi Dress
There is nothing more comfortable in the summer than a light and airy maxi dress.
So I added a few more props this time.
The dress is made out of rayon crepe. That most elusive fabric. I found this online and immediately ordered a large quantity. 
I clearly cut the back skirt more on the grain.
These lovely ladies are somewhat skewed on the front. I also discovered that there is a lot of this print out there for sale. Maybe the manufacturers felt there was something racist about these ladies and they decided not to make garment out of this. So the jobbers celebrated and sold it to many an online fabric store.
You can see the print a little better, as well as the cute details of the bodice. They of course get completely lost in the busy print.
Did I mention how cool I feel in this?
I have had this hibiscus for over five years, I get one flower at a time. I’ve seen the same bush elsewhere just covered in these dinner plate flowers. Who knows, maybe like my Meyer lemon that has finally started producing fruit year round, I will get a bush full next year.
Blending in with the pots.