Home Again

California did not disappoint.  We got to see lots of nature! There is a desert area in Palm Canyon with this tree that appears to be bowing in welcome.


This tree is in the midst of an oasis down in the canyon.

We hiked past the oasis and up the other side of the canyon where we found this guy hiding in the rocks. There were a few smaller lizards near the oasis, but I only saw this one larger one.

Turning from his little perch you get this view.

On another day trip we took the aerial tram up Mount San Jacinto.  8,400 feet up was more hiking than I wanted that day.  The highest I've ever done was Mount Marcy at about 5,400 feet which took me all day to get up and back.  You can hike San Jacinto one way and take the tram the other, though, which I might try sometime.

Of course, I built a cairn.  Two actually.

From hot desert and cool mountains, we moved on to the nice warm California coast to see sea lions on the beach in La Jolla,

Sea lions go for the family bed concept, too.

I love these guys!  They were so playful.

They are like the dogs of the ocean.  I don't know if they were playing, fighting, or mating actually, but those in the water were energetic, noisy, and seemed quite happy.

Some people were swimming with them. 

 Seals are the cats of the ocean--the vast majority were sleeping in the sun when we were there.

This guy posed for me, though.

Is that not the sweetest face?  Good thing they're so fat or people would be stealing they away to take home.

Birds! Lots of birds.  Nesting cormorants were all over the cliffs.

There were gulls, of course, and a few pelicans like this guy who was mid-stretch.  It was possibly a yoga stetch that I would guess might be called "open gullet and hope a fish drops in" pose.

Some birds were apparently tourists as well.  We wanted to go in this store, but it was crowded with these guys.

Kiefer said I should have waited to get a photo of them in their new shades.

Then the flowers.  Way too many to show, so just this one. 

I'll share some pics of the Los Angeles part soon.  You will not believe some of the stars on the Walk of Fame.

Wondering How to Paint the House?

Just in case someone looking for ideas for the outside of the house, I thought I'd share this one from Venice Beach in California.

Here's a closer look for those who need more inspiration.  I am particularly taken with the little creatures holding umbrellas with their trunks.  The multi-legged "eye" creatures are a very close second, though. 

Love that there is a color-coordinated one way sign in front!  This is definitely one way to do house painting.

My house has vinyl siding, but my shed is painted.  I think I might have to get a little artsy this summer.

Cairns Happen

I can't leave anything alone.

If you put people and rocks together, cairns happen. 

There's a cool extension on the Zim Smith Trail that leads to Route 9.  For some reason, this part of the trail has great rocks that the rest of the trail is sorely lacking.  I take it as a personal responsibility to build a mini cairn on every visit.  Yes, the best part about this cairn is the big, gorgeous rock on the bottom for which I can take no credit, but I like to think that I have improved upon it.  It's what crafters do, right?

Happy Easter!

The Easter bunny is as old as dirt.  If I have to wear reading glasses, s/he must need them as well.  Question is whether this bunny is male or female.  Anyone know??  I want proof--opinions only count in politics and other nonsensical things.  With proof, I will add either a nice bow tie or a hair fur ribbon.

Update:  From the Encyclopedia Mythica:  Ostara is the personification of the rising sun. In that capacity she is associated with the spring and is considered a fertility goddess. She is the friend of all children and to amuse them she changed her pet bird into a rabbit. This rabbit brought forth brightly coloured eggs, which the Greek goddess gave to children as gifts. From her name and rites the festival of Easter is derived.

If the bird changed into a rabbit "brought forth" eggs, it must have been a female bird changed to a female rabbit.  Yes!  Yes!  The Easter bunny is a female!!! 

For all those who celebrate Easter for religious or fun reasons, I am wishing you a sunny, happy day!

 

Dragon Wing Scarf

I have been mulling this project for weeks and decided the procrastination had to stop today. I put on my Harry Potter films for inspiration and started drafting a pattern. 

The idea for this, as with my last scarf, came from a knitted scarf pattern.  Unfortunately all you get from a knitting pattern is inspiration in the form of a photo.  I have no knowledge of pattern making--yet another strike against me in this project.  If you want something badly enough, you figure it out!

I drafted a pattern by guess and by luck coming up with this.

It's supposed to look like a dragon wing draped over the shoulder. Hopefully it looks like that to others.  I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Now, how to keep it in place.  The original pattern had buttons on the shoulder which looked great on the knitted version, but I didn't think buttons would look good on the fabric once it was finished. I decided on the silver pin which is listed as a scarf or kilt pin on Etsy.  I was going to wear the scarf on my trip to California until the pin came in the mail and I saw just how long a four inch pin really is.    No way that was getting through TSA!  I'm glad I got it, though.  It looks great with the scarf.

 

None of the photos are showing the great texture of the fabric.  The "scales" are raised bumps in the fabric.  You can kind of see it more in the photo below.

While it took weeks of mental prepping, it only took one afternoon to make the scarf (or three Harry Potter movies).  As I type this, I am on my fourth movie at the very part where Harry is fighting the Hungarian Horntail dragon.  How fitting!

The Perks of Being a Sewer

Oh, the upsides of sewing, and there are many.  You can make things you could not otherwise afford or tweak things to make them work just right for you.  You can create things that only you imagined! Sometimes you can make something you really need right now rather than having to head out to the store.

This is my new lingerie bag born as a result of misplacing my one and only lingerie bag at a time when the laundry could not wait another day.  While I may not be able to keep track of everything, my sewing room is organized well enough that I could find a zipper and a mesh fabric remnant.  Thanks to my sewing muse, Sandra, the zipper pouch queen, I have long since lost any fear of sewing zippers.  Using the method of moving the zipper down a bit from the top made this even simpler.

Start to finish, this project took about about five minutes.   Yay me for being a sewer, having a stash, and getting the laundry done!  As for the original bag that I knew would turn up sooner or later...

sitting on the quilt stand in my bedroom that I must have passed by at least five times while searching for it.  Eyes wide shut.

Straight Skirt to Comfortable Skirt

 This:

from this:

I bought this straight skirt last year because straight skirts are cool.  Cool, yes, but not comfortable for me. So the side seams came out, and inserts went in.

The hardest part of this project was figuring out how to cut two pieces of stripped fabric so that I could line up the stripes to form inverted Vs!  If there is an easy way, please, please share it with me.  I had to call in my in-house engineer to help with this part.  I just could not understand how to make it happen.  Next time, one simple piece of fabric there.

I ended up making an oversized diamond-shaped piece for each side of the skirt. I chose not to cut the inserts down at this point so I wouldn't have to worry about getting the stripes even--lots of room to play around.  After the panels were sewn in place, I used my serger to cut the inserts close to the seam and finish the edges.

This is a lot larger than it needed to be.  I cut it down after sewing it in.

Here it is pinned in place

Inside after sewing in place and serging off the insert excess.

I used a ruler with a slight curve to make the hem line on the inset pieces before cutting them down for hemming. 

The back--still has the slit from being a straight skirt which is kinda cool.

The front.  Hemmed and done!

Now this is a skirt I can actually wear.  As you can see, I am not a too good at taking selfies.  This will have to do.