We have great beaches in Los Angeles, even if I’m not much of a beach person, and certainly not one to go into our frigid waters.
I’m happy to go and be the photographer, while the young uns have fun.
This year Cameron is in Mommy’s arms, by next year he’ll be right there in the water with his brother.
This needs to be on a greeting card.
Ok, I wasn’t even here, I took the pictures from my Dils feed. But it’s a great picture of grandma and Shira heading to the ocean.
While Atyan plays in the sand.
I did go the the beach with Yish and Yoch, we just walked along the water. And burned our feet on the sand during the 1/4 mile hike down to the waters edge. Not only are LA beaches beautiful white sand, for the most part they are pretty wide. Not sure how they prevented development right up to waters edge, but in Santa Monica they succeeded.
Santa Monica Pier on a hot July weekend. We rode the new Expo line from Palms to Santa Monica, it was lovely. The train was full of weekend beach goers.
Somebody got very creative. I understand someone does this on a large scale up in Ventura.
What a balance, not only in the structure, but in the shape and textures of the rocks. Better than many an art piece I’d find in a museum or gallery.
Sometimes it’s nature that provides all the beauty all on it’s own.
Category: Family
Bris
New grandson means that on the eight day he has his circumcision, which although is a ‘surgical procedure’ happens with friends and family.
The ceremony was very early on a Monday morning, so this was a small gathering of family and a few friends. Luckily Westley can be distracted with toys. 
Not bad for 7 am.
Sorry not many pictures, between a camera that isn’t great and an iPad, images are blurry.
Here he is as the ceremony starts, both cousins looking on. Mom moved them back, I remember my sons at that age getting a little too close when their cousin had his bris.
Here is one of those sons, now an uncle. He had the ‘honor’ of holding him, even as the actual bris happened, and was a lot less squeamish than at age 6. Surrounded by love, the baby only cries for less than a minutes, then it’s over and Mommy immediately gets him back. 
What, whats’ happening to my brother? Later Westley gave the Mohel the biggest stink eye! was that because he remembers 19 months ago, or because he doesn’t like someone hurting his new baby?
This is the third grandson Andy has circumcised, we are hoping there will be a few more.
And his Hebrew name, which is given at this point is Jacob.
Mom took him to the back room to nurse and then joined us with him 15 minutes later as we enjoyed a quick breakfast of lox and bagels. No matter what the Jewish ceremony is – it always involves food!
LeahBirthday
It was a fun day, lunch with one group of friends, with homemade cupcakes! Yum.
And dinner with another group. Also yum and fun.
And finally, a romantic dinner with Joel with some incredible bread pudding and creme fraiche icecream. Now that was a lovely evening.
Back at Quiltcon a week ago, I got this cute dress from Natalie Barnes of Beyond the Reef fabrics.
And here it is on the Windham Fabrics catalog.
First I deconstructed the dress to see how it’s made. Then I got smart and went to You Tube and found tutorials.
I even bought some Origami paper and started making my own.
I made thank you cards for all the lovely gifts!
Speaking of Windham, remember this necklace I got at Quiltcon?
I wasn’t going to wear it after the show, so I set Yoch down to untie the knows and rip the seam.
That is a very nice piece of fabric that will get used! I’m a quilter, we don’t waste fabric!
Halloween
This year it feels like people are celebrating Halloween for a whole week. Of course at my Thursday night knitting group we always have a party on the Thursday before. I am guilty of not coming in costume, but others are so creative. Our theme this year was monster mash up – or at least mash up.
Ellen takes the prize for the literal use of the terms. Natalie is Mummy Dearest, with a wire clothes hanger included. 
Sarah and family are Alice in Wonderland, no mash up but this family always comes in a themed costume. I do like how the Chesire Cat is in new and improved colors.
And the winner of most creative goes to Amy, Miss Captain America!
At school on Friday the Kindergarten had their costume parade. I love how many super heroes and Princess there were. Aytan as Iron man with his friend Atman.
The mask didn’t stay on long.
I got to march in the parade.
Westley came over to spend the night, the pumpkin hat lasted on his head for a second.
Mommy and Abba went off to a party as pregnant Princess Amadala (at least the pregnant part is real! It’s another boy) and Anakin. They enjoyed a wonderful night out and even got to go to breakfast just the two of them.
And finally Halloween night!
Aytan’s even has implants.
He made a pumpkin mask to wear, luckily it was only for the house.
‘Ariel’ came over.
Kitty Cat Anna has her bucket ready. 
This mask actually works! He kept in on all night, Erez happy to take his kids on the same route he used to go as a kids, although most of the residents of the houses have changed.
Yes, quite a haul of candy. I love seeing the street full of trick or treaters of all ages! Little children, teenagers and adults in costume. This is the part I like best, people out at night, knocking on doors and everyone happy and cheerful, even if some are dressed as ghouls or witches.
LeahOlaf Dress
Like all little girls, Shira likes Frozen, her favorite character is the little snowman Olaf. I’ve been keeping my eyes open for Olaf fabric. Anna and Elsa are easy to find but so far no Olaf.
Until Hawaii that is.
The Calico Cat in Honolulu had this fabric – yay!! Not only is it Olaf, this fabric is really adorable.
So I went into my stash of patterns and pulled out the Roller Skating Dress and got to work. Oliver and S patterns are easy to work with, in no time I had this:
Of course I had to use a different fabric for the collar, it sort of looks like snow flakes, well it does for those of us who rarely see snow.
Cute from the back as well
Got to use another one of that treasure trove of buttons and I only needed the one.
Nice top-stitching if I can say so myself.
Putting in a lining is what gives the neckline, sleeve caps and elastic casing such a nice clean finish.
Shira just turned four and it wasn’t hard to get her to model the dress.
Or to pose with Saba.
Sew Together Bag again!
Did I mention that I met Michele from Sewdemented at Quiltcon? Well I did, had lunch with her, what a lovely lady. Here I am making yet another one of her wonderful Sew Together Bags.
I love making them and people love receiveing them. This one is for my son in law Yoch, he is busy making quilts for so many people and I know he will put this bag to good use.
You probably know by now that green is his favorite color, must be the Irish in him.
Instead of some kind of patchwork on the exterior, I’m practicing my walking foot quilting.
Love the result.
The interior is where all the happy brightness is happening. Every time I make one of these there is a small improvement. This time it’s the tabs at the ends of the zippers, spiced things up by using a red print.
The bag is taking shape, with a pin cushion and a needle pad. When making these for non sewers, I omit that step.
I am getting better at including my label in my projects.
Another personalized touch, an interesting bead as the zipper pull.
Quiet, sedate, masculaine bag.
Until you open it up and it just pops with vibrant colors!
One doesn’t give a gift unwrapped. Recently I found this book:
I knowThe Japanese art of wrapping items in cloth. 
I know, this could almost qualify for ‘I nailed it!’. Here’s the deal, quilting cotton doesn’t drape like a soft silk. Also, the colors, yellow and green, the colors of the Oregon ducks (and yes, I bought this fabric in Oregon). Yoch is from there, so he can relate very well. This serves not only as a gift wrapping but as more fabric for his stash. Don’t worry, I still have some of my own leftover.
I gave it to Yoch right before he left on a trip. Of course he loves it, and it will get a lot of use both on his trip and when he gets home.
LeahIt’s my Birthday
Sure, I’m a year older, but when life is good, birthdays are a wonderful thing. Not to mention that my FB feed is full of wishes. I tend to stretch out birthdays, so Sunday is a family celebration and in two weeks (logistics) I have a birthday with my girlfriends. We’ve been doing this for years now. Oh and gifts are rolling in from my Instagram birthday exchange.
So enough about that, let’s talk art, quilt art in particular. Man-Made at the Folk Art museum on the miracle mile is well worth a visit.
Putting myself into Luke Haynes quilt.
Although some of the publicity was all about men and gender, really it was just an excellent quilt show. A few of the artists got into their personal: I’m gay – woe is me. Most didn’t, most are simply good artists who are using the quilt as their medium. 
Another good thing was that I went with my son in law, Yochanan. Can I say how amazing it is to have a son in law who loves the same crafty things as I do??? Don’t get me wrong, I love both my daughters in law and have a lot in common with them as well, but my crafts are a huge part of my life. It’s nice that Yoch does more than just appreciate them, he participates as well.
Love the bright colors here, what makes this quilt (and the one above) so exciting for me is that it is made from heavy metal tee shirts. In general, I hate tee shirt quilts. I know, they are full of memories but they are also simply squares of tee shirts patched up on a quilt. Ben Venom understands that quilting is about taking the materials and making them work the way you want, not simply as patches. So yes, I think these two were my favorites.
Oh, of course this is also a favorite. Joe Cunningham riffing on Robert Rauschenberg, he took wonderful old quilts that are pieces of artwork in themselves and threw paint of them, thereby making ‘art’. And here we have real art that doesn’t need to destroy the work of others. Also, if you are cold, you can always wrap yourself up in this – unlike a painting.
Knitting with handspun yarn
Last March a friend gave me some lovely handspan yarn, I think it may have cashmere in it, is was soft and lovely. I knew I’d make a hat for Joel. We are having a cold spell here and if I didn’t knit it up asap, he may never wear it.
I think this is the natural wool color, undyed. I started this morning.
And finished this afternoon.
He has kept it on all afternoon.
Oh and my son in law, who crochets and quilts has taken up knitting as well – Yay!
LeahSpiderman!
These days when a cartoon movie comes out, along side all the usual paraphernalia, fabric companies will buy the rights and print fabric to match. The best place to buy such fabric is JoAnn’s, the independent stores can’t be bothered to carry the fads.
Yes my grandson is still enamored with Spiderman, so I grabbed two prints.
And started my little sweatshop.
Practice makes almost perfect, the collars went in easily as did the sleeves.
I had recently taken the craftsy class, 40 techniques every sewer should know. Btw, can I just state that I am perfectly fine with the term, sewer? I really dislike sewist – it seems so contrived and elitist, a younger generation has discovered what women have been doing since the dawn of time and they feel the need to give it a new name? Anyway, one of the best tips was to use a water soluble stabilizer when sewing button holes.
I have always struggled with the buttonhole, yes my machine has about 8 types and it’s own dedicated foot, but for some reason after the first buttonhole (always done on scrap fabric), they get wonky and unruly. Using the stabilizer really really helped! Yes, I still had a wonky buttonhole (I’ve learned to reset the stitch before every buttonhole – that helps some).
Finished shirt!
I went over to deliver them and Aytan announced (as he had when I showed him the fabric) that the red is his and the blue is for his dad.
He even went and put the blue shirt in Dad’s closet. No, he wouldn’t put the shirt on at the time, so no photos of him modeling it, but we did take a bike ride down the street to the yogurt shop.
Leah
The Bris
Eight days after he was born it was time for Westley’s Bris – circumcision. Traditionally it’s done as a large celebration, since it’s all about welcoming a new member to the community – so the community needs to be present.
House filling up with guests.
The Mohel (man who does the circumcision) discussing issues withe the parents.
Grandma Pat bringing him in.
Uncle Yochanan is the Sandak, I guess that translates to Godfather.
Aytan and Westley, it was just five years ago the Dr. Andy performed the same ceremony for Aytan.
Those looking down are looking at Shira, to be honest, no one wants to see the actual cut. 
A few blessings.
And it’s done. Yochanan had to watch, it all happened within seconds on the board on his lap. Yishai was called the bartender, he is holding wine infused gauze, yup, start them off right away with the wine – it makes it all better. Aytan was close by, not seeing the actual procedure, but his reaction was: oww! That hurts. 
Back with his parents, quiet and happy, he slept the rest of the evening. A Dr. friend, a urologist, told me that the home setting is so much easier on the baby vs. the hospital. He is surrounded by love, by joy and happiness and of course a little wine.
And then we ate, because that is what every Jewish event includes, food! I was too busy to take any pictures, no one left hungry!
Leah