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Final pictures from our trip up to Santa Barbara. Everyone is grateful that the wedding was last weekend. We know people who’s kids are getting married in the next few weeks and everything is up in the air. Also, the groom flew on Wednesday to Italy, he is needed at the airforce base there. His wife won’t be joining him for a while. Such is life

We took a lovely hike, but something happened to those pictures when I downloaded them. So this post is about animals. After going through the tunnel we came out on Butterfly lane. Love the use of butterflies in the arch which is also the address.

This is a house down the street, I have a feeling the neighbors don’t like this much. If these were the only pigs, so be it. But they aren’t…

some have wings…

Some are huge and ratter scary.

Some are small and cute.

This one shares the fence with the neighbor. As I mentioned, I have no idea how the neighbors feel about all these pigs. I of course was delighted.

Although I’ve yet to see a flying pick, there are also birds.

Big Pelican.

This gull just sat on that rooftop for a long long time.

Our hike was up in the hills. Had to stop and take a look at view!

The beautiful spring flowers are blooming.

As we started out, we crossed this lovely bridge. I bet this week the stream is full of water, we have been getting all the rain in March. Every so often this is what happens, a very dry winter and then all the rains come in March. California doesn’t have a set pattern for the rains. It’s not like monsoons in India. Our rains have a mind of their own and each year do something different.

But there was enough water to see these lovely little waterfalls. This is the wonder of SoCal, we do have these little streams throughout our mountains. And it makes for great hikes.

I love how people have noticed that this rock looks like a monster and they have added to it. Human creativity and nature together can do wonders.

There were a lot of dogs on the hike, it was hard to get pictures of them. This little cutey was by the beach. It almost seemed like one isn’t allowed to hike or walk in the Santa Barbara area without a dog!

I’m grateful for this wonderful getaway, all the more so because the WuFlu is keeping us all indoors. I’m praying that these measures will keep most of us safe and that we won’t see the horrors of Italy. Btw, I have no doubt that China was just as bad or worse, they lied to us about it, they lied about how bad it is. And now they want to blame America.

An interesting observation, I got the flu shot in early November. A few weeks later I’m reading that for some reason, they really missed the mark this year because people are coming in with a flu doesn’t match with the markers from last year – which is how they create the next years vaccine. So yeah folks, the Wuflu was out there already in November, China hid the information until they simply couldn’t anymore.

God Bless President Trump for closing off travel from China in January, and for all the efforts his team has been doing since then. I think we will be alright.

Leah

I’ve been knitting away on my New Zealand sweater. I love the color, I’m still not sold on the possum combined with the Merino wool.

It has a certain halo, I’m thinking that is because Possum is just too short of a staple to spin on it’s own. As long as it doesn’t cause much pilling, I will probably enjoy the extra softness.

Closer up, you can see there is some interesting heather in the yarn. Just a hint. I really like that.

I started knitting the sleeve set into the armscye. As you can see I got almost to the end and I just wasn’t happy. It didn’t feel like it was going to lay flat in it’s place. Then the light bulb went off. If I’m not happy now, I won’t be happy once I’ve finished the sleeve. So, I did the right thing, I frogged it.

And started over from the cuff up. Yes, I will sew in the sleeves and I think I will be much happier.

Along the way I was knitting in the car. I was the passenger, so no worries about driving while knitting. I made some mistakes, guess what, that also got frogged.

One sleeve done. All in all I have really enjoyed knitting this sweater. I think I will have enough yarn leftover for a hat, or more. I have yarn left on the second skien and I have a whole other skien to go.

I did use the 100% pure merino to make Joel a hat. And he loves it!!

Leah

Look at this ice sculpture. Of an F16, which is what the groom flies.

The wedding date. The next day I spoke to the dad of the ice-carving company. This isn’t one block of ice, but many. It’s a wonderful thing to see this kind of art in ice. By midnight, it was dismantled and thrown into the ocean.

Wearing the dress I had made, yes I got some compliments. I loved telling people that I made the dress.

Can you see? Aside from the cute couple. There is an image of the French bulldog the couple owns. As for the jacket, we stopped at the Camarillo outlets and I bought this great jacket. It works so well with the dress.

I love the Saber arch. First time I’ve seen it. I have seen videos, but not in real life. Of course I love that this is America and it’s a Jewish Airforce wedding.

The Biltmore, where the wedding took place. What a gorgeous old hotel. We stayed up the street at the Montecito Inn, where they claim Charlie Chaplin was a part owner. Lovely and comfortable, but it doesn’t have the grounds that the Biltmore does.

Love these old tiles! There was another one of the Channel Islands, sorry, didn’t get a picture. Is San Nicholas really that tiny, cuz that was the one island missing from the map.

There were a number of these fountains with tile backdrops. Also, all the risers on the stairs were tiled. Yes, I was in tile heaven.

We wondered around State street, I love this Italian ceramic store. So many beautiful items. I love the purple/yellow combination. We went into a Turkish design store – also, great ceramics there. Then we stopped into the Turkish Coffee shop.

Joel had the Turkish coffee, I had the pomegranate tea – which was really amazing! Then we shared wonderful Turkish delight, if you get the real thing, that hasn’t been on a shelf for years – it is really tasty. Not too sweet.

More, anon.

Leah

We had a wedding to go to in Santa Barbara, so off we went for a weekend getaway.

Ahh, the beach right by the Biltmore. Little did we know that most of the wedding would be in that lovely club in the background.

It was a little cold, but the air was crisp and clean. The water so blue and the clouds just adding their wonderful touch.

The Channel Islands were so clear to see! In the summer they are dulled by the haze, but this weekend it almost felt like I could reach out and touch Santa Cruz Island.

During the day it was low tide, so people were checking out the shoreline. By the next day, it was high tide and all that beach disappeared.

Like where this towel and chair are, all under water. Tides really are amazing, I know they are connected to gravitational forces of the moon. But not living next to the ocean, it always surprises me.

This is some kind of found art, but the crazy thing is how high up the stick is, and yet, there are fresh flowers.

Me and my love of arrested decay, or maybe it’s not all that arrested. This is what saltwater does to the hand rails along the steps down to the sand.

For all I know, the railing may be 65 yers old and not been replaced. I find it beautiful, but not functional at all.

On our walk, we started out on the commercial street in Montecito, then came across this tunnel that led under the freeway to the beach side.

The Coastline goes right along the shore, as well as some very fancy houses. I guess that is what happens when you build the railroad first.

Ah, Montecito! Coffee with a Dalmatian. One that isn’t going anywhere.

Leah

Here in the San Fernando Valley we have our own Balboa Park. Not as impressive as the one in San Diego. But it has a lot going for it. A manmade lake, with water from the nearby water reclamation plant. A golf course, a bird sanctuary and walking trails.

I went to see the Cherry blossoms. Unfortunately the Cherry trees are dying. These are just decorative ones, donated from Japan about 20 years ago. Clearly the climate just doesn’t suit them, so there are only a few remaining.

But the nearby bird sanctuary attracts all kinds of birds half a mile west to the man made Lake Balboa. Sorry, I’m too lazy to do my homework and look up what kind of birds these are. Is one an egret? Or maybe a heron?

That is one long neck and beak!

I thought this might be some kind of bird of prey, but now I’m wondering if it is just a duck that flew up to the top of a tree?

I’m going to say these are pelicans. One of them opened that gullet and the bottom portion was huge!! Clearly someone is keeping track of thee guys. Well at least the one on the left.

Three little pelicans standing on the beach, one flew off and then there were two… Sorry I have all kinds of children rhymes in my head right now.

Taking flight!

Coming in for a landing.

Down! Look at the water displacement, that is one big bird. Must have a lot of buoyancy, that size you’d expect him to sink down much further.

Duck, duck, goose!

I understand why Canada geese like to come here. I’m happy to say that these days they do limit their numbers, cuz they are loud, noisy and leave a lot of poop!

Springtime is allergy time. The local pins are producing their fruit.

Soon the yellow pollen will be everywhere, along with the sneezing.

Leah

For years now I’ve been wanting to make this squirrel. I had seen a version with a fur tail. Well it took a while, but I got both Cuddle and fur fabric and I got to work.

I enlarged the pattern, at first way to much, so I scaled down a little, but it’s still big! Always start with the head, feels like you have someone staring back at you.

Then make a furry tail. The fur is stiff, makes the project a little harder, but doable.

Inside out animal.

The torture of pulling him through! Took time, but I got him right side out.

What I have here is an ROUS, a rodent of unusual size. Hmmm most stuffed animals are much smaller than the real thing, this guy is much bigger.

What a bushy tail!!

Happy in the sun.

And here he is, in comparison to my sewing machine. A huge rodent indeed.

Last week at the park, Aytan and I saw squirrels and he said he likes them. So guess who now owns a new squirrel all of his own? Yup, Aytan loves this guy, his name is Squirrel and he is a boy. So I’ve been told.

Making squirrel faces. I think he has the face down perfectly.

He loves how soft most of Squirrel is. The tail is bushy, but not that soft. The cuddle fabric is very soft.

Aytan ran around all afternoon with his new friend and has spent the night with him in his bed. I’m thrilled that this guy was such a hit. Since making his sister the dress for a doll and for her, he needed something as well. I love it when something I make really hits the mark like this one did.

Leah

The problem with hand knit sweaters is the need to wash them by hand. UGH! So as you can imagine, I don’t do it enough. Usually the cuff of the sleeve will show the most dirt. As some point, enough, I need to wash them.

Well, I was lazy, even though these four sweaters are knit out of wool, some maybe super wash, but I’m not sure anymore.

I didn’t take pictures of the process. This is all after the washing. So as you can see, no tragedy. I threw 4 wool sweaters in the washing machine on the most delicate cycle and cold water. Hot water and agitation will felt wool.

Upon removing them, they were rather stretched out. Like really out of shape. At this point I pulled out bath towels, put them on the floor and sort of laid out the sweaters to dry. Not really blocking them into shape. This is where I should have taken a picture, but to be honest I was a little scared. No, they hadn’t shrunk, but what if they were stretched out of shape.

After 24 hours, when they were just slightly damp, they went into the dryer, on the fluff only cycle. Cold, no heat and very gentle. Just 10 minutes. IT WORKED! The sweaters settled into themselves. The stitches tightened up. Look, the lace and ruffle look as they should. Nice definition. AHH, a sigh of relief.

I know, on close inspection the lace band doesn’t match, but that is my problem when knitting the button band. Nothing can fix that. But the fit and comfort of the this are great. And it’s clean!

Here is an even better example of the pattern in it’s best form. This sweater is at least 18 years old. Still a great pullover. Btw, you have probably noticed, I have a fair number of brown, or orange sweaters. I guess I like that color.

After all these years. Still looks good.

This one is about 12 years old.

Do you see the little sparkle on the top? But only on the front, not on the back. Those were the days when I added beads to my knitting. Didn’t want any on the back, can you imagine leaning back in a chair and rubbing up against those beads?

I admit, beads do add interest to a knitted garment. Be it sweater or shawl. But I’m pretty sure those days are over for me. There are beads in the band as well. But the band has never laid flat, it always rolls in. There are two rows of garter stitch along the edge, not enough to prevent the roll. It should have simple been garter stitch without the fancy lace.

This sweater is only a year or two old. It got stretched out of shape the most. Probably because it is the loosest knit. It too benefited from it’s short time in the dryer.

In conclusion. hand knit sweaters can be washed in the machine. It’s the air drying flat that is very important. And then, 10 means on the fluff cycle and the sweaters are as good as new. I have a few more sweaters that need a wash.

Leah

Slowly, slowly, my sweater on no. 4 needles is growing.

At least this is a sweater where I started from the bottom and work on the whole body until the armholes. Goes quicker, I start and end a row with the lace pattern, and plain stockinette in between.

At this point I’m almost to the armhole. This should be a cute small, fitted cardigan. That is the plan at any rate. With knitting you never really know.

The pattern called for a smaller lace along the front, and this lace on the back. I used this lace along the front. The back will be plain and I will probably use the small lace down the length of the sleeves.

Front and back view of the lace. This is the merino possum from New Zealand. I get why they add the possum. They are trying to use the fur of an animal that is a complete pest. It does add a certain halo to the yarn. In this case, the yarn is very nice to knit with. The white shawl I knit also had some acrylic and it’s not quite as soft.

Both fronts are done. There is an interesting heather look to this yarn that I like very much. Is it because of the possum? Maybe. In the dye process the merino and the possum have probably taken the dye differently, which gives this sweater a lovely weathered look.

Now that I am done with this lace, I know I’ll miss it as I knit the sleeves. I got into the rhythm.

I made this bag years ago, I still use it for knitting projects. Here I just put it on the table and shot into the sun.

Then to get a better image, I moved it into the shade.

It was my birthday this week. Had a lovely lunch with Joel, sorry about the guy in the background. He was there.

It was a lovely lunch, then we went and also had dinner out. That is really a splurge, two meals out! Well it was my birthday after all.

Leah

Once again, I didn’t spray baste. First of all, Since the quilt is basically width of fabric, I needed to find something a little larger. I’m guessing this white is a shirting fabric I had. But it’s still not much larger than the top, so I found it easier to pin baste. Btw, I kept on shifting pins around to try and get the sandwich a little tauter.

I know, I’ve been whining about not liking this a whole lot. Here is an example. I think the center would have looked better as a solid square or diamond. But no, it cuts in here and there. At first I thought that would add interest, now I think it looks messy. Very little quilting on the ‘snowflake. Not a lot on the background.

That is until I got to the large negative space and went with beloved feathers. Yes, I love feathers.

Not sure if you can see it here, but I echo quilted the border and that is it. I left the rest un-quilted. Then I used the original backing fabric as the binding. Oh one other thing I did, is cut down on the border, I think one of the things that really bothered me was how wide the border was.

Yes, I know, by not quilting the border I have created imbalance. The outer edge is wavier and less sturdy then the rest of the quilt. Which in my usual fashion, I quilt very heavily. But at this point I just don’t care.

A touch I like, putting spirals in all the circles. I filled the inner leaves as well. I simply started and stopped. As in quilted in place, filled the area, quilted in place and cut the threads. I rarely bury threads.

The narrower border is a good design choice, it doesn’t overwhelm the quilt like it did before.

Some artistic shots, with little purple flowers.

And slightly larger purple flowers, you probably can’t see, them too dark.

I get it. One doesn’t expect to take a class and come out with a masterpiece. I learned a new technique. Will I ever use this technique again? I doubt it. I don’t see myself wanting to make a large medallion appliqué quilt. I will certainly continue using the appliquick method. You may have forgotten, but I do have a Baltimore Album in the works. So why did I finish this if I don’t like it all that much. It was a challenge for me. I wanted to experience this kind of medallion quilt. I don’t think I’ll be giving this away, I think I’m just keeping it as something that I tried. I am pleased with my workmanship. Well, except for the design. So it stays with me. Who knows, my last three projects were small, table topper size, this might end up on the table, although at the moment I don’t want to remove the Mandalla quilt that is there.

To finish, another kind of creativity. My friend Henry is an amazing florist. He does all the flowers at the Pacific Club in Newport Beach. Yeah, amazing. So when he comes for dinner, I ask for flowers. It was right after Valentines Day and there is a lot of red. It is a beautiful arrangement. But flowers have a way of dying quickly.

So as the tulips wilted, I took the arrangement apart and used the flowers in smaller vases.

I even combined the orchids with daffodils from Trader Joes. Recycling at it’s best, and now the roses are dying, but the daffodils and the orchids are still going strong.

Leah

Everything is about speed these days. Every TV contest really isn’t about the skill or talent of the contestants, be it baking, sewing, pottery painting. It’s all about speed. Which is a horrible metric by which to judge creativity.

So here I am, hand appliquéing, which takes time. Yes, I got impatient. So before I finished the center medallion, I already started folding back the border.

If you look closely on the right side, there still are a few pins. My basting stitches came loose. And yet, I want to see what this will look like. I will be honest, I’m not crazy about this design. I know, you take a class, you learn new techniques, but the outcome of that class will be rushed and not necessarily what you want.

The border complete, One thing I don’t really like here is that the border is made from the cut out fabric. So whereas the center has large bold areas, here things are thin and spindly.

I fiddled around with extra interfacing paper, so to get varying levels of those fingers. Here I am, getting ready to baste the border down.

Why am I having problems liking this? Is it the design? Is it the fabric. Or both?

Now I’ve finished the center and the border is actually going faster, probably because I don’t have to turn the top every which way to get into every nook and cranny.

Done! as I look at this I feel like the pattern needed some editing.

Looking behind the quilt, I’m enjoying my mosaic work, I really should do some more mosaic work!

Leah