MOCA - art in the streets

This week while Mimi was still at school, all the guys and I took a trek to downtown to see the Art in The Streets exhibit at MOCA. There was so much to be inspired (and shocked!) by, but one of my two favorite rooms was this exhibit based on cut paper, light and shadows. 100 photos couldn't capture the beauty of this room, and I could have stood there for an hour, but maybe even a few small pics can show you how beautiful this room was.

Bearing fruit

This is mind-boggling. The past month I've been in a real slump. (you probably gathered that reading around here... I wish I could be more clear about our foster care process, but I'm not allowed to, sadly)

Anyhow... In the midst of the baby birds outside my bedroom window and the spring sunshine, I have also noticed something odd about my grapevine in the backyard. It was given to me 3 years ago when a dear friend of mine had to leave LA and she and her hubby sadly had to let go of a bunch of their treasured plants. I've done my best over the years, but never had one grape. Then a few weeks ago there were tiny little grapes appearing... And now, now the vine is bursting with bunches and taking over our yard. I took this pic and sent it to my friend and she sent me the following email  and Bible verses...

"you have to frame this. you don't realize how significant this is. Chris had this grapevine since when we were first married (I will ask him again how he got it I am sure there is a story there). It almost died so many times but he brought it back to life and now you have kept it alive....but it NEVER bore fruit ever! until now. Which is no mistake.
I believe it is to give you hope.

... I believe it is symbolic of the fruits of your labor and what is in store for you.

K.x

Jn 15.1   I am the true vine and my Father is the garden. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it will be more fruitful.

Ps. 1:3  He is like a tree plantedby streams of water which yields it's fruit in season and whose leaf does not whither. Whatever he does prospers.

Prov 11:30  The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life

Matt. 7:16  By their fruit you will recognize them

Gal 5....fruit of spirit....love, joy, peace, patience, kindess, faithfulness, gentleness, self control....

Liberty

Sent from my trusty little iPhone

Bee Happy doorway block for Kelly

Year 2 of Bee Happy... Month 1! New Bee member, Kelly asked for us to make doors and windows. Haven't gotten to the window yet, but here's my door... Along with it's inspiration from the hood and practice square (from yesterday's castoff pile!) kelly's square is the purple one.

I tried my hand at free motion sewing for the "welcome" mats. (took a free motion class at Sew Modern last month and am feeling way more confident!)
The practice square still needs flowers for it's vase, but they'll be added later.

Highchair recover

Our highchair is 6 years old and it was looking like it. Baby isn't a complainer, but I found in addition to the fabric being seriously stained, the inner batting of the cover was all balled up right in one spot that was somewhere under his right thigh.
I was making some big totes the other night with that awesome Ikea red polka-dotted laminate fabric and whipped this up too. It's got a double layer of fleece blankets also from ikea in it for a soft cushion. The whole thing cost less than $10 to recover.
Don't look closely. The stitching is NOT fabulous. But it's sturdy, comfy, and it reverses (doesn't everything?) to a brown nylon ripstop. And baby seems to like it.
(plus now it matches the kitchen... and everything else in my life!)

Miracles happen here

I drive past this sign every day. It's not on a church. I love the confidence it takes to print this and stick it on the side of a convalescent hospital.
And I want to wear it on my heart.

Color inspiration

There's a store in LA that I drive by regularly that sells bridesmaid dresses. I'm not exactly in the market, but these dresses continually catch my eye. This particular grouping really inspired my color sense... And prior to the hot pink dress being there, there was a leaf green one that offset these colors well too. (I think the photo I took has an accidental reflection of a tree in it that can give you an idea of how it looked)

Anyhow, you can see I grabbed some paint chips at Home Depot as I couldn't get the combo off my mind. And then I went home and picked fabrics to go in the scheme.

The photo with the blue newsprint fabric in it holds my final pics for a project... But the castoffs also made a great pile too...

Both of them are a little out of my comfort zone... Softer combos than I normally stick with, but I'm excited to use them.

Big sampler quilt finished

We slept under the finished sampler last night. Oh that made me so happy. Z was in tears this morning when he didn't have time to snuggle under "Mommy's biggest quilt ever" and I promised him he could rest in my bed after preschool today. The cutest thing is that he doesn't normally want to rest after school... The quilt is a big enough draw for him, though, to consider taking a rest.
I was folding the quits in our living room basket last night and laughing at how small they all look now. Gotta say, I kinda like the big ones. I think they are worth the extra effort.

Nesting

Last year a family of birds nested in the jasmine that blocks our bedroom window from view... So we had a phenomenally close view from the inside of their private little home. For payment of that private show, we had to give up fruit from our trees and had to deal with a bird that flew into my studio one day (remember that?)
This year a different family of birds took over the spot. I think they are robins. It's precious to hear the cheeping babies every morning and though I couldn't get a good shot of them in the nest, you can kind of see how their white downy heads stand out from the brown little home.

The other photo is just a pic of one of my favorite pendants... I was wearing it yesterday in the forest and felt like it wanted its pic taken out there with it's inspiration.
Though I have a love-hate affair with birds (Z is convinced I'm allergic to pigeons and I am too)... Little birdie nests are always an inspiration for me.

Beautiful Day

J and I were blessed to get a few hours to hang out in Monrovia Canyon today with other couples from our church. One of the highlights for both of us was time together/alone in the forest, by a creek in the sunshine. It was so gorgeous there!

I took these pics with my iPhone and for three of them, I played in apps to make them pretty- but the tree trunk one is as I took it with my phone... I would love this all blown up huge..

(my awesome hubby took the kids home and let me attend the LAMQG weekend sew for a few hours, too.)

Dahlia

J planted some dahlias in our front and back yards today. I was captured by their mysteriously large and elegant blooms.