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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Wow! Just got back from 4 amazing days in Austin. It would have been nice to see more of the city but I was so busy at Quiltcon 2015. I actually didn’t take a lot of pictures, I was busy taking classes, seeing the quilts shopping and most importantly meeting modern quilters from all over the world.43 members of the LAMQG, were there, I saw most of them but not all. I went with my friend Becky. We met years ago at a political rally and bonded instantly. Since then we’ve become great friends and we share a love a quilting. So we roomed together, enjoyed some activities together and others on our own.One of the quilts at the show, love the colors! As I mentioned, didn’t take a lot of pictures, it certainly was sensory overload.Prepping for the class Paperless paper piecing. Turns out I was sitting across from Mary, I follow her on instagram – but we only figured that out later. One of the best things about this show was how much people wanted to meet one another – usually because we follow each other on social media – so actually meeting the person is so much fun.This goody bag was full to the gills with great stuff, charm packs, magazines, tools, can’t wait to start using them. A week before the show people started posting that they’d be trading button, I was late to the game (next year I’ll plan ahead). Even if you didn’t have a button to trade, people were thrilled to hand out theirs. It made it easier to meet people that way, not that I have any problem going up to people and talking, yeah I’m a little horse this morning.This is one of two quilts by Luke Haynes, a quilt artist who believes that no matter what, quilts should be used to keep you warm. He has spoken at LAMQG, he has quilts in a number of shows around town as well.Here he is. My SIL Yoch really wants to meet him, so the least I could do was meet him myself.I had the pleasure of meeting Michele Tucker, the brains behind this incredible bag – the sew together bag. Mine in the one with the hexies, two other classmates had made them as well. There were a lot of these bags at Quiltcon.
Yes, quilters party hard, we took over a large club, open bar, talked, laughed, some people danced. No wonder I’m so tired.
The Keynote speakers were amazing women from Gee’s Bend quitters. Incredible women. Part of their talk was singing, beautiful gospel.
Becky said, what an incredible place, from Tattoos to gospel. Yes, there were many many of the quilters getting tattoos.
Signs for Quiltcon were hanging all over town, and yes, people came in droves to see the show.
On Sunday, before flying home I met with two very good friends. We had never met before in real life. We belong to a small group of knitters on FB. Here are the two Sarahs, even better than our online conversations. Of course I bought yarn.
I have really enjoyed sewing all these clamshells together. The instructions were very good, after a while I was able to sew without any pins.My Field of Flowers is done. I went row by row placing the clamshells, I know there are people who simply add them willy nilly and the end result is great. I needed a more controlled placement. Here is the quilt before I squared it off.For the back I used my least favorite of the fabrics in the quilt, I want to be able to use my favorite fabrics in other projects. The binding was also made of leftovers. Btw, this little owl pincushion holds my hand sewing needles. When when one has a lot of pin cushions…Done! I did a combination of walking foot and FMQ. Yes, it’s crazy, most people will never see it. I did the walking foot on my Babylock because I wanted a wavy stitch. I DO NOT like this Babylock anymore and one of these days will trade it in. It worked ok, but nothing like the JUKI. I used the Juki for a handful of clamshells that I free motioned.In these two examples, if you look closely you can see the difference. Yes, I look closely at these things, I have other friends who will appreciate this as well.The back looks like this because I was using up fabric and piecing it to fit, no other reason.And here is my little label. I also need to embroider a nicer label, but this is a start. Now to wash it and put it out in the living room, another quilt for someone to cuddle with. I think Shira will really like this.
Advertising is such a big industry because it works. It’s not just being bombarded on TV and radio. It’s also the advertising of word of mouth. Book publishers have figured out that sending craft books to successful bloggers and podcasters will increase sales, since we tend to value the opinion of people we read or listen to regularly. Especially since this is entirely our choice, not just ‘whats on my station in the car.’
So over the last few months I’ve been hearing about a book, Sock Architecture, and everyone was singing it’s praises. I have to admit, I was leery, I’ve been knitting for a long time and have a number of sock books, as well as patterns, downloads and instructions. Well then the author put out a pattern for free on Raverlry, Fork in the Road. I downloaded it and even bought some hand dyed striping sock yarn on Etsy.I made the socks, what can I say, I absolutely love the yarn – the pattern, not so much. First of all, it’s knit top down, which means, I skimp on the leg cuz I’m never sure how much yarn I have. Second of all, the heel was very fiddly. I got to it on the plane and it turns out I needed to do a provisional cast on. (I know, read the whole pattern first, well I don’t).Sure, the end result is nice comfy socks, but it wasn’t worth the whole new method. At knit night, another friend showed me her stripped sock that she made using Fish Lip Kiss Heels and they looked just as good. I have used that heel before and like it much better.I do have a very nice pair of socks, I’m glad I didn’t just listen to all the praises and was cautious. No, I won’t be buying the book.
When I visited Purl’s in Asheville, I took a look at the actual book. The saleswoman wasn’t very impressed, although she did try and sell me Cat Bordhi’s latest sock book. I think I have enough books, I’m always open to a new stitch pattern but at this stage of the game, I think I know how to knit socks just fine.
Most of my photographs are from street level. That is where I am and I am looking up. But every so often I am fortunate to go into buildings and look out and down, it’s a different perspective.Like the time I was finishing a tour in the PE building on Main and 6th. A local resident invited us up to view his loft. It was lovely, it is also his private space so I didn’t take pictures there. I did take a picture of the view, the KRKD radio tower and Bunker Hill beyond.While at the workshop on Sunday I got a better view of the Radio towers.KRKD – Arcade, these are atop the Spring/Broadway Arcade building. These no longer function, but the owners of the building have maintained them well. These are the Radio Towers that Sister Aimee Semple McPheasron used to broadcast her sermons from the Four Square Church. Radio Evangelism in it’s infancy.Looking across at the Hotel Alexanderia, These wonderful glazed Terra cotta sculptures look down on the street from the roofline.From the street one does’t see all the detail work. One also doesn’t see how messy the roofs really are.A while back I had the pleasure of visiting an apartment in the Eldorado lofts. Here is the view from the balcony towards the TICOR building. The two tallest buildings on Bunker Hill gracing the skyline. The US Bank building (it has just changed ownership, so the name will be changing) and The Gas Company building which now proudly bears the name Deloitte. I understand the importance of signage on buildings, I’m sort of sorry that their sign is marring the blue gas flame that graces the top of this building.Looking down on Spring St. Park.Across to the Rowan Building. The name is painted in bold, while the Ghost advertising of the old names are fading away. Title Insurance building moved across the street and became TICOR.Rooftop of the Rosslyn hotel from the back. The neon sign is refurbished now, hope to get images from the front soon. Once again, rooftops are often messy.
The picture I didn’t take was the young couple in the Alexandria who were enjoying an afternoon delight. I don’t think it occurred to them that people in the building across the street would glance down and see them. Our ideas of privacy are often determined by what we see, not how others see us.
Between blogs, podcasts and Instagram I discovered Robert Mahar. I’m always game to try some new craft. Not to mention his studio is in the Springs Art Tower, The wonderful John Parkinson Citizen National Bank Building that now houses the Last Bookstore.
Although the building was built in 1915, I’m wondering if the elevators were updated later since this is so Art Deco. Yes, they have been upgraded further, but luckily left these wonderful details.I had to walk down the hall to the fire escape to capture this wonderful study in geometry. Yes, there could be a quilt here.
Robert with the ribbon we are making. Best part was going down to the labyrinth of the bookstore, there were were to choose a $1 book, Of course I came back with three.Look what the wall paper book yielded. Robert had some solid papers that worked very well with my color scheme.Finished ribbonOther class examples, the instructions for the ribbon are on Roberts website, what makes them so unique is using old books. So yes, I will have fun making more of these as well as taking more classes from Robert. I know, Fiber arts are my thing, but it’s always good to expand one’s horizons.
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.
