There is a zietgiest out there, I’ve noticed it for quite a while. Certain topics, movie themes or exhibits seem to hit at the same time. This time it’s men’s wear.
LACMA has it’s large monumental exhibit and FIDM has it’s much smaller Man Mode 
Same 18th century embroidered outfit. Style and fashion aren’t new. What tends to survive in the textile world are very high end garments such as these. Probably not worn often either.
A smoking jacket
Made out of silk cigar bands. These smoking jackets were popular in the 19th century.
Nomad caftan looks it’s from the Steppes of Asia.
Another smoking jacket, well the model is smoking, not sure that was it’s original purpose.
Wonderful embroidery.
Much more modern vest, with all kinds of foxes.
These days ties are really where business can show their individuality. These are from the 50s.
And under it all one can be naughty.
Love all the fabrics, textures and decorative use of zippers. Of course this is runway only.
Well worth a visit to FIDM.
Leah
I have ties to this part of the neighborhood, in the late 40s’ my father in law’s family moved to Hauser street from Boyle Heights, the Jewish migration westward had started. The house they built still stands, although larger now. A dear friend grew up here in the 60’s and 70’s and saw the decline, gangs, and big trouble took over. So it’s not surprising that now, the area is on the cusp of gentrification. It is once again a safe family oriented place. An old empty lot has become Adams Gateway, where shipping containers become shops.
Rene Gunter was already driving around with her organic fruit and vegetables. So it’s was natural for her to open up a stationary store here.
There is so much for me to love about this, Rene’s sign, DO organics. The Sign for Fatboys and the umbrella that just ties them both together.
I was on a walking tour with the Obscura society. These veggies tempted a number of people who bought produce for dinner.
Others were tempted by the container cacti.
The Art Deco themed snack bar is adorable.
Later on our tour we visited graffiti sites, this artist came along.
I hadn’t planned on shopping, although a number of shops were quite tempting.
In some cases, it was the displays, the mixture of color and texture.
The use of props.
Because the rents around here are still relatively cheap, working artists are moving in. Until gentrification sends them to the next ‘on the cusp’ neighborhood. 
Imagine my surprise when I walked into Just Tantau, a lovely jewelry studio. There on the wall was this amazing quilt. Turns out that back in the 70’s Carol the owner was a quilter. Of course, we discussed quilting, how she made friends with old time quilters, and although, on her own, she was makings things like this by machine. She learned the old traditional handwork as well.
The fabric is a small wale corduroy, the color progression is completely modern. Which is just to let you know that the moderns haven’t invented anything new. They simply are rediscovering and remaking what others have already done.
Carol stopped quilting long ago, but she still treasures what she made and it adds great warmth and color to her studio. 
By the time we left, the smoke cloud from the Sand Fire in Santa Clarita had made it’s way down to center city. The sun was a red ball and the coffee cup looks very different from this angle.
It was simply called snuggly bunny, but can you see why I’m calling it trapeze bunny? A member of my knitting group is a bonafide trapeze artist. The moment she saw this she was thrilled at how well he is doing on the Trapeze. The outstretched limbs, the ear flying in the wind. So that is her name.
None of the images on the pattern look like they are flying. Nor did the samples in the 
I am the kind of person who likes the least number of pieces as possible. I guess I didn’t check the pattern out very well, because:
Every little section was it’s own knitted piece.
I did enjoy knitting with the self-striping sock yarn. 
I may have over stuffed this gal. But then aren’t bunnies supposed to be fat? 
The pattern called for a pompom tail, I made a ball. With little babies I worry that they will pull the pompom apart. Not good for the baby or the bunny.
At first I was going to call this a flying bunny, which is what a trapeze artist does. I do like the circus connotation, the colors are certainly bright enough.
My bunny’s head is farther back on her body, which is why the standing position doesn’t work that well.
The flying position certainly does. I have no doubt this will be a very loved gift.
So it’s not surprising to see cacti and succulents used in landscape design.
Or on a much smaller scale.
It’s always a good idea to have a sack of aloe hanging around, in case of burn or cut.
The plants themselves are fascinating to study.
For the mathematicians out there, 
Like any other plant, cacti have to attract someone to polinte and propagate the species. These hardy rough plants always have a delicate flower.
That doesn’t last very long.
Just enough to do the job and wither.
I’m not on the lookout for pokemon, I’m looking for what is interesting in my surroundings. Sometimes it is just a simple leaf.
Take our climate and add water. The humble waterlilly, or lotus will send forth beautiful flowers from the murky muddy depths.
Did the yellow and pink cross polinate? It sure looks like it.
Color theory 101, pink and yellow gives us a lovely pale orange.
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.
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 
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 
Our paper guru from 
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.
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 
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.
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.
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.
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 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.