There is a reason why multicolored yarn is sold in skeins.
Especially hand dyed yarn.
The colors are vivid and separated out beautifully. On the swift and being wound into a ball.
Look how different the colors look now.
Pretty but not as striking as the skein. 
As I start to knit the shawl, there is a lot of concentration of color.
You can even see some pooling of color at the bottom and white at the top. At a certain length it simply gets stripey. Of course as I decrease I expect the pooling to return.
Talk about a rainbow! The dyer wasn’t kidding.
Once it is finished, which will probably be pretty soon, I will block it and it will have a whole new look.
Author: Leah
Public art
“MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark….” The weird quirky song is how most people know MacArthur’s Park – well if you are of a certain age. Then for the longest time it was simply a very sketchy area of Los Angeles that you avoided. It was full of drug dealers. Like many parts of the city – it’s not so scary anymore. Especially now that it is part of a public art project.
Do not know who is responsible, school children painted these large balls and volunteers are putting them in place.
If you approach from the northern part of the park, this is what greets you under the Wilshire Blvd. tunnel.
Or like this couple, you can stand on Wilshire and look down.
I went a few days before all the balls were installed, so I saw the work in progress
U-hauls full of uninflated balls, some shade and a very large pump.
A lot of volunteers.
Attaching rope.
Moving them into position.
The lake is segmented so the balls don’t just float helter-skelter.
congregated around the aerating fountain.
Colorful, fun and bringing in people.
The park is no longer as derelict as it used to be. Not only because of the spheres, the area is on the rebound. 
Otherwise how to you explain this kind of ‘art’. A cute poodle who is matches her owner. 
I wonder if the owner wears blue as long as the dog has blue and if she changes the colors often?
There is a lot more to see in the area, but this post is all about the art.
Leah
More Tiffany
The Tiffany tour continues, this time in the Original Marshal Fields building, now Macy’s.
Most people never look up!! Even when 7 floors above you is this amazing incredible vaulted mosaic ceiling. Temples of commerce are just as ornate as any Church.
You can take the elevator up to the 7th floor and get a much closer view of this incredible work. Not only the mosaics, there are also a number of globe Tiffany lamps.
I can see why, with all the modern cold white lighting, one misses these warm iridescent globes.
These are just a few of the images I took of the actual mosaic.
Ok, so most people don’t go up to Furniture and Design, but it is so worth it just to stare up at this ceiling.
Next stop the old Public Library, today it is The Chicago Cultural Center. Luckily when the new library was built, this building was just too massive and well reinforced, it was just to complicated to destroy. I know, people love to say – oh my city tears every old building down, but other cities are so much better at preservation. Guess what, all cities tear down old buildings, some more than others. We can’t keep everything, and those that remain become more important because there are fewer of them.
On the marble bannister, two things happened, they had to cut out the shape in the marble, then painstakingly create the mosaic to fit perfectly.
For all the wonderful mosaics here, and there are more, the dome is the real treasure here. This is the largest Tiffany dome anywhere, 38 feet in diameter, over 30,000 pieces of glass, there is a larger dome on the other side of the building, not designed by Tiffany, Unfortunately I couldn’t get to see it. From images online, it looks like I missed something special
The zodiac, fish scale glass. The dome was cleaned in 2008 and they were amazed by how much more light comes into the room. All of these pieces of art demand a lot of TLC in order to maintain their beauty.
Hanging from the dome is this light fixture that mimics the fish tail scales. Yup, my mind is going to a quilt pattern, although it probably is way too much work.
A few more mosaics, this one in an archway celebrates American authors. Built in 1897, Chicago was determined to prove that they are a world class city, I think they succeeded.
Although we couldn’t enter the hall because they were setting up for a private event, I spied this mosaic off to the side. Hebrew will always catch my eye and in many libraries – you will always find Hebrew. Makes sense since Hebrew is one of the earliest written languages. The alphabet has changed through the years. Of course, Alphabet is a contraction of the two first letters in Hebrew – Aleph -Bet.
The translation is: The Author who did not know, gave the book and said, please read this.
Leah
Our changing bodies
As we age our bodies change, like it or not, it happens. Sure look at pictures of me and you won’t see any change, but it’s happening. My waist and hips are getting wider, such is life, I’m not complaining, but I do need to adjust how I sew.
Another change with age is liking things a little more simple. Don’t worry, I won’t be abandoning bright colors and prints, but I do find that for a party dress – simple is better.
I went to Mood looking for silk, I came home with a cotton twill.
You haven’t seen me much in black, because I like color and pattern. I chose this pattern because the back of the dress is amazing, the front is nice, but not exciting. Therefore I needed a fabric that would make this dress pop.
A wonderful thing about this print is that it is printed in panels. Most border prints have the border running along one of the selvedges. That is fine, it gives you 42″ to work with, this panel is only 36″ long, but the dress will hang better when cut on the straight grain of the fabric, not the crossgrain.
I LOVE the end result. I did have to get creative with my waistline, but it worked out well.
Looking good from the side.
And the back.
Well the skirt looks lovely from the back. Fitting my bodice is a little more of a challenge. Those creases tell me that the fitting isn’t perfect. But then again, sewing isn’t about being perfect, I clearly have to fine tune some fitting issues – but that is only for me, no one else will notice.
How cute is the back V neck and the bow?
It’s these small design elements that make a simple dress stand out.
When sewing a lapped zipper, it is a good idea to add a few millimeters to the seam allowance, I forgot to do that, so it was very fiddly getting the zipper in correctly, but I got it to work.
Yes, I can move in this dress. So a wedding in two weeks and then the High Holidays, I am loving my new dress.
Abandoned Gold Mine
History is very fickle, we learn one thing and any other information that doesn’t fit that narrative simply isn’t true. It doesn’t occur to us that the truth can encompass our original knowledge plus more.
Case in point, gold mines. The existed in Northern CA and maybe parts of Nevada, but certainly not in Southern California. This weekend I had the opportunity to hike to a local mine and learn a lot, not only about gold but also about the old fashioned way of mining.
Kudos to The Los Angeles Obscura Society for organizing a hike in the Angeles Forest to The Big Horn Mine with expert Eric aka Xavier Drenfold, a twenty year old kid with a passion for old mines.
The mine was discovered in 1895. What we see here is the active, rapid decay of the mill. The Mine itself is tunneled into the mountain, this structure was the mill, where the gold was extracted from the rock. By the time it left the mountain, about 98% of the gold had been extracted – a very high rate. The work was done onsite – simply because it was more cost effective.
The structure is rapidly falling apart, in 20 years it will be completely gone. These mountains erode very quickly as we found on our hike out, the July rainstorm caused a lot of erosion that hadn’t been there just a month before. Mills are always built at the exit of the mine, right on the slope, so of course, the structure is collapsing. 
A massive iron hook to hold the cables
Flowers grow among the steal cables.
Pilings that held the ore-carts.
Getting all this equipment up the mountain was probably achieved by using mules. We hiked a long what is left of a road that was built out to the mine. The man who found the mine, Thomas Vincent never had the money to invest -so he sold to someone else and worked for them.
This mine was never very profitable, because of how the gold is embedded in other minerals, it is simply very hard to extract – especially with the old techniques of one hundred years ago. The Mine changed hands at least 7 times, no one made much of a profit. In 2006 the Forest service bought it since it is surrounded by National Forest land, so whatever gold is there – will remain.
Yes, it is a little scary standing in here, who knows when something will give way and fall.
I’m sorry to see that graffiti is now the norm even out in the wilderness. Yes I hold the Art world somewhat responsible – they decided that graffiti is art and even have exhibitions of it in museums – all this does is encourage more people to go out and tag. As cities have gotten better at controlling graffiti, people simply go out and destroy nature – because they can. Also because they have been told that it is ‘art’ and is valuable. No it isn’t, it’s ugly, it’s destructive and its harmful.
At least they haven’t gotten to this side yet.
These rickety stairs were placed here in the 1970s’ not a safe way to get up to the actual mine. But You know me, old man made materials are often very beautiful to me, especially as they age and decay.
Like here, the confluence of materials. Once the mine is no longer operational, no one is going to spend any money removing the structures and much of the equipment. Which is what makes the mines so fascinating. The Forest service does not like this and they have been destroying and closing up mines where ever they can. They are about the forest and the safety of hikers, not about preserving mines – even if they are an important part of our heritage.
Massive bolt.
Part of the stamp process that still remains.
This is the entrance to a smaller mine we passed along the way, but this is what the Forest service has done to many of these mines. The only reason they haven’t blasted this shut is because of the bats that live here.
Most of the group went in to explore, sorry, I get very nervous in dark closed spaces, a few flash lights won’t make it easier for me.
So I snapped a few images at the entrance and went back down. If you are interested in images from inside the mine, got to Xavier’s Flicker page. I must say I was extremely impressed with Eric. 20 years old, has found a passion in life, yet he recognizes that exploring old mines is no way to make a living, so he is studying nursing. That way he will have a good solid career as well as a fascinating hobby.
Nature is right outside the mine.
Pink baby quilt
I started this project months ago, since I wanted to keep it a secret I haven’t shared anything until now. Now that I have gifted the quilt to the new baby. Most of these fabrics were in my stash but I admit to ‘needing’ to buy a few more pink prints, like the one with the princess.
Its nice to have a color theme, like pink. When working with prints, that can mean almost anything. When starting this kind of project I start with the center panel, in this case, using a four way layout for the clamshells. I basted the center medallion on a solid background and appliqued it with the buttonhole stitch on the machine.
I love adding grey to pink, so the first border was added.
Then I started auditioning a complementary snap as the next border. I like the shape but the size is too big. 
This size works, but not the layout, I just didn’t have enough space, I also didn’t want to cut leaves in half.
One solution is to add another border in a darker shade of pink.
I was able to play with the layout on the top and bottom, I was hoping for the same affect on the sides, the math didn’t work. I also tried the leaves going in opposite directions, it didn’t look right. This is what looked the most pleasing to me. I love these aspects of designing, working out the problems as I go. I have no interest in selling patterns, this is my creativity for me and for the person getting the quilt.
Small quilts are wonderful for practicing. I did both free motion quilting on the solid pink background as well as some ruler work. I don’t have the correct quilting foot for this so I’m improvising. I did buy a ruler foot that is supposed to work with my Juki, but it makes too much noise, so I’m looking for other options.
I am so pleased with the quilting, practice really does make better.
Always fun to see the quilting on the back, I used two colors of thread which may not be noticeable from the front, but pops on the back.
Finished and beautiful.
With a scrappy back, using leftover blocks and fabrics.
This quilt sat around for over two months. I had to wait for the baby to be born to be able to label it and gift it.
LeahArt Deco in Chicago
Chicago is full of wonderful Art Deco, I just snapped a lot of photos. I realized that sharing small close up images is better than the large whole building.
Sometimes you want both most of building, because it’s so beautiful. Carbide and Carbon building.
I love the details here so much, of course it’s hard to see until one looks at a close up of a photograph.
Of course the best way to attract attention to the tower is using gold, real gold leaf. I took this picture in the late afternoon with the sun shining on the tower which makes it all shimmer like gold.
This fabulous Art Deco fountain is next to the Chicago Board of Trade building. Wow! Funny the man sitting in the background was confused as to why I was taking pictures. I just said: this is an amazing piece of Art Deco – I think I just confused him more.
Detail. I wonder if this is made from Mallechort, the same material used on the Oviatt Building here in LA. It looks like silver but it doesn’t tarnish.
I’m sure many a cattle future were determined in this building. Remember the Chicago Stockyards? (sort of like Coalinga off the 5 Freeway in central California – just much much larger). What an amazing example of a graphic Art Deco bull.
Riverside Plaza, as seen from the wonderful Architecture River cruise. Once again, I couldn’t see the images well until I cropped the photos.
A small portion of the enormous Chicago Mercantile exchange.
I don’t remember the name of this building, it is on Michigan Ave. in the Magnificent mile.
Art Deco interiors are wonderful as well. Bank America building. I got yelled at cuz I shot a photo looking into the actual bank floor, this is not it.
Look at the mailbox!! It looks like an Art Deco building, not like the one it’s in though. Notice the lights in the high-rise? That lets you know where the elevator cars are. Function and beauty working very well together.
Back in the Rookery, the elevator lobby was updated in the 20s to Art Deco style. Wonderful lamp as well as the elevator doors that are decorated with birds. Anything to get the idea of Rookery to stick.
This one even has owls!
How cool is this! Also in the Rookery, on the third floor, a perfect frame for the elevator buttons.
I’m breaking up my Chicago images, there was so much to see and to share.
LeahSummer dresses
As fall approaches in other parts of the country, California start to experience it’s real hot summer. Time for summer sewing.
I’ve had this fabric in my stash for a while, light blue quilting cotton. If I look a little wilted here, it’s because I decided to take these photos when it was over 100 degrees outside.
Well there was a tiny breeze, as seen in my hair.
This picture is a little grainy, cuz I cut it way down, but I hope you can see my design elements, piping both the front bands and the armholes. 
A better view of the armhole. 
This is a lovely light weight lawn fabric I picked up at L&M, my mistake, only buying two yards! Not enough for a dress, well, I did manage to eek out a dress, which is adorable and comfortable, but it wasn’t easy.
Once again the piping along the neck line and armholes. I would have liked this to be just a tad longer.
Not that it looks bad at this length, its’ just a question of comfort.
As in, I have to be careful when I sit.
The Rookery, Chicago
Chicago has so much incredible architecture concentrated in a relatively small area, it’s hard to choose what to see. I chanced upon a docent led tour of the Rookery.
The Chicago Fire was a defining moment for the city. The city had to completely reinvent itself. At the same time, two important inventions happen, steel frames for building – so the walls no longer are the weight bearing elements of the building – which allows for larger and more windows. The invention of the elevator as well as the technology to make it safe – means height is no longer limited to 5 stories.
Chicago leads the way in building sky scrapers as these new tall buildings are called. The 11 story Rookery is one of the first, built in 1888.
Another requirement is no more wooden buildings, brick, stone and terra cotta are now used as the exterior envelope. The location of the building was known as the Rookery – which had very bad connotations in the late 19th century. Despite the owners of the building trying to eliminate this designation – it has survived. 
Another influence at the time is Moorish architecture, seen in the entry arch.
A detail in this arch that may or may not have escaped the notice of the owners is these two crows, one of them laughing that they are very much part of the Rookery.
Working in Terra Cotta opens up the ability to be extremely detailed in the bas relief work. At a latter date, glazed Terra Cotta will be the rage. Something that also becomes very popular in commercial buildings here in California.
The building was designed by Barnham and Root, Daniel Barnham also designed the Columbia world Fair and gave us the Beaux Arts style of architecture.
30 years after the Rookery was built a new young architect was brought in to update the lobby and the central atrium. This is when the marble got gold etchings and the name was added. Oh the architect was Frank Lloyd Wright.
The more I learn about architecture the more I appreciate the unsung ones. FL Wright is a movie star, yes he was very innovative – except where it came to the structural integrity of his buildings, which is why so many are falling apart. But that whole discussion is for another day.
The glass domed atrium as well as the staircase are from the original design. The brace is Wright and was added during his update, before that there were poles supporting from the ground. 
Right across from flying staircase is a marble one. The original was marble, but without the gold leaf. Also, notice the cast iron? That was a favored material in the late 1800s. the pedestal and urn are part of the modernization, that too used to be cast iron.
Notice how the design in the marble mimics the Moorish design in the cast iron.
The original columns were also cast iron, here is one example that has been open to show the original. BTW, by the 1960s’ design became even more simplified and plain. Very little ornamentation can be found. At that time this atrium was turned into an ugly sterile box. Luckily things were covered up – not removed, so when this renovation was done they were able to go back to the Wright iteration. The claim was it was too hard to go back to the original. Not sure that is true, I’m thinking that Wright is a big name these days and would draw much more attention the Burnham and Root would.
Clearly I like busy. My quilts are scrappy, I love combining patterns and designs, and I love finding examples out in the world that share my taste.
Stars, I love when geometry creates ‘Jewish stars’. (I hate it when it creates Swastikas – which happens very often, that too is a very graphic symbol). Notice the large star in the banister. This is the original, there are dentil strips on the top and bottom and though it is hard to see, the actual shape is heavily ornamented.
The staircase continues up to the 11th floor, once it moves above the dome, it is encased in glass.
Here is how Wright simlified this design in the railings. He is still adhering to what was already there.
The lamps are pure Wright, Prairie Style! There was nothing there before, so he had some free reign to do as he pleased. It’s a little hard to see, but I like how the trusses of the dome have circles cutouts and the truss of the lamp has rectangles. Talking to but not mimicking.
Although he clearly mimicked the grid, curving it slightly. Yes the man was a great designer – no question about that – it was the engineering and the structural aspects where he fell short.
Leah
Yes I’ve been quilting
A lot of people talk about Facebook and other social media in very derogatory terms. Like anything else in life – it’s what you make of it. I have been fortunate to have found a small group of likeminded crafty women online, we have our own closed group. In my travels I’ve been able to meet four of them IRL.
One of them is Sarah in Austin, who is expecting her third child very soon, a little girl. Together we planned to knit her a baby blanket as well as each of us making a unique gift using our individual talents. So I’ve been quilting.
On Pinterest, I saw a baby quilt with a large offset Dresden plate. Lately I’ve been enjoying the center medallion quilt, as well as the scrappy quilt. Most of these fabrics are stash, a few are new.
I used many techniques, one of which is needle turn appliqué – I’d like to make an Hawaiian style quilt one of these days. Perfect project to practice on.
Especially on these hearts.
Upon seeing the completed quilt a friend asked for the pattern, there isn’t one, it was design as I went along, also, it was use up what I had. So I used up my pink and purple solids instead of buying one larger solid pink. 
Originally I had hoped to repeat the corner pattern around the whole border. A free pattern, Chic Stars, using the Quick Curve Ruler. They look more like hearts to me, which just echoes the appliqué hearts in the center. I came up with the bands of print fabric as a solution. Necessity is the mother of invention – and a very good one indeed.
Next challenge – how do I quilt this? Since I have Hawaiian quilts on the brain, why not echo the dresden plate? Starting in the center with FMQ I quickly switched to the walking foot and filled the entire center panel.
Its a little hard to see the quilting, I used a ruler for straight lines in the color bars, reinforced the heart idea with FMQ.
Photography is a wonderful thing. I had finished and bound the quilt and was taking picture. Well I thought I had finished, turns out I forgot a corner of the echo stitch. No problem, back to the machine we go. This has happened to me before, I forget to quilt a small area, or in one case, I forgot to machine applique one piece. Luckily that was on a wall hanging.
Love the final quilt. The scrappy continued in the binding – using up every last bit of the solid fabric. You can clearly see how effective the spiral quilting is here as well.
More scrappy in the back. Here I’m using up the print fabrics as well as some leftover blocks from another quilt, I even included a fabric that doesn’t show up in the front, thats what you do when you run out. 
Another tip from either Pinterest or Instagram – sew the label in with the binding. 
Since this unborn baby already has a name picked out, I hand embroidered a label as well.
It has arrived safely! I think it’s safe to say that this will be a well loved quilt.