West will go and do anything, Cam is much more reluctant and always starts out with no! So we struck a compromise, we’d go to the beach and then the park.
You can’t really see from this picture, but they moved the lifeguard stations up the beach because the waves have been so high. Notice the seagull on top. It looks like there may be another one down by the ramp. I don’t know, it actually looks like a platypus – I didn’t notice it when taking the picture, so who knows.
Plenty of seagulls. Cam is so funny, he wears sweats and a sweatshirt in the summer, in the winter, it’s shorts, at least he put on a long sleeve shirt and long socks. I brought a sweatshirt for him – but he never wore it.
Westley on the other hand is dressed appropriately – he always wants to bring the metal detector. When he is with me, he finds nothing, when he goes with Mama he finds interesting things – this is because of Mama – I think she is related to Santa. He told me that they have closed the gates on all the piers in the area, which I believe.
Then it was on to the park, on the walk home, this showed up right over head. I think that every so often they take it out for a spin. It is really weird when this silent large blimp glides right over my head.
These are not my Meyer lemons, although I do have some. My friend has a 90 year old tree and boy is it full! Recently a friend on FB shared a recipe for grapefruit and vermouth marmalade. One citrus is as good as another. I found a new recipe for Meyer lemon marmalade.
Aside from, make your own pectin, which I didn’t do, I like the chunks of fruit. Also, I only used 4 cups of chopped lemon. I adjusted water and sugar along the way. Yes, I did add some of the low sugar pectin that I have.
This is what I got, 3.5 jars. so no, there was no boiling bath. I simply put on the caps and that is it. Of course I added the vermouth – and yes, it adds a wonderful richness! I’m keeping a full jar and the half. The other two are going to friends, one who gave me the lemons and the other to the friend that was with us.
I like this idea of making small batches and not canning them. I will either use my own lemons or simply ask my friend for more. Today, when I went to use my half jar, the top had sealed itself, because I had put it on while hot. I understand canning when it is supposed to last a long time. But if I make small batches and then give them away, there is no need for that rigamarole.
Oh yes, it is delicious, I probably used more sugar than I usually do and yes, the vermouth does add real depth.
I needed a new hat, I decided to make a brioche pattern. one color only.
By the end, things got wonky, so I gave up on the brioche and just decreased my way to a nice shaped hat. Oh, it is warm! I love that it is warm. Also, I got this yarn a few years ago from my friend Viviane. Back in the days when Hillview yarn was a thing, I think the color was Unicorn Pony.
Then, in the pouring rain, I went to the quilt guild meeting. Jean Impey came up from Orange County, many people stayed home to watch on Zoom. but there had to be some of us live people there. Unfortunately the storm created problems, among them – spotty wifi, so the people at home missed a lot.
Jeans’ talk was all about creativity and had some wonderful suggestions for tools.
She talked about EQ8 and during the slide show took us through the stages that got her to this quilt. That was fun to see, I don’t really have much of an interest in this kind of designing.
She then spoke about tools that can realign an image. It is very hard to get a real rectangular picture of a quilt – it was super hard for me from my seat to do so. Jean told us about Photoshop, as well as other programs, like Snap-seed which is an app I have. So I’m not sharing the wonky shapes, just how nicely the program straightened out these images.
Another thing Snap-seed can do is erase something like the hands holding this quilt. If you look closely, you can see that it did so in a strange manner, replicating the edges of the quilt. I’m sure if I work at it, I can get a clearer image. But if I hadn’t mentioned this to you, you’d never know – now you will look at those upper corners.
Here is the Day of the Dead skeleton panel, which Jean did a great job embellishing. She spoke about repeating a quilt more than once. What she really means, is not recreate the same quilt – but work in series.
So she took the panel and the fish and put the skeleton in the bathtub. Very fun and creative.
Finally, she makes a lot of these portraits, and tells a story with each one. She is in the middle of the story right here. About a gal who ended up with baby alligators in her hair.
I don’t remember why this one has phones all over her head.
Or anything about this gals’ story. Luckily Jean came with a friend, so although it was raining cats and dogs, she did have company on the drive back home to Orange County.
There really is something wonderful about a program at the quilt guild. They are all very different, but inspiring in their own right.
Aytan came up with a number system, when he stared boxing, he was at 3 or 4, now he claims to be at 10, and yet, when he doesn’t want to talk or answer- he doesn’t. He did have fun with both his grandpa and great uncle. Dad was sick
He looks so Zen. Yes, boxing is his happy place.
The other two, back safe and sound from a very very cold Alaska
I have to say, I have some pretty creative neighbors, I’m wondering if they climb up and redecorate this skeleton for every season.
My son and DIL planted these wall pallets about 3 years ago, and they sort of languished. Then they figured out how to put in drip irrigation and wow! they will be pruning these back soon.
There is absolutely nothing I can about the politics in this state. My big question these days is – how come they announce that Newsom won the election 2 minutes after the polls close – but it takes three weeks to find enough ballots to replace Caruso with Bass? I get blank stares. If the system is – count every vote for a whole month – than that should apply to every single candidate. Oh, well, I used to live in a democratically run country, I don’t anymore.
But what we do have is rain- God is smiling on us big time. We have been warned that the drought would never end – so now it is raining like crazy. I know, the powers that be won’t admit that this rain makes any difference – but I know it does, and I’m thanking God for the rain.
I love that people still have their lights up, because it still gets dark early, and this bow! I absolutely love this bow. I really should come back at night, it looks like it does light up.
Grandkids always make me happy. I know how blessed I am with these kids, it makes all that political stuff so meaningless.
Of course my DIL went with her brother and the kids to Disneyland. It started raining during this ride. It looks like Aytan is hating it – Shira who is sitting next to him, she said he was actually so happy and loving the rain.
And now to my real accomplishment this month! I started to teach Shira to crochet. First week was very rough, which makes sense. Nothing worth learning can be learned instantly. For those of you who crochet – you can see that she is getting better at holding the work.
A close up. All the while she is telling me about the crazy shows she watches – most in the anime department. Good way to bond.
She did the base chain row, I crocheted the first row- because it is harder to do and she took off from there. Sure, her stitches are still wonky, but they are getting better and she is working faster – as in getting good rhythm. Needless to say, I am extremely proud of her and of me to be able to teach her.
Another trip around the sun, 2022 was a good year, hoping for more good in 2023.
I made a final run to Good Will to donate clothes, they really didn’t want them. Is it the time of year, or are they just indicated in general. Anyway, I took a look in the store and look what I found! No, I didn’t buy anything, just took pictures. Someone wasn’t happy with this, although I think they may have removed some of the items and just left the bear.
I always look at picture frames, as possible uses for my cross-stitch, I still have some unused frames, and for $20 didn’t want to buy this. I’m wondering if one of these days this is where my work will end up as well. this is needlepoint, actually quite nicely done.
Done in wool and very nice French knots on the flowers. I understand, peoples tastes change. Maybe some hipster will come in and it will remind them of Grandma and they’ll buy this.
Although this looks handmade, I’m not sure it is, and I couldn’t justify the frame.
Pretty sure this is 100% made in China. To be honest, nothing about this appeals to me, so it stayed.
I thought I had created a post about my newest Cross-stitch, but I can’t find it. This plate is the color inspiration for my latest. Since most of the colors here subdued, sort of like my latest Basket cross-stitch, I went with the basic color them, but am using much brighter colors. As you can see in the pinks and purples.
I got a few puzzles for Hanukkah, and I just can’t bring myself to do them, since I find doing cross-stitch is like doing a puzzle, but with fabric and thread.
Almost at the halfway point and I realize that this chart is by the designer of Long Dog samplers. I did make her Quakers and have a few more of her patterns.
Love the Cardinals. Also, I bought a new memory card for my good camera, is it just me, or does this image look better and clearer?
Anyway, on to another good year, with plenty to share.
Another whole cloth quilt. It is huge, It is made from stripes of bright red silk. Possibly made in the late 18th c. in England – where silk was much readier available. Family lore is that Increase Sumner took his third oath of office as governor of Massachusetts while lying ill under this quilt. So not sure how long he served before dying. The quilt stayed in the family, and once again, they took extremely good care of it.
Not a great photo, but once again, the quilting here is incredible. You really need to go in person and see these quilts. The work of their hands – this is one of the big takeaways for me.
American Quilts have always been about ‘cultural appropriation’ I mean using what is at hand and enjoying combining items from other cultures – that used to be a good thing. This beauty is made in India for the European market. India perfected the block printing technique and quickly came to realize that Europeans like different designs, such as flowers and tree of life. So like good businessmen, that is what they created and sold. Of course, tariff’s raise their ugly head, wool merchants in England didn’t like the competitions of Indian cotton. So many of these were sold in the former colonies where the tariffs didn’t exist. What is lovely here is that someone then quilted this with the requisite batting and backing. I remember as the child, the simple Indian bed spreads – nice, but nothing like the color and workmanship here.
We now move on from whole cloth to the quilt block – what becomes the standard building block of what most people think of as an American Quilt. Block have names, this one is Carolina Lily and to make it look right – the block is on point – which also makes for a really nice overall design. The red is a new red, Turkey red and it is as colorfast as red can be. The red and the border print probably came from France, where textile production was at it’s apex. In later years, American plants would acquire the roller prints as well well – but since this was made in the early 19th – the fabric was probably French.
I looked closely at the quilted feather in the green blocks – since I recently quilted some myself on my basket quilt. Nice Job! There is combination piecing and appliqué here as well.
Speaking of Appliqué – one of the best examples of a Baltimore Album that I have seen. Once again, mostly imported fabrics. Although the label says that slaves may have had a hand in making this type of quilt – I am so over that! Weathly women didn’t do the house work – what they did was needle work! Same is true today – most quilters have leisure time and money to buy the fabric. Give these women their due!
Love the hunting scene, this is a first for me on a Baltimore album. Also, note the wonderful, very accurate quilting – I wonder if each line was marked. Because from experience I can tell you, if you base your lines on the one before – they get very wanky very quickly. I know, it’s hard to see the details in the fabric, these are exquisite. Some of the flowers are cut straight from the fabric – what used to be called :Broderie Perse. Today we call it fussy cutting. This is something only a rich person can do – this isn’t about saving scraps, although I’m sure some leftovers from dress making made it in here.
Lovely border print, and amazing feather quilting. Also, notice how tight the stipple quilting is, this ensures that the feathers stand out from the background. A true masterpiece.
Now, the first quilt that is showing its age. So this one must have been used a lot. It was on a twin size bed and has the cut outs for the poster bed. The quilt is somewhat fades, the green was probably much closer to the green in the Carolina Lily. The orange could very easily have been red. Look at the scalloped edge! This is a way of making the quilt even more decorative than a simple straight edge.
Here are two of the family children. The quilt is dated from 1830 simply because it is believed that some of the children’ clothing is used in the quilt itself – in their portraits, and fabric historians recognize this as from the 1830s. This is how all quilts are dated – find the newest fabric. Of course older ones may have been saved and used – but the quilt was made after the newest fabric is created.
Ah, that corner piece! in order to bind the scallops, one would use a bias strip of fabric – its’ still how we do it today. The boy on the horse is embroidered! Most of the design work is embroidery.
Whereas the orange and green faded, the black didn’t. Black was a very hard color to achieve – it was overdoing all kinds of colors, and rarely was it true back. So impressive! Love the embroidery flowers as well. The Boston Museum of Fine arts has an incredible collection of quilts and coverlets, I’m so glad this is a traveling exhibit. I had heard about it on a number of podcasts, but actually seeing these quilts – oh my! more to follow
I’ve gone twice to see this show, once alone and once with a friend. I may go again. I had heard about this show on a number of quilters podcasts. They had gone to Boston to see the full show, I’m sure that what we have here at the Skirball is just a small section. My oh my, what a selection! Incredible quilts.
As I entered the gallery, this is what greeted me. I had seen images of this wonderful ball, seeing it in person is even better. I don’t remember the name of the artist, she wanted to take a flat three dimensional object – a quilt and create something really three dimensional – a ball. Btw, there are many ways to make a ball, just look at all the sports balls, each is created differently. I am so impressed with the geometry of this one, made up of 8 segments, which of course are made up of many different quilt designs.
As a quilter, I know geometry well. What really impresses me right here is the use of a 5 pointed star to cover up the mess created by joining together an eight pointed star. This is where the creativity of the quilter herself really shines. She has a problem to solve and she finds a very interesting way to do so.
I love the simple quilt patterns, I love the fabrics used. both big bright florals and solids. I especially love the zigzag using two bright prints. It sort of mutes down the pattern, and yet it all works in harmony. I am wondering what is inside the ball, yes, the workmanship is superb, but it does need a strong skeleton to hold that ball in perfect form. It almost makes me want to try something like this on a much smaller scale.
On to the gallery. This is a suffrage quilt from Indiana. Women paid a small sum to have the quilt made, their names embroidered on the quilt and then it was auctioned off. All to support a woman’s right to vote. I looked closely at the names, it looks like this was done with machine embroidery. The Stars and Stripes sort of represent the flag, but the placement is all wrong.
Another interesting touch is the crochet border all around the quilt. The appliqué the quilting are all done by machine. Probably the only thing that isn’t is the crochet.
A wonderful part of this exhibit is the inclusion of woven blankets as well. This was woven by a Navajo, possibly a woman who worked for Major James Cooper Mckee. One of the negotiators of the creation of the Navajo nation reservation. One of the issues I have with this show is the celebration of native arts – without acknowledging that many of them were adapted from European traditions. Like weaving – there were no sheep, there weren’t looms until the Spanish arrived. Yes, the Navajo built an incredible tradition of weaving rugs and blankets, but like so much else in this world – it came from exposure to other cultures. this idea that there is some magical ‘native’ tradition that has nothing to do with the White settlers really bugs me. As cultures we all learn and are influenced by new ideas that come in with a new invading tribe. Let’s just celebrate that.
This spectacular whole cloth blew my mind. As you can see its’ not one piece it is stripped together from many pieces, but, it is all one color and the quilt pattern treats it like one piece of cloth. Back in the day, looms weren’t as wide as today, you had to piece strips together. This quilt is actually wool, indigo dyed wool that was then treated with heat to create the shine. And boy does it shine. This is from the 18th c. Like many quilts in this exhibit – it had to have been stored very well over the years. I found one small moth hole. So for over 200 years this wool object was protected. The color is still intense as well.
I used my phone camera to capture the details. The color is more accurate in the previous image. Just look at this quilting! So much detail! Of course there was a detailed description of how Indigo dying was the provenance of the African slaves.
Here we have a modern quilt, made by less than 20 years ago by a Japanese American quilter. Yes, there is plenty of talk about Indigo – but here they can’t give credit to American slaves. Turns out that Indigo is used all over the world, and so credit is given to the poor Japanese workers. Btw, in Europe, who do you think worked in the Textile industry – poor people. Being poor doesn’t make one special, can you tell how tired I am of our new world order where either skin color or poverty seems to make one a better person?
In this quilt the artist used old kimonos that she cut apart – she is honoring her Japanese ancestors. Btw, these days, Japanese quilters are among the best in the world – but they celebrate their ability to use modern fabrics and patterns, so lets not highlight any of them.
Lest you think I don’t love these quilts, I do, it’s the didactics I can’t stand. So this is made out of probably over 1000 log cabin blocks. Once again, can we thank those white American women for coming up with this amazing block??? Instead of a red center, she used the darkest Indigo fabric she could find. The blocks are small, the strips end up at 1/2″. She then made stripes of color. I didn’t get a close up of the borders which are wonderful shades of Indigo.
What I can say is this is what quilting is all about. A quilter reaching back to her own history, the history of quilting itself and creating something beautiful. Looking at the size of this, I’d say this isn’t a wall hanging but an actual quilt that would be used for warmth on a bed. It is only in the late 20th c. does the quilt move from bed to wall – another side of Americas’ wealth.
I have many more posts, a lot to say. I love the quilts, I don’t like the message being pushed on us. Which is one of the big reasons why I am no longer a docent.
We took a walk around the Sheilds Date farm. If you are Christian, this is a good time of year to go – there is the whole story of Jesus in sculpture. I admit to skipping that. Later, Joel had a local friend come by, we asked him if he ever had been there – no -I don’t understand how people can live somewhere and not explore their surroundings.
I know, Aytan doesn’t really get into the kid photos, but what can I say, just look at Eyal, says it all!!! From there we went to lunch at TKB bakery, since we were already in Indio. No pictures, but what a great place, most of us split sandwiches and the kids ran around on the grass. Our final night there, Beckys’ brother and family came by, so another night of mayhem, and yes we fed 18 people, hamburgers and hot dogs!
I got a stomach bug last year, which I gave to everyone else, so I missed zoo lights, we went this year as well. Fun, but nothing like the lights at Descanso Gardens – the kids had fun and we all had hot cocoa.
We any many other people enjoyed the night.
I know, Aytan doesn’t smile much, but he loves the giraffes, nowadays he loves the Lakers as well. so he is wearing the sweatshirt on a cold night.
If Einav could, she’d actually be touching this snake, she has no fear of reptiles.
Her brother does fear them, so he is grateful there is thick glass between him and the snake.
Two cute guys taking a selfie.
With Saba at the zoo. I can’t get over Eyal and his expressions.
Cousins playing with lego.
Goofing around with Saba.
That’s it. One group of grandkids went off to Alaska, it will be interesting to hear about that. Another has grandparents visiting from Florida and the third are chilling with family here. We will be visiting with friends and maybe eating more latkes as well.
It is absolutely wonderful to have the crowd together for Hanukkah. Every other night, when it’s just two of us – we light the Hanukkiah, have dinner and that’s that.
Crowding around to light the menorahs. Yes, I’m glad it was first night, so there weren’t a ton of candles. We handed out the gifts first night so the other nights weren’t so chaotic.
Ah, the gifts, everyone is excited to open the gifts.
The kids were very patient, they waited to open the presents.
It is hard buying gifts for Aytan, we got him things, but I’m not sure he liked them.
Not sure what he opened there, although I do have to say he did have a good time with all of us noisy people.
It is more fun to give to younger children, as you can see, Einav is supper expressive.
Ah, to be three! Also, notice how her Dad finds the perfect Hanukkah clothes?
Not sure why Cam has a dazed look. Also notice, with the new gifts, Einav has forgotten last years baby.
Yes, I win at gifts this year. I found this unicorn at Big Lots and had to get it! How could I not! Unicorn, rainbow colors. She is soooo happy!
Of course, now she sleeps with it nightly, not to mention riding and playing with it during the day.
I got these lovely new sunglasses, as in really nice expensive sunglasses. Love them. I also got a pancake batter dispenser – a perfect gift for a grandmother who always makes pancakes when the grandkids sleep over. And we used it! One day Yoch made waffles with a draidel on them, but those were made one at a time. So it was much easier using my new dispenser, and I have to say, having uniform pancakes makes a difference when frying them.
The pool and the jacuzzi got a lot of use, heck even I went into the jacuzzi.
They had a lot of pool rings and they were all being used.
Aytan loves the pool!
As does his sister and cousins.
Eyal is also quite the fish.
These two are great buddies. Einav is pretty much water safe, but of course still needs to be watched.
With Uncle Yishai.
Warming up in the jacuzzi.
or resting on the hammock. I’m sort of surprised that Cam can still wear that bear sweatshirt, it is getting a little small.
Kids and grandkids went to the new ice skating rink. I didn’t go – never have ice-staked, won’t start now. Went to walk around the downtown again. But they all had a great time. Here Eyal is starting out with the walker.
And already all he needs is his Abbas’ hand.
Westley started skating a few weeks ago, so he is a pro.
Cam also started skating a few weeks ago, bug I guess he is more timid than his brother. so started out with the assistance.
