Botega Louis, feast for the eyes as well as for the sweet tooth
Fine Arts Building, downtown Los Angeles
Yesterday I was downtown with a friend. We weren’t in my regular stomping grounds, but I knew of a gem of a building that is a must see.
I forgot my good camera so my pictures are from my phone.
One thing I always tell people, when walking on the street, look up! Most of us don’t do that, so when coming across this building, most people don’t notice much.
Enter the beautiful front doors, and WOW:
Look up at the ceiling, also amazing.
For more information about this gorgeous building.
All the tiles in this building were made by:
I am falling in love with California tiles. It makes perfect sense that in a city where homes were built from clay (adobe) there will be a wonderful ceramic tradition, and there is. Ernest Batchelder has his own unique style, namely – he didn’t glaze his tiles, they don’t shine, he would paint many of them, and seal them. Notice the ones on the floor by the elevator, color, but no shine.
Many private craftsmen homes have fireplace surrounds with his tiles, in downtown LA, we have amazing examples of his work. This building is one of his largest commercial installations. Unfortunately you can’t go up to the mezzanine level to look down, it is a fully functioning office building these days and yes, the tenants are paying for privacy.
Sunday morning
After a wonderful sleepover, what is better than homemade pancakes, they are meant to look like Mickey Mouse.
Time for crochet
If asked what I prefer knitting or crochet, my first response will be knitting. Then I have to qualify that answer – garments, socks, shawls are best knitted. Crochet is very different and is wonderful for fine lace, Kippahs and softies – or hug-able animals.
Sometimes I see a pattern and that is exactly what I want -no need to put my own stamp on it, such was the case with
Fatty Lumpkin
At my local JoAnn’s I found wonderful baby skeins of colorful acrylic yarn. Yes, for soft toys, acrylic is great . I followed the 24 page instruction booklet to a tee, no getting extra creative here.
Kudos to Heidi Bear for designing this pony, I am always happy to pay for other peoples’ hard work. I wouldn’t have the patience to figure out how to put this together.
The eyes aren’t the animal eyes you can buy and insert, they are simply black buttons.
I wasn’t sure where this little fellow was going to end up living. With friends having babies, there would always be a good home for this fellow. Those babies will get something else, this pony isn’t going anywhere.
Spring knitting
Every year in April we have an event called: Los Angeles Yarn Crawl. It is a creative way for yarn stores to get more business on one weekend. I will probably go this year because it is fun to hang out with friends in yarny places.
Last year I stayed home, I didn’t want to spend money on more yarn, of course I have no problem spending money on more fabric.
Instead, I went out to lunch with two knitting friends, one mentioned that her stash is way too big and that I should come over and ‘shop her stash’. It was a win-win. I got a lot of sweater quantity yarn, and she got more space in her closet.
Meanwhile another knitting friend shared a great bit of information, with my Los Angeles public library card I can download magazines from
In Knitscene Spring 2014 I found this cute sweater.
And I immediately set to work.
I’m a monogamous knitter, one project at a time. Of course I am not a monogamous crafter, what with sewing, quilting and other things that catch my fancy.
I had to tack the collar down to the sweater, it just kept rolling up.
The buttons I found at the sewing/craft show in Pomona. I ‘happened’ to have the knitting with me so I knew they would work well.
Guess what I’ll be wearing tonight to my knitting group.
WeHo Stitch and Bitch at the Original Farmers market.
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Tools of the trade
I’m slowly learning how this blog thing works. I know, there are many tweeks I can make on the blog, but right now I’m concentrating on content.
Content means good pictures, which means good equipment. Let’s start with the camera.
Otherwise sold under the Lumix name.
I have a small Canon, I have an iphone. I had a nice large camera that was so old (9 years) it only took a 2GB card. So before our trip to Peru I did a lot of online research and bought this camera. I’m not quite ready for changing lenses, I didn’t want a simple point and shoot. This one came recommended as a very good high end one lens camera. I’m still learning the ropes. One thing that was very important was a remote control, I want to get pictures of myself in my me-made clothes. So yeah, sometimes you’ll notice that little clicker in my hand. Give me time, I’ll get better at hiding it.
Next, background, I know they often distract from the object. I need a simple white box so off to Michael’s I went and came home with this.
Which can be set up like this:
Ok, I have a lot to learn, like I think my camera lens needs cleaning.
The quilt that ‘killed’ the sewing machine
Well, not really, I was improperly inserting my needles. Tightening the clamp too hard until the screw wore down to a point and wouldn’t hold the needle in place. But this quilt is what finally caused me to just go get another machine.
Here it is quilted finished and labeled. Ready to go to a baby boy. It’s nice that friends are having children and grandchildren.
I love tools of the trade, anything to make the project easier or more interesting. I discovered this wonderful Quick curve ruler and had to start playing.
As a quilter, I have a stash, a lot of fabric on hand. I was lucky to be given this wonderful car fabric, what better for a little boy, add some solids and we have a palate.
Jenny started a QAL (quilt along) with wonderful instructions and a
Flicker ModOlive Quiltalong group
Of course I joined, and off I went.
As I went along, I played with the color layout.
All well and good, until I got to the quilting part. The missing clamp for my Babylock is supposed to arrive at the end of March. Who can wait that long?? No idle hands here! I must be creative all the time. So I broke about 15 needles, struggled with a very difficult FMQ (free motion quilting) job, but I did it!
My backs are always pieced, another way to highlight the fabrics. In this case you can really see the quilting stitches as well. Despite the effort the result is beautiful.
Final step
Now I get to play with my embroidery threads. I found this cute image of a flower, easy to turn into embroidery. Of course name and date and even enough room for the parents to write the name and date of birth of the baby.
I love the quilt, but that was it, I couldn’t quilt with this machine as is and I have quite a few projects on the docket. Joel agreed, I am always working, I should have the right equipment. When I tested the Juki, it was amazing how easy and smooth the quilting was. Of course I was working on a small sample, but I have no doubt, even with larger quilts – I am going to love working on it.
First project with Juki
I recently discovered a new fabric store in LA. The Fabric Store Of course I went in and got these two fabrics. The shirt is a wonderful jersey and the skirt, bottom weight cotton.
You can see the construction details, simple skirt with inserts.
I just love the closeup. The stitches are even, perfect and right along the edge. I know it’s a geeky sewing thing. To me perfection matters. Its’ what makes people stop me on the street and comment on how they like what I’m wearing.
New Sewing Machine
Everything is cyclical. I learned to sew as a child, but there were long periods where I was involved in other crafts. A few years ago, the sewing and quilting bug bit me again. My old Bernina wasn’t up to the task so off I went to buy a new machine.
At the time I didn’t know many other sewers or quilters and I didn’t do much research online. This is what I bought
At first I was thrilled, smooth sewing, many options. But gradually things changed, things got just a little wonky – not quite perfect stitches, tension, not great. Of course I took it in to be serviced regularly, but still no improvement. And then at one point it turns out I had damaged the needle clamp with improper use.
In the meantime I had of course met all kinds of sewists IRL and online and had a wealth of information at my hands. One thing I discovered is that having one machine that does everything – means it does everything in a so-so manner.
So I started researching a basic straight stitch only machine. As well as a good place to buy said machine, somewhere to get real training, so I wouldn’t inadvertently cause damage on my own.
So last week it was off to a sewing/quilt show and I met up with these lovely people http://www.moores-sew.com/
Here is what I came home with
I am in love! What an amazing machine. Juki is a well known company that has made industrial machines for ever! They wisely have moved into the home sewing machine market and have adapted a basic industrial machine for home use. So it is quieter and a little easier to use than simply buying an industrial machine.
Of course I am not ditching my old machine, there many things she still does well. And with this large supply of needles, I need to use them. At one point I bought ‘the wrong needles’ but as I know see, they will work well on my new machine, yay!
I have wasted no time in getting to work. The finished project will be in another post.
Ahead of the fashion world
Here is what I found today
What I did, two years ago I took McCall’s 5525, went to Mood Fabrics and bought a lovely floral print. Here is the result
I took the time and effort to make unique round button holes and hand stitched the top stitching with red embroidery thread. You won’t find that on Stella’s coat.