Sorry, no posts for a week, we were traveling and I tried to put through my ipad, but couldn’t upload any pictures, so here you get the vacation, a week late.
We were invited to a wedding in Lake Placid, we jumped on the opportunity and decided this would be our summer vacation, after the wedding we’d go on to Quebec and Montreal.
It’s not easy getting to Lake Placid, we flew into Montreal and drove over 2 hours into the Adirondack Park.
We really did have perfect weather. Although Lake Placid is somewhat remote, it was so worth the visit.
There must be crevices with snow year round. We are used to this from the Sierra Nevadas. These mountains are half as high, but they are much further north.
We stayed in a small old hotel/motel, but look what we have. Lake front view, Chairs and ducks.
What are the Adirondacks without some good old Adirondack chairs???
Even better in rainbow colors. We took a boat ride, to view the ‘camps’ from the water. In this neck of the woods, camp means a very large expensive summer home on the lake.
OK, this one is Lake Placid Lodge, not private.
Justa kid out enjoying the lake on his unicorn.
In other locations we saw the taxidermy of Elk and Moose heads. This fellow was cute. The town of Lake Placid is very nice, enjoyable to walk around.
There is a Jewish Synagogue in town, mostly closed for the summer. 
The wedding itself took place up on top of Whiteface Mountain. We were bussed up there and were a little surprised at how hot it was. We were warned it could be very cold and windy.
Look at that view!!! That is Lake Placid beflow us. No wonder the couple wanted to get married up here.
Our friend, the father of the groom hoped it would rain the next day.
It did.
This is what you get for all that rain, lush green, huge flowers and hops. Yes, these are hops, I hope they end up in someones beer.
From here, on to Canada.
I am going to have to look into the concept of Mausoleum, it appears to be a big deal. Some people not wanting to be buried in the ground. These structures are beautiful. Here is the exterior, as you can see, there is a lot of stained glass.
From the inside, looking out through the windows.
There was also beautiful tile work, this building was constructed in the 20s’ decorative tiles were the rage in the LA area. No use asking our guide, he was more interested in the Hollywood connections. I didn’t even ask who made the stained glass. The historical society says the glass is from LA Art Glass company
I find it very interesting, people run to Europe to see this kind of beauty. It can be found here in Southern CA, in churches and also in mausoleums. This one was designed in 1925 by Cecil E. Bryan. His specialty was designing mausoleums, and this is his crown jewel, he is buried here. This was the most expensive structure built in the LA area at the time. It shows, they used a lot of expensive materials.
Some more examples of the glass. I know that spiritualism and communing with the dead was all the rage at the end of the 19th century. Is that why mausoleums became popular? Instead of returning the body to the earth, were they hoping to preserve the body in a beautiful temple in hopes that they could reunite the body and the spirit? I have no idea, just speculations on my part.
A new wing was added in the 80s, guess who made the glass, yup, my buddies over at Judson Studios. One of the reason I love stained glass so much is that light is so much a part of the artwork.
This artwork is in the Chapel of the Pasadena Mausoluem. Btw, these were separate from the cemetery. At some point Mountain View acquired both. The famous person buried in here is George Reeves, Superman from the 1950s TV show.
The cemetery is also beautiful. Sure, a lot of the grass isn’t as green as poeple might like. It is a combination of tombstones above ground and flush with the ground. It’s not cohesive like Forest Lawn, but not as haphazard as Evergreen.
Of course, famous people are buried here, probably one of the most famous is physicist Richard Feynman. We can probably thank The Big Bang Theory for that. This is where Joel found out about him. So yes, the episode of the gang visiting his grave, probably was filmed right here at his grave. You’ll notice, plain and simple.
Another famous person, Octavia was a local girl who grew up here in Altadena. Although when she died she was living in Seattle, someone wanted her to rest back home.
This vintage cotton print was one that I picked up at the guild sale. I know it’s vintage because it was only 36″ wide. The colors and the print look vintage as well. Luckily there were 3′ so I was correct in being able to get a full dress out of the fabric.
I used this pattern once before with rayon, I actually like how the cotton holds the shape better. This time I was able to add sleeves.
I like the details of the princess seams as well as the neckline insert. Since it is a busy print, some of the details get lost. There is some pattern in the background of the fabric, which is also a very vintage style of printing.
I don’t like taking pictures of my back. My scoliosis shows. My back really isn’t straight, but really, that is my own hang-up. Another thing I need to start doing is putting those back darts into the pattern because the shoulders are starting to slope with age. I added them in at the end, this time being grateful that the busy print will hide them.
Construction details, most of the seams were sewn directly on my five thread serger. When sergers or overlockers were first used in the industry this is how they were used, today we mostly sew our seams and then serge and clean the edges. I had to make the inner facing out of lining fabric, simply because I ran out of the fashion fabric. That is called making it work.
Nice, clean, ready to wear look!
I used an invisible zipper, that has to be inserted on my regular Juki. You can also see those little darts. 
An interesting detail on the sleeves, a small vent. I love these kinds of details and to my mind, it is the kind of detail you’d find on vintage clothing.
Very pleased with the result! The fabric cost me $2, the sewing just took one day. The High Holidays are rapidly approaching, I’m sure I’ll be wearing this to Temple very soon.
Found a picture of the first version I made with rayon, I like the second version a lot better.
First of all, I listened to my own advice and I looked up. What an interesting building!
Not part of the exhibit, I’m guessing this is Betsy Lueke. Her image is made out of buttons, and all kinds of art tools form the frame.
I was greeted by two pieces of work from Maureen Cox. I’ve sort of lost touch with her, we met years ago at a quilt show. She was a fabric designer and I was just starting school in that field. For years we both belonged to the Wearable Art Connection, but as friendships do, this one faded away. No hard feelings, just life. So I always enjoy seeing her work pop up. The top piece is clearly utilizing rust as a design element. I remember when we were first introduced to that via Japanese textile art. Maureen has never let go. Needless to say, I really like her owl.
Linda Stone. In Memory of the Thomas Fire. This occurred less than a year ago and now so much more of California is burning. 
I love seeing women working with fiber, but to me, these are lovely craft pieces. This is an expression of these women, of their work. Art? I don’t know, if they want to call it art, that is fine. This artist whos’ name I didn’t get, also has a similar quilt with pears. What can I say, I’m drawn to pomegranates.
This was called an inside-out quilt. Definitely one of the more original works.
Fun three D. Reminds me of my doll making days.
Smadar Knobler had a number of three D silk pieces. I met her 20 years ago and bought a ruana from her.
It is beautiful, I really should use this more often!
There were a few pieces of real Ikat, as in yarn dyed not printed. I have no idea what I’m going to do with these, but hey, it’s Ikat. Btw, I learned about this technique over 30 years ago – it was called- E-Cot, not I-cat, the way I’m hearing people pronounce it now.
I grabbed a bunch of yellows, I’m thinking of doing a tone on tone applique border for my owl, some of these will work, others will simply go into the stash.
A print from London, based on Erte, it says so right on the selvage. I have always loved Erte, so although this has no purpose yet, I had to have it.
Red is a neutral right? I made a red and white quilt last year that I gave away, I’m thinking of another one that I will keep.
I grabbed a few blues and turquoise. These colors are just in my wheelhouse. Oh, I picked up a number of Civil War reproductions, I find that they are wonderful foils to the bright modern fabrics.
A space themed pack of fat quarters. I know, I made Westley a space themed quilt 4 years ago. I’m sure some other baby boy will appreciate this as well.
Turns out that among the fabric I picked, someone had put out kits for pillowcases. I guess they never got around to making them. So once again, I put the 5 threads to work on my serger.
Every month I take the kits at LAMQG, I’m sure they won’t mind getting double the number back. The bright red batik has been in my stash, I thought I was pairing it with a small yellow print, but there wasn’t enough for a pillowcase. It always feel good to use stash fabric, since I have clearly just added so much.
There was a birthday party. Big cake came from a bakery, little one was homemade by Abba Yoch. Much better than a little cupcake.
At first he was tentative.
Then he got into it.
REALLY into it. First birthday party was a huge success.
At the party the Grandpas brought up figs from their garden, I couldn’t just let them go to waste.
So I made fig jam.
I will make sure the grandpas get a jar. I need to give most of these away, I just don’t eat much jam.
Yay!! I finished the owl, piecing up those small pieces on the face wasn’t easy.
Alls well that ends well. I’m pleased, very pleased with this owl.
Next up, piping.
Outer border. I still want to applique or maybe embroider something here. I need to think about it before diving in.
I did a double take, a barn quilt up on the garage. Not something I see often. Right after I took this picture, I saw a woman picking her roses in the front yard. I went over and asked her about the barn quilt block. We spent a good half hour talking. She was so thrilled that I recognized it for what it is. Her name is Denise, she is originally from North Carolina, where she saw these barn quilts. She now owns her grandmother’s house up in the Blue Ridge Mountains where a larger version hangs on a barn.
I went on my way, looking and admiring the old houses. I love this iron partition. It’s an old house, the details in the woodwork are things that haven’t been put on houses since the 1950s. I wonder if the TV antennae still works. With so many people cutting the cable cord, an antennae is a useful thing to have.
No more barn quilts. Denise said she was hoping neighbors would follow her example, but no one has. People find other ways to decorate, Stained glass is big.
This is a beautiful example, peacock and roses.
A little English cottage!
I couldn’t find a trashcan anywhere to disposes of this litter. I agree, Philippe’s French Dip sandwich is amazing. Worth the trip downtown, but why throw the box on the ground???
I made a jeans skirt. Maybe because I grew up Orthodox in Jerusalem, owning a jeans skirt is a must-have in a wardrobe. I hacked a shorts pattern I had, because I liked the pockets and the front placket. I guess that means I really know what I’m doing after all these years.
On t the next skirt, made from Kaffe Fassett solid, or yarn dye cotton. Very lightweight, perfect for a gathered skirt. I need more of these two colors, sure blue-greens look great on me, but so does this.
Here I am in my me-made wardrobe with the best accessory of all, an adorable grandson!!! His first ride on the train at Travel Town. Btw, he actually does smile, just not so much for the camera. These days he always smiles when he sees me- what more can a grandma ask for!
I started a hand applique project. I am in love with the Appliquick method. So when I saw an image of this owl, I rushed out and bought the book. It is an embroidery book, something else I enjoy doing, but my plan is to applique this owl.
I went to Kinkos and had the image enlarged on the blueprint printer. No taping paper together. Well worth the $8 a sheet.
The green background has more green than khaki in it, oh well, cameras.
A lot of progress has been made. There is repetition in fabrics, it unifies the image.
I did my usual spray basting as well as using mono-filament to anchor down the blocks. This gives me the freedom to jump around and quilt at will.
Working on my trusted Juki, I wanted a unified background. So I quilted these round shapes. They cross the lines I had quilted before, making that completely disappear. The blocks are very hard edge, so a soft background is very complimentary. 
I did some ruler work on the grey blades, that was it for the ruler. I simply outlined all the chains of blocks and left them unquilted, in order to give some dimension.
A basic theme in design is repetition. Most of these squares are pretty much the same pattern, simply changing the placement of the colors. Once again, I left many triangles unquilted. In this case I mirrored the red shape. This is the only block where I did this, I came up with a different quilting pattern, but do not feel the need to take out this quilting, simply because it is different from the rest.
Another thing, every scrappy block has a solid fabric somewhere. So here the border isn’t solid, so it may be a little harder to see the quilting. I did dot-to-dot. this became the theme. The center block is always different.
But, the 1.5″ squares are often filled with the same pattern, so that one repeats all over.
So dot-to-dot was used often. Btw, I understand that Angela Walters is selling rulers, I bought a few and really like them. But two years ago when I took her Craftsy class on dot-to-dot, it was all about free-hand quilting. Now she is teaching it with the rulers. I totally respect her need to sell rulers, I feel that some ruler work is nice, but not everything. The old free-hand works just fine for me.
I am very very happy with this whole quilt.
One design element from modern quilting that I love, is lack of borders, it really speaks to me. So in order to achieve that I faced the quilt instead of putting on binding. Here I’m hand sewing the back side. How cute is my needle holder? Yup, from Etsy. There are many tutorials on You Tube about how to achieve this easy binding. I did use the background fabric.
Because, it has a way of peaking over the edge, by using the same fabric, it’s invisible.
OK, here we go! The finished quilt! I’m very pleased with this, although I won’t be keeping it. I hope to put it in a quilt auction my guild is having and if it doesn’t sell than a lucky friend will get a gift.
The backing is a fabric that a friend gave me, I didn’t have to buy any fabric. Actually, the only fabric I bought for this quilt is the yellow background.
And now to finish off with an artistic shot. I love the way this quilt came out.
International Silk and Woolens has some really lovely rayon. I couldn’t resist this one, the plans are another Libby shirt.
Side by side, the rayon on the left is heavier weight, which makes sewing it a little easier.
I guess I found another pattern I’m happy to make more than once. I’m finding that is what happens with shirt patterns, dresses, not so much.
Look at those buttons! Little jewels on the shirt.
Yup, this pattern in rayon is a winner.
Not great, but it works and I’m more comfortable wearing this without it dropping off my shoulders. I simply removed the bias band, and put in some gathers. I probably could have only ‘eased it’, like one does with a sleeve cap, but I just wanted it done.
Being a little higher up on my back works better as well.