Leah – Page 113 – No Idle hands here

A different look at The Broad

I was downtown giving an Historic Downtown tour to kids from North Hollywood High. They were a great group of kids and the tour went very well. Since I was there on a weekday, I tried my luck and went and stood in line for standby tickets. Met some lovely people from Seattle who had come for the Disney half marathon. Of course I recommended quite a few of our downtown gems.I’ll say it right now, I don’t like the art in the Broad, what interests me is the architecture. I want to see how the shapes and forms react both inside and out.Iconic image, going up the escalator. As someone who studied design, I like the focal point right above the woman’s head. How the lines just lead there.Ok, I found one piece of artwork I like. LACMA has a much more colorful version. African art, taking many pieces of tin, from cans and other objects and creating a large carpet. A wonderful example of crafting with what you have. As for the rest of the art, I’m familiar with his collection of 1980s art, it leaves me cold. What leaves me angry is the newer art – if it doesn’t have an angry message, or an anti Western civilization message – it isn’t part of the collection. There wasn’t anything positive, it was all about racism, or anti war, or sexual deprivation. I get it, we are eating ourselves and won’t stand and defend what the West stands for. All we can do is malign and tear down. I did shock one of the guards when I knew who one of the artists is. Doesn’t make me like her, but I’ve seen her angry anti White America art before. She should be lecturing on all college campii right now.

What this tells me is that many of the visitors don’t know art and coming here they are being ‘educated and enlightened’. Oh for one single European Madonna and Child.Jeff Koons, his highly reflective stainless steel, reflecting itself and the roof beautifully. A win for building making this piece so much more interesting then when it was in other locations.So I aimed my camera at the walls, seeing the play of light and shadow on the structure itself.And found my comfort there.I had of course seen the window from outside.It took a while to find it inside, in a lecture hall.Once again on the outside, tilting my camera so the roof line is vertical.And of course peering through the windows to the street bellow. Combining the soft edges of the window with the geometric lattice of guard rails.And the view of both Disney Hall and the Dorothy Chandler Pavillon, with a shadow of the San Gabriel mountains beyond.And then this image, made my heart sing! The Ped Xing sign, right over the skylights of the Contemporary Art Museum to the Tower of the Title Guarantee building. This is what I love, standing in one contemporary building, looking over another to a wonderful example of Art Deco. I love that architecture develops and changes, I wish that Art would do the same without being ugly and angry. Today positive creativity is happening in the craft world, not in the art world. Here’s hoping they find their way back. At least Architecture isn’t wallowing in the negative.And finally, away from the Broad, looking at the upper station of Angels Flight. This is a funicular that needs an angel. We need it to run again!

Leah

Three sewing machines for one simple dress??

I have been participating in a month long Instagram event. #bpsewvember. Every day a topic that we need to follow. An early one was WIP Work in progress.

So it was time to get cracking.Of course I used my serger, this is a knit fabric after all. But unlike my previous dress, I had to rely on more than one machine.I thought it would just be two. Here I am using a twin needle for all the hems. Gives a nice double row of stitching. Mimics a cover-stitch machine, no I don’t need one, really I don’t have the room….. just trying to convince myself that I REALLY don’t need one.The problem with my relatively simple machine is there is only room for one spool. I’m not the first sewer to come across this problem, hence the external spool holder. Works wonderfully! Twin needles need two spools of thread.

And then… turns out I needed to sew two short rows of gathering stitches. The thought of changing out the twin needle was too much. It is very hard to thread that thing, the machine can’t thread both side. SO….Machine no. 3, the straight stitch only one.Top is finished and lovely, are you seeing what I’m seeing a big black dot right in the middle. The more I look at this fabric I realize I was plain lucky – I could have had circle in very inconvenient places – like right over my boobs. Never thought of that when I bought the fabric.It all worked out and the dress is adorable, which begs the question, WHY AREN’T I SMILING? You’ll have to ask the photographer that question. (me).A very quick sew, 3 hours at most, using ITY knit which is soft and clingy. The V-neck line sits beautifully, I credit both the pattern and the fabric.And… here is my black dot again, right in the middle of my back! Closer look at the lovely fit in front. No special treatment here. I have read enough advice about how to reinforce such a neckline so it won’t gape. I’m wondering if because it is a separate piece of fabric it lies so well. It isn’t on the bias as it would be if the fronts were one piece instead of two. Of course I will use this pattern again. If I use a thicker fabric I won’t have the pleasure of twirling the skirt like this, another fun aspect of this fabric.

Leah

Sharing my old quilts

This was the last quilt I made before going on hiatus and moving on to other crafts. So I’d say this is about 18 years old. Medallion style quilt. It started with mole from the San Blas Islands . I didn’t visit there, though I’d love to. I must have bought it at a craft fair and it became the basis for the quilt.I just noticed that I have used this technique again with a medallion quilt, in order to make it more of a rectangle, i added a border only on two sides, not four. I’ll have to share that one as well.Along with the mole, I also incorportated some Guatemalan woven Textiles. I was ahead of my time on the modern front, combining fabrics other than quilting cottons.

The next three images are all I have left of my first quilt, I am not a hoarder and at this point I think that quilt is gone, so here are some of the fabrics in that quilt, the pink ones. I recognize this solid as being from that quilt, I’m wondering what aged it? It has been in storage for a while, and that may be the only reason. This quilt never got a lot of use.Because at that time I was thinking art quilt rather than a warm cuddly one. In size it could have been a lap quilt but I did put a sleeve on the top for hanging. Something I only do now on small projects.This is also the last quilt I hand quilted.Today I would machine quilt this. Hand quilting is in my past, I don’t think I’ll go back to that. For handwork, I either knit or will do English paper piecing. Even then, I”ll machine quilt.

It was fun to revisit this, but it’s not a quilt I will be using. I like looking back at my creativity, I think I did a great job, but this doesn’t speak to me anymore. Of course I’m keeping it, but now using it.

Leah

On the outskirts of the Fashion District

The fashion District downtown keeps on expanding. Santee Alley used to be one block long, now it stretches from Olympic Blvd all the way to Pico. Other fashion business have followed suit. This store must have been here for a while. Or else the California sun has taken it’s toll on the unique signage.

What caught my attention on the corner of Pico and Santee was this very interesting building. It’s old, probably from the 1920s’, when buildings were still using brick. Even the signage looks original.Today all the retail is fashion and the offices are all garment industry related, labels, textile finishing, studios. I know this because I tried to find some info about this building. Nothing at all about when it was built or by whom. Just info about the current tenants.Even the details on the side are lovely.The front of the building, on Santee really marks it as a Tudor revival. I’ve been doing my research, in the early 20s’ Tudor revival was a style that many a homeowner used for their large lovely homes. Charlie Chaplain used this style for his studios on La Brea. I’ve been looking for other examples of commercial buildings and can’t find any. Pico Blvd was on the far southern reaches of the business district, from here downtown becomes much more light industry. So for years, until the fashion district grew, it was simply a forgotten area and no one was either building or tearing down.Notice how the crosswalk is designated with the fashion district logo. Today this stretch of Pico houses higher end women’s stores as well as children’s clothes. Many of the store fronts are open to the public and are cheaper than boutiques elsewhere. The quality of the clothes is much higher than in the famous Santee Alley. Some are storefronts for the trade only, this is where those high end boutiques come to stock their own stores.This is directly across the street on Pico. Those columns look original, it looks like someone decided to paint them. This is the terminus of the Santee Alley, it runs behind this building. Right behind it the Bendix Arial tower can be seen.Another view from much further east.

The Fashion District downtown is booming! Some of the older buildings have come down but it is still a low building district. I’m wondering if at some point taller buildings will be built. Here’s the thing, the storefronts are doing very very well, the offices above are rented out. But most of the manufacturing is happening south and east of here. It will be interesting to see how this area changes in the next few years. I’m just praying that 1300 Santee survives the change.

Leah

Final Crazy like Fox entry.

A year has gone by, sort of. We started this exchange in February and our final recipient has her birthday in November. Raquel is the one who started the ball rolling so I had to get extra busy making her some lovely foxy things.First of all, a fox. I enjoy making three dimensional toys, and Raquel told me her three daughters fought over him.Fox out in the wild.From the side.From the back with his cute tail up in the air.Loving these divided baskets. Horse and foxes, although they may not be friends, seeing that the Fox hunters ride the horses, they do get along very well on this basket.With it’s front pocket and divider.And of course, with the fox.

Leah

Nachas, Yiddish for feeling grateful

Aytan spent the whole weekend with us. He loves he shirt, even demanded that the top button be buttoned. We went to get his glasses fixed and I wanted a picture – of course he wouldn’t smile. A different day, Westley likes his shirt as well, as he rearranges the kitchen.The rest of the weekend included around the clock arts and crafts. He asked me to draw pirate ships, which he then cut out and colored. He also took the rug pad to use as his display board.He raided my sewing supplies, so yeah, one of my stronger interfacings became the basis for this art. My fabric glue stick is almost gone. I did ask about the five legged giraffe, he didn’t seem to mind the extra leg. Put himself on it. We went through about 5 rolls of tape. A visit to both the Dollar tree and the 99 cent store for more supplies.

I tried to do some embroidery and he immediately demanded to participate.His words and letters on construction paper. I gave him one of my very large yarn needles, doubled the floss, so it wouldn’t come off and showed him how to embroider.Very good for a first attempt, sure the back is messier, but that work is incredible. He then taped to my wall. It’s down now but I’m saving this. I’m also thinking that I might purchase one of those smaller sewing machines. Anything to encourage this kind of creativity.

I didn’t get a picture of the mess the house was in, paper shards everywhere, googlie eyes glued onto everything. Shapes from my Sixxiz all over the floor.

I was in heaven, tired, but in heaven. Shira spent the time with her other grandma and Erez and Becky had a very well deserved romantic weekend to celebrate ten years of marriage. I have no idea where the time goes!

Leah

New York Beauty

Of course I started a new quilt, it might be for my bed, problem is my bed is a King size, so we will see. I think you will notice that I like curves in my quilts, so a New York Beauty was an easy choice. A while ago I started a Pinterest board. Just take a look, you’ll see what I mean.I purchased most of these fabrics for this quilt. The top print inspired the colors, then I’d go into stores without it and try and remember the colors. Which is how I ended up with the print below it – much more purple. So really most of my fabrics relate more to the second print, but it’s not about pulling the exact colors, it’s about a pleasing palette. My background will be the dark grey, which looks bluer here than in real life.I found some 8.5″ patterns online and I got started. The best way to make these is paper piecing of course, another love of mine.I can get accuracy as well as really sharp points.The pile of blocks is growing rapidly.Alas, I wanted more blocks, there are many pictures of wonderful blocks, but it’s not easy to find the actual patterns. In my search someone mentioned the program EQ, a computer program for designing blocks. Her comment was how much easier it was to use than a protecter and a compass. Bells went off in my head and I ran to the store to buy those items.Way back in my high school days, I liked geometry and disliked math. A few years later when I started quilting I understood why geometry spoke to me. I’m not going to be designing and selling quilt blocks, but I love the mental challenge of creating them for myself. So no need for a computer program. But yay for the internet! I needed to look up tutorials to remind myself how to work with these simple tools.The final block is always the reverse of what you see on the paper.Once I have the design to fit 8″ I need to add a quarter inch around each section. Which is why I have the half circle here, the left side gives me the template for the top band and the right side the template for the center spokes.As the number of blocks grows, I throw them on the floor to see possible layouts. It is way to early for a decision, but this kind of haphazard layout is what I am going for. The middle block on the bottom (yellow-green) is also a learning experience. There isn’t enough contrast between the narrow spokes and the background. No need to discard the block, just learn from it. The one to the left is a good example of using larger prints in a paper pieced project.Ten blocks! Many quilters have done this using prints in the background as well. I prefer one neutral solid, I don’t want all my paper piecing to get lost in a maze of color and pattern. Right now I am having so much fun with this, I don’t see getting to a king size quilt to be a problem, but we’ll see as time will tell.

Leah

A skirt and a rant about directional fabric.

I have this adorable skirt pattern
I found this cute fabric and I bought 2.5′, that is more than I need for the average skirt, but this one does have pleats.

It turns out that I need to cut the fabric along the selvedge, otherwise I’ll end up with a seam some where in the the middle. So here goes my rant – one directional fabric is awful for clothing!!!!! I understand, this is probably a quilting cotton, but the weight of this is great for skirts. So I growled and gnashed my teeth and went into my stash. There is a reason why we sewers have stashes.I also had 2.5′ of this fabric, which I like, since I did buy it myself.Side by side, you can see how the in the left fabric all the elements point in the same direction and the fabric on the right, the feathers and berries are tossed all over. Hmm, feathers, am I noticing a trend?

I made the skirt according to my waist size and it came out enormous, I have no idea what I did wrong. So some nips, tucks, increasing the size of some of the pleats and it all worked out. Most pleated skirts have markings where the pleats will be sewn – in this pattern I had to cut out the pleat area. This is to reduce bulk when adding the facing and the top stitching. That meant that I couldn’t simply take the skirt apart and go for a smaller size.It worked! and now I have a lovely new pleated skirt.I’m not sure the contrapposto stance works here, it looks good on Greek sculptures, but creates too much bunching on my shirt.At least the skirt flows and moves nicely.Another successful sewing project! Because the print is so busy, you really can’t see the top stitching, but I do like the shape it gives the skirt. I will probably make it again, but I’ll make the changes before I cut the fabric.

Leah

Secret Walks

Charles Fleming has published a new book Secret Walks of Los Angeles. It has been at least nine months since I was able to join him and 100 of my ‘friends’ for a Sunday walk. First order of business:I am acknowledged in the book, I tested the Franklin Canyon walk. This is a favorite in the hills of Studio City, although I have walked it often, it was fun to follow his instructions.We met at the Los Angeles Railroad museum, which was all decked out for Halloween. This is right next to Travel town and unfortunately, I don’t think it’s open as often. Today’s walk was all about the horse trails that start across the freeway and the river in Burbank.Into the tunnel and to the light at the other end – this takes us under the busy 134 Freeway.To view the river right before it enters the Glendale narrows, here it does have the concrete bottom. Also interesting geese that have bred with the Canada geese so they are very big.Off on their own, the mallard ducks.Across the river, the horse riders are getting their exercise. Along with their dogs.Weeds in California are beautiful.Even those seen through a rusty chain link fence right by the freeway.We crossed a bridge over the river, one that the horses use all the time, full of hay and horse droppings. There are many stables here, really a lot more than I expected, when walking on foot one sees much more than looking out the window of a car. This wasn’t the only person renting a horse, we saw a number of families doing the same thing.Smack dab in the middle of the city, surrounded by freeways, Disney studios and NBC studios is horse country. All the homes in this area are horse friendly, many have their own stables, those who don’t simply board the horses in on of the many stables around.This fellow peered over the fence at us. We saw many riders, some of whom were not happy to see a large group of people and dogs on their path.

November 1st in Los Angeles, warm, bright and people out walking and enjoying the surroundings.

Leah

Water

The Modern Quilt guild is growing by leaps and bounds. Now there is a Valley Modern Quilt Guild. We have had two meetings so far. At our first meeting we were given a challenge, make anything quilted based on water. For my inspiration I found this Japanese block print and my eye was immediately drawn to the whirlpool.So I pulled out my solid blues and traced the basic pattern on the fabric, then cut out corresponding light blue and white Thai silk that some one gave me. I proceeded to do needle turn appliqué.I love the silk, but it frays easier than quilting cotton. Since this is a wall hanging and I did try to use very tiny stitches, this won’t be a problem. Half way done, but not completely happy with the result. I have a vertical line with the blue and that is really bothering me.So I changed it, much much better. The quilting of course reinforces the idea of an eddy. I even pebble quilted in order to give the idea of bubbles. I even bound the quilt to continue the placement of the blues.And of course since this is based on a Japanese print I added a signature stamp. It says nothing, I simply slashed and appliquéd.A close up of the quilting and how it reinforces the pattern. Which is why I love quilting, the three dimension design that is created by quilting is part and parcel of the whole design. Bas relief, not a two-dimensional painting.In this case, the back is a busy print, so the quilting gets lost. I put on a sleeve for hanging and my little label. I need to add the date as well.A lot of people took the challenge. Yes, mine was very well received. Next month the challenge is fire, I am thinking of something very different. Maybe simple piecing so it won’t take me so long?

Leah