Thursday, June 07, 2007

Now For Something Completely Different


Three guesses where I went today. Or what this is.
No, it's not Tinkertoys, nor is it Lincoln Logs. It isn't even an Erector Set, although it sorta does look like one of those creations, doesn't it?
Actually, it's the dome of this:

Atrium at the Brea Mall.
Quite a lovely shopping venue, one I'd never ventured out to before.
It was a Girls Day Out with my SIL/Roomie and D3, aka the Fashionista. A certain upscale department store is having its Half-Yearly Sale for Women and of course that's always a big draw.
Well, for a Fashionista and her mummy and auntie, at least. Besides, the Grandcarrot needed a new pair of shoes.
White shoes. For a certain event on Saturday, starring the boy.
News at 11. Or maybe on the 11th. We'll see.
This is another view of that ceiling. I love exposed beams and trusses like this. Architecture snoop, that's me.
My shopping companions protected me from passersby while I snapped these. Getting knocked over while I'm looking up up up and trying to get a skylight in focus is not in the plan. In addition to the protection, I also took quite a bit of teasing. Oh well. One must suffer for one's art, such as it is!
Today was one of those days that start out with a snail's pace and move on into frustration as the day goes on. I had an early-ish doctor's appt. in the depths of Monterey Park, which is a lovely community just a few miles away. I left home at 8:15, pretty confident of making my 8:45 date.
Hah. Double Hah! I arrived at 9:15, after circling the block a couple of times looking for a place to abandon the vehicle. Never mind parking; just some place to leave it. No wonder the ol' blood pressure was up. (The weight too, but that's another whole blog post. Not today.)
However, the day did get better after that. I left the doctor with a few centiliters of blood and took off for shopping. You know the old truism:
When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.
There are no yarn or fabric shops at the Brea Mall. This is A Good Thing for my budget.
So on to something more cheerful: quilts!
French quilts, for sale at the artists' street fair in Uzes. This artist uses silks and ribbons to construct her gorgeous pieces, then mounts them like the art they are so that they can be hung on the wall.
They are basically log cabins constructed in the classic Courthouse Steps layout. She folds the narrow pieces of silk/ribbon/satin/brocade and then stitches them carefully to a backing.
Her work is exquisite. The detailing, when you look closely at them, is precise and her stitching is meticulous. No wavering seams or mismatched corners. Those strips in the larger quilt finish at about 1/2 inch wide. Most of the smaller pieces have the same strip widths, although the smallest ones with the scenes in the center have slightly wider strips.
Nifty, huh?
No, I am not planning on making any of these myself any time soon. I have a rather large-ish backlog of quilt WIPs and UFOs which I have not listed on the sidebar, for the simple reason that I can't find them all. But that will change, I hope. My summer projects include organizing my quilting as well as my knitting life. (Yeah, the rubber stamps and scrapbook supplies too. But there are only so many hours in the day, and only so many spots in this house to spread things out.)
Now I am going to take my weary feet to bed. For a little while today, they thought maybe we were back in France. Then they realized, nah, no cobblestones!

4 comments:

mary said...

Wonderful geometry in those photos. Love 'em!

Madge said...

May you and your family have a wonderful celebration tomorrow! Hugs to everyone!

Ellen Bloom said...

Ooooo...we love architecture shots too. Must visit Brea mall. The quilts are divine.

Have fun tomorrow!

Sheepish Annie said...

Mmmmm...pretty quilts! Heaven help me if I get the quilting urge again. That was a rather "interesting" phase of my life last summer. And one where I began to really appreciate good quilting. It appears that I am not a good quilter. Who knew?

Cool mall! We are mall-impaired around here. There is but one per region. And it doesn't look anything like that, trust me!