I’ve been watching a lot of floss-tube, rather boring, people talking about those little exes on fabric. Then the trouble starts with gadgets and ideas. So Lori Holt was showing some cute project bags. I could have figured it out, but I ordered an old pattern from By Annie. Since it was a seller on etsy, she probably didn’t make anything off the sale.
I then went into my new stash and made a bag.
Yes, using Annies Soft and sturdy, or the similar product from Pellon, I quilted the back. Having a study bag is nice. I’ve made a few that are just too flimsy.
Yup, all the fabrics are from a fat quarter bundle I bought last week at the sale. Yes, Annie recommended using webbing for the handle, I didn’t have any, I didn’t even reinforce the handle with interfacing. It works.
I did make a vinyl window, nice to see what is in there. Like those loose threads that I neglected to clean up. Also, from Loris’ video I sewed in a large lobster claw.
It can hold the thread keeper.
Or scissors. I think I like the scissors better. Oh you may have noticed the scissors.
Nothing wrong with the red handle scissors, except, the blades were wide and they didn’t stay in their little sheath.
You also may notice that I upgraded the silver sheath. I ordered some knitting needle tips. The large size is perfect inside the silver bead cap. Yup, I did glue it in place. Its always fun to pick up new tools.
We had a birthday for Cam at the beach on Sunday and no, I didn’t take pictures. I just enjoyed the day. I was fighting a cold and now I’ve lost my voice.
I know, the photo distortion here is unbelievable. Its not this big. This is a shark night light. The whole theme of the party was Sharks.
This is what the bedroom looks like. I’d go crazy, no way could I sleep with this much light.
On our way up from the beach, a guy was practicing on a tight wire, he offered to give Westley a few pointers. Good pupil, great student.
He wasn’t there long, he never lasted long on the rope, but just watching him try was worth it all.
I think here he is pointing him where to focus his eyes.
Both feet on the rope!
I love this kindness. This past year has been so hard on all of us, the stress isn’t over, in some ways its’ getting worse, so to see this kind of interaction is so good for the soul.
I find it very surprising that someone can be so dedicated to a craft like quilting, and not be part of the local quilt guilds. Here in the San Fernando valley we have three, four if you include Glendale. But no, this woman hoarded fabric, but didn’t seek out the company of other quilters. She died recently and a friend is working to get rid of a lot of the fabric, machines and other stuff. Not sure how the Modern Guild heard about it, but they did and word went out to go and pick up fabric Whatever could be stuffed into one legal box – for $50.
I almost didn’t go, I have been quilting less, and really don’t have the room for this stuff. Well, I can make room. Anyway, I went, first of all, there were 4 of us in the condo- not wearing masks!!
There was a large selection of this Provincal fabric, never worked with this, so why not? I took a bunch, after taking the picture, I found more in the bottom of the box.
I dont know how Liz did this, when I left, all of this as crammed into one box, once I started pulling things out – it exploded.
As you can see, these aren’t old cheap fabrics, this woman was first a nun, then a nurse, then she did work at Quilt Emporium, so it’s not like she didn’t know about the guilds. I was drawn to bright colors.
As well as precuts. Mostly fat quarters, but I did take a jelly roll. Honestly, I think I Doubled my fabric stash and what I took was a drop in the bucket. Others had been there before me
, one woman took 7 boxes. It really was a hoarder house. a number of women had been clearing, cleaning and arranging by theme and color. Sad, the friend who was taking the money (I think there are some debts to be paid, not surprising, seeing that fabric arrived here as late as Dec. 2020. He claimed that she made many quilts that she gave a way, I hope so, because I know, the acquisition of fabric is as much of an addiction as actually making quilts.
I picked up a few pieces of Kaffe fabric. I know that I just got the remnants, others before me too most of them. I have never bought Kaffe yardage, I’ve used some small pieces that I have gotten. It will be interesting what I do with these, they might become project bags or smaller items.
A few chickens, because they are cute.
These are 5″ x 6″ hand dyed squares. I don’t think t6his person is in business anymore, never heard of her, she was local. Lovely dye job
These two are newer, the computer printed fabric from Kaufman. This is something that fabric companies have been playing with, the one of the left is Monet water lilies. No need to count screens, the depth the variety of colors are endless.
I have already made a quilt using Elizabeth Hartmans Fancy forest. Quilt Emporium put together blocks of the month. Not sure I’ll use them for this pattern, but they are great color combos.
I have a few more fabrics I didn’t photograph, like some from French General as well as some very pale low volume fabrics. Did I mention that I think I just doubled my stash??? And these days I can’t get enough of cross-stitch, although I will be making some more bags as project bags, I’m sure I’ll use some of this fabric soon.
These guys are Indio, the whole Cochella valley has interesting public art.
My grandson discovered the leftover Easter bunny.
Love all the classic cars one sees here.
I always enjoy these kind of tiled stairs.
We paid a visit here!! I had no idea this has been around since 1924. In those days it was only date farms around here, now, it homes, businesses and a lot of people.
The restaurant was busy, we walked the walk, which was all about the life of Jesus. Which makes sense, back in 1924 Jesus was a very big part of peoples lives. Now our governments are trying to destroy Churches in the name of ‘health’. The grounds are beautiful.
Lets’ just say the ray of light is from God. As long as my Jewish God is acceptable. I find that the Christians are accepting and understanding, it’s the godless people who get all upset. At breakfast the next day we spoke to a couple, their Christian grandson went to a Jewish preschool. The Jewish teacher told him that we had Jesus first – we all shared a good laugh.
There still are date palms here, not sure they are harvesting much. Fun to see the ladders, I guess you can get a cherry picker up to a certain height, then the tree needs its own ladder.
The birds like them.
Had a great time with these guys. Then when we got home, it was dinner with oldest son and family. Monday night was dinner with youngest and family. I am blessed.
Last Friday I went with my daughter in law to the Desert to look at a house they want to buy as an investment. 3.5 hours in traffic going, 15 minutes at the house, dinner and 2.5 hours home. It was worth it, we got the house. (we’re the silent partners.)
So this weekend we went down so both our husbands could see the house and the inspections and interviewing contractors could start.
Here it is!
With cute grandsons out front.
The grandsons stayed with us and were spoiled rotten. Ice-cream – Check!
I did promise you flowers. I don’t think these are wild flowers, I think they escaped when people lived here and they found a way to flouris
Lupine always reminds me of our visit to New Zealand. They grow there like wildflowers, even though they came with the settlers. I consider them as gone native. The whitest people around there consider them invaders – so they’ll get rid of the flowers but not themselves.
A closer look.
even closer.
Same color, different flower and no, I don’t know what it is.
We have yellow, a bush close to the ground.
And a tree with big puffs of yellow flowers.
Now is the time in CA to get out, hike in reasonable weather and enjoy the flowers.
LA isn’t easy to live in these days. Our city government simply doesn’t care, the mayor is MIA. The vagrants have taken over every corner, graffiti is everywhere, its the bad all days. I’m noticing that this past year is bringing the worst out of people everywhere, shootings all over the county, so I can blame our government reaction to the wuflu – but that just makes me hate the more.
After our hike we went looking for a taco stand. Not in Santa Clarita, if you want good Mexican food you do not stay out in the burbs. So we drove back to the valley and I Yelped, we found ourselves in an area I’m familiar with, but apparently not that familiar. along the main street its just bland store fronts, but go park in the back, and a whole incredible Paseo.
All the walls are painted, tables and chairs abound. People are out in force.
We are always trying to save old buildings, I love it when someone takes newer blander buildings and puts the effort to make them more interesting.
Like here, putting up a set of old shutters that probably don’t even cover a window.
There is a lot of tile mosaic here as well. Some compared this to Olvera Street in downtown LA, the difference is there are plenty of services here for the local residents. Its not just cutesy shops. I tried to find some info about when then was created, don’t know. But I love that Panorama City, a neighborhood most people (not Hispanic that is) avoid has created this wonderful hub.
This very much reminds me of Puerto Vallarta or even La Boca in Buenos Aires. I will be spreading the word, because people think they have to travel far for this kind of experience – you don’t.
A number of these directories are around the plaza. It was Sunday, so some thins were closed, yes, there appear to be Covid closures but there also were plenty of businesses open. We never made it to whatever place I found on Yelp. But there was no lack of food. We got Tacos at Taqueria Jerez, the lingua – yes that means tongue was nothing like the Jewish stuff I ate as a child – it was beyond amazing.
Sculptures, murals and a large play area. As we sat waiting for our food, another non Hispanic woman started talking to us (she was Korean). Asking us how we found this place. She was from the city, she used to bring her boys to practice at the ice-hockey rink next door. She had just been to Grace Community church, the one that defied our awful government that approved open strip clubs – but not churches. Anyway, we had one of those wonderful conversations that I used to have and hope to again. This is what is so lovely about LA, people are friendly, people talk to one another. of course no image of the food, we inhaled it so quickly.
Here is a realistic mural.
They have the angel wing wall as well as butterfly!
I LOVE how they used these glass circles to enhance the mural!
More tile.
Fun fountain.
Of course there is no Mexican plaza without a religious store with the Virgin of Guadalupe front and center!
It appears we will never run out of new places to hike. This time, Pico Canyon Menrtyville just outside of Stevenson Ranch – a lovely suburban community in Santa Clarita.
What remains of the town, it is shut due to the wuflu. I don’t think we could get into the house, but we couldn’t even walk the grounds. I wonder if someone lives here, it looks like a beautiful home.
That truck looks new. I know this small area has been used as a film location. Further up the road we learn that this ‘town’ was there because the first commercial oil field in CA was developed here in the 1870s. I’m lazy, but I think Gilmore down in the city, near the La Brea Tar pits was drilling earlier. but he wasn’t part of something called Chevron.
The one room school house still stands.
The information about the school, even in 1932, this area was extremely remote, now Magic Mountain is just down the road.
Yes, they kept the outhouses.
Rusty old equipment, I love this stuff!
part of the hike was along a dry river bed, I bet water runs through it when it rains.
In the canyon, a lot of greenery and even some Aspens.
This was the site of Oil well number 4, with a few plaques and a notation that this is an historic site. Nice!
Can’t resist images of old rusting machinery.
I especially love this cog-wheel. Up till this point, the road was paved, then it wasn’t and it got pretty steep
We kept going, this is one of those Panorama photos, completely distorts everything. Yes the hills close in are this impressive. But you can’t really see the whole Santa Clarita valley, with all it’s development. Looks so far away and tiny, it is much closer. I guess I should just take rather pictures.
Next post, I’ll share all the beautiful wildflowers that bloom in the spring. Although many of them are probably just domestic flowers that escaped to the canyon. It was windy, and other hikers were out as well, thankfully, not a one was wearing a mask.
I have really gotten much better at this cross-stitch. One thing I’m realizing is that sticking to one color for a while, ins’t a bad thing.
The center of this octogon is complete in the navy. Now to add in the lilac blue.
Here it is. I think I will continue to fill the outlines and the navy first, it simply gives more reference points in counting. Last time around, there were plenty of counting mistakes.
Original on the left, new project on the right. I do like the crisp white with the blues. Two things to notice, the white is a smaller weave so the whole image is smaller and tighter. I’m fine with this, the coverage is better. Now, if you are bored, feel free to enlarge and find the mistakes, in the original. They were corrected this time around. Of course, if you say, aside from the color and size I see no difference – now you know the appeal of cross-stitch, only the stitcher sees every single little mistake.
The quilt is growing, in the past I’d be very particular about each block, this time, I have a basic idea about how I want the colors to move and I just wing it. It is working out great!
I know that in the diagonal corner from the dark green I want deep blue purple. So I am now working up towards the center on the final row. Yes, I am loving this!
This is the hashtag on Instagram for the Modern Folk Embroidery Sew along. I have been using it since January. The designer Jacob has liked my work. He was upset for me that I made that bad mistake with the fabric. He wondered if I could piece something together. NO WAY! that is why I quilt, I am happy to start over.
I impatiently awaited the fabric and more floss. I chose a whiter even weave. This time 36 per inch rather than 32. I was informed that 123 Stitch only had two skien of the light blue, and they didn’t know when they’d get more in. Luckily, when I last visited my local quilt store, Candy’s Quiltworks they had all Cosmo floss. So I ran over there, and sure enough, they had plenty. I bought probably more than I need, just in case someone else buys out the rest.
I had to wait until morning to start. What restraint. Also, Luckily I printed the first section, January, for some unknown reason I didn’t save the PDF. So I can’t open this in my Pattern keeper program, but I am happy to use the paper pattern.
I’m addicted! The last three months of working on this SAL as well as other projects, my stitching has gotten so much better! I made some pretty bad mistakes on my first try. I’ll probably show them at some point. One thing I’m doing now I trying to get the top layer of the stitch flat. Something I learned from the many Floss-Tubes I’ve been watching.
New on old. I think I would have been happy with something lighter than my original, but not necessarily as white. Its’ ok, blue and white are classic. I’m not sure you can tell, the white sample is just slightly smaller. I’m sure I’ll be able to show that more as I go along. Oh and yeah, I’ve already had to frog a little here and there, I need to pay more attention to the actual counting.
, grandkids. This little guy is turning 5 in a month and is all about sharks. He wore this shark hat all day.
Really enjoying grandma and me. Here she is in the dress I made her.
She loves bubbles!
Three little girls eating a snack. This is as good as it gets, getting the three of them to look at me is like herding cats. They all have a good time, that is what matters.
