Simply Beautiful

Ahhh...warm, sunny days of summer...fresh cut roses from my garden...in a vase I made myself...simply beautiful!

Checks and Lace

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking through my fabric stash and ran across some red and white check fabric that had been given to me. About a week later, I was eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant in San Diego and was inspired by the little fabric squares with crocheted edging that lined the tortilla baskets. What a great idea! I soon pulled out that checked fabric to make a tablecloth; trimmed it; folded, pressed, and sewed the edges; and added blanket stitching so I could crochet a lacy edging.


I love blanket stitching! It's so cute and fun to sew. It's a good thing I enjoy sewing it because it took quite a while to get around the edges of the tablecloth.


The next step was to single crochet onto the blanket stitches.


Each step looked so cute...the sewing, then the blanket stitching, and the single crochet edge...that I could have stopped after any one of them and it would have looked good. However, I was excited to keep going and make it a little more special. I looked through some edging patterns and tried a few but ended up making up something on my own. The little triangles are simple but they tie into the little diamonds in the fabric. They are basically shells with three double crochets, two trebles, and three more doubles. I spaced them out with a single crochet between each one.


I'm not sure yet if I'll embellish on the triangles. I'll probably decide on that after I make it all the way around the tablecloth.

I originally wanted to make a red lace edge but couldn't find red thread that matched the fabric. In fact, I even had trouble finding white crochet cotton. It used to be a staple in the yarn world. I remember it being sold even in drug and grocery stores. This time, I couldn't find any at Michael's, Walmart (they didn't have white), and JoAnn only had the two balls of white that I bought (no other colors). That was surprising to me. I'm glad I found some though while I was inspired and ready to go.

It's always satisfying to make something wonderful with things I have on hand or that cost very little. With the thread that I bought, this tablecloth will cost me less than $5. How awesome is that?! I'm also enjoying the simple pleasure of sitting with the fabric on my lap, stitching with a needle and thread, and doing some simple crochet.

It's the perfect time to make a red and white checked tablecloth...just before the Fourth of July!

Inspirational Speed Bumps

I'm still here and I've been very busy. I just don't have anything to show for it. Amongst day-to-day busy-ness there has been a family reunion, hiking trips, some knitting, and lots and lots of project planning. I've been feeling inspired to do lots of crafty things lately but I keep running into speed bumps that keep me from moving ahead as quickly as I'd like to.

The biggest problem I'm having has to do with sewing. I want to start sewing clothing for everyday wear...not just costumes or special events. My daughter and I are frustrated with ready-made clothing choices. We can spend hours, even days, shopping to find casual, everyday clothing and come home with nothing. We go with an open mind but so many of the clothes available now are ugly, made of super thin fabric, and overpriced for the poor quality that they are. When we do find something we like, the fit is often very bad and/or they don't have it in our size. We figure that sewing our own clothing would be a good solution. However, we've been searching through pattern books and finding some of the same problems...styles we don't like, not many options, and, when we find one we like, the store often doesn't have the pattern or they don't have it in our size. I've had a bit of luck online with vintage and historical styles. I'm going to start searching for everyday styles of patterns online and hope for similar luck.

When we do find a pattern, we're often running into the problem of not finding fabrics we like to go with them or enough yardage of what we do like. Selection seems to be limited in fabric too. We're currently on the search for fabric stores outside of our area that aren't chain stores. We plan to make a few day trips and hoping for some good luck. In the meantime, I'll be wearing the same few pieces of warm weather clothing that I have. Ugh!

I'm happy to report that my knitting, crochet, yarny mojo that has been on vacation for a while has finally returned. Yay! I've been looking through patterns and my stash with great excitement and I have so many projects lined up that I don't know where to start! I'm trying to finish my "Clever Little Shawl" before I start something new but I have a feeling that I might not be able to wait. ;-)

This tends to be a very crafty-inspired time of year for me. I'm not sure why but I remember being extra crafty at this time of year even when I was a child. It must be all the sunshine! That's what happens to solar powered people! Now, I hope can clear the speed bumps so I can start speeding along to to the finish line with a lot of these projects while the inspiration is here!

Mount Palomar

A couple of weekends ago, my husband and I went for a drive up Mount Palomar. It's a 6,142 foot mountain at the north end of San Diego County. I can see it from my town and it's literally minutes away. We see it just about every day but we've never taken the time to drive up it. We decided it was long past time to do so and finally went.

It was a pretty drive with winding roads, lots of motorcycles and bicyclists enjoying the curvy roads, and the weather was beautiful. There were beautiful flowers along the roadsides, in many colors...purple, pink, yellow, white, red...but turnouts were rarely where the best or most flowers grew. I did manage to get some pictures.


The fuzzy pods on this one remind me of edamame...


Here's a close up of it's beautiful white flowers...


This yellow one reminds me of Snapdragons...


I love the fuzzy, soft look of this one. It reminds me of the herb, Lamb's Ear...


There were even ferns up there! I never would have imagined that they grew on this mountain that sits right next to the desert and so close to my home. So pretty!




There were many more homes on the mountain than I would have imagined. There's history up there too. We stopped at an old barn/general store/antique shop that was built in the 1880's. There weren't very many businesses up there though. There was a small store that sold trinkets and a few snacks. There was a vegetarian restaurant that seemed to be popular with the bicyclists. There were quite a few cyclists riding up and down the mountain. This was one of the stages of the Tour of California bike race a couple of years ago. It's a great road for cyclists to train on. The only other business we saw was a post office and it's one of the smallest ones I've ever seen...


We saw three campgrounds up there. One is a state park. I had no idea they were up there! The ones we drove through were most suitable for tent camping and don't have any or much room for RV's.

The scenery was beautiful...lots of trees, flowers, and rolling hills...


At the top of the mountain is the Palomar Observatory. It was built in the 1930's and, at one time, it's 200" telescope was the largest in the world. The grounds and views are beautiful. We brought a picnic lunch and ate at a little park there. Afterwards, we walked up a path to see the observatory. There were a couple of huge and interesting trees alongside the path. Here's the bottom of the biggest one...


The observatory is pretty big but I'm still amazed at how we can see it from miles and miles away...


It's so pretty against the blue sky...


I took a picture of hubby standing next to the observatory to show how big it is...


It was built in an Art Deco style. I like the bell shaped bottom...


There are stairs on one side of the observatory that lead to restrooms and up into an observation area to view the massive telescopes and equipment inside. The Art Deco tile and details were beautiful but hard to photograph as it was pretty dark inside and I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures of tile in the restroom.


I did manage to get some photos from the observation area by putting my lense up against the glass and leaning on it to hold very still while the shutter stayed open. They turned out a bit yellow but the view of the telescopes and equipment is pretty good...


This one is looking up through glass at the ceiling of the dome...


There was a little window on one side that showed one of the wheels that the dome top turns on...


There was a little museum nearby with models of the observatory and telescopes, pictures of space and displays of what has been learned about space from this and other observatories, and a little shop.

Along the path back to the car there are some bushes covered in white blooms. So pretty!...


Here's a close up of one of some of the flowers...


We took Highway 76 and the South Grade road up to the top and the observatory. On our way home, we took the East Grade road which dropped down toward Warner Springs and Lake Henshaw. The lake has obviously grown a lot from all the rain we had this year. There are a lot of trees in the water and far from the shore...


I'm glad we finally went up to explore this mountain that we've been looking at all these years. We always like to explore areas nearby and be tourists in our own backyard. There's so much to see. I'm not sure why it took us so long to visit Mount Palomar. Hmmm...I wonder what else is nearby that we haven't seen?

Tahquitz

I love hiking and being in the great outdoors. There's something about being out in nature that refreshes my mind, body, and soul. Now that the weather is improving, we're trying to get out more regularly to explore.

Our adventure for this last Sunday was a hike to Tahquitz Peak in Idyllwild, California. We loaded our day packs with provisions and drove up to Idyllwild. We stopped at the ranger station to get our permit to hike the South Ridge Trail and took our 4x4 up a short but rutty dirt road to the trailhead.

We saw this sign on the way to Idyllwild...the Sasquatch is actually made of fake fur. I thought it was so funny that we had to stop and get a picture of it later that day...


The weather was warm and sunny...Ahhhhh! There were flowers along the bottom portions of the trail. Many of them were very small...






We saw several of these. I'm not sure what they are but I'm thinking they're some kind of fungus like mushrooms. They're amazingly strong too as we saw one that had pushed it's way up through a crumbling piece of granite. The color definitely stands out in the forest...


The manzanita are always so pretty with their smooth, reddish trunks but right now they are in full bloom and loaded with tiny pink blossoms. Some are a pretty pale pink...


And, some are darker pink. So cute!...


I haven't found the name of these yet but they're blooming like crazy in the hills and mountains around Southern California right now. I love the periwinkle blue color...


This golden yellow always catches my eye. I love it!...


This was surprising to see in our normally dry mountains...moss...and lots of it! Evidence of our long winter and all the rain we've gotten this year...


The sky was so blue and the scenery was gorgeous...


There were a lot of things to see along the way...like this huge rock jutting out of the side of the mountain...


Tahquitz Peak is located on the San Jacinto Mountain as is Lily Rock, a huge white granite rock that can be seen from many miles away. I thought Tahquitz and Lily Rock were one and the same. After seeing Lily Rock all these years, I was excited about hiking up and touching it. It's amazing! Well, it turns out that they are two totally different things. Lily Rock is located below Tahquitz Peak. So, touching Lily Rock will be a totally different hike. But, I think we passed by it on this hike and this might be part of it...


We passed this much smaller rock along the trail. Look...I can hold it up...lol...


The rocks formed a picture frame for a tree and a view to the North...


This was not an easy hike! It took us about three and a half hours to get to the top and that included over 2,000 feet of climbing. It was quite steep in some sections. We definitely felt that in our legs and it was very evident in how quickly the view would change. At one point, we looked up at a rocky, jagged ridge and a couple of switchbacks later, we were looking over the top of it and could see the valley below on the other side of it. Whew! We kept thinking that we were getting close to the top but the trail kept going and going as it got steeper and steeper. It was quite a workout but we made it. The peak elevation is 8,828 feet and there's a fire lookout at the top...


The lookout was built in 1937. I can't imagine carrying all the materials up that steep trail to build this. Not to mention, the bed, stove, etc. that they carried up. And, all the water and supplies each time someone comes up to work there. Wow! Here's a peek of what's inside that I shot through the windows...




The views were amazing! To the North was San Jacinto Peak at 10,834 feet. To the East and Northeast we could see over the Palm Springs area and 29 Palms. To the Southeast we could see part of the Salton Sea, Coachella Valley, and the 10 freeway that heads East to Arizona. To the South we could see into San Diego County, And, to the West we could see the whole valley that surrounds where we live. It was pretty clear that morning but a storm was moving in and it became hazy as the day went on. Otherwise, I bet we could have seen the ocean!

Here's hubby soaking in the views...


He caught me doing the same...


We hiked almost eight miles that day. The steepness of the trail took us three and a half hours to reach the top, with a short lunch break. But, it only took us about an hour and 40 minutes to get down. Our legs were so 'done' when we got back to the car and so sore the next day that it was hard to walk. It was so worth it though.

Now that I'm able to walk again...lol...I'm looking forward to our next outdoor adventure! :-)