Wood'nt ya know it...

The other day, my brother Jason was at our parent's house helping our mom trim the trees in the backyard. Some of the branches were so thick, they had to use the table saw to cut them small enough to fit in the green trashcan.

Anyway, he decides to cut me these lovely little silver dollar-sized "cookies" of a tree branch. Little did he know, they look exactly like my most favorite fabric in the entire world!!! I mean, look at the beautiful rings and everything - sorry for the crummy pics.

Well, what a wonderful brother. He' told my mom he knew I could find something to do with them. When I went to my parents a couple of days later and saw what he had left for me, I squealed with delight!!

Look Ma, my first log cabin pillow!!

(click photos to enlarge)

It's been a lovely Memorial Day weekend. I've felt very inspired and relaxed at the same time. Here's my first attempt at a log cabin pillow from my "Machine Made Patchworks" book. Hope you like.

Blue Skies + Strawberry tape

Well this has been such a lovely long weekend! And yes, I just woke up @ 12p. After having had a delicious breakfast of homemade sausage mcmuffins w/egg on paper plates, it's nice to be able to just relax. We walked a lot this weekend and we're going to walk more today. It's been such wonderful weather for walking.

Last night we actually got in our car and drove to Meltdown Comics to get some storage boxes for Phils extensive collection. We've been really cleaning up and organizing lately.

This is yet another thing I picked up this weekend that I probably did'nt need. A couple of rolls of Japanese strawberry printed packing tape. I mean how could I resist - and they were the last two left!

This Weeks finds....so far

These are some things gathered on my travels this week. A couple of really cool Japanese letter holders. The one with the fish is dye resist and the other is embroidered - look at the owls!

These are some leaf shaped melamine trays that I picked up at Jo-ann Fabrics of all places! The Japanese hair ornaments are vintage from my mom's days doing traditional Japanese/Okinawan dance.

This is an Oni (demon/ogre) mask we got at the $1.50 store - to go with the red one we got last week. Oni's were common fixtures in the Japanese fables I heard as a kid. The evil entity that was always present scared me so much - now they're just so cool to me.

Some recent button acquisitions. I could'nt resist the Peter Rabbit!

A cool Japanese pouch (Left) with an image of a Hana Fura card on it. It's a Japanese card game. And a couple of Japanese print dish towels.

Well off to J-Town again today for a lovely walk and some lunch. No work tomorrow! Yipeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

Retro Fabric and Cute Lemons

Well I just finished going through ALL my photo files. Man, they were disorganized. Doggie pics next to lemon pics, Halloween and Mother's Day together, oh no. Now everything is in it's own folder and I will be more diligent when I am uploading photos from now on. Geez that feels good to finally have done it! It was bugging me for a long time.

Anyways, above is one of the many fabrics I just ordered from EQuilter recently. I cannot wait to get my package! I ended up buying lots of vintage prints of course - I think I'm on an apron kick. Oh, and I finally got the Gnome print fabric too. I've been watching Amelie a lot lately so I just could'nt resist.

These are some lemons we used to grow in the backyard of our old house. How cute are they!! They look like little Japanese cartoon characters. I don't know what the deal was with that tree. Some lemons would be normal, and some would look like this. And I took a picture of every single one of 'em.

The best family dog ever. So obedient and well behaved.

This photo was taken right in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles, amidst all the concrete and honking horns. Nature finds a way.

A city view...

Wow, these once a week posts are pathetic. I've got to realize that I can and should post even when I don't have any new projects or anything interesting to say - cuz that's just life. It was a busy week but I've had a lot of good ideas. I just can't wait to get more than four hours sleep tonight, wake up bright and early (11-ish) and get started!!

This is a stack of decorative packing tape I got in J-Town this weekend. It's from my favorite store where everything is $1.50!

Well, off to bake some blueberry muffins (boxed mix - boo) and watch Amelie for the twelfth time.

I might be inspired to even sew a purse tonight.

Crewel!!!!

Well, as I mentioned before our move, I was just discovering the art of Crewel. Little did I realize that I actually have an intimate knowledge of Crewel. My mom had made a TON of Crewel pillows that we had around the house growing up. So, when she found out that I was interested in it, she busted out all these kits and supplies!!! Literally untouched by my mother's hands in at least 20 years! I know Crewel is having a resurgence, but they don't make these kits anymore that have that genuine 70's vibe.

Above are the instructions for a couple of cover cards for some pillow kits she had once, and a lot of Crewel thread. I love the Japanese pine tree design, I 'm thinking of recreating that somehow, even though we don't have the pattern anymore.

This is one my favorite! My mom had started this Chrysanthamum Crewel and now I can't wait to finish it. But I will document my progress every step of the way. You can see how each petal has a different pattern in it to indicate the direction of the yarn. This is a full kit, with the instructions and yarn.

This is another pillow my mom started - aqua linen with violets!!! It's so beautiful. It even came with purple fringe for trimming the pillow!

Well, off to enjoy this beautiful not-so-sunny day, it's good for walks in my opinion.

The regular Monday blues were upon me today after having had such a fun weekend. But Phil and I ended up having a late dinner in J-Town with a couple of friends which was really fun. Then they came back to see our loft for the first time - our first official guests I guess!! I was so tired earlier after work, but I got a second wind before dinner and we ended up having a really nice night.

This is a silhouette I made for my cousin for Mother's Day. It's of her son Fernando - we call him Nando.

Happy Mother's Day

These are a couple of presents I gave my mom for mothers day. A persimmon shaped ceramic box with lid that I got in J-Town.

Then, my first attempts at punch needle embroidery. Something I was very excited about beacause it is so fast and easy. There are still a million stitches I haven't even tried yet. The tree I gave her as a little wall hanging and the persimmon I framed in a glass shadow box.

This was one of Mari's (my sis in law) birthday presents. A purse I had gotten at H+M in NY and I stenciled my brother's silhouette on it. Phil blacked out an image of him on photoshop and exaggerated the ears a teensy bit. Everyone at the party went crazy for it when they realized who it was.
These are just the most beautiful Kleenex boxes I've ever seen. I gave one to Mari, my mom, my grandma, and my cousin.

Everyone had a really good time at the party. Next up Father's Day...........................................

Quiltacular

One more day till I can post my latest crafts. This is a queen size quilt I made a couple of months ago for our bed. I had been wanting to make a Japanese/Hawaiian quilt for a long time. When I looked at all the fabric I had lying around, I realized they were all in oranges, pinks, and reds. For fear of looking too girly, I decided to make it reversible for the boy. His side has all blues in Japanese/Hawaiian motifs - with the exception of a couple of Spiderman squares thrown in there.

Wow, it's been a couple of yucky, hazy, hot days here in good ole Los Angeles. What happened to the mild breezy Spring we were having for a minute?

Anyways, I've been crafting a lot lately but I can't post any pics of them yet (or even talk about them since my family reads my blog) because it's all presents for this weekend - my sister-in-laws birthday, and Mother's Day!

So I thought I'd just post this pic of a miniature donkey that I'd really like to have someday. I would make him a little poncho and a matching knapsack to sling over him.

A Reading Rainbow..............

Today we walked to the li-berry. The Central Library that is. It's enormous! I got some great craft books and Phil got a cool book on Japanese architecture. But it's very overwhelming, I could'nt even begin to think of all the books I've been wanting. We were there for about an hour and only covered about four aisles in the arts section. Anyways, this is a view of Pershing square from the roof.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday night - trying to figure out how to get out of going to work tomorrow...

Frankie says Relax

Ahh... nothing like a hot bath after a day of doing nothing. Actually, we woke up at 11:30a and leisurely got dressed to walk to J-Town. We sat in the village square and ate breakfast and drew in our sketchbooks, and listened to some live music. I was waiting for the woman we affectionately call "The Ms. Havisham of J-Town" to start dancing. But today, she just sat at a table and softly clapped her hands to the music.

As we walked to Starbucks around the corner, I spotted my Dad, Mom, and Brother going into the Japanese American National Museum for a book reading. I mean, I knew they were going to be there, but it's just funny to look up and see your entire family across the street! We all waved hysterically and went on our way. Then we went to our favorite Japanese bookstore to buy more stuff we don't need - but that we really need!

We walked home and grabbed a couple of slices of pizza along the way. We came home and relaxed for a long time, looking at our new books, taking naps and whatnot. Also, I'm really excited about this new craft I just tried today but I'm not ready to post about it yet :)

Anyways, I just entered my dog Zero in Old Navy's Mascot contest!!! She'd be the best mascot ever! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Sabado Gigante!

I bought the most beautiful hat last weekend. It's white canvas/denim with the most beautiful fern pattern on it. It's got a very 1960's Solvang-ish vibe, Dutch mod I guess I'm trying to say. And you'll never guess where I got it - Rite Aid!!!!! I know!

My only Blythe doll. sigh...

A cool bamboo box I got while thrifting with my mom. It was only $1!!

The most beautiful thing Target has ever sold - an aqua ceramic thumb pot. It's got a tiny hole on top and several tiny holes on the bottom. You sit the whole thing in a couple inches of water, then cover the top hole with your thumb as you pick it up. Put it over your plants and remove your thumb - it sort of "rains" perfectly over them. Then put you thumb back over the hole to stop it.

Happy Saturday everyone!

T.G.I.F.

Here's another look at those rainbow dango!!!

This is one of my boyfriends recent drawings. It was the first thing he drew when he set his work space up. This guy is the guardian of our loft.

This is todays swag from Michaels. It's for a little project I'm working on. I was so excited that I finally had a reson to buy that turquoise horsehead floss organizer!!!

Well back to unpacking!

WHEW!!!!!!!!

Ahoy Mateys!!!! I feel like I've been lost at sea for two weeks without the internet!!! The good news is - we're totally moved in, but not totally unpacked. Stories of the crazy move will slowly trickle in. But here's a hint: big bed + small elevator = large stairwell + 6 flights of stairs!

Above is the view from our fire escape - looking down at the Fiesta Broadway.

Rainbow Dango!!! They look like little beach balls or lanterns!! And my favorite spicey rice crackers .

The unpacking process!!! Yikes!

Lunch in J-Town

I've got sooooo much more to blog about!! So many new crafts and things - and with Mother's Day coming up, oy vey!! I'm so excited! But I've got to go and bake some mini cupcakes for my boyfriend.