No Idle hands here

Back from Jerusalem

I made a quick trip to Jerusalem, one week in and out. I know, it seems crazy to go that far for just one week, but this isn’t a vacation, it was family issues. Which means that I wasn’t spending my time running around being a tourist.

I grew up here, so it is amazing how familiar I feel, even with all the big changes going on. Driving in Jerusalem isn’t easy, instinctively I seem to know how the streets work. I guess that comes from living here so long ago.I did have time to meet my niece here for a visit. This train station was built over 100 years ago. It was quite a breakthrough to have the train come up from Jaffa to Jerusalem, I think it was about 40 years ago that the train stopped running, so now has been transformed into one of those wonderful creative urban spots.The green painted doors and shutters are new. I’ve noticed some old photos (as in just a year or two ago) that does not have the shutters or the color.From inside the station, looking at the building. Most of the structure is now filled with restaurants and few shops.They have covered most of the track so it it easy to walk on, but here and there they have left the track exposed. A lot of sun umbrellas for the hot days, heat lamps for the cool Jerusalem nights as well as the cold days that are coming quickly.End of the line train stop.This is Israel, this little two year old was running around on his own. I never saw the parents, they must have been around somewhere. At some point he was gone, presumably with his parents. It is amazing how much freedom little children have. Six year olds take the bus alone to school and in a large open place like this (yes protected from street traffic) a little boy scoots around freely.Weekends in Israel are Friday, Saturday. So they set up a very cute craft fair. You can also see how they have covered most of the train tracks. At night there are music performances as well. Notice the crane in the background? They are building a 15 story hotel, construction never stops in this city.Have I mentioned how strong and hot Jerusalem sun can be? Mouth watering bread.Interesting collection of antiques.View into one of the stores. They left one wall untouched, with the old pealing paint in place.As you walk south from the station, the tracks now become a wonderful walking path and bike path to it’s side. So far this urban walk walk way goes a couple miles south through neighborhoods and industrial areas. Full of walkers and bikers. A lovely urban renewal project. Here is the old switch station, turned into a small restaurant, appropriately named: The Switch Station.At the first intersection with a street is a small hut where a man used to sit to signal to the traffic on the street that a train was coming. Today there is a delightful juice hut here. That is my niece in the blue and yes, we both had some very interesting juice combinations – delicious of course. Mine had melon, cucumber, mint and lemon juice. Refreshing!We sat under the green umbrella, enjoyed our juice and enjoyed a relaxing conversation.

Chihuly Glass

Dale Chihuly is the superstar of the Art Glass world. His creations are known the world over. His exuberant use of color and massive amounts of glass pieces in each installation have become his signature style.

I have had the pleasure of seeing his installations in Jerusalem, Las Vegas and of course Tacoma WA. I’ve see individual pieces for sale at many a gallery and pictures of his work are everywhere. I get the sense that the art world doesn’t want to take him to seriously – because he is so successful, but every glass artist who does get their work into museums, must acknowledge that he is a trail blazer. This is probably one of my favorites, it is indoors, the darkness around just makes the spheres sing. As well as the mirror imaging. What can I say color makes me happy.I love watching glass blowers. Glass is an incredible material, even in it’s finished state it is still somewhat liquid, well that is what physicists tell me. I can explain how the swirls and twirls are made, I have no idea how they create the spheres.Bright intense color just makes me happy.Seattle’s Space Needle in the background just makes the image better.My understanding is that making these colored chunks is a lot more difficult than you’d think.The size of this tree is mind boggling. There must be thousands of cones here.As every quilter knows, if you want your creation to sparkle, you need a lot of contrasting colors in the composition.Or if working with blue, you just need every shade and tint.

For a man who lost an eye in a motorcycle accident many years ago – he never lost his love of color or of the incredible material – glass. Lucky for us, his creations are all over for us to enjoy.

In my own backyard

The San Fernando Valley, or as we call it THE VALLEY, gets a bad rap. It’s just boring suburbia with no historical value whatsoever.

True, it is suburbia, some of us like the ability to have a nice house and garden. Traffic and parking can be problematic, but nothing like over the hill in the actual city of Los Angeles.

But that part about not having any history, that is the case anywhere, if you aren’t willing to look. Right in the middle of Encino, literally on the busiest main thoroughfare, Ventura Blvd is Los Encinos State Historic park.Portions of the communities of Sherman Oaks and Encino were part of Rancho Encino – which btw, means oak in Spanish, Live Oaks dot the property and the valley. When the Mexicans took control of California from the Spanish, they dissolved the Mission system and created Rancheros – large tracts of farming land. The De La Ossa family built this traditional adobe hacienda in 1849. A series of room runs the length of the building, connected by the exterior covered walk- way. Today the rooms connect to one another and are filled with items from the families that once lived here.

Ask Encino residents about Amestoy estates, and they will point to a lovely neighborhood of large homes between Ventura Blvd. and the 101 freeway. Most won’t know that the Amestoy family owned the whole rancho for almost 50 years, until 1944, when they started selling off the land for those large homes as well as the post war housing tracts. From the time of the De La Ossa’s until 1889, the property changed hands many times. The two story limestone house was built by the Garnier brothers, Basques who tried sheep ranching here. The Amestoys were Basque as well, today we have forgotten about the Basque migration to California in the mid 19th century.

The Garniers also created a lake in the shape of a Spanish guitar. There is a natural spring that feeds this lake, they lined it with stone. The aerating fountains are a modern addition of course. Btw, for fiber lovers, they raised Merino sheep and had the finest wool in southern CA. Which is not saying much, the sheep venture didn’t succeed. The Amestoys followed the farmers in the eastern part of the valley and grew wheat and barley. Behind the trees you can see an office building on Ventura Blvd.People come to feed the ducks and geese. I was here the other day with my grandson, he made the mistake of feeding the pigeons, they surrounded him and then all flew up at the same time – giving him quite a fright. An old Arby’s was recently turned into Lakeside cafe, they did a lovely job. You can either eat inside looking out at the lake or under the oak tree in the yard. I haven’t eaten there yet, but definitely will do so soon.Agaves, prickly pear cactus, oaks and Pepper trees. This is the Flora of California before the Palm tree was brought in.Fruit of the Prickly Pear. One needs thick gloves to cut these open, and then there are many seeds inside, but it is a very sweet fruit. Btw, the cochineal bug grows on these plants. (not here in the park, in general). That is a source of a wonderful red/pink dye that most textile dyers are familiar with.These days the park is used as a park. Nannies with their charges, people feeding the ducks, others sitting and enjoying a respite from the busy street close by.The old sheepherders shed and paddock. To the left, an apartment building, right behind, a new fire station that blends right in with the large Encino homes next to it.

When the Amestoys were dividing and selling off the land, the original long adobe became a real estate office. A local woman, Mary Stewart was able to mobilize the community and even get the State involved in saving this one small parcel of what was once a large agricultural ranch. It usually takes one strong person to make a difference.

It’s not only the beautiful buildings downtown that tell the story of Los Angeles, it is places like this as well.

Fun with tools

I’ve been quite addicted lately as you know. Which is why there haven’t been a lot of other projects going up here. Yes my son thinks I’m crazy – YOU ARE SEWING THAT ALL BY HAND?!?!

Yes, dear I am. But I am trying to figure out how to cut down on the work load. I had heard of all kinds of die cutting machines. I thought this one would cut fabric so I bought it. It’s a fun little tool. Of course this is just the initial expense, then come the actual dies, which aren’t cheap.I bought this set, thinking I can cut paper and fabric in different sizes. Ooops, turns out this machine only cuts and embosses paper. For a while I was cutting the paper templates as well as providing fun for grandchildren.It’s a good workout for them to crank the handle and they love the resulting images, which do end up in the trash. Fun with grandkids is always worth it. Meanwhile, I kept going back and looking at Accuquilt trying to convince myself that I should buy one. I kept saying to myself: after this quilt I will be so over the hexies, really, I don’t need this. Two things, first of all, I may only be a quarter of the way through this. Second of all, they came out with a clamshell die – which opens up a whole new range of possibilities .I bit the bullet and ordered the GO, you can see, it folds up nicely for storage. I had already bought the hexie die in hopes that I could use it with my Big Shot. Remember how VHS wouldn’t play Betamax. (Ok, I am really dating myself here, I probably could come up with a newer example). Well The same is true with die cutting machines. This die is just millimeters too big for the Big Shot. I tried to shave down the edges and realized I am probably wasting my time and might even ruin the die. As Here it is open and ready to use. The Go is much sturdier and heavier than the Big Shot, I did get value for what I paid.I can now cut six layers of fabric at one time, making 24 hexies in one crank. Fabric and paper ready to go.Action! Cutting the dies.

In less than a minute – this is what I have.

I showed this puppy to my son in law, boy did his eyes light up. He had just started a clamshell quilt and was not enjoying the cutting at all. So I promptly ordered the 8″ clamshell die (I’m waiting!!!). It better get here before Saturday, I am going to Israel for a week and promised my SIL that he can borrow this fun tool for just that purpose.

Now I really feel justified in my purchase, knowing how much use it will be getting.

Knitting for babies

It is so much fun knitting for babies, the projects are small, the babies don’t move much, so the item doesn’t get destroyed quickly.I bought this pattern on the LA Yarn Crawl, the multi-colored yarn was from my stash, I ordered a coordinating blue.The pattern is easy and well written. Half the sweater is already done.Here I’ve started the left front. I do like the color combination. The pattern actually called for two contrasting, patterned yarns. I’ll be making myself a cowl with that technique, for a baby sweater, I’m preferring the subtlety of a solid.Just to give a little idea of the sweater construction.The only reason for this photo is because I am finally ‘getting’ the use of the camera to create the fade out affect. I found a wonderful You Tube tutorial on my specific camera – so now it’s just practice – practice – practice!

Bear

Every baby needs a Teddy Bear, so that was the next project.I must have picked this pattern up on sale a while ago, so why not use it now. I started cutting out the pattern before realizing that I don’t have enough fabric, all that means is combining more than one.All put together, with no stuffing.
Stuffed!He needs a little vest to keep him warm.Since this is for a baby, I didn’t put on eyes or buttons. Even when it’s ‘safety eyes’ I’ve noticed that babies are very capable of biting those eyes off. So I embroidered the eyes and nose as well as putting a little highlight on each eye.It was quite a photography session, I’m playing with the camera, trying to learn the manual mode. I love digital photography, I’ve been taking A LOT of photos – then when I open them in iPhoto, I look at the info, I’m beginning to get an understanding of what those numbers are – it’s slowly beginning to make sense. View from the back.And we’re done!!! This little bear has had enough!

Back to sewing

Have I mentioned that I am slightly addicted to my EPP hexie quilt? No, I haven’t dropped out of life completely, but my daytime crafting hours have been taken over by this obsession. So I decided I need a change, time to get some sewing done.

I had bought these two fabrics in Seattle, thinking that I’d make my granddaughter another dress. Then I got selfish and decided to keep it for myself. I have made myself many dresses this summer, wasn’t in the mood for a skirt. So I decided a quick easy project would be an apron. I went through my large pattern stash and pulled the materials together.I am beginning to realize that when a pattern only has a cute drawing, that is because the photograph of the finished item just isn’t very good. You’ll see why in a minute.It felt good to use both the serger and the sewing machine. I used this yellow grosgrain ribbon I had on hand because the little pink birds do have yellow wings. I love being able to use materials I have on hand.I can live with a skirt with no pocket but aprons have to have them!View from the back, very nice, but I’m sure you want to see the front! And that is where the problem lies.The bib is too big, too shapeless and I would have been better off having the straps come off the edge. Of course by the time I figured this out, I had already sewn the top stitching! It’s an apron, it will be fine, but if I ever make this again, I’m changing the pattern. This is what I mean about no photographs, the line drawing is very deceiving.

And now for the things I do like.The pattern called for a button. I measured carefully, to make sure it fits nicely and put in a snap instead. I had a little bit of orange rickrack in my stash, always fun to find a good home for it.

And now, I need to get back to sewing some more hexies….

Cleaning up the mess

I guess it’s fair to say that my preferred style of quilts is – scrappy. I’m uncomfortable with the idea of using one line of fabrics in one quilt. It seems so boring – of course all the fabrics will match, but that is part of the problem – all of the fabrics will match.

I love the vibrancy and sparkle one gets when combining fabrics that never should go together. Prime example is the Hexie quilt I am working on now. I went back to look at other quilts I’ve made and what a surprise, look what I found.This quilt lives in my guest room. It is made up entirely of scraps, either leftovers from quilting projects or from my garment sewing. I think I bought one new fabric and promptly made a skirt before using the fabric in the quilt.I did pay special attention to the placements of the reds and the blues, although there were cases with some fabrics that they ended up on both sides.Then there was this baby quilt that lives at my house. Mostly scraps, even the background blocks are made up of low volume remnants.

Which is why when I am working on a quilt the floor tends to look like this.Not very conducive when I’m looking for a specific color family. Yes, I have been known to buy fabrics for a quilt and then ‘forget’ to use one of them because it got lost in this mess.

My storage system really isn’t much better.I have about 3 bins and yes, this is what they look like.

Thank God for quilting blogs and podcasts, I have been hearing about Folding Fabric with a ruler, this is one of the many tutorials.

Since I already have the mess, why not start the folding as I cut the hexies. Then I will place them neatly in the boxes. Looking good!

Sometimes all it takes is a little nudge. Of course for me this will be a slow process as I work on my quilt. You don’t expect me to stop and clean everything up before I continue do you?!

Addicted to English Paper piecing

Before we left on vacation, I prepared a hand quilting project. I thought it would be good for travel as well as working on in the evenings when I don’t want to knit. (yeah right, like there is ever an evening I don’t want to knit). I quickly sewed up a project bag, put in the box and the beginnings of the project and off we went.

On the trip I knit in the car during the day and worked on the quilt in the evenings.I found myself getting addicted to the process.I also picked up some purple fabrics, since for some reason, I was lacking that color family in my stash.I quickly turned fabric into hexies and into the box they went.By the end of the trip, the quilt was growing. When I got home I decided to square off the edges as I go with partial hexies. The thought of cutting off portions of what I sewed when the quilt is complete was just too depressing. Better to add than subtract.So here it was yesterday. What I discovered is that I am totally addicted. Although I have plans for a machine sewn quilt as well as more garment sewing, I find I am spending many of my daytime hours working on this project. At least at night I am still knitting, but that is the subject of another post.

Linked at Freshly Pieced

And it’s done!

With any project, there comes a time where it is done – if you have completed the whole pattern or not.

This is what unblocked lace looks like, not very nice.

I had reached the end of the leaves chart and I was noticing that I was going through the yarn very quickly. Although I have the same yardage the pattern called for, I was working in linen, not lace weight wool. So I cut out the last 6 rows of that chart and moved on to the final border chart.Although I didn’t add the number of stitches called for it felt like I was knitting over 600 stitches in a row. I never bothered to count – it would be too depressing. Putting in 4 rows of the 5 rows of beads also got to be a chore. I simply wasn’t enjoying the knitting anymore.

So I stopped, I just bound it all off and then made the executive decision to not crochet a lacy border.Blocking wires, pins and crazy blocking pad. I know, it’s hard to see the details when using a children’s alphabet mat. I do have nine grey blocks, but rather than buy more of those, I use this set which I already have. It is a little harder because the letters and numbers fall out. So the picture is hard on the eyes, but my intention is to block, not have a pretty picture.Linen after blocking is like cardboard! I need to ‘rough it up’ before actually wearing.I’m glad I didn’t make it any longer, I don’t like my shawls too big.I do like the sparkle of the beads, it did take a lot more time but well worth it.I will probably also wear it like this, bandana style.

Enough lace shawls for a while, I have some smaller projects coming up.