Creative people know that it’s not just giving a handmade gift that matters, it is the enabling. Giving a book or a magazine that will inspire more creativity on my part.
The necklace brightens up an outfit.
A project bag and hand dyed yarn!
The lining of the bag is very well done. 
Mug rug, tools and a foxy pattern.
More handspun yarn. This was supposed to be a holiday gift but it arrived around my birthday. I need some very special projects for these yarns.
And finally a birthday gift from my friend Ellen, the crochet queen. Can’t say no to any handcrafted owl.
The old Zoo, Griffith Park
Los Angeles has the one of the largest urban parks in the country – Griffith park. In 1912 a zoo was built there, by 1965 it was felt that the zoo was too small and inhumane to the animals. So a new zoo was built, also in the park.
Today the old zoo is a picnic area.
Some of the old enclosures are now open and even have picnic tables in them. Btw, it looks like these people are doing some kind of photography shoot, very common in LA. I have no idea if this is an advertisement or part of a movie or simply a home video.
Those people up there? They didn’t climb up, they entered from the back and actually came down some pretty steep steps.
The back road goes behind the enclosures. You can see from the angle of the bars how steep the stairs are. These days graffiti covers everything. Some people call it art, others call it vandalism. I’m more towards the vandalism side, but I have to admit it is bright and colorful.
Many others shared the path with us, in this case – skateboarders.
As we continued our hike, we could hear a lot of music. Both from the merry-go-round and from private birthday parties. Bringing in a bouncie is an integral part of any birthday in the park.
It’s spring, a lot of plants are blooming.
The rains we’ve had this winter have turned the hillsides a luscious green, it will soon fade to golden brown, so we relish it while we can.
On the other hand, erosion turns the bare hillsides into fascinating shapes.
As we climbed higher the vistas opened up. Looking north east towards the Glendale narrows on the LA River. The municipal golf course (named for presidents Wilson and Harding) is in the foreground with the red tower of the Autry Museum. The 134 freeway spanning the river and the hills of Glendale and Burbank beyond.
Further up and we looked south at the sparkling buildings of downtown. The tallest building was recently sold, so the US Bank sign has come down but nothing has replaced it yet. The top floors will soon be a restaurant and a club.
Looking east to Atwater village, El Sereno and Montecito heights. This is the greenest part of the LA river with a lot of birds and wildlife. In the summer people now ride canoes through here.
A burnt out tree trunk with downtown Glendale in the background.
Back to the zoo, these old cages may be small, but they were built to last.
The gate was open, it was an easy in and out.
I know, this looks like some strange blowfish. It must have fallen from one of the trees. Rather alien looking.
Another glorious Sunday walking around LA.
Crazylikefox1, birthday gifts
I joined an instagram exchange that my friend Raquel organized. Not sure why she called it crazy like fox. But I find myself collecting foxy things. I already shared what I made for Libby and what she made for me. Now other gifts are coming in.
Not from the group, from my DIL Becky, button cupcakes – and they tasted very good as well.
The gifts started rolling in. We had to list our likes and I said jewel-tones. Btw, I have already worn the necklace and a bracelet that is in the box.
Isn’t this the cutest use of a yoyo to decorate a box?
So the color theme may look familiar, this project holder is incredible, I know I could put my iPad in there. Also, love the owl needle keepers. I’m already using them.
How thoughtful, after making the bag, Raquel gave me the leftover fabric.
Of course the inside is not only lined, it has a zipper pocket. I really appreciate the leather label, what a great idea.
Yes there are more, but I am leaving them for another post.
WIPs
Wips or works in progress. I’ve been knitting away.
Right now the Hitchhiker is growing rapidly, but each row gets longer, so soon it will take a long time just to knit one row.
Socks are growing as well.
One sock is finished! But the job isn’t complete until two are done.
Bats
OK, final post from Austin.
Austin is known for it’s bats, namely the masses of bats that live under Congress street Bridge. 
Becky and I were warned that it is probably too early in the season to see bats – they are still enjoying the warmth of Mexico.
But we went to the riverside park, stood under another bridge and waited for dusk.
A rowing crew floated by.
The sun set.
The rowing crew left.
And then it was dark and the hotels across the water reflected beautifully on the Colorado river. But no bats. Well I did see two, but no swarms.
At least we enjoyed our time by the river and I think I did very well with photography at dusk without any flash, just relying on ISO and depth of field.
Violet
Another project I started a while ago that I can finally share.
My friend Mandy is having a daughter in a month, she and her husband already chose the beautiful name Violet. You know what that means as far as my quilt goes.
I don’t have a lot of purple fabrics, which means off to the store I went. notice the stripped fabric, I did have that in my stash. I cut the half-square triangles on my wonderful GO, which of course made the project a breeze.
There are different ways of achieving this chevron. Sorry, the color here is a little too blue.
Front.
Back, notice how blurry the stripes get on camera. Which is why you will never see a stripped shirt on TV – it’s crazy making. I do like how quilting shows up nicely on the back.
On the front, straight lines for the print chevron, fmq for the solid color.
Side view.
Of course, there is a label, with room for Mandy and Pat to put in the actual birth date.
At the shower, opening the gift, yes, Mandy was thrilled.
I love it when a quilt is well received, not hard when you are giving something for another crafty person. Hope to get a picture of Violet on this quilt at some time soon.
More Austin
A walk around downtown.
Old Texas home, local sandstone, covered porch. It would be nice to think that this will be saved, but I doubt it, probably will be torn down. Austin is a real boomtown right now, building all over, which means that many wonderful old buildings will be lost before someone wakes up and tries to save some of them.
A wonderful old home now being used as a business. Nice for now, but at some point the land will be much more valuable with a larger structure.
Now here is a great example of adaptive reuse through the years. Built in 1874 by the Morely bros. who were Druggists – I guess the word pharmacists wasn’t used in those days. At a latter date the blade sign was added, still a drug store with a soda fountain. Since then it has become a music venue, notice the banner for SXSW is proudly waving out front.
Wonderful old theater, the sign is newer, although to an untrained eye, it all looks old.
The 1920′-30’s must have been good times in Austin, there is a lot of Art Deco. Love how the old sits next to the ‘new’.
This doorway is completely Art Deco, the whole building is, but this is the best feature.
Look up at the Beaux Arts details.
Look down at more modern mosaic street art.
Signage on buildings.
One of the many bars on 6th street.
And then there is the Frost Bank Tower. One thing I’ve noticed about the sky line of many newer buildings is how they play with glass and interesting shapes. 
Of course the color changes with atmospheric changes as well.
Once again, thanks Becky for the night shot.
Standing right underneath you don’t get to see the tip of the tower. I was calling this style Neo-Art Deco. A term I may have coined myself. The base is wide and squat, then the tower rises with some setbacks the taller it gets. Of course the wonderful ornate roof line that just keeps drawing the eye further up.
I know, purists codify a style and nothing can ever be as good as the original. But in design and architecture, one is always looking back. Then a good designer takes the elements and creates something new. Kudos to the Architects, I think they created a masterpiece.
Still crafting
With all my posts about Austin, you’d think this has become a travel blog. Well I’m not done with Austin, but I have jumped back into my crafting as well, so here we go.
A good friend, Ryan is dealing with a brain tumor, the stress it puts on both him and his wife are unbelievable. They are in Chicago, so yes, I can pray and send money to Ryan’s Road to Recovery. But I can’t go over and help out or even bring a dinner. So I do the next best thing I can – make a quilt.
I have no idea what the final quilt will look like, I’m using grey for the background, reds, blues, greens, orange, masculine colors and paper pieced stars.
I love the process of paper piecing, little by little an image appears.
First block done!
Of course there has to be something on the needles, I started a sock on the flight to Austin, got to the heel and messed it up. When I got home a friend had linked to Dalekanium, so I ripped out the sock and started over.
The stretched stitches add a certain oomph!
And finally, no I didn’t spin this yarn, a friend did and it’s on it’s way to me right now!!! Spinning is one craft I have no interest in, but boy do I love handspan yarn. And these colors are completely me!
And now, back to images from Austin.
It’s my Birthday
Sure, I’m a year older, but when life is good, birthdays are a wonderful thing. Not to mention that my FB feed is full of wishes. I tend to stretch out birthdays, so Sunday is a family celebration and in two weeks (logistics) I have a birthday with my girlfriends. We’ve been doing this for years now. Oh and gifts are rolling in from my Instagram birthday exchange.
So enough about that, let’s talk art, quilt art in particular. Man-Made at the Folk Art museum on the miracle mile is well worth a visit.
Putting myself into Luke Haynes quilt.
Although some of the publicity was all about men and gender, really it was just an excellent quilt show. A few of the artists got into their personal: I’m gay – woe is me. Most didn’t, most are simply good artists who are using the quilt as their medium. 
Another good thing was that I went with my son in law, Yochanan. Can I say how amazing it is to have a son in law who loves the same crafty things as I do??? Don’t get me wrong, I love both my daughters in law and have a lot in common with them as well, but my crafts are a huge part of my life. It’s nice that Yoch does more than just appreciate them, he participates as well.
Love the bright colors here, what makes this quilt (and the one above) so exciting for me is that it is made from heavy metal tee shirts. In general, I hate tee shirt quilts. I know, they are full of memories but they are also simply squares of tee shirts patched up on a quilt. Ben Venom understands that quilting is about taking the materials and making them work the way you want, not simply as patches. So yes, I think these two were my favorites.
Oh, of course this is also a favorite. Joe Cunningham riffing on Robert Rauschenberg, he took wonderful old quilts that are pieces of artwork in themselves and threw paint of them, thereby making ‘art’. And here we have real art that doesn’t need to destroy the work of others. Also, if you are cold, you can always wrap yourself up in this – unlike a painting.
The Capitol, Austin
I did manage to get away from Quiltcon for about 2 hours, camera in hand. Austin has some wonderful architecture – but that is for another post. This one is all about the Texas State Capitol building.
The best picture I have is thanks to my friend Becky – who is an amazing photographer. I’m sorry to say I almost got her killed, since to get this image she had to be in the middle of the street, she did set up the camera before hand and walk signs last about 20 seconds in Austin, so all is good, she is fine and I have this incredible image of one of the most beautiful state capitols at night.
A closer look in day light.
One thing about my photography. It has changed and improved a lot since I started this blog one year ago. I love architecture and I find that what I want to share is not the standard postcard images of famous buildings, I’m looking for the overlooked, or unseen.
Like looking up at this incredible dome and seeing the wonderful lone star of Texas.
Or looking down and seeing people standing on the same star as they point out the dome.
I know, you need to squint, but in these original chandeliers there is not only the lone star but also, the light bulbs spell Texas.
All the hinges on all the doors look like this. Bold and proud.
LOVE the hardware! Star is prominently displayed. It is very clear to see which push plate gets used often (the shiny one( as well as how warn out the door nob is getting. 
These bannisters are gorgeous, even if they lack the lone star.
I tagged along on a few different tours, I simply didn’t have the 30 minutes for a whole tour. One of the guides was talking about the Alamo and Texas independence. I can listen for hours to Texans talking about Texas pride, it spills over to pride of the USA – it just makes me happy. She mentioned the Alamo memorial outside, of course I had to pay special attention to that.
This is what I’m talking about ‘God and Texas victory or death’.
Another very important memorial to the Civil war. I know I live in California, we think we were allied with the North, although in actuality in the 1860’s the small settlement in Los Angeles sided with the south. I know that many in the south talk about the war as ‘the war of Northern Aggression’. Either way, it was a war that could have completely torn the fragile union apart. Over 650,000 soldiers died, more than any American soldiers in any war. It did end slavery in America, it changed the course of our history in unimaginable ways. I for one am grateful that we managed to stay one nation and I’m just as proud of those who fought and fell for the south. So to me this memorial was more moving and touching than the one for the Alamo.
On a final note, more lone stars on the fence surrounding the capitol.