Tiny Purses

Darcy's Pucci Bag - Ellen's Crocheted Ensemble for Barbie

I spent a small portion of my weekend photographing the tiny purses that Darcy made as decorations for my birthday celebration. I still own my original Barbie Dolls and many of their accessories and clothes. It was fun dressing up the girls in outfits to go with the darling purses that Darcy made. Barbie is posing in front of her official "Ponytail" Barbie wardrobe case. Sorry about some of the blurry photos, Mr. Larry warned me about that!

Pink Vinyl with Silver Dots - Handbag by Darcy

Pink Vinyl with Black Organza Flower - Handbag by Darcy

Pink Felt Monogrammed Knitting Bag with Yarn and Needles - by Darcy

Black Sequined Clutch with Jeweled Closure - Handbag by Darcy

Barbie's Original Knitting Accessories (1961)

Barbie in a Hoodie, Leggings and Boots Ready to Go Bowling!

Thanks again, Darcy for all of your creativity and generousity!!!

Grannies 'R Us!

Darcy, striking a pose!

I finished my dingle ball granny square purses. I even lined them! One is for Natalie and one is for Darcy. They labored away making the granny squares for my b-day celebration decorations last week. I figured, the least I could do was make something out of those girlie granny squares! They both look very fetching, toting their new dingle ball granny square handbags!

Last night's WeHo Stitch 'n Bitch was jammed packed! There were about 25 people there! We had a few special guests....I won't go into details. It was rawther hot upstairs at the Original Farmers Market. The windows were wide open to our dining area, but we really didn't feel a breeze.

Over 25 People Attended Last Night's WeHo SnB!

Two of the ladies, Sachi and Emily brought their spinning wheels! It was fascinating. They have both spun some gorgeous yarn.

Alicia made crocheted a carnation from a pattern that I gave her last week. Looks great!

What's up for the weekend, you ask? Tomorrow morning my friend, Phyllis is coming over to give us some ideas for landscaping our backyard. This is a lovely b-day gift from Phyllis, who is a professional landscaper. Sad to say, faboo knitter and landscaper, Ms. Phyllis is moving back east in September. She and her significant other are moving to Rochester, New York to be closer to family. We will miss Phyllis' expert knitting advice and sense of humor at our WeHo SnB. Bye, Phyllis! Best of luck. Stay in touch!

Phyllis With Felted Hat, Winter 2005

Later, Saturday afternoon I'm having high tea with my friend, Beth at the Chado Tea Room on 3rd St. I hope the place is air-conditioned!

Have a fantabulous weekend everyone!

Ukulele Lesson 2

Barbie Plays the Ukulele

On Monday, I had my second group ukulele lesson at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. Our teacher, Steve Rose, added more songs to our repetoire along with some more difficult chords. Our new songs are Roger Miller's King of the Road, the MoTown favorite, Under the Boardwalk and the lovely Hawaiian tune, The Hukilau Song. Yikes! We've been transposing from one key to another and learning VERRRRRRY difficult chords. My dexterity and ability are being challenged.

It seems that most people are keeping up with the class. This is only a four-week course, so the teacher is forced to move quickly through lots of material. I'm hoping that there will be a Part 2 Ukulele Class so we can work on our strums and learn some solo parts (in rock parlance, known as "licks").

I've been too engrossed with learning and keeping up in the uke class to even think about taking my camera out to snap some shots. Hopefully, I'll remember to take some photos next week.

It is nice being back at McCabe's. When I was a kid my brother, Ken used to practically live at McCabe's. In order for Ken to use the family car after school, he had to take me along with him wherever he went. I knew I had to be on best behavior around my brother and his friends or else he'd figure out a place to dump me. So, I quietly hung out in the background while my brother was playing banjo, guitar, mandolin with some other like-minded young musicians, Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal, David Lindley, etc. I remember seeing Doc Watson, Bill Monroe and other folk and bluegrass performers sitting around the shop, trying out instruments and jamming. There was a satellite location of McCabe's at the folk club, The Ash Grove on Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood. We also hung out there. It was quite an education for me. Later, my brother taught me how to play the ukulele, guitar and banjo. I didn't continue playing past the age of 15 or 16, except for some sporadic campfire performances. I'm so glad that I had that early training. It's making my new quest for re-learning the ukulele that much easier.

Shirley Temple - Ukulele Idol

Grannies are Great

Granny Squares Crocheted by Natalie and Darcy

Assembled by Ellen

Grannies are great....the squares and the human kind. I just read a post by Charles Phoenix in his "slide of the week" feature on his God Bless Americana site. The slide was strange. There was this little boy, sitting amongst a few granny-like ladies. He was planting a huge kiss on one of the grannies....ON THE LIPS! It's a startling slide, you should really read the post and comments. After I read some of the comments to Charles' post, it made me start to think about my own grandmothers and their relation to my fiber fascination.

God Bless Americana, Slide of the Week

My father's mother was Ethel, my mother's mother was Freda. Both ladies were talented in fiber arts. Grandma Ethel was a realtor. She was also very active in the Eastern Star which at one time was the women's organization under the Mason's fraternal group, of which my grandfather was a member. Ethel was a bridge player too. She traveled to tournaments all across the country. Ethel sewed, crocheted, knitted, painted, played the piano and made floral decorations for her club events. She was quite an accomplished lady. She was the only one of my grandparents born in the USA. She started out as a school teacher in New Jersey. Later, after she met and married my grandfather, they moved to Philadelphia, then to Los Angeles in 1919. Grandma Ethel passed away when I was only 8 years old, but I spent alot of time with her and feel that I am most like her in skills and looks.

Grandma Freda was born in Russia. Her family emmigrated to the US when she was about 12 years old. I do remember her telling me that when the family came here, she contracted meningitis and she had to stay in the hospital on Ellis Island for months until she was well enough to join her family. That must have been a frightening experience for an immigrant girl who didn't speak any English. She also lived in New Jersey. I'm unclear about when she and my grandfather came to Los Angeles or whether or not they met in L.A. or in the east. I do know that my oldest aunt was born here in L.A., so they must have come here before 1918, about the same time as my fraternal grandparents. Grandma Freda was a card player too. She was an excellent cook. Many of my current recipes come from Freda's archives. She read constantly....novels, history, crime fiction , etc. One of her favorite books that she read over and over was "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale. I think she tried to impart those values to her children and grandchildren over the years. Freda's credo: "If you want something, make it happen!" Also, "Never leave the house without lipstick." I have taken both quotes to heart and always try to live by those words. Freda sewed and crocheted and taught me the basics of crochet. Grandma Freda's house was always immaculate, well-decorated and stylish. She passed away when I was in my 30's, so I REALLLLLY got to know her well. Now that my mother is older I really see her becoming more and more like Grandma Freda every day.

Granny Squares are why I advanced my crochet skills in the 1970's. Grandma Freda only taught me how to chain and single crochet. I learned to knit at the same time and took to that more readily when I was 7 years old. In the late 60's and early '70's, crochet was all the rage. I sat myself down with a Woman's Day Granny Square edition of the magazine, looked at the diagrams and learned how to make a granny square. My life changed after that! I could make so many things out of squares! I haven't stopped crocheting granny squares since that time. Like I always say, "Granny squares are the building blocks to fashion."

Post-B-Day Weekend

Culver Theater in 1968

Even though the weather was scorching hot again this weekend, we managed to keep busy. On Friday, we had a very nice salad at Bistro De L'Hermitage in downtown Culver City before our play started at the Kirk Douglas Theater. The play was just OK. The theater was great. I would definitely return to the old Culver Theater for another performance. I used to go to the movies at The Culver when I was a kid. The theater has been remodeled for live performances. The accoustics are great, the seating is comfortable and the lobby, etc. reallly look nice. Easy parking too. My aunt, uncle and a few cousins were at the play, so it was nice that we could visit at intermission.

On Saturday, our good friends, Audrey and Jeff treated us to a yummy breakfast at Jinky's on the Sunset Strip.

Jinky's has a huge menu, full of great breakfast dishes. Audrey and Jeff gave me some faboo b-day gifts too! Audrey gave me this useful and beautifully photographed Japanese crochet book with some very excellent crochet ideas! Jeff gave me these notecards made from hand-embroidered sayings...the sayings are 'modern' and very up-to-date in my HBO world. The contrast between the sweet embroidery style and the off-color sayings are very funny. Thanks, Audrey and Jeff! Oh yes, Audrey added a ripe home-grown avocado too! Yum!

Ellen, Jeff and Audrey on the Sunset Strip

Photo by Mr. Larry

It was sooooooooooo hot on Saturday, and we'd been running around all week, so Larry and I just tried to stay still and cool at home. This is not an easy feat. Our house gets full sun all day long. We have a flat, black roof. The house retains heat. Our best bet is to keep the shades drawn and the fans on. We minimally cleaned and straightened up the house, watched some TV, listened to some new CDs, read and practiced the ukulele. Saturday night.....more of the same.

Sunday, my Mom and Step-Dad invited us to a post-b-day brunch at the Pacific Dining Car in Santa Monica. Very posh! The service and food are excellent and fancy. We had a lovely brunch in the humid, but cooler Santa Monica. Thanks, Mom and Hal for the brunch and gifts!

The Lot, formerly Warner-Hollywood Studio

Later, Sunday afternoon we drove over to the former Warner-Hollywood Studios (now called The Lot). The Los Angeles Conservancy held a thank-you lunch and tour for the Last Remaining Seats volunteers. I wasn't a volunteer for this year's screenings, but Mr. Larry photographed a few of the LRS pre-shows for the Conservancy.

Woodshop at The Lot

Considering that I've worked in the entertainment business for almost 30 years at various studios around town, it's amazing that I have not worked on this lot.

Malibu Tiled Fountain on The Lot

It's a compact, well-maintained set of studio buildings on Santa Monica Blvd. just west of La Brea, next door to the historic Formosa Cafe. We were given a guided tour of some of the old soundstages and walked thru the patio. There's a lot of history here. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks owned this studio. Howard Hughes had offices here. Portions of "West Side Story," "Some Like it Hot," etc. were made here. Lots of TV shows were filmed here, "The Love Boat," "The Fugitive" and "Dynasty" among others. Frank Sinatra recorded a few of his albums here in the 50's and 60's.

The L.A. Conservancy hosted a lovely buffet lunch in the Commissary.

L.A. Conservancy Volunteers enjoy lunch

There were speeches, thank yous and lots of conversation. We had a good time.

I want to thank EVERYONE again for making my birthday a wonderful one!

My Birthday

SnB Birthday Spread

Thanks to ALLLLL of my friends at the WeHo SnB for making my birthday special! It was quite a party!

Mr. Larry took me to dinner at Monsieur Marcel at the Original Farmers Market. We had a beautiful meal...I had the Salade Tahitienne with avocado, fresh pineapple and butterfly shrimp. Larry had the salmon with spinach and French fries.

Mr. Marcel's Baked Salmon

Mr. Marcel's Salade Tahitienne

After dinner, we walked upstairs so I could hang out with my fellow fiber pals at the SnB. Wow! What decorations and what a spread!!! Natalie, Darcy, Lori, Faith outdid themselves with decor, cupcakes, cheese balls, ukulele cookies along with great balloons from Jennifer. It was so festive. There were tons o' presents...thanks to Mary Jo, Carla and the aforementioned for their faboo gifties. Natalie and Darcy even made little granny squares to add to the pink dingle ball decorations. You know, granny squares are my favorites. Granny squares are the building blocks to fashion. See Carla's post for more on that!

Darcy made up these tiny little purses for decorations too. She knows that I love to knit and crochet purses! So cute! I'm going to photograph the purses later with my vintage Barbie Dolls!

Hours of Recipe Fun from Faith

Ellen, Mary Jo and Mary Jo's gorgeous felted bag

Lori's Delicious Ukulele Cookies

Lori, Darcy and Ellen

Carla's Yarn-like Salt & Pepper Shakers

Natalie's "Knit-a-Poodle" Kit

It was a great evening, lots of fun, lots of laughs. I spent my birthday evening with many of my favorite people!!! Thanks again.

EARLIER IN THE DAY...

L.A. City Hall

I drove Downtown and took a tour of the newly renovated, revived and refreshed City Hall. The Los Angeles City Hall is a movie star. It has appeared in tons o' movies, ever since it was built in the 1920's. At one time, it was the tallest building in Los Angeles. Check out this site for more interesting facts.

All of the gorgeous tile work, marble, woodwork and various fixtures have been restored. The building is magnificent.

A lovely docent by the name of Hazel gave me a personal guided tour of the 3rd floor public rooms.

I got to visit Mayor Tony's conference Room and have my photo taken in his chair. We also saw the Press Room where the Mayor makes his public statements. He stands in front of a photo mural of Los Angeles from the 1960's....no really tall buildings! it's a hoot!

Then, I took the elevator up to the 27th floor to the Tower Room to check out the view! Even with all of the really tall buildings, the sightlines are amazing. There were some location guys there checking out camera angles for an upcoming television shoot. There are entertainment crews crawling all over the City Hall. Like I said, the L.A. City Hall is still a star.

Larry and I were married at the L.A. Hall of Records almost 15 years ago. We had photos taken in front of the historic City Hall and in the Tower. I hadn't really been inside since then. The tour was awesome and I'm so glad I made the effort.

After the tour, I was getting hungry. I drove over to China Town, found a parking spot and checked out some of the little shops. I ended up having lunch at Hop Woo on North Broadway.

Since it was my birthday, I decided to splurge. I ordered the lobster with ginger and scallions. Yum.

There was this amazing, rotating light fixture over my head. I just had to photograph it!

I had to get outta downtown after that! It was sweltering! I did a little more shopping closer to home, then I rested until the evening's festivities (see above).

Again, thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate my big day. The celebration is NOT over however! More to come this weekend. After Sunday, I'm going on a liquid diet! Oy!