School's out, time for some summer fun!

Even my pin cushion has taken to a lighter theme for the summer.

I wonder if the Lex Luthor minifig is uncomfortable with the orientation of that clover pin I used to prop him up.


Kids have sore fingers from squirting water guns at each other, and frankly, their parents.

Parents are starting to feel a bit more rested after a couple days of school being out.

Lots on the menu for me this summer in terms of projects. 

I finished 1 sock so off to cast on the 2nd one tomorrow.

I'm also playing around with making my first Alabama Chanin garment.  Will keep you posted on that one.  When quilters try to make garments....that could be quite an entertaining endeavor.

Also, still hand quilting away on a project that will show itself here in probably another month or so. 

Meanwhile, decorate your pin cushion with something fun.  Send me a link to it if you do!

Your Own Personal Forest/Pincushion

Foxtail Creek Studio has captured not only my heart, but my pins and needles too.

I have almost finished the final block in my modern house series, and this mini-forest was by my side for the final lap of applique.

There are some final touches of embroidery still to do, but I'm excited to see the final result of this block and looking forward to starting to put the quilt together.

We are excited to have some family visiting us from out of town this weekend, and planning to maybe ice skate, maybe visit Happy Hollow.  All good fun for kids in San Jose.

Under the umbrella topic of cool things you sometimes bump into:  

• Peapod Fabric's:   Indigo, historic textiles and an antique village in Japan

• Humble Quilts: a red and white feast for the eyes

• Famous quilt fabric designer Anna  Maria Horner teams up with Alabama Chanin:  wow.

• Invisible bike helmet:  having falling off my bike recently (not hurt, just clumsy) this looked cool - no bad hair!  At ~$600, not sure I'm their target customer, but still a creative invention.

• Rainbow cakes:  So popular these days, would love one on top of a pin.

The Cure for the Common Pincushion

You don't have to go far to see beautiful wool pincushions.

My current favorites out there in the universe include:

• Ring pincushion: this would be useful for hand piecing and hand quilting
  
  
• Flower covered: Wooly Fabulous has an incredible sense of design on her creations that include zillions of flowers.
  
  
• Gustav Klimt inspired:  like it fell out of 'The Kiss'
  
  
•  Tiny universe:  how about a couple of trees growing by the river.  If this doesn't relax you while you sew, I don't know what will.
  
  
• Asian inspired: Spincushion created some floral ones and also some that look like the three little pigs and big bad wolf!
  

 
My latest creation is a 'pin donut' from some wool felt that I picked up in Yoko Saito's Tokyo shop, Quilt Party.

Want one?  Got 20 minutes to spare?  Here we go:

A drinking class with a 3.75" diameter opening can be used to trace a circle on the wool felt. (cut 2 pieces, front and back) 

After marking the wool felt and cutting it out, I used green sashiko thread to do a running stitch in a small ~1 inch diameter in the center of the two felt pieces.

Then, create another round of running stitches about 3/4" from the outside edge of the felt circles, but while creating this, stuff the little 'moat' you created (between both sets of running stitches) with some wool felt fiber.  I have wool fiber around because I like to spin yarn, but you can get it easily online.   

Put a cute button in the center, dress it up with some glass head pins (mine are 1.75" long), and enjoy!

These would make cute gifts for quilting friends, right?

Felted Pumpkin - world's tiniest pin cushion

I created this supertiny felted pin cushion for my friend Marianne, who met me at PIQF again this year.

She knitted THE most adorable booties on earth for our new baby...picture coming soon...and was a complete sweetheart about walking around the show at the snail's pace that characterizes somebody traveling with an infant.

I'm a felting addict now...I'm going to have to make more of these tiny pin cushions.

In the spirit of making my house a complete messy wreck, I spread out the blocks for my sister's baby's quilt again, and am feverishly working on them whenever both boys fall asleep at the same time. That isn't often, but I am making progress here and there. It makes me happy to do anything creative lately.

So is everybody out there as addicted to Etsy as I am? Who are your favorite sellers? Please do share them with me! Here are a few of mine:

Sonatine: Japanese 'cute' fabric
Chocolate Swirl: Mostly Japanese craft books, but other goodies too.
Matatabi: Cute fabrics as well, Love this apple one.
Pippijoe: Adorable fabrics, I have not ordered from here yet, but would love to.

300th post - oh so much to say!

What can one say except for "WOW" on your 300th blog post. Not sure I have ever had this much fun.

Deep bow to each and every reader out there who takes the time to come along for the ride here. Thank you!

Emily from Ravenhill was kind enough to bestow the "Arte y Pico" blogger award to me (I'm blushing here) for being a creative blogger with originality. Thanks for the honor! I get to pick 5 other bloggers to pass it along to, here goes.

Award looks like this (ooohhh....ahhhh) - 1. Pink Chalk Studio - lovely projects here, very 'art quilty' feel, beautiful photos, huge inspiration.

2. Moving hands - would you like a little Japanese flavor with your crafting addiction? Oh so beautiful projects, pictures of Japan, loooooooove this blog, makes me want to move to Japan.

3. Oiyi's Crafts - for a woman with a tiny baby, this blog has way too many cool creations to be true. Encourages me to be myself, not just a mom, but a crafty artistic person.

4. I heart linen - If you don't read this blog yet - what planet are you living on?! Hello! Rashida lived in Japan, works with lots of imported fabrics, is a super-mom, just started working on her own book, and would have to be my personal best friend if she lived anywhere near San Jose, California (which she doesn't - boo!).

5. Kirin Notebook - Lara not only makes the most adorable things on earth, but she does it with her own self-designed fabrics. Ah...to be that cool...

(Rules below at the end of this post, if you want to continue with the fun for those of you who I named.)

Our friends at Moo have done it again. They are now offering FULL SIZED business cards. Ok... must have these...they are so affordable, and have the same incredible feature of allowing you to put a different picture on each and every single business card (pack of 50 = up to 50 different images).

Finally, that super tiny tiny pin cushion above is a gift I made for my sister. You may remember the strawberry one I made a while back.

I sent her one before, but it was lost in the mail, so my mom agreed to hand carry this one so it would not be lost in the universe again. This time, I got fancy fancy, and attached a silk ribbon to it, so she can hang it off her favorite pair of scissors while quilting and have a very handy spot to park the needle when taking a little break.

Award rules below:
1) Choose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award based on creativity, design, interesting material, and overall contribution to the blogger community, regardless of the language.
2) Post the name of the author and a link to his or her blog by so everyone can view it.
3) Each award-winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award.
4) The award-winner and the presenter should post the link of the “Arte y pico“blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5) Please post these rules.