No Idle hands here

The Judson studios

I love Los Angeles, really, I mean LOVE! There is so many wonderful things here. My latest foray was to visit a venerable old institution that is still going strong.

The Judson Studios are 118 years old. They have been making stained glass for that long and the company has remained in the hands of the Judson family all this time. The company started in 1897 in downtown Los angeles, but has been at this address since the 1920s. I need to do some more research, apparently Judson installed many of the wonderful skylights in commercial buildings downtown, must see if any are on my tours.This building was originally built as the fine arts design department for USC. When they moved that department in the 20’s to the central campus, The Judson family bought the building and moved their operations here.Tile work done by the students after a fire in 1910 when most of the building was destroyed and then rebuilt.

We were given a tour by the present owner Karen Judson, it was great when asked who owns the building – she simply said – me. I did ask about photography inside, and after a moment she requested that we not photograph inside. They are working on some very important commissions for private companies and non disclosure is in the contract.

It is amazing how hands on this work is. Yes, in the design stage the computer is now a very important tool but once working with glass and lead, it’s all hands on. The studio is not in logical order since they are making the building work for them. I always love glass, I can watch glass blowing for hours, I could have watched the cutting, setting and cleaning as well. The methods really haven’t changed much.I did walk around the back of the building to snap some more pictures.From the inside I had seen these chips of class. Nice to see them from the outside. The bowing of the glass is due to the fact that lead will do that, which is why every 100 years Stained glass needs to be repaired.

A few minutes earlier I had seen this man cutting the lead and fitting it onto the glass.He was so quick and deft with the measuring, cutting and fitting into place.Most stained glass is best view from the inside with the light streaming through. I’m sure these are no exception, but we weren’t invited up to the second story. Judson installed the stained glass in the new Fire Station near my house in Studio City. It actually looks better from the street. One time while passing by I asked if I could peek up the stairwell to see it from inside. The fireman had no idea what I was talking about, he’d never noticed the glass.After the tour I walked around the neighborhood. Garvanza is old, here is a wonderful Victorian. Then, it was down these stairs to Marmion Way. Yes, I cropped the picture so it looks like this could be out in the country somewhere.But no, I was on a bridge over the 110 freeway, looking north at the snow capped San Gabriel mountains.None of the pain the east coast has suffered, just the vista of a beautiful snow capped mountain.

Gargoyles of the Biltmore

One of my FB knitting friends lives in North Carolina. She graciously picked me up and we had a day of amazing fun. First up to Asheville on a very cold day (36 – where I come from, that’s freezing). Despite the cold and the wind we had a great time.

The Biltmore estate, largest private home in America was built in the late 19th century. They do not allow photos inside and to be honest, if you want to see the exterior, google it.

There was an exhibition of clothes from Downtown Abbey, a lot of fun seeing the clothes in their natural setting.

Of course I took my camera and shot all kinds of pictures. Going through them I saw a theme – gargoyles.

Let’s start with the strangest of all. Not human, but is is male or female? Good thing it’s high up on the building, you can’t see these details without zooming in.This one is clearly a woman.An old man.Dragons or griffins?No gargoyles here, just an interesting roof line.

Not a man made gargoyle. The twisted, gnarled trunk of a grape vine in on the outside patio. Nature too has it’s way of making grotesques.

Anaheim

Say the name Anaheim and most people will draw a blank, or they’ll say that is where Disneyland is. Like most places that people think are utterly boring, Anaheim is reinventing itself. First the wonderful little museum that did something very smart – bring in a quilt exhibit.Outside in the plaza the Knotty Knitters of Fullerton had yarn bombed the surroundings.Both knit and crochet are well represented.One of the knitters had come to see the quilts and she was kind enough to let me photograph her next to her work.On the street a very innovative free lending library.Love how the city benches use the letter A.I’m a sucker for a good window box full of flowers.

Right down the street is the Anaheim Packing house.We are in the middle of Orange county – emphasis on ORANGE, a lot of citrus was grown and shipped from here. Many local towns are acting just in time to save these old packing houses and repurposing them as fun gathering places.The facade that faces the street is done was done in Mission style, back when this was built in 1919. I have visited towns in the midwest where the old mills have been adapted in the same manner.The color orange is used extensively.This bar is called Hammer and is covered with all kinds of old time tools. These look like spools from an old textile mill.More yarn bombing.Wonderful tillandsias hanging from from the ceiling.Of course, adorable items to buy.

We had fabulous grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup from Black Sheep, I love the name as well.Not sure if this is simply decoration or if it’s part of the ice-cream shop.

I love exploring areas that most people dismiss out of hand as being boring suburbia. My advice is, go anywhere with an open mind and really look around you. These days people want their towns to be fun and welcoming, for the locals and for visitors. We are living in the good old days.

More quilts

Anaheim is changing, but more about that in another post. This is about quilts. Old ‘modern’ quilts. A wonderful exhibit at Muzeo in Anaheim. American Quilts in the Modern Age, 1870-1940 was created by the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Luckily my friend Becky heard about this and off we went. These quilts are from the early 20th century, but the colors – solids in bright colors, what today we call modern. Of course they predate the tiny calicos that many people grew up with. I must take a moment to thank Becky for showing me how to shoot photos indoors without a flash, I was doing it all wrong despite carefully reading the photography blogs. A close up.This is a traditional log cabin using the pineapple block. Wonderful use of both ‘low volume’ and browns. What an incredible layout, from the 1880’s. Here the quilt maker created standard log cabin blocks but divided each into dark and light. The dark blue, browns and background are all prints, the pink is solid, but what a vibrant pink it is. Also, the layout! Creativity is what drives women to quilt, and here we have a woman who’s graphic sensibilities would put her right at home now. Of course we fool ourselves if we think that 100 or 200 years ago people weren’t as creative as we are today.This is a crazy quilt with some very clear and definite stars.It also is a clear indication that Fussy Cuts aren’t a new invention either. I saw the spider and his web elsewhere on the quilt, but it looks like the red portion of the web is another fabric that was put in place. It may have been another color way or simply the quilter was extremely detail oriented and created this on her own.Of course I’m going to be drawn to hexagons and equatorial triangles. No doubt these were done with the English Paper piecing method. Notice how vibrant the colors are on the quilt on the right, that bright orange border was a sight to be seen.Speaking of tiny detail. This quilt is made up of more than 14,000 tiny yo-yos. Each about the size of a dime, or even smaller.If you look closely you can see the thread poking out of the centers of the yo-yos. And now to a quilt using the fabrics that would define quilting for many years to come. A Dresden plate made in the 1930’s-40 with the popular fabrics of the day. A couple things to note here. The fussy cut center. Also, the black outline in the center is what today modern quilters consider hand quilting. Not the case, the tiny fine almost invisible diamonds are the hand quilting, that thick black thread is a line of embroidery.

This show is small and wonderful. It is only up until Feb 15th, so I highly recommend a trip to Anaheim. Next post will give you other reasons to go down there.

Edgar

Back in October, Instagram was full of images from Quilt market in Houston. I saw Heather Bailey’s newest owl pattern and I couldn’t wait to order it. I wasn’t the only one, it was back ordered, but not by much.Since I LOVE owls, this one is for me, not for anyone else. I’ve been busy lately so Edgar wasn’t made in one sitting and I just made one mistake that called for the seam ripper – not bad.Voila! Here he is!Side view, btw, I must commend Heather, she designs her three dimensional ‘pin cushions’ (I don’t think I’ll be sticking any pins into him) very well. Also, she is very good at writing instructions.Love that tail! He is very well balanced and stands on his own with no need to put in any plastic pellets to weigh him down.I actually took twice as many pictures, but I think this is enough, until I make his friend Poe and then they will model together.

Also, notice how much better I’m getting at this photography thing. Best advice about blurred backgrounds that I found. (I’m not getting into the triangle – this isn’t a photography blog). You need distance between the object and the background as well as using your zoom. One small focal point on the object.

I need to post pictures of my many three dimensional objects, I just love making them.

Shipping back the quilts

Months ago Michele asked for volunteers to ship back the quilts from Road to California. I was thrilled to do so. On top of that , Michele offered me a hotel room the night before. So much easier than the 60 mile drive to Ontario on a Monday morning.Initially we were taping boxes, then some guys came in to do that job, we were responsible for checking the quilts and carefully packing them in boxes.This is a close up of the first place winning quilt, sorry, I don’t remember any of the names! We had 200 quilts to send back.The is the BACK of the quilt.This is a paper pieced mini, my close up didn’t come out. Second place, this is thread embroidery.Front and back of same quilt.Interesting modern.A quilt within a quilt.The inner quilt.Had to take this picture, 1/2″ English paper pieced hexagons!More hexagons, must larger than the previous one.Traditional applique.Baltimore style applique. I’ll never do this myself, but I do love this.Love the color combination.

Road to California 2015

Yesterday was just pure fun. Went with friends and my son in law to the quilt show, Road to California. Busy people all over the place as well as quilts, quilts quilts.

One of the best things about these shows is the market place, and yes I did some damage.The booths are as wonderful as the show, here is a Metro Medallion quilt by the Sew Kind of Wonderful sisters. I love their curved ruler and it’s always fun seeing the quilts out in the wild.The absolutely amazing Japanese fabric will become a shirt for me. I couldn’t get over how beautiful this print is.I bought other fabric, no the foxes don’t fit in with the color way, but then again, maybe they are what is just needed to pop the blues and yellows. Of course I have no idea if this will become a quilt or a bag.Speaking of bags, yes, I have bags on my mind, I bought the book as well as two patterns. Since discovering Soft and Stable by Annie, I am loving making bags. Annie herself was manning the booth, what a lovely lady. I also bought some more Olfa tools.

If you are noticing a pattern that looks similar to the weekender bag, yup, I like the size and shape. Do not like the bag itself. I took it for a trial run to the show. I think I have mentioned that it is very heavy even empty. It didn’t hold up.The straps tore off with the weight, so I came home and used embroidery floss to fix them. So no, this bag isn’t going to Quiltcon with me. I had fun making it, it will get some use here and there, but on the whole – no this wasn’t a win.

So what about the quilts themselves??? Tomorrow I go and help pack and ship the quilts back to their owners, I hope to have some pictures as well as a fun story to tell.

Look Up!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of giving the Art Deco tour to FIDM students. Yes I told them I was an alum from many years ago – when they were babies or not even born. Downtown midweek has a very different vibe than on weekends. Though I’m happy to say, it’s not empty or deserted on weekends anymore.

One piece of advice I always give is: LOOK! Look up, look around, observe.

After I left them I was doing just that and stopped dead in my tracks (much to the chagrin of others on the sidewalk around me.)The clouds and sunlight created a small rainbow.Sorry, the pictures are grainy – it’s never easy capturing a rainbow, even less so when it’s just the phone camera.In Judaism when one see a rainbow one is required to say a specific blessing, זוכר הברית, Remember the covenant. When Noah and family land on dry land again, they witness a rainbow which is God’s promise to never destroy the earth. He didn’t promise that we wouldn’t have hardships and awful times – but there will be no total destruction. So every time I see any kind of rainbow, even a small one like this – I smile, a sign of hope.

#LAMQGBOM2015

Finally, a project I can share! Although you will have to wait a whole year until it is finished. My quilt guild, the LA modern quilt guild has decided on a BOM- block of the month. Each month another member will design the block – which means that I will end up with something very interesting since each designer will put their own stamp on it. No, I’m not designing, it’s not my thing.Last year I won a pack of fat quarter Birch Fabrics at one of our meetings. I had also bought another one at Road to California. I hadn’t decided what kind of quilt I’d make with these fabrics.I also bought some solids, so I pretty much have my palette.And here is January’s block. These are the fabrics the guild chose. If anyone who isn’t a member of our guild wants this amazing block, then go to Liz Harvatine’s shop. The pattern is only $4. and she shows a mini quilt she already made with this block.At our weekend sew, I cut out the fabric, then went home and sewed the block together.Some of my solids are very flimsy, but I will deal with that when I’m finishing up this quilt – 12 months from now. Right now I’m just happy to have found a project for these fabrics. The guild will end up putting together all of the sample blocks as a charity quilt.

Linked at: WIP Wednesday

Beauty in the mundane

I have enjoyed the book Secret Stairways of Los Angeles, as well as joining in on some of the Sunday walks with the author Charles Fleming. He is writing a new book about walks and hikes in and around the city. So he sent out an email asking for testers. I think he got at least 500 responses. I was one of the lucky ones. He sent me the instructions for Fryman Canyon. I was to follow his directions and report back it there were any major changes or if something wasn’t clear.

I am very familiar with this walk, so I decided that this time I’d take pictures of unusual things, rather than the broad vistas.Someone stenciled this on the street, I have no idea what it means – if it’s trying to tell people to walk on the sidewalk – there isn’t one. Maybe it is trying to get the walkers to move to the side of the road.This beautiful wall and gate don’t appear to lead to anything. Maybe there once was a house behind the gate. Maybe this is the back way into a very large estate. Of which there are a few along here.Love the hair, also, having fun with PicMonkey.An inverted toadstool.A good winter in LA, when there is snow on the San Gabriel mountains.Dew on green green grass. Another sign of a good winter.This could be in Ireland, not Studio City.Black and white brings out the real beauty in this tree stump.Just some artwork. Did the child of this family make this? Was it something the owner just didn’t want to throw away?

I will have some more of my creative posts soon. As yet most of my projects are still secret.