Category: Uncategorized

I finished my 2021 projects, I have two waiting for 2022. So meanwhile, lets make another biscornu. I’m not thrilled with the blue and white, blue and silver that defines Jewish art. So I went with something else I feel is a very Jewish symbol. The pomegranate.

We have the seven fruits of the land of Israel – Wheat, Oats, grapes, figs, pomegranate, olive and dates. There are a lot of pomegranate designs out there, at some point I need to find the others.

This was was pretty dense, I did enjoy it though.

Sewing it together, as you can see it is basically two squares, you sew point to center of a seam. That way instead of 4 corners you get 8.

As you combine the two, the shape begins to form.

Here it is, stuffed with fiberfill.

Often there is a top side and a bottom, in this case, both are very intricate and both relate to the pomegranate. I’m not done yet.

Adding a button on both sides and pulling them tight. now the shape has even more dimension to it.

From this angle – it’s all pomegranates – of different styles.

A few months ago I made my first biscornu, looks like I may end up with quite a collection….

The smaller has a definite backside, the larger one doesn’t.

For the smaller one I used Aida, I really don’t like Aida, it is hard on my hands.

The larger one is on an even weave, easy to work with, although these days I’m using mostly linen. But for this kind of project – it was perfect. I also just used threads I have on hand.

I am now kitting up my Mirabilia and boy, am I going to have a lot of new colors to chose from! This is one of my 2022 starts, although I think I might start it today, because, I can and there are no rules.

Leah

I know, the museum has been there forever and I just discover it now. Need to go back some time without kids, because I’d love to read more about the exhibits.

It is right next to the Palm Springs Airport. One thing I did learn that it was built in the late 30s and as soon as it as finished, it was 1942 and the Army commandeered it for the military. So there is a lot of military history here.

This is not a military plane, I think this one brought the movie stars down to the desert. As I mentioned, running after kids means not reading too many labels.

This on the other hand certainly is. A little beefcake and all the hits on Nazi targets painted right on the plane.

Plenty of pretty women went off to bomb the Germans.

Of course this is one of the prettiest girls, next to the plane, not on it. Yes, her cute cousin almost made it into the picture.

Plenty of artifacts relating to the air war .

A whole section dedicated to the Tuskegee Airmen, there was also a whole section dedicated to the women who flew in WWII.

Yup

, the grandson is also very cute.

It is really nice that there were planes, trucks and a few other things that the kids could climb into. It looks like they have a classroom where they bring school kids. Much more fun than an art museum…. says the former art museum docent.

everybody getting in on the action!

I’m totally with Eyal here, take off that mask!

I think these adults were hiding from the kids at this point.

This was the Korean War and Vietnam war hanger. up on the wall, the M.A.S.H helicopter as in the real thing, not just for the TV show.

An old plane, the mountains and even snow. The amazing Cochella valley.

going through these pictures again just makes me want to go and actually spend time here. There were docents, older men, who had probably served in Vietnam, yup, those guys are already in their late 70s.

I’m glad someone put this museum together and that it was busy with visitors. Till next time.

Leah

Another year, another Christmas, nope, not my holiday, Hanukkah came early this year, so there wasn’t even overlap. But I love this season, as the light fades from the world this is a holiday that brings it all back. I ADORE Christmas lights, if only because in the long dark nights – it is a true sign of cheer.

So off we went to see the lights.

Everyone is sharing pictures of this house, they must store these plastic decorations in a large warehouse. Oh, and the choir actually sings.

Santa, warm inside.

We drove around and saw plenty of other lovely lights. You can’t really take good pictures of them and I just wanted to enjoy the moment.

Guess where we found the best display? right in our own neighborhood, the same house that had the best Halloween decorations.

Yup! Star Wars themed decorations! No, I’m not a Star Wars Fan, even though my son was born on May the 4th. I just love how someone takes a theme like this and runs with it.

Unlike the house with the plastic figures, these are inflatable, so they will be easier to store.

A neighbor who used to decorate for every single holiday, moved away, that house is now just dark. But here is a lovely bright wreath!

Looks like another neighbor had a snow party! The cold makes the snow stay, but all the rains must have washed a lot of this away.

Wonderful Christmas dinner with great friends

buy cheap kamagra oral jelly

, look at this amazing white Christmas Tree!

And see we are with our reindeer antlers, and an amazing dinner awaiting to be eaten. Sorry about the blob, there are some items on the back wall the host didn’t want to be seen.

Leah

We found an Airbnb with 7 bedrooms in Palm Springs. It looks like it might have been an old motel in the 20s’-30s. It had its’ quirks, two kitchens, the better one was not next to the dinning area. But each room had its’ own bathroom, a huge pool, jacuzzi, lovely fire pit, walking distance to a park – it was a great choice.

Our son and daughter in law are partying their earnings from the other two Airbnbs and have bought a third one near the second. They are very busy fixing it up. I am so proud of their efforts and industriousness. I heard them trying to deal with a house keeper who didn’t show up

, running this kind of business isn’t easy. They have taken on the challenge. Hard work pays off! The only way to achieve is to work hard. This is one of the outcomes of the pandemic, they shifted their outlook.

Another outcome

, for the longest time Dictator Newsom decided that beaches and playgrounds were unhealthy – what he knows from health I don’t know, he certainly nows how to be a dictator. Anyway, the boys learned how to climb trees, and even when there is a nice playground right there.

He says these trees aren’t as good as the ones at home.

My son managed to capture a picture of most of us sitting down for dinner. we cooked all meals at homes. Unfortunately, I got a stomach bug, which traveled. I got it during the vacation, Shira got it the last night, and then Joel,Becky, Aytan, West and Cam once we got home. No it wasn’t Covid, people get sick. It ruined part of the vacation for me, and it made it hard for others at home, but we all agree – it was great being away together.

This is what the days looked like. The pool was very warm, the kids hardly ever got out. I got into the jacuzzi, no pool for me.

We walked Palm Drive which was full of people, I love that no matter what people are getting out and about. Oh, if you look closely on the left, you can see my grandson who looks tiny next to Marilyn. I know, it also has to do with camera angle and foreshortening.

Kids loving on this crazy Foo Lion, it’s supposed to be a Food dog, not a lion, when cultural appropriation goes wrong… I just noticed how Einav is totally loving the little lion cub! She loves dolls and babies, don’t tell me that being female is a choice, not part of our Dan.

This is what I missed because of the stomach bug – zoo lights at the Palm Desert Zoo. Also, Aytan saw giraffes- which are his favorite animal – it made him so happy. Cam and Shira were thrilled to see foxes – their favorite.

We went consignment hunting one day, love how someone put up this wonderful old door. I’m sure it’s not original. I only bought some framed art,

Of course it’s not about the pictures, its’ the frames! I hope that at some point my needlework will fit in these. Btw, I watched a You Tube of someone who resizes frames. LOL, not for me, I’d rather be stitching.

Mandy found a great mirror for the new Airbnb as well as old tennis rackets for the wall of the game room. Yoch found a WWII dark green pea coat. It is ‘new’ as in never used. It was made in the US, sent to the Navy towards the end of the war, and made its way back to a consignment store in Palm Springs.

More on Palm Springs and WWII in the next post.

Leah

I don’t make a lot of holiday gifts, I’m very selfish and I want to make what I want to make – often just for me.

During the pandemic I switched to a new hairdresser, she and I are on the same wavelength. Let’s just say I got tired of hearing about cats, either domestic or wild. I have no pity for bob cats in Griffith Park that get run over. I’m a humans first, there are plenty of places in CA that bobcats can live.

Also, Kelly does a much better job being creative and styling my hair. So she deserved a homemade gift.

a lovely pouch for traveling with jewelry.

I puffed it up a bit.

Here it is wide open, there are actually two layers, so you can put things right in the middle.

As well as these eight small side pouches

Kauf von Erythromycin

, so you can separate out items. this is a very old design, I remember making them over 30 years ago. Then about 15 years ago I found a pattern. Its’ not complicated, but having a pattern is nice.

Of course Kelly loved it! She immediately asked if I would make her two more, one for her mom and one for her sister. These days I say no to people who ask if they can buy something I make. But did I mention I like Kelly? so I quoted her a higher price than my original thought. I am so bad at underestimating my worth.

No, problem, she sent me the money before I even got started.

She mentioned reds, blues and pinks.

Having fun with my fabrics.

and now, back to my addiction, cross-stitch.

Leah

My thread storage systems sucks. Not organized at all. Not a good thing, at some point I’ll figure out a system. Meanwhile, I can throw my cotton and DMC in a drawer, but I’d like to keep the silk separate.

I was watching Jan Hicks on You Tube, she mentioned the name of someone who will take your finished project and put is on a handmade bag! Genius! I don’t need her services, I can do the same.

My library of design books is growing. I bought a book of Monograms and old fashioned alphabets. I have been keeping linen scraps, Yes this is a scrap and I got to work.

Btw, there is a J, but no I and no W. I had to create The I, which wasn’t hard to do.

Almost done.

Yes, there are French knots. I don’t hate French knots at all. I even found a fabric that mimics them

The bag, with a Jewelry finding that I have had forever. I might take it off and give it and a large key I have to my granddaughter. She is getting into making jewelry. for now, it’s my zipper pull.

A pink fabric for the lining

And now the silk thread has a home. Until I build up a large inventory

, and then I’ll have to find a new solution.

Leah

I am so addicted to cross-stitch. I can’t stop. I started a group that meets in my home 6 months ago, in January 3 more women will join in. One of them, Paula, came over to visit last week.

Making friends isn’t east at any age, the pandemic taught me that I have to work extra hard, it is worth it.

Remember this image? all framed and ready to go. Well I noticed that between the elks there was an unfinished tree. Sure I could have left it, you wouldn’t know. But I do. So the benefits of framing myself, I removed it, I unlaced and I fixed the tree.

Much better!

Here is a close up. better balance. Sure there are empty space, which give some relief to the eyes, but a bare tree, not good.

So as you can see, I re-laced, reframed and sent it off to Alaska – where it was received with gratitude.

I have two large projects starting in January. The modern Folk Embroidery 2022 Sew along. I’m still waiting for my silk to arrive from Spain, so that might not be a January 1st start.

I have decided to jump onto the Mirabilia wagon. I bought the pattern in Vermont, as well as linen. Then I proceeded to order the DMC online during Black Friday sales. I also have the metallic threads and will buy the beads later on.

This is one small corner of the chart. there is no way I can work off this. I tried taking pictures and importing into that wonderful new program Markup Rxp. Didn’t work. So then I though, maybe I can take it to Staples, have them make bigger copies on the blue print machine. They had a better idea, why not put it on a Thumb drive and then I can open it on my computer.

Brilliant idea, once it’s a PDF on the computer, it is easy to import into Markup. And that is what I did.

IT works!!! It will take time to mark the symbols, so many of the colors are extremely close. Look at this image, all of this symbol is highlighted in yellow. It is easy to follow, I can zoom in, I love this program – more than PatternKeeper.

I have a number of paper pattern that I have bought, remember buying patterns is a separate hobby from doing the cross-stitch. So, it the pattern is small enough to fit on my printer, I’ll scan at home, but most probably I will take my $6 thumb drive that I had to buy (I don’t walk around with one in my purse), go back to Staples and have them scan on a much higher quality scanner. Life is good!

Hera is the name of this pattern. She needs a project bag

Kup KamagrÄ™ bez recepty

, so of course I made one.

In her home, and yes, I’m waiting until Jan First to start.

Leah

I’ve know about the Nike lookout tower for years, I’ve even gotten close to it when hiking up on dirt Mulholland, but never actually got there.

Until this week, when our walking group went up the back way, so instead of a two mile hike, it was less than that round trip. Yup, I am getting lazier.

This is also the first time I’ve driven on Paved Mulholland all the way to where the dirt section begins.

It was a great day for a walk, not so much for pictures. Here we are, looking down at the Encino reservoir. in the haze beyond it is the vast spread of the valley, but its’ hidden today.

Not a great image either, but you can see both a cell tower and to the left, the Nike station.

Aside from being a military installation during WWII, I love how it is now called the gateway to the Big Wild. One of the wonders of Los Angeles is the fact that we are a huge urban metropolitan area and yet, within the boundaries of the city are these amazing wild areas. Of course all around the city there are plenty more, thank to Mulholland himself, this is in the city. Had he not brought the water through the aqueduct to LA, San Fernando Valley never would have become part of the city.

The old guard house and the lookout tower. I am happy to say, there is no graffiti, the rest of the state is being covered with it, even tree, stone and rock. That is what happens when you tell people that destroying property is art. I guess that maybe the military still has some say here, I don’t know. I’m just grateful for no graffiti.

I love how they have updated these signs. So the missiles were in the Sepulveda Basin, today there is a lake, a water reclamation plant, golf course as well as the Army Armory and the Airforce Armory. So I’m not surprised to learn that they could launch missiles from there.

Walking up the staircase. Once again, I love the textures and the mixture of shapes one sees here.

I love how informative these signs are. I’ll be honest, I took the pictures and read them later.

Reaching the top.

Here are the views, not great because of the fog. Next time I go, will probably be very sunny and very different, so I’m enjoying this atmosphere.

That is dirt Mulholland heading towards Reseda Blvd, the way I have always come up.

They have created a nice picnic area down there as well as bathrooms. The real thing, not just Porta-Potties. It is beginning to clear a little, but it didn’t completely clear until hours later.

I have one of those plant identifying apps. Very nice. So this plant, that looks strange but is all over these mountains is the Castor Bean plant! The source of castor bean oil, which is used in cosmetics and industry. It isn’t used as cooking oil because it has ricin – which is very toxic. Over 20 years ago there were ricin attacks on the subway in Japan – it killed people instantly. So this just goes to show you, good and bad go hand in hand in most everything. Especially in plants.

Leah

It’s my daughter in law, who is redoing another Airbnb house, this time with Moroccan flair. She mentioned a store called Badia. There is a reason why I’ve missed this, it is in a large non discreet industrial building, that I have driven by many many times.

One of the great things with being in such a large space is, like IKEA, they create rooms to create atmosphere.

All the while, displaying so much of the products they sell.

They have massive sections of tile. Btw, Morroco was one of the first areas to develop these wonderful multi colored tiles. Well, many others in the Middle East did as well, but as far as a production business – Morocco is still where it’s at.

The tiles around my fireplace in the dining room are from Morocco. I don’t know that the designer ordered them from here, I love the fireplace surround and I love these tiles so much!

I know that decorative tiles are found throughout the Middle East. Turkey has amazing ones, and yet, I think that this style of tile originated in Morocco. If not from here originally, then they really got the whole production going here.

They have plenty table tops, although I like the floor tiles better.

Color! Color! Color! at some point I need to buy some of these vases. They have a ton of incredible textiles as well….

Side tables and cabinets…..

That is a very good price. I wouldn’t say this place is outrageously expensive, but hand work, imported it will cost.

I’m sure this inlay table costs much more, well worth the money. That is true workmanship.

Another ‘room’ display. My son has an outdoor gazebo that they are trying to make a little more like Morocco, yup, I’ll bring them here.

So did I buy anything? Yes, a small item.

This little lamp, that now hangs in my bathroom, next to this:

I’ve had this piece for years, it needed a companion, especially since there is another hook on the ceiling.

When we bought the house, these three were left in the guest bathroom. I like them, a lot.

So yes, another day of exploring and fun. LA has a lot of serious problems but two things, I have family, ie. grandkids here and I love exploring.

Leah

Went to U-Frame it to audition frames.

This simple silver one is the winner. Literally that evening they called me to tell me the job is done. No glass, I’m not that interested in glass on top of my handwork, not to mention, it gets really expensive.

Here it is framed, on the wall. This is a small hallway, you can see this as you come in the front door, although you have to get close. I’m ok with people getting very close, so much so that they might even find my mistakes.

I finished woodland friends, I even put my initials and the year in there, I think I should have done over 4, not two, it is so tiny. This is before I ironed it out.

Here it is ironed. I decided, maybe its’ time to lace the work myself. I had gone to Good will and found a nice frame. Then onto You Tube, so I could get a good tutorial. I’m sorry to say that I’m not thrilled with Ceesie Smitt, it’s ok, but not all that good. Of course, I found much better tutorials and set to work.

Its’ not complicate, there are some tricks of the trade, my huge mistake with Ceesie was cutting the background fabric too small. No need, it doesn’t matter if there is plenty of fabric back here.

Dropped it in the frame, without glass. The acid free foam board is pretty thick, and although this frame came with some stupid saying mounted on a thinner board, I’d rather go with the acid free. I was able to reuse most of these pins to hold the work in place.

Wrapping paper and painters tape seal off the back.

It is bright gold, but I don’t find that that detracts. Also, the frame is square and the work was a little more rectangular. So there is more edging along the side than on the top and bottom. It look fine.

I just realized that I didn’t finish the tree between the elks. Oh well, I think it will just stay that way. all in all, a nice piece, and they won’t know that it isn’t supposed to look like that.

Now

, to send it off with a book for big brother. Of course, I’ll be starting something new very soon.

Leah