31 years ago I made this quilt for my friends, the ones we just visited in Washington. They paid me for it, at the time, neither of us had much money, so they paid for the material and then some. I didn’t make it for the money. The fact that they paid for the material meant I could make it at all.
It is a queen size quilt, they no longer use it on their bed since they now have a larger bed as well as a different color scheme. This is very 80’s, the southwest color influence.
hThery have been taking very well care of it, the quilt is in excellent shape.
Here is the block I used, a modified Ohio Star, no sashing, so the pattern blends.
My binding is much larger than traditional binding. I learned how to quilt from Quilters Newsletter Magazine, which is sadly printing it’s last issue this fall. I bought the fabric in Washington, probably at G street Fabric in it’s original location on G Street. By then I had learned that batting is pretty thin, but I didn’t know how thin the binding is supposed to be. 
Embroidery has been part of my labels forever. I think this may have been the third full size quilt I ever made. At the time I lived in a nieghborhood called Ramot in Jerusalem. I was hoping our friends would move to Israel as well, hense the request to bring the quilt back. They have stayed in DC, and we moved to California, to my husbands hometown. Life is full of surprises.
I’m pretty sure I machine pieced the top. My original quilt (sadly gone) was all made by hand and it fell apart quilckly. I didn’t do heavy quilting here, but I did quilt by hand.
My feathers have gotten so much better! This is the back of the quilt, so you are seeing the back of the stitches, pretty impressive if I say so myself.
Hand quilting means switching colors is easy to do. I bought the cotton quilting thread along with the fabric. At the time neither were available in Israel. Today things are very different there, there is even a vibrant quilting community.
I put together a quilt group, most of us where originally from the US, although Sholmit, the one with the red afro was a native Israeli. I’m on the far right, look how young I was! I also knit that top I’m wearing, some things never change! The woman second from left is Ann, she has since moved to LA as well and we are very good friends.
I don’t remember what we did with the quilt, I know that I made the blcok with the curves, I was into curves from the begining. This post is bringing back so many memories!
Here I am, wrapped in the warmth of an old friend.
A quick jaunt down to Aliso Viejo. We found a business hotel that has a nice workout center and just the right kind of pools and splash pads for little ones. I brought the tripod and we had a very ragtag session trying to get a family photo. We got the photo, we clearly are real people, not one of those beautiful staged settings. 
Resting with Aytan.
Fair skinned and blond, Westley is covered head to toe.
Grandpa loves the pool.
Fair skinned uncle could use the same kind of cover ups.
Clearly I’m an amature photographer, couldn’t get the shot with Yoch’s eyes open.
Enjoying the pool.
And the splash area.
To my delight, when we went down for bagels and coffee, we saw a classic car club with all their gorgeous cars.
Probably looking much better than they ever did new.
How iconically Southern California is this?
Or this?
Not an easy one, the Cumberland backpack. I decided to try the larger size. I tried to stay true to her requirements, but later in the process, I realized that I have the wrong mesh. This may have caused problems for me, since what she called for is lighter and thinner.
I didn’t take a lot of in process photos. I will say right here, that I had a problem fitting the center band to the front and back. Of course I worked things out so those little pleats that aren’t supposed to be there – aren’t very noticeable.
I can’t sing the praises of how Sara designs these bags. She really thinks of every detail and all the hardware makes the backpack look very professional.
There are no interior shots, because my inside finishing is not the neatest.
Except for the front pouch with it’s lovely inserted zipper.
I know, as a home sewer, I shouldn’t expect the perfection of a mass produced product. I don’t, certainly not on my very first try. Most people will never notice the imprefections, I just mentioned them to Sara so she would know where I had problems. That is part of testing.
Give it to a very happy six-year-old.
It still is a little big, but she will grow into it.
The next day she loaded it up with toys and went over to her friends house to play. I can’t think of a better compliment! I love it when people use my gifts.
One of the fun things about travel is seeing things you don’t see at home, well, the coneflower is also found here.
But this alien flower is new to me.
It appears to be some kind of rapid growing vine.
Like these vines that have taken over a staircase in Georgetown. I guess it doesn’t get much foot traffic anymore.
We have hibiscus here of course, but this one was so red and huge.
Then there is the cattail, often considered a problem because it expands so rapidly.
I saw quite a few of these massive spiderwebs that seemed to capture more plant material then bugs. Maybe the bugs are too small to see or they are consumed instantly.
The common sparrow, eating crumbs that someone dropped.
I don’t know if this is a heron or some other river bird.
A mama and baby deer, yes we have plenty of these around here.
But like all baby animals, who can resist something this cute?
Speaking of deer, the yarn store sure knows how to make a display.
I’ll start with Outlander. No, I haven’t seen the show, I hated the first book and left it at that. But this isn’t about the show itself, it’s about the costumes. I was with my friend Ruth who taught costume design, she thought she was boring me with the details. I loved it. She said the 18th-century silhouette is here and is captured beautifully. As for the embroidery – that is a modern embellishment.
This man’s waistcoat is a sight to behold.
From the embroidered images I’m thinking bad guy? The Designer certainly knows her illuminated manuscripts very well. Both the bird and the bat are straight from medieval European manuscriptsNo one ever saw those teeth on TV, which is why these shows are so wonderful, getting such a close-up view of very well made costumes.
Since Cumberbatch wasn’t part of the show, the only thing we care about is the Deer Stalker hat – that wasn’t in any of the books.
I think this was mid to late 19th century. Of course, for me, it’s about the details.
20’s style dress, great use of bias tape.
Ruth complained about this set, it will look flat on camera she said. She is right, here is my image from my camera and the dresses have no depth, even though they have great detail in real life.
Fantasy shows are always fun (I think this is from Defiance) take the Scottish Highland outfit, kilt and all, but knock it up about ten notches. 
Wool, leather, snakeskin, an amulet from the Himalayas (or a facsimile of one). Once again, a pleasure to see up close.
The joy of Sci-fi is as much in the costumes as in the story.
Someone had a lot of fun working this leather.
Someone else had a blast distressing all of these items of clothing. This I do know is from the Walking Dead. But was it worn by a zombie or someone trying desperately to stay alive?
Killer nails, fake of course but part of the hand, not the glove, the glove has holes at the tips of the nails.
Men’s costumes rarely get the love the ladies receive. So I’m always looking at the details. I’m thinking this would fly off the shelves given half a chance.
We stayed at the Watergate hotel, famous for it’s curves and these points, of course, it’s famous for other things, but I’m taking architecture here.
1960’s design, the contrast is wonderful when you zoom in.
Zooming in is great for seeing materials and texture, on an old church.
The new African American museum.
Skylight and courtyard at the Portrait gallery. Shadows are a great part of texture.
Gate and bricks in Georgetown. People don’t do this kind of metal work anymore.
Or this.
An old lock on the C&O canal in Georgetown, old brick and wood. More on the canal later.
I’m embarrassed to say, I didn’t notice this incredible marble booking in the lobby of the Watergate Hotel until we were leaving.
I thought that because of the expense, this style of working with marble went out in the 30’s with the depression. Now I know why it took five years to renovate the hotel.
So, what is booking you ask? (clearly, you haven’t been on one of my downtown tours). Notice the diamond shape. Four squares of marble, the top two are mirror images as are the bottom two. In order to achieve that, you need to study the marble carefully, then slice it very thin so that you can flip one of the pieces and get a mirror image. In this case, they had to then find another vein in the marble that would be a close enough match to create the diamond.
Another favorite texture of mine is stained glass, of which there is plenty in the National Cathedral.
So these griffins-gargoyles don’t come close to those on the Cathedral, but they are a nice whimsical touch over a store front in Alexandria.
I probably could have knit a pair with one ball of yarn, but I didn’t want to risk it, so the toe, heel and ribbing are in a solid.
Like socks
Although these fit me very well they are going to be gifted.
Yes, there are people in my life who are knit-worthy.
Everyone brought leftover sock yarn, we swapped, we shared, we made piles of yarn.
My pile is on the bottom right, I even started knitting at the meeting.
What are we making? Wonderful colorful fingerless mitts, using the pattern 
My trip to DC means two long stretches of 5 hours where all I have to do is listen to an audible book and knit.
Finished and blocked.
There is no right hand or left hand, they can be worn on either hand. I love them, problem is, I had a specific friend in mind for these and she doesn’t go for bright psychedelic colors.
I should break out of my routine and do what Maria did, make them in shades of black, grey and white.
The height of the Capitol determines how high buildings can be. I think my tours in downtown Los Angeles have changed my viewpoint. I like having tall modern buildings in a city, gives it some gravitas.
There is nothing like the Lincoln memorial at night, if I have to choose a favorite, it is this one, the majesty is palpable. Apparently a lot of people agree.
Booyah! to the Marines. The Iwo Jima memorial is so impressive.
With every new battle, they add a new inscription. I confess, I like this much better than the general WWII memorial. That one felt so overwrought and over done. 
Here the sculpture is a true piece of art that really tells the story.
From there, to the greatest memorial to those who fought for our freedom. Arlington Cemetary.
The grave of the unknown soldier, or soldiers, since they have added more remains. I’m thinking that today with all our DNA technology, there may be people who’re bodies are lost forever, but if found, they are identified.
The changing of the guards, so solemn, so impressive, so many people standing and watching and honoring our American soldiers.
Mt. Vernon is covered in scaffolding, up on the weather vane, a crow sits atop the dove with the olive branch.
The National Cathedral is worth a visit. For it’s flying buttresses…
gargoyles…
arches….
and stained glass.
Remember back in the spring I made this dress? I really loved the fabric (cotton linen blend) but I hated the dress.
So it became a shirt, but not one I loved
A cute summer dress with pockets.
Looks good from the back as well.
Looks even better with roses that match the print. I’m not sure about the seam where the bodice and skirt meet.
I guess it gives it a little more flare. And yes, those roses are real, not photoshop.
The interior collar stand is the solid blue, as is the under collar. I’m getting better at inserting the collar, still having a few issues, but the more practice the better. At least my sleeve caps look very professional these days and it’s easy for me to do.
I love the print! I also like it combined with the solid. I do have a blue skirt I could have worn with the other shirt, but this looks cuter, neater and it has pockets! As for the shirt, it’s in the donation pile. at least out of 3.5′ of fabric that I bought, I have something I really like.
I love this kind of clocks, from back in the day when owning a wristwatch, or a pocket watch was only the purview of a few. It was important to have clocks out in public, especially in busy downtowns.
This looks like an updated sign for a business that is no longer there. I’m guessing it was a pub.
A humble pizza shop made a pizza pie
This is modern creativity, the old-fashioned sign, but made as only a modern one can.
This was my first stop! Only later did I take the picture.
The lamp posts outside the store were yarn-bombed.
Even though it was one of the hottest humid days in the DC area, look at all this wonderful yarn! I had to buy something.
I have a sweater pattern in mind, so I needed sport weight yarn. They were having a sale!!! I bought a color I normally wouldn’t have been drawn to, but it is a beautiful eggplant brown. Sweet Georgia yarns are amazing, I love knitting with them. I probably would have bought something in the blue-green family because that is what I always do. So yay for a sale! Made me buy a new to me color.
Sometimes the sign is really secondary to the color of the building. I’m very pleased that Alexandria allows this kind of colors.
I also enjoy these large murals on the back side of buildings. These look like poppies, of course to my mind they look like California poppies because they are orange.