Leah – Page 137 – No Idle hands here

Another Sunday hike

Have I mentioned how many wonderful hikes there are either in the city or right outside it. This time we headed out to Malibu Creek State Park. It has probably been 15 years since I’ve been here. In those days parking was free, now it costs $12 to park. Still worth it.View into the Santa Monica mountains from the parking lot. A wonderful sky, we actually had clouds on this wonderful fall day.One thing we absolutely love here in So Cal, is running water. Any open body of water will attract people.We walked by this rusting old water tower.Later I got a fuller view, yes even out in nature people think that defacing objects with graffiti is a good thing to do. Unfortunately they do it on trees as well. Oh well, and you wonder why I am completely opposed to ‘celebrating’ graffiti as some kind of art form.Another thing we love is big trees that cast shade on our paths. There were a lot of people walking or picnicking. We shared the road with a cantering horse.Someone mentioned that this is a mule, because of the ears, all I know is he was moving fast.

We were hoping for a quiet peaceful country walk, that wasn’t meant to be.Right as we started our walk a slew of emergency vehicles came by.And left us in their dust.Even a helicopter came over head.

Which was very very appropriate since our destination is the film location for M.A.S.H. We spoke to the rescuers, someone had fallen, more on that later.Soon we were off the road and onto a rocky path through chaparral – this is the low native growth here in So Cal.We turned a corner and there it was! The M.A.S.H site! Today most filming seems to be done on sound stages, with a few outside shots just for authenticity. But with this show they built the whole camp out here and a few relics remain. I’m thinking someone may have done some touch up work on this ambulance.How they convinced anyone that this dry, arid environment is actually in Korea is beyond me.Here is a ‘burnt out’ vehicle. There are a number of information placards that show maps and details of where everything was on this set.Even the shed has it’s obligatory bullet holes.Iconic signpost, this looks too new and clean, someone must come and replace it from time to time.On our way back we stopped at the ‘lake’, this is where the rescue had taken place. If you think this is some large lovely lake, think again, the camera makes things look so much larger. I do love the reflection, clouds are rare around here.This area is well known for rock climbers, I assumed that one of them fell (we were told it wasn’t a serious injury, probably broken bones) but no, the people by the lake told us that a kid was goofing off on the dam and fell. Yes there are signs telling you not to climb on the dam, but really who reads or pays attention to signs??I have no idea if the state stocks this lake or if this father and son are just enjoying the act of fishing without ever catching anything.We also walked by the visitor center, it was already closed.This is what river beds really look like around here.Final shot, a family enjoying the pond. Can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon

Leah

Improving the sewing machine

I remember the days when I could easily thread my sewing machine with no extra tools or gimmicks. Yes, I was in my 20s and had young eyes.

But even when one is young, having good lighting on the sewing machine only makes the job easier. Here is my sewing machine light looks like.I wasn’t trying to enhance this photo – just show it like it is. The light throws more shadows than actually lighting up the machine bed.So this is how I work, add more light from a standing Ott light. Better but still throwing shadows.

Then while reading my favorite blogs I came across this post. Enhance your lighting, yes creative blogs are great enablers. But when a new tool or technique comes along – no reason to resist.

I have Amazon Prime so was thrilled that I could save the shipping cost on buying this item through Amazon.

And here is what came in the package.It took all of five minutes.Working from the back of the machine I attached the strip of lightsI placed the power strip on the side of the machine and….Look at that great bright sewing machine bed!View from the back, with the wire held neatly out of the way.

Of course I’ve yet to actually sew on the machine since I am still furiously working away on the hexie quilt. But I do have some projects I need to do on the machine and will report back with my experience.

Meanwhile, just to show you how easy this is, take a look at the video from IspiredLED

Leah

EPP Hexie, progress report

Slowly but surely, the quilt grows. I didn’t bring the actual quilt on my trip, it is getting large and unwieldily – even though it’s only about the size of a small baby quilt. What I did do was cut up a lot of paper and fabric on my Accuquilt, bagged them up and sewed quite a few of them on the trip.

Once home I went right back to adding them to the quilt.I am being very mindful of color placement. I know quilters who just throw things together, willy nilly and their quilts look amazing. I am trying to balance to the colors, so they are spread out over the quilt. Since I’m only a third of the way done, if that, I still have a lot of room to work with.

One issue I’m having is the size of the fabric hexies. When cutting by hand, I gave myself a lot of extra seam allowances. Although I cut many more of them on the die cutter, they have exactly 1/4″ seam allowances – which to be honest is very tight.Moving into the yellow and blue you can see the seam allowances are much smaller. This does create a problem, less seam allowance means less stability of each patch.Here is a close-up, in some cases it almost looks like 1/8″. No, I am not going back to cutting by hand. My whip stitches are very close together, so that should hold things in place. Also, I am going to do some kind of overall quilting, by machine! I will not be hand quilting this! The quilting will help hold things in place.I am also changing the paper/card stock I use. The colored card stock is lovely but it is slightly thicker than the mail card I cut up. That tiny increment makes a difference when folding over the fabric. So I am saving all magazine inserts, the ones that used to drive me crazy. As well as envelopes and other junk mail. How’s that for really recycling and reusing!

Leah

Happy New Year שנה טובה

Leah

Flower Cardigan

I love knitting friends – we really enable each other’s habit. In this case it’s a friend I haven’t met yet in real life – but one of these days I intend to!

Vivian was working on Flower Cardigan and I had to run to Ravelry and buy the pattern. This is what I cast on as soon as I finished the baby sweater.Starting from the 6 petal flower.

The designer, Ewelina Murach, has created a whole line of patterns based on this flower. As someone who is addicted to Hexagons right now, I can attest that the six sided shape (hexagon) is a wonderful design as a jumping off point.

The sections held by waste yarn will be the sleeves and neckline. The rest is the body of the sweater. This is much more impressive than it looks, I knit this on my 15 flight home from Israel. Luckily, with the help of Ambien I did sleep 7 of those hours, but for most of the rest of the time, I was knitting. The plane was dark for the whole trip, We left at 1 am Israel time and basically chased the night all the way to LA. as we were coming in for landing the sun was rising behind us in the east. Yes, seeing a sunrise in an airplane is pretty spectacular, I was in the middle seat – so to try and get a picture just wasn’t going to work well.

All this to say, I knit this section with a tiny clip on light and I’m proud to say – no mistakes. The flower itself was complete before I boarded the plane, but still working the increases correctly is quite an accomplishment.Home and working on the left front. I can’t stretch the work out because my needle is only so long. This gives an idea of the front. I am knitting this out of Cascade Elysian, a super wash wool and acrylic yarn. I LOVE this yarn. It is wonderful to knit with and the stitch definition is amazing. Oh, this is a sweater for my granddaughter, so of course it has to be machine washable. Love it when I find the perfect yarn for the perfect project. I would be happy to knit myself a sweater out of this yarn – it is that good.

Leah

Local hike

One thing I love about living in Los Angeles is how easy it is to go on a hike at the spur of the moment. We are a large metropolis with a very impressive mountain range right in the middle of the city. The Santa Monica mountains should be the border between Los Angeles and communities in the San Fernando Valley on the other side. Due to the massive Los Angeles Aqueduct project in the early 20th century – The Valley as it’s known became part of the city of Los Angeles. Something to do with Federal dollars and who could use the water. But that is a story for another day. So although I live in the valley, I am very much a resident and tax payer in the city of Los Angeles.2 miles from my house is Fryman Canyon, most days this 2.5 mile hike is teaming with people and dogs. For some reason on Sunday afternoon there were very few people here. Although we did manage to bump into people we know. The initial climb is pretty steep, which makes the hike feel more like exercise than just a neighborhood stroll.Wilderness, with a radio tower in the distance and few houses on the hillside. Except very busy Laurel Canyon Blvd is right down there bellow us.That Russian looking building is on busy Ventura Blvd, our house not far behind it. Distance makes everything look more peaceful. Not to mention how many trees there are! Is the Valley really that green?We’ve climbed higher, now I am looking east towards Burbank and the San Gabriel mountains in the background. It is very hazy and smoggy, summer brings out the worst of the smog, although to be fare – the air quality in LA is so much better than it was 30 years ago. It always helps to look back where you have come from. Another fellow walker is back down on the part of the road we were just on five minutes ago.This time looking west towards Sherman Oaks and Encino. The office buildings indicate Ventura Blvd heading west. Still very hazy, to get a clear view I need to come back on a crisp winter day.After we crested the mountain and started back down the other side we come across the back entrance to Tree People, a non profit group that has been supplying trees all over the city – making LA a greener friendlier place.Down the other side, we are walking along quiet residential streets with large homes on very large lots. I had to stop for this yellow double hibiscus. It’s a little late in the season for these blooms, maybe because it is a shady protected canyon the bush is still flowering. The rainbow in the sprinkler was more impressive in reality, but I snapped a picture anyway.A cow in the city. I have a friend who would love one of these. And that’s it, one hour, good exercise and happy it is so close to home.

Leah

Seattle Dress

In general I don’t name my dresses. There always are exceptions, like now. I love buying fabric and yarn on vacation, this fabric was bought in Seattle – hence the name.I’ve had this pattern for quite a while. I had used the skirt portion before but not the whole dress. I was debating which neckline. I like the drawing of the stand-up collar but how will it actually look on the dress? I checked out the reviews on Pattern Review, most people like the pattern and a few even had examples with the stand up collar. They look good.I learned as a child that the backside of the work should looks as clean and as neat as the front. This referred to embroidery, but the same is true with garment sewing. Having a serger makes cleans seams easy. After inserting a sleeve, once I’m sure there are no ripples or tucks – I serge them as well.I served the seams open, the fabric is thick (yes it’s a thicker quilting fabric, I just love the print). Sometimes after pressing the seams open I will serge the seam allowance together. You can even see where I marked the pleats and darts. No, this won’t come out in the wash, I use Wax Tracing Paper from Richard the Thread. If I am sewing with a very fine or sheer fabric I will actually do thread marking. But I wasn’t worried about the blue showing through to the front, if any did – it would simply blend in with the very busy print pattern.The hem was done on the machine as well. Once again, no one will see the tiny threads on the front of the dress. The amount of hand work I do on a dress really depends on the fabric and pattern.Having a pocket is veery nice on a dress. It has to be a full skirt, I don’t want pockets to mar the look of a tight pencil skirt. I faced the front with white lining fabric and the back with the fashion fabric. That way the pocket isn’t as heavy, but the visible part, when using the pocket is actually the back.A lapped zipper is a very classy look. One thing is I had to cut the back pattern pieces with 1″ seam allowance rather than 5/8″ which is the standard for home sewing patterns. Wonderful instructions are available in this Craftsy Mini class (which means it is free!) Mastering Zipper Techniques.I love this dress. The neckline came out perfectly. I love the way the dress looks and of course I’m thrilled with the fabric. For Southern CA, this is a transition or even winter dress.I have also discovered that these days, I like my skirts to hit mid knee, longer than that is looking dowdy to me right now. Of course that may change in a few years.Looking good from the back as well.

Leah

A park in Jerusalem

I grew up in Jerusalem, I lived there for 6 years as an adult – just goes to show, that cities are not like little villages – there is always something new to discover.

In my case, it is this wonderful little Park.To be fair, this park probably didn’t exist when I was a child, it was probably an empty field. Still it’s interesting to come across something new to me. The sign on the gate has nothing to do with the park. These are death announcements and one finds them plastered all over the city. They do serve an important purpose, when my father died suddenly it was notices like this that alerted acquaintances of mine to come by and offer condolences. So it’s hard for me to see this as blight, or graffiti.This is a lovely well designed park. Like most parks in Jerusalem, it was donated by wealthy individuals. In this case, Doris and Chaim Morrison – because they love flowers and the children of Jerusalem. Today it was rather empty of children, probably because they are back in school.Cats, Jerusalem is full of street cats. I think the British brought a few over to combat the rodent problem. Just like the rabbits took over Australia, the street cats have taken over Israel. At least there isn’t much of a rodent problem. I had to take a number of pictures of this large grassy area. This is a rarity in Jerusalem. First of all there aren’t enough parks, second of all, where there are parks, there often isn’t much grass. A real treat for sore eyes, since most of the city is buildings clad in Jerusalem stone – basically limestone. So green is very very welcome.A touch of color. For people in the northern climes – the Hollyhock is a lovely garden flower. In hot dry Israel this is one of those rare flowers that reseeds itself like a weed, yet is very welcome once it bloomsA family set up tables and food under the arbor. Friday is like Sunday in Israel – weekend. The difference is that although most people don’t work, the schools still are in session on Fridays. So I’m guessing these kids were pulled out for a family gathering.In the wall, this wonderful mosaic. I don’t read Greek, or is this the ancient Hebrew alphabet? Probably more likely. The images are of course the 7 branch candelabra that would have been in the Temple. The yellow fruit is probably the Etrog (citron) and the branch is the palm frond that together with the Etrog are used on the holiday of Sukkot, which is coming up very soon.The pomegranate is ripening on the tree. This is the season for the fruit. It will be displayed proudly on peoples tables (mine included) next Wednesday night when we welcome in the Jewish New Year. One of the blessing is – may your year be as full of blessings as the seeds of the pomegranate.

Leah

Book Recommendation

I’m seeing a lot of blog hops recommending wonderful crafty books. I’d like to do something a little different and recommend an advice book, or should I say – helpful hints.

Auntie Jodi’s Helpful Hints

Jodi is a dear friend of mine, I’m not going to gush and tell you about this amazing book ‘I’ve discovered’.

As someone who prides herself on being very creative with the work of my hands, I am in awe of people who have a way with words. This little gem of a book is perfect example. Miss Manners is stale and old fashioned, Dear Prudence is just too edgy and hip.

Auntie Jodi gets it right, yes you will be laughing at many of the situations she describes, but pay attention, good advice is being offered. Humor is the best tool for learning.

Here are just two examples, now go get the book!

If an over-solicitous kumbaya type shares that you seem “angry,” simply laugh and tell the poor soul “it’s called ‘having an opinion.’

Don’t be one of those who proclaim that “I’m not into funerals.” Few really are, unless you are a member of the walking dead. That, darling, is not what funerals are about. We go to funerals for all sorts of reasons: because we loved someone or because they meant something to us, or, as they say, “to pay our respects.” Remember—if you cannot grant respect, you certainly won’t command it.

Leah

Travel knitting

I’ve heard people refer to knitting on planes – sky knitting. Well with a 13 hour flight to Israel and a 15 hour flight back (trade winds!) I got a lot of knitting done.This little sweater for baby Westley – done! I blame knitting on an airplane on the fact that this little boy sweater closes like the girls sweater. Yes, I should have reversed the fold for a boy. Once the mistake was made I just left it. I’m sure Westley won’t know or care how his sweater is wrapped.Back viewThis is an easy cute knit. Although, even for babies I find knitting a sweater in sock weight yarn a little tedious. For my grandson, of course it was worth the effort.I wasted no time in casting on a sweater for Shira, the color is off here, it is actually more purple. More information on this sweater in another post.

Leah