[130722] Fishing Report ::: Spanish Landing :::

We went fishing at Spanish Landing Park for the first time:)
It started very slow, but later on, we caught some good size fish!

Spotty! 

My very first Shovelnose!

Such a cute fish!!

Yay!

He gave me a pretty good fight,

even though he was a young one:)

We don't know what this is...

After googling, we think it is a kind of Goby??? 

Opaleye. Beautiful~*

We still haven't taken any fish for food... Next time, we hope to catch something big enough to keep:D

Ai

[130717] Fishing Report ::: Mission Beach :::

We caught more than 10 fish today, at our favorite spot on the Jetties.
There are many kinds of fish we have never seen...
Here are some pictures of them;)

Ai

[130713] Fishing Report ::: Mission Beach :::

We went fishing at the Jetties in Mission Beach this afternoon, at the same spot we fished yesterday:)  It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time being in the sun with the ocean breeze!  Although I caught nothing, my husband caught 5 fish~* Fun fun!!

Since we are absolute beginners in San Diego, we don't know what we are catching...  We asked people, and also googled after we got home, and here's what we think they are;

Kelp Fish? 

Calico Bass 

Sculpin

My husband got stung by this fish, Sculpin, and from the pain, he could tell it was venomous!!  We asked one diver who were around our spot, and he said he also got stung by something.  We showed him the picture of the fish, and he instantly said, "Yeah, that. that's the guy."  The diver's hand was way, way worse than my husband's, and he said the pain is way, way worse than a stingray sting... Ouch!

My husband's hands after we got home

His right hand was like a balloon!

We learned an important lesson today:)

Ai

[130201] "Map It Out" Reader Challenge

Here is my entry for the reader challenge "Map It Out" on Quilting Arts Magazine.
Unfortunately, I didn't get selected this time... but it was all fun!!

::: Brief Explanation of my piece :::
My husband and I always wanted to travel around the world,
but we haven't made it happen yet.
One of the places we would love to visit is Ha Long Bay, Vietnam.
So, we came up with a New Year's resolution to learn Vietnamese.

So far, we haven't broken our resolution.

Vietnamese has many tones and sounds that are foreign to us,
and they sound very musical.
We are dreaming of the travel by singing the tones that map out their
language.

We are traveling a whole new path!

I hope you enjoy!
Happy stitching~*

Ai

[130201] Welcome Quilt for my friend's wedding

A good friend of mine from High school is just about to get married in a couple of weeks! (Congratulations, Reina!) I won't be able to join them for their wedding in Tokyo, so to express my happiness for them, I made this welcome sign quilt so that they can hang it at their reception:)
I really hope they like it!

It's a plum tree with the letter 寿. I had so much fun working on this:)

Ai

[120927] My Staycation Postcard

Yay! I just finished my quilted sushi for Staycation postcard Reader Challenge:)
It's a 4 x 6 postcard size quilt. My husband loves how the beer bottle came out. My favorite part is the shrimp sushi. I think it's really cute looking!

Happy quilting!:D

Ai

[120921] ATC's Challenge at Quilting Arts Magazine

After finishing an art quilt for 2012 International Quilt Week Yokohama (Japan), I decided to try the latest reader challenge on Quilting Arts Magazine. You will find out about the challenge on their website, if you are interested in participating! Fun, fun!!

The theme is "What's in your heart?" I thought of my husband (Haha), my family, my dog, my dreams..., and then, somehow, I remembered a conversation we had with our neighbor. "What kind of super power would you like to have?" We came up with a couple of things, but I only had one that I would LOVE to have as my super power... To be able to fly!!! One night, I had a dream that I was flying over houses, buildings, mountains, and valleys. Since then, it's always been in my heart. That's where my quilt for the challenge came from:)

It's me, flying over the mountains! I wish I could fly like this. That would be so amazing.

Ai

[120620] Hobbes doll No.16

My customer from UK gave me a great opportunity to crochet a Hobbes doll with a new color! I usually use the color of "gold", but this one is with the color of "carrot", and we are so happy to see how cute it came out.

Thanks again so much for the people who have hit me up and told me that they love my dolls. Your words and smiles are my energy source:)

Ai

[120601] Dragon Quilt on Quilting Arts Magazine

My first art quilt of this year has made it to the Reader Challenge "From Sketch to Art Quilt" on Quilting Arts Magazine June/July issue. I am so happy to see in on the page!

It's already been half way of 2012, and I feel so graceful that I have many upcoming projects occupying my second half of this year:)

Ai

[120402] Quilted Sewing Machine Cover

I clean my sewing machine every once in a while, inside out, but it still gets dusty as it is just sitting on my desk. I had this idea of making a cover just to have my precious sewing machine protected from everyday dust.

Looked at my fabric drawer to seek for what to use for the cover, and I saw this beautiful bubbly blue fabric that I purchased from Rosie's couple of months ago. Hmm, it kind of looks like water. Then I came up with an aquarium theme design....

This picture above is the front side with mermaid Useless, and on the back side there is Dragomander. I love how it came out:) It also has an opening on top where you can pull up the handle of the sewing machine so that you can carry it with the cover on.

Now I am working on my mom's birthday gift, and it is going to be a lap quilt...
Happy quilting everybody!

Ai