LA Fabric Trip

I walked into the office this morning and turned on the computer as the computer is booting up the power goes out. Great! I go check the brakers and everything is fine. Then all the people start walking out of there houses to check there brakers and thats when we all looked at each other and realized the power was out on the whole block. I get on my cell and call the power company, and there automated message said if you live between such and such a Tree crew damaged some wire's and the estimated repair time will be 1 PM. Great! Great!

I can't work with out electricity, I don't have a phone (time warner cable phone), I can't run the computers, I can't burn CD's to build product, I can't answer emails, I can't process Credit Cards. I can't do anything.

So my first thought "A Friday off - LA Fabric run!!"

I needed fabric for a wedding dress and a prom dress. I always park near Broadway and 9th (because that's where the LA Mart is! I love that place even if they don't let me in) Then I walk down 9th. I always look and inquire along the way but I always end up at Sal Tex Fabrics:

Corner of 9th, and Wall:



432 E. 9th St - Suite 4, Los Angeles, CA 90015 - 213-623-1447


With my friend Rosa:

She has all the satin, sateen, velvet, lace, embroidered fabric, illusion, netting, and linings in every color I've ever needed and if she doesn't have it - she'll go find it and bring it back to me. She gives me great deals! I won't give you prices but even the first price she gives is a good deal - then I look at her funny and she brings it down, then I look at her funny again and she asks me how much I'll need then she'll bring it down again.

This is what I brought back for the wedding dress:



The beaded french lace was $49.95 at Joann's - My gas there and back plus the price of one yard of Frech lace was $50. - I bought 4 yards of Beaded French lace. So just in that fabric alone it was worth my trip.

This is what I brought back for the Prom dress:


The dupioni silk was $10 a yard.

I'm sure that if I would wander further into the fabric streets I might find stuff a dollar or two cheaper but after 5 years of the same routine everytime I go to make a dress. I'm ok with my prices, and I don't pay any shipping, and I can see what color it actually is!

I made something - I made something

Oh man life has been just way to busy, I haven't had a chance to finish any of the gazillion projects I've started. It's probably because I'm now in a 10 X 12 bedroom instead of a two car garage, man I miss having a garage for an office, I wish I could rent someone's garage, as I'll still be at my Mother's house for a while. Until we get used to figuring out college payment schedules.

But any who I made something! I love bags, any shape any size. What's odd is that I don't use them other than on Sunday. Hum, there's got to be something behind that - but I'll leave that to for the therapist!

Monica did you come up with a name for our bag?

This is what we will be sewing for sewing group on Sat March 21st. 10 AM Indio church building.

Stephanie's Graduating

Wow, my child is really graduating from High School and going off to college. The deadline for the Year book adds was due while we were in Seattle, but they let me squeeze it in anyways. I love nice people!

I'm running out of time, I don't think she's ready for the real world. Heck there isn't anything real about life in the Barton household.

Well at least she picked a career path she nows well - the Ocean, because of the Ocean (ie. Navy) she has had more homes than any child her age. So maybe she is ready for the real world.

I know I'm not ready for the real world bill! First due date is May 1st. She hasn't graduated Yet, and I'm already paying.

Any ways! Congratulations - child of mine - it was a little iffy there for a while!



wow that picture looks bad - it didn't look like that in Photoshop!

NASA - Jet Propultion Lab in Pasadena

When they told me I had to do a science with a lab in order to get an AS degree in Fashion Desgin - I almost didn't do it, I was going to stick to my Certificate. I hate science I don't understand it, I don't like cutting into slimmy things, and I don't like playing with beekers and chemicals. When they said "you can do Astronomy that has a Lab" I was so happy!

I had a great teacher, the Labs were awesome - we would drive just outside the San Diego City limits, and could look south and east. The one thing I love about the desert is you don't have to drive anywhere - zero light pollution - the sky is clear year round.

I had no clue that there was a NASA center in Pasadena - I found out that there name is missleading. They have never worked with Jet's - they came up with this name for the center back in the 30's when they were dealing with Rocket's - and because they wanted to be taken seriously they called it the 'Jet Propultion Lab' instead of the 'Rocket Propultion Lab' because the word Rocket at the time would bring up images of a futuristic 'your crazy to believe in Rockets' attitude.

They don't play with Rockets anymore - Our local center builds all the Robots, Satelites, and Rovers. All the cool stuff.

There was high security to get in. No there is no T-rex on the other side.


We go to visit the Space Flight Operations Facility - this is the room you see on the TV with all the people jumping and screaming when everything goes right! This is where they track all there currently working satelite's. I didn't know that Voyager is currently so far away that it is almost to the end of our universe and looking for the begining of the next!




It takes 12 hours to send it a signal and 12 hours to get the answer back. Even with a 70 Metter diameter Antena! Simply Amazing!



The count down screen for Keepler was on the screen while we were there, it lauched before we could get out of traffic and make it home! I think I want to move to space!




They are building a new robot - called the Mars Science Labratory - scheduled to launch in 2010. The Mars Rover's mission was a 6 month mission - it is now 2 years later and still alive and collecting data and information. They are hoping that it will still be working when then launch the new one. They didn't allow flash - so I had to autofocus. One shouldn't autofocus when your blind and not wearing your glasses - what looks good to you doesn't to others.

We got to look into the clean room where they are building it.


There is also a museum there. This is Cassini (I hadn't heard about this mission) but it's an awesome looking robot. It's collecting data around the rings of Saturn.









Here's a model of Voyager. It has a Gold 'Record' on the front of the base, that is a time capsule. We have given information, data, pictures, to whatever life out there that will find it - or even our future generations - that may find our space debrie. All these robots basically become space trash when they stop working, as they are all one way missions. We can't afford to go retrieve them.

Seattle was good for me

I'm back and it was great. We arrived on Wednesday early, Stephanie and I set up the booth, then went for a drive. Seattle is a beautiful city the views are amazing.

Stephanie doesn't like to take pictures of buildings, I love buildings, so I made her take this picture and now she loves it, it's about 8AM and the sun is shining on the buildings at an angle, and the skies where the perfect shade of blue - to make the whole picture turn blue.

Stephanie wanted me to drive to Forks - I wasn't about to since there was probably lots of snow up there, about an hour an a half to two hour drive from where we were. Sorry all you Twilight people I didn't bring back pictures of 'Vampires'.

But I was right about the snow - because the next morning we woke up to this view out or window.

and this is what the cars looked like.

The tradeshow was colorful - color everywhere:


I have gone to this tradeshow in Seattle every year for the past 5 years, and every year there is only one picture I would like to bring back and that is a picture of Mt. Rainier - a big majestic mountain. Well it's not really a mountain, it's a Volcano, but they call it a Mountain. I have seen the whole thing only 3 or 4 times, the times I saw it - I didn't have a camera - and the days I had a Camera, the mountain was under clouds.


In southern CA our Disaster preparedness is for EarthQuakes in Seattle there Disaster Preparedness involves a Valcano Evacuation Route. I'm glad I don't have to plan for that!