A Cuppa Tea With Me

Creativi-Tea

2012-02-11T10:24:00.000-08:00

Hi All!

As promised here are a few snaps of the Creativi-Tea I hosted recently. We had a great time, so great in fact, that I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I did... you know how that goes, right?

I really enjoyed pulling out my teapots and tea cups, I haven't seen my little beauties since before we moved, almost a year ago.

My food coloring Modge Podge jars came out really cute, thanks again for the tute, Pam!

Jill brought cookies!

(Photo courtesy of Little Nest Studio)

We ate yummy food, too but you'll have to take my word for it, because I forgot to take pictures, d'oh! After we had lunchies and talkies, we got to play.

Jo & Lorna

I see stitching, beading, felty owl construction, and sketching. This makes me happy!

This is the necklace that Lorna made this afternoon, isn't it beautiful?

Mom was feeling stabby, woohoo needle felting!

And some more tea of course, always more tea.

We had a really nice afternoon, I'm looking forward to doing this again, maybe even semi-regularly, I love hosting tea parties, and I love being creative, so this is like heaven for me.

♥♥♥

I hope you enjoyed this small peek, I'm a little bummed that I didn't get better pictures, ah well, next time!

Have a great weekend, sweeties!

oxo,

Lisa

Oh, what I want to know, where does the time go?

2012-02-08T22:38:00.000-08:00

Hi All!

Oh my goodness where have the last couple of weeks run off to? I'm so behind on blogging, both in posting and reading. I feel rather out of the bloggy loop at the moment. I need one good rainy Saturday and a large cup of tea (or several) and all will be right again, le sigh.

Today I thought I'd share one last thing I made for my family for Christmas (yep, I know, we're a week into February) but they only recently received this, so it's finally safe to share.

For my brother, his wife and their two kiddos.

I traced their hands the day they moved to South Lake Tahoe a few months ago. An exciting, new beginning for them, bringing them one step closer to their dreams.

Like all families they're entwined, and so their hand prints should be. Everybody's hands are touching or over lapping somewhere on this piece, in those places I did a little intertwining of my own.

Normally I don't show the backs of my embroideries...(i use knots, shhh!)... but I really liked this one, its clean, flat, and like all families, perfectly not perfect. I left it unfinished when I sent it to them instead of covering it in my usual way. I just trimmed the fabric close and glued it neatly to the inner hoop.

I hope they like it, I liked making it for them.

I made a few other things for the kids, but nothing earth shatteringly rad, so I'll just post those in my Flickr, come on over and have a peek if you like.

I'll be back soon, I want to share a few pics from last weeks Creativi-tea!

I hope you've all been well, I miss reading your blogs and will catch up soon!

oxo,

Lisa

Buntings Make Me Happy

2012-01-26T23:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a little one I whipped up for a very special tea party I'm hosting this weekend.

I'm hosting a Creativi-Tea!

I've invited several of my girlfriends over and asked them to bring what ever it is their working on, or something crafty, sew-y, stitchy that they'd like to try and we're going to have a tea party then we're going to get our craft on! A crafty~tea party, is there anything better? I'm really excited about the whole thing!

I made this paper bunting to hang on the porch and welcome the girls as they come to the door. I used my favorite die cutter, and paper from my stash, printed and colored some fancy letters, and mashed the whole thing together one evening last week. I think it's kinda cute!

I also whipped up some pretty jars to use as vases to add some simple flowers to the tables. I used my friend Pam's tutorial. Only difference is that these are vases, not lamps... but I used all the same steps. Super easy and great results, and as an added bonus they're completely free as all of these jars would have otherwise have gone into the recycle bin. I like to use what I have and these little beauties were mayo, pesto, jam and bruchetta, jars in their former lives :) I also already had the other three components, food coloring, Modge Podge and twine.

The color of the jars are actually quite a bit darker than represented in this photo, I'm usually not a big fan of blue, but I'm over the moon with these. I'll make sure to get some pictures with flowers in them (and of all the goings on!) this weekend.

Can't wait to see what kind of creativi-tea results from Saturday, my only regret is that I can't transport all of YOU here for the afternoon, how fun would that be?!

Have a great day, lovelies!

oxo,

Lisa

The Scarlet Tea Room

2012-01-24T22:37:00.000-08:00

Hi All~

It's been busy, busy here! I just got back into town last night after spending a wonderful weekend with my best friend. We somehow managed to simultaneously do lots of fun things, yet have an unhurried, mellow weekend, it really was the best of both worlds. One of the highlights was my friend treating me to an afternoon tea at an elegant tea room in downtown Pasadena, The Scarlet Tea Room.

You already know how much I love to take tea, this was such a treat! We had a long afternoon of tea and much needed talk. Of course like a goober, I took pictures of everything... what. I had to share with you guys, right?

It all starts with a pretty cup.

We chose the 5 Course Afternoon Tea, it was wonderful and started with a delightful strawberry sorbet, which was so refreshing!

Oh, how I love a tiered tray!

Delectable tea sandwiches. Each one was unique and equally scrumptious. The Scarlet Tea Room offers more sandwich choices than I've ever seen at one tea shop. The scones were wonderfully fresh and soft too (but I didn't get a decent picture of them, drats!)

Pretty deserts, cake & petit fours.

Tea ~ magic.

Fresh Berry Romonoff, ooooh baby. Let me tell you that this was one of the most delicious things ever to cross these lips.

Look at that sassy business card! I love it.

Here's a quick shot I managed of another part of the dining room. The Scarlet Tea Room was great, elegant, but not stuffy. It was comfortable and welcoming, a great place to wile away the afternoon.

Oh, and check out this bling! This gorgeous chandelier was hanging in the main dining room. I love the small touches of scarlet red though out the dining rooms, just enough to make a statement without being too much, scarlet is a power color after all. I have to say, this picture doesn't do the chandelier justice, it was so pretty and sparkling!

Taking tea at a pretty tea room is (to me) one of life's great joys. Seriously. If only every day could be filled with such splendor... oh my!

I have more tea related things coming your way this week, so stay tuned!

oxo,

Lisa

Girl. Camera. Cuppa.

2012-01-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

Hi Guys!

I've started a new adventure! Well, more like a challenge, but it'll be an adventurous challenge!

Girl. Camera. Cuppa.

It's a 365 day photo project, the one I mentioned here. I thought about it for a good couple of weeks, then settled on Blogger as the platform for this project. I already know how to use Blogger, and I can post from my phone, bonus! I'm two weeks into the project and going strong, I look forward to seeing what kinds of photos I'll have at the end of each day.

The photo blog will in no way take the place or precedence over A Cuppa Tea With Me, this blog is home. It's where I cut my blogging teeth, and where I've met so many wonderful people, both online and in person. I've chosen to do a separate blog for the photos because they're not always going to be crafty, pretty, or tea related and I don't want to spam anyones dash who isn't interested in newbie photography.

Anyhooo, I'd be pleased as punch if any of you decided to pop over and follow along. Maybe we can learn some spiffy new photo stuff together!

Be back soon with more crafty goodies to share!

oxo,

Lisa

A Quilt For Mama

2012-01-08T13:35:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

This post has been a long time coming, I started this project last January. You know how that goes, right? Some projects take a few hours, some take 11 months (mostly hibernating), but I digress.

Just before Thanksgiving this year, I pulled this out and got back to work, I wanted to get it finished and quilted for my mom for Christmas, and I still had a long, long way to go. Now, I've only made one other quilt, and it was just a bitty little thing, simple patch work and diagonal stitching, easy peasy. This one though, it was a horse of a different color, but such lovely colors they are.

A quilt for my mom.

Here's the quilt label I made, I incorporated it with a little bit of piecing (scraps from making the quilt top), right into the back of the quilt. The pattern I used was called "Turning Twenty Again". From what I understand this is a fairly well known quilt pattern, named because it's made of 20 blocks that can be turned any way you like that pleases the eye. The finished size of the quilt is 70"x84", big enough to lay over a queen size bed.

God willing, this quilt will outlast both my mother and I, and some day someone might wonder who made it, and why (I always wonder that when I find a quilt in an antique or thrift store), so I included that information on the label.

Can you see this beautiful quilting?

I had this quilt professionally quilted by the wonderful and talented, Shannon Freeman, I just found this morning that Shannon has set up a Facebook page for her business, This Chick Stitches. Shannon is awesome, and funny and kind and boy howdy, if you're lucky enough to have something quilted by her, you will be thrilled with the results!

Shannon quilted this quilt using a dense, edge to edge meandering daisy pattern... freehand!! I'm telling you, she's amazing, in the picture below you can get a better look at the overall quilting.

Ooof! I love it so much. This quilt would not be what it is without Shannon's considerable skill & talent, thank you Shannon!

Here's a better look at the entire back of the quilt.

(Oh, and see that guy on the mower back there? He thought it was funny to zoom past me on his mower while I was trying to get these pictures in my neighborhood park, and kick dust, dry leaves and broken acorn bits all over me and my quilt... why I oughta! *shakes fist*)

Hey look, binding!! I'm not afraid of it anymore, guys! And I have to say, I'm pretty proud of those corners! My skills at that particular task have definitely improved.

I did all of the binding in one marathon day. Done in the traditional method, sewn to the front by machine and the back by hand... 11 hours, non-stop y'all!

Eeek, so proud about that darn binding!

Oh, these colors! I love all the jewel tones mixed with the neutrals.

One last shot of the quilt... hanging in a tree by the river.

Happy to report that mom loved her quilt, I gave it to her on Christmas Eve. It was a surprise, she had no clue this was what I had planned for her, yay surprises.

Now... will I make another one like this any time soon? I'd like to say not bloody likely! But you never know... I've already got two more quilts in the works, so we'll see how long these take to get finished. Joy!

Sew, what do you think, friends? Did any of you guys make/give quilts for Christmas? Please, do tell and point me to them, I want to see!

oxo,

Lisa

Now THAT'S a pincusion!

2012-01-05T16:30:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids!

How's your week been so far? Going well? Getting back into the post holiday swing of things? Why is it that short work weeks sometimes feel longer than regular weeks? Hmph...

Ok! This here is something I made for my pal, Jill for Christmas. I saw this first on Pinterest (ack! I can't find the link, I'll find it and edit this post tonight!) and knew that I HAD to make one because it looked like fun, because I knew Jill would love it, and because I already had the perfect fabric.

I give you the worlds largest pincushion!

No joke, it's a biggin.

I knew Jill would love these fabrics because we've talked about this line before.

I cut into my Bliss stash to make this, and I'm so glad I did. I was a little worried once I got into the project, this was a fiddly job. Let's just say that I'm really glad I have one of those handy ergonomic seam rippers, because I ripped this little baddie apart several times.

The end result was worth it though, I think it came out sew cute, and Jill loved it, yaaaay!

See, I told you it's big! It's the size of a small cake!

mmm... cake.

I love the way it looks, and now that I've been through the whole thing and have a feel for it, I'm going to be making one of these for myself out of my Happy Mochi Yum Yum fabric, (I ♥ Happy Zombie!). That's my favorite fabric line of all time. I have several projects lined up for in in the coming months.

All in all, I'd say this wasn't exaclty an easy sewing project (although, I'm sure it was just me... I was kind of stressed when I was making it) but the results were pretty darn good (I think) and I'll definitely make it again.

Let me know what y'all think!

oxo,

Lisa

Happy (belated) New Year!

2012-01-02T23:46:00.000-08:00

Greetings friends!

Did you have a nice New Years Eve/Day? Are you the party-hardy kind, the quiet evening at home kind, or the midnight-schmidnight, I'm going to bed kind? I'm the second kind, and it's usually just the hubby and I, as well as our critters all piled on the couch watching movies or whatnot. This year was a little different, two of our dear old friends came over and we nibbled and sipped our way into the new year. Then, just around midnight, as the clock ticked down to zero, we went out into the backyard just like we did as kids, and used up the left over 4th of July sparklers.

Good times infinity.

Any resolutions? I'm not a huge fan of New Year resolutions, generally speaking. They feel a bit like setting oneself up for a hard come down. I think a resolution or better choice can be made at anytime of year, and the dead of winter seems the hardest place to start. That being said, this year I AM going to try to get more sleep. That seems like a nice, gentle goal to start out with. Being a night owl is great for us creative types, but not when you need to be awake, showered, dressed and out the door every morning by 7:30am for a 20 mile (all freeway) commute to a full time job... yaknowwhatimean? So until I pick those winning lotto numbers, I need to try to get to bed earlier. Really try. I'm aiming for before midnight. We shall see...

2011 definitely had it's share of ups & downs. It was not a good year for many of my friends where their furry little hearts are concerned, myself included. Too many beloved souls passed over the rainbow bridge this year...

Not a day's gone by that I haven't thought of and missed this little fella, deeply.

I've spent a good long time thinking about where the last year has gone, it really seemed to fly, didn't it? Naturally, I can't help but think of all the things I *didn't* get done. I was bemoaning this fact with a friend recently. She reminded me of all that I *did* get done, and encouraged me to make a list so I could see it on paper. I took a spin though my Flickr account to remind me since I send/give away so many of the things I make, and ya know, she was right, I felt a lot better!

Well hey there, big fat list!

I've posted about a lot of these things here on my blog, but there are a good many that I haven't for one reason or another. Especially the most recent Christmas "makes", I'm getting there, I'm getting there. There are 45 projects on this list, and 27 of those were completely hand stitched embroidered projects. Not too shabby, right? Thank goodness for friends who know how to pick you up when you're down.

One of the items listed up there was that I wound my floss, almost all of it! I count that as a project because it took all the crafty hours I had to spare for 3 full nights. Once I started I couldn't stop. I never wanted to be one of those "floss winding people" but my floss basket was OUT OF CONTROL, y'all. It was bad, imagine a very brightly colored birds nest. I couldn't take it anymore. And now?

Booyah! This is a good way to start out the year I think. I didn't label the bobbins with color codes, and I'm not too concerned about them being in exact order, either. I usually pick colors on the fly, so this works for me. Only problem, this box ain't big enough! I'm waiting for one of those highly coveted 40% off JoAnn's coupons to come in the mail, I'm going to get a bigger box so I can have all my floss in one place. Ah, the things that I excite me... My life is a thrill ride, I tell ya.

Welp, as I look at the clock it's nearly my new bedtime so I better say goodbye! I'll be back this week to share a couple more of the neato things I made for Christmas, I'm kinda proud about a few of them :o)

Come back soon!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. Oh yeah! A new project for a new year, I'm embarking on a 365 Photo project wherein you take & post one photo every day for an entire year. I'm excited and a little nervous, it's a lot to bite off, but if I say it out loud (telling you guys is saying it out loud) I'm more likely to make it happen. So far, so good (it's been two days, ha!). I haven't decided yet if I'll be posting these here, in Flickr, Tumblr, or if I'll start a separate blog for them. I'm completely open to suggestions, have any of you done this before? Please, do tell!

Christmas In A Jar

2011-12-30T16:58:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids~

Now that the gifts have mostly all been given, I can spill the beans a little more about what I've been up to these last few weeks.

I first saw this project on Pinterest, and I thought it was great for several reasons some of which are that it was fast, easy, inexpensive and has a big visual impact, so I tracked down the original source and yay! There's a tutorial! I followed the tutorial exactly, easy peasy.

I give you...

The Waterless Snow Globe!

Aren't they great? I'm so smitten with these. I actually made five of them as gifts.

I love the whole 'gifts in a jar' idea, and this year I've seen lots of new ones that are really fun & unique. This one was at the top of my list.

Each 'globe' looks a little different depending on the style of light post, and different ribbon.

And don't they glow! These tiny lights actually put off quite a bit of light.

I think they look a little like a scene from The Lion, Witch & The Wardrobe, you know the one...

All I need is a little Mr. Tumnus. Maybe just a tiny red scarf.

I'm happy to report that everyone who received this as their gift loved it, and I have to confess, I'll be making at least one more of these to keep for myself. Another thing I think is so great about these waterless snow globes is that they're very portable, they run on a small battery pack which can be easily be hidden, or tuck into some greenery, then you can place them just about anywhere you like, and not fuss about access to an outlet.

So what'ya think, pretty neat huh?

Gosh I love Pinterest! It came in very handy for me this year, stay tuned for more Pinterest inspired, handmade Christmas gifts!

oxo,

Lisa

Cozy Little Christmas!

2011-12-25T14:09:00.000-08:00

Hello sweet friends!

From my house to yours, I'm wishing you all a very, merry Christmas! I hope your holiday is festive, and bright and happy!

We're having a lovely quiet day at home this year, easy & relaxing. I thought I'd share a few snaps from around the house, I love to decorate for the holidays. I haven't added anything new for the past few years, but somehow these little things seem (to me at lease) to look different, and more cherished each time I see them, and it's so nice to pull out these familiar treasures each year, that I don't mind a bit. Comforting memories of years gone by...

The Little Cabin, it is so special to me, I'll have to tell you about it sometime...

Gather round the fireplace.

A woodland mantle, Miss Moose, Santa, Snowman and Mr. Bear, all present and accounted for. I love these critters, they've been with us for many years.

Well, I guess there is at least one new thing this year, these delicate & sparkly glass mouse ears commemorate our visit to Disneyland this winter. What memories!

This jolly fellow lives in the kitchen window. I love a fat man who comes bearing cookies! You should see his velvet trousers, quite stylish.

Believe... because when you stop believing, you get socks & underwear.

The manger. This is also very special to me, remind me to tell you about it. It was years in the making, from a very talented lady who we love so much.

Stay cozy friends!

And have yourselves a merry, little Christmas now.

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. Did you notice who's on the television in that last picture? Teeheehee, Lola really is the star of the show in this house!

Peace, Love & Joy

2011-12-24T17:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Christmas Eve!

Peace, Love & Joy are what I wish for all of you, and for all of my friends & family,

Three of my good friends are coming over tonight, Christmas Eve cocktails & munchies, it's our "girlfriends" tradition. These three smart, funny, kind, beautiful ladies are sisters, and they are so dear to me.

I made these three hoop stitchies this afternoon, a gift for each of them. I'll let them decide who gets what.

♥

All three of these came together in no time, 2 hours flat from start to finish which included painting the hoops, stitching the words and adding the fabric in a quilted style, then placing them in a hoop and adding some gingham hanging ribbon. Everything came from my stash... a little bit of Mary Englebreit Christmas, and a little bit of Bliss. Christmas & Bliss, what a great combination!

I hope they like them.

Thank you so much for you kind comments about my little craft room. It looks pretty different as I sit here looking around right now, and writing to you after just finishing a project than it did in those pictures, lol. But that's the whole point, a place to play! If you haven't seen it yet, keep scrolling, it'll be the post right under this one.

♥oxo♥

Lisa

Now if it's late in your part of the world, off to bed, you! As my mom used to tell my brother and I when we were little, Santa won't come if you're awake!

Christmas In My Craft Room

2011-12-23T23:40:00.000-08:00

'Ello Lovies,

The Christmas countdown is almost over, the big day is just around the corner, are ya ready? I'm surprised to find that I'm very close, just a bit of finishing up on a couple small projects. Usually I'm still sewing late into the night on Christmas Eve, this by contrast feels ahead of schedule, ha!

I really enjoy making (nearly) all of my Christmas gifts, but it means that I spend a lot of hours in November & December in my crafty space. This year, I thought it would be nice to decorate that room too, since that's where I'm at so much of the holiday season. I already had some bright & pretty Christmassy things (from back in my single-girl days) that don't really match the Christmas decoration used in the rest of the house, so the bonus was I didn't purchase a single thing. That's always nice, especially this time of year when you really need to s-t-r-e-t-c-h those dollars.

I always love to see where other people do their creative work, and I thought you guys might like to see where I do mine. So howza bout a little tour? Yes? Well then let's get on with it! Without further adieu, welcome to my craft room...

Whoa, there's a lot got on here... let's go clockwise shall we?

(Click any of these pictures to enbiggen)

Just inside my room is a big ugly file cabinet. Ugly, but functional, it holds a lot if important junk so I don't think I could do away with it, but I am thinking about painting it, or Modge Podging it, something. Also, yes that is a Barbie on a scooter. That's what Sean got me for my birthday this year, so awesome!

My little white tree! Remember these guys?

Eventually, I'd like to have this little tree covered in handmade ornaments.

This is my favorite corner... my comfy chair, a cuppa, a lamp and my stitchin' or some good books. Call me granny if you want, this sounds like a good night to me. My first quilt lives on this chair along with the very first bit of stitching I ever did. I made a pillow out of it.

My wee side table, holds lots of books, crafty and otherwise. I picked this up at the Roseville Flea with Jill last spring, I hinted about it here, and always meant to show you guys but never got around to it. Twenty bucks! I'm nothing, if not thrifty.

Yup, this is my favorite corner. Eventually, the wall(s) behind my chair will be filled with embroidery pieces. Made by me, my friends, my niece, and my embroidery crushes. I have several more embroideries that need to be hooped up, I just haven't gotten them done yet. Shame on me!

What's that, you want to see that stitchy a little closer?

Sure thing jelly bean! This is from Wendi Gratz's etsy shop, Shiny Happy World. I won a gift card from her shop in the Feeling Stitchy, Covered In Stitches Contest and this is what I chose. Isn't it great?!

I also won this book, the cover art is hand stitched, it's so pretty. The artists original work can be seen here.

Continuing on to the next corner, here's my sewing desk... it's not really a desk, it's a cheapo folding table, but it works for me. (Note the awesome Harry Potter poster, Potter rules!!)

The shelf over my "desk" holds all my ribbon spools and lots of my small sewing stash items. This shelf was a freebie when one of my friends redid her daughters room and thought it was too "little girlish" to keep... heh... I'm 37 and I LOVE it!

Need a hoop? This person is obviously obsessed with embroidery.

Next to my sewing table is the great big shelf. I LOVE this piece, another freebie from a different friend who was moving cross country and couldn't take it with her. Yay for me! It was dark brown when I acquired it, lovely, but not how I envisioned it, so I painted the entire thing a pretty light blue, same as the shelf; {Valspar, Sea Air from Lowes if anyone is interested}.

The shelf holds all my fabric, sewing tools, scrap basket, etc., and it gives me a little space on top to put pretty things.

I made this tiny pipe cleaner tree a few days ago, cute yeah? Tutorial here.

A little bit of Christmas goodness...

Here's a better look at what's on the shelf. Oh my, I should have stacked my fabric a little neater like a good blogger. Ah well... Just so you know nothing in this room is staged. Tidied, yes, staged, no. I cleaned up the room to take pictures because I've been in here working every single night after work (my day job, I work full time) all month, but in between projects, it pretty much always looks like this. I made myself a promise to try and keep the room neat when I'm not in the middle of a project, and so far so good. It's hard to be productive in a mess, so keeping it picked up helps the creativity flow because I can just go right in and start something, not have to spend and hour making space to make something. Clean as you go, that's my motto. Muuuch easier.

A bit of shiny garland swagged over the closet (a closet that's also organized by the way, woo!)

And here we are again, back at the beginning... it's night time now, all shut in nice & cozy.

I've already told you about the island in the middle of the room. It was in the kitchen of our last house for years and it was such a perfect fit in this room. It's the work horse in this room. No, wait. I'm the work horse in this room, hehe...

So yeah! That's my room, whad'ya think?

I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have a whole room for my crafty adventures, I feel like such a lucky duck. I never though I'd have a room like this. When we rented this house, we decided (or rather, I decided) that I'd get more use out of a craft room than an office or guest room, so I ran with it. Now, I don't think I could live without this place. It's my retreat, my harbor, my happy space. A room of my very own to create and do things that make me happy. I don't like shopping, I'm not into flashy clothes, cars, expensive handbags or jewelry. We lead a pretty modest life. But what I do care about is having a happy home, someplace comfortable where we feel safe and warm and content. That's how my space makes me feel, that, and like I said, lucky. It may not be the biggest, or prettiest crafty space in the world, but it is mine and I think it's pretty darn great.

Anyhooo, I hope you've enjoyed my little tour! It was fun to finally show you, I've been meaning to do a post like this forever. Let me know what you think, or if you have any questions about anything pictured above. I love that kind of thing!

I'll be back tomorrow with another pre-Christmas post, so pop back in if you have a chance!

oxo,

Lisa

Christmas Tea At The Crown & Cumpet

2011-12-17T14:19:00.000-08:00

Ho, ho ho y'all!

Jill and I snuck off to San Francisco yesterday. Ah, the city at Christmas... I love San Francisco always, but at Christmas, I think I love it even more, if that's possible. Everything was merry & bright and we had a grand ol time first at the Ferry Building, then wandering at Ghiradelli Square, then taking tea at The Crown & Crumpet, and afterwards, meandering around SF enjoying the scenery. It was a great day, I thought I'd share some pictures with you.

The Crown & Crumpet is starting to feel like our little hiding place in SF, this was our third trip to the C&C, but our first at Christmas and to our delight the C&C was dressed for a party and full of holiday merriment. It is really such a special place, we love, love, love it.

A holiday tea! Those words alone make me all kinds of happy.

Look at all these sweets!

And these sweets, too.

This fabulous red Christmas tree grabs your attention as soon as you walk into the Crown & Crumpet.

A cheery fireplace mantle. Love those fabulous, pink feather trees!

The tea, service and food were as fabulous as always. That's one thing about the Crown & Crumpet that I especially love, the consistency of the product. Each time we've been there, we feel like "friends" of the shop, like they've been waiting for us to arrive. It's awesome, and not stuffy. Such a joy!

Of course no trip is complete without a memento, or three. I bought this happy, little soldier at the Crown & Crumpet's gift shop, so sweet.

He went straight onto the tree in our family room.

And my happiest purchase of the day, this lovely little broach! I've loved the work of the maker, Lorie Marie for some time and she has a terrific blog which I follow (it's over there on my side bar too, have a look!) as well. I knew that she sells some of her wares at the Crown & Crumpets gift shop, and I was excited to see them in person. When I did, I HAD to have one of these pins. It's everything I love, felt, happy colors, flowers, stitching, in a word; perfect. I really wanted one of these, but it's just not in the budget at the mo... maybe for my birthday.

Oh, and then there's this! Couldn't leave Ghiradelli Square at Christmas without some, it's my favorite.

I know I've said it before, but you can be sure I'll say it again, if you're a tea fan, and ever you're in San Francisco, you must find the time to have tea at the Crown & Crumpet, you will love it. I promise.

I know this has already been a picture heavy post, but I'm really enjoying and learning to use my new camera, so I hope you'll forgive my photo indulgence a little more. Here are a few snaps that I think are pretty from the Ferry Building...

Just inside the Ferry Building.

Rose & geranium French macaroons, tasted as pretty as they looked. Miette.

Beautiful shrooms, Far West Fungi.

Gifts from the hive, Bee Kind.

All sorts of wondrous fromage (hot guy not included), Cowgirl Creamery.

Mine! Mine! Mine! This guy crept up on me, good thing Jill was watching.

So that about wraps it up, I hope you've enjoyed another trip to my favorite city by the bay!

More Christmas goodness coming soon, stay tuned!

oxo,

Lisa

The Magic Christmas Kingdom

2011-12-13T00:42:00.000-08:00

Ho~ho~howdy!

Wow! Where did the last couple of weeks go?? Well my dearies, that was an unintended bloggy break. The weekend of my last post I got down to some serious business in the craft room, and I've been a busy little elf ever since! Can't share everything just yet (you know how that goes this time of year) but trust me, I've been working hard and I have lots of other tricks up my sleeves. Last weekend was different, we ducked out of town for a quick, but jam packed, magical trip...

Disneyland!

I've always, always, always wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom during the Christmas season, when the entire park is decked out in its holiday finery. If I had a bucket list, Disneyland at Christmas would have been on it.

I took approximately one bazillion pictures, which I will not forcibly subject you to (much) (although, if you'd like to see lots more than what I'm posting here, I've made a set of this Disneyland trip over on my Flickr account, which can be found here. I think there are just over 100 photos in the set, and belieeeve me, that was trimming it way down from what I actually took! You are move than welcome to pop over and have a look. Please feel free to leave a comment or two, I love comments, and I love Disney memories so share, share away!) but I thought I'd share just a few of my most holiday-ish shots here with you today.

Small World, lit up like the sun. This picture doesn't do it justice.

We were only at Disneyland for about a day and a half, so we really had to move, but in that time I think we did and saw, and rode everything that we wanted to, some things even more than once.

Spinning madly.

The Grand Californian

Victorian carolers in the lobby, truly wonderful.

(note the kiddies in their stripy Christmas pj's, adorable!)

Jack, The Pumpkin King as Sandy Claws. In case you didn't know, the Haunted Mansion is completely re imagined for Christmas after the much beloved Nightmare Before Christmas, it's an astounding transformation. One of the highlights of my trip to be sure.

Me & Pluto

Stealing a smooch.

Hanging out near the castle... can you see the snow topped peaks? About 1/2 second after this picture was taken, guess who walked up behind me? None other than my favorite mermaid, Ariel!! She must have been on her way to meet Prince Eric or something, because she was walking superfast!

It was wonderful. The only thing I wished was different was how soon we had to leave. I could visit Disneyland at least once a month for the rest of my life and be a happy camper.

I look forward to visiting again, and again... and hopefully sooner rather than later!

Again, there are LOTS more pictures here, get yourself a cuppa and come over for a visit. Let's continue our conversation over on Flickr.

I hope you've enjoyed a peek of a few of the Christmas goodness to be had at the happiest place on earth! So tell me, have you been during the holidays? What's your favorite thing about Disneyland? Do tell!

oxo,

Lisa

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2011-11-27T14:08:00.000-08:00

You know what it's beginning to look like... it's in the air, it's here there & everywhere.

And so, long after I *should* have started, I have begun in earnest.

The Christmas making season is underway in my little corner of the world. These are the first Christmas cuties I've completed this season.

I made them from a pattern from Fa La La La Felt, a great book I picked up last year from Amanda Carestio.

These are the first project I've made from this book, and I have plans made for several more, I was instantly in love with these little portraits so they beckoned to be first.

Miss Bunny

Mr. Fox

Party Kitty

I made these from felt I already had in my stash, and isn't that the great thing about craft stash? Once you've aquired a fair bit, very often you can just plunk out little (and sometimes big!) projects without ever venturing to the craft store. I love that.

So my friends, what are you working on at the moment? Any Christmas goodies? Do tell, I'd love to pop over and have a look!

oxo,

Lisa

Thanksgiving Wishes

2011-11-23T15:39:00.000-08:00

I know I'm just a scouche early, but...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I'm wishing you all a wonderful and bountiful, stress-free holiday!

It'll be a quiet one for my hubby and I, just the two of us at home this year... But I'm still cooking, oh yes, the whole shebang! Also, I will be having pumpkin pie for breakfast tomorrow, and probably the next few days after that.

It's tradition!!

Oh! Before I go, I wanted to send out a

HUGE THANK YOU

to all of you who voted for my Wynken, Blynken & Nod piece on the Feeling Stitchy Covered In Stitches Contest! The winners were announced this afternoon and I took 3rd place!! I'm very happy, and very, very honored to be among the winners. All of the entries were amazing!

Until we meet again my friends, cheers!

oxo,

Lisa

Falling Into Place

2011-11-21T01:22:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

It sure is looking and feeling like fall around these parts, and I could not be happier about it. I do so enjoy autumn's rich colors, the chilly bite in the air and leaves crunching under your feet. I think I've told you before, but autumn is my very favorite.

There are so many things I adore about this time of year and some of them take place indoors. Our house seems to sense the change in season too, and has become cozier somehow. We light fires in the fireplace and the animals decide its time to cuddle again. I change out light, summer linens for soft, warm flannel sheets on the beds, add seasonal rugs to the kitchen floor to keep my toes warm, and probably, like many of you, I change out some of the decorative accessories in the house, and I thought I might share a little bit of that with you today.

A cheery wreath greats you at the door, come on in!

At the entry way sweet little pilgrims meet you at the door with glad autumn tidings. In the dining room my small (but growing!), aluminum collection takes its place on the bookshelf my father made when he was in high school. And my favorite gobble~gobble, a gift from my mother-in-law comes out for his month in the spotlight.

You might notice I have a little thing for acorns... well maybe more than a "little" thing. I think they're adorable and it seems that every year, a few more find their way into my home. Here's the newest one...

Oooh, sparkly!

The top of my clock takes on a distinctly autumn feel with fall berries and flowers. My favorite table runner with embroidered leaves and acorns (I love Home Goods!) and a scattering of ceramic acorns. I think I got those at Pier 1 a few years back.

Even the kitchen window sill gets a little fall love...

A simple fall mantle for the fireplace this year. Tall candle sticks, tiny pumpkins, autumn leaves, two little squirrels, and of course... acorns.

The large acorns here are two of my favorite, they're boxes actually. I usually keep matches or a lighter in one or the other, gotta have one of those close by when you're addicted to candle light.

That about wraps up my tiny tour, I have a few other decorations out too, but these are my favs. So what about you guys? Do you decorate your homes for autumn too? What changes at your place, do tell!

Thanks for stopping by!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. Voting closes tomorrow, for the Feeling Stitchy Covered in Stitches contest. My Wynken, Blynken & Nod piece was chosen as one of the top 10 (!!!!!) and it's up to everyone in blogland to pick the winner. Please click here and vote for your favorite!

I'm A Geek

2011-11-18T20:39:00.000-08:00

It's true, it must be... I was featured on Geek Craft!

I'll never not love Harry Potter. If that makes me a geek, then I'll proudly fly that banner high.

Happy Friday!

oxo,

Lisa

Feeling Stitchy: Covered in Stitches Contest

2011-11-15T14:13:00.000-08:00

Well hello there my peeps!

As I write this, I'm sitting in a state of shock and could literally be knocked right out of my chair with a feather! Why's that? Well, it's because my Wynken, Blynken & Nod piece has made the Top 10 in the Feeling Stitchy: Covered In Stitches Contest!!

If you'll remember, this is a piece I made for an embroidery swap and now resides in the Netherlands with Nicole.

Here are a few pictures of my entry... the original post with lots more pictures can be found here.

There were 45 entries in the Covered In Stitches Contest, (you can see the entire group here) and I am honored that my embroidery is counted among other such amazing pieces of embroidered art, but to make the final cut with 10 other gorgeous pieces just about blows my mind!

So now, I'm going to humbly ask for your help & your vote. If you like my piece best, please, please, pretty please click on over and vote for me, I would SOOOO appreciate it, and I'll love you forever & ever.

And I might even bake you cookies, I'm not above bribery. Just sayin'.

Here's the link... go forth and cast your vote!

Feeling Stitchy: Covered In Stitches ~ Vote For Your Favorite!

oxo,

Lisa

Remember, Remember The 5th of November...

2011-11-05T13:49:00.000-07:00

Twenty-five years ago today.

Gone from our lives much too soon.

Greg turned 35 yesterday, you'd be so proud.

He's a good daddy, just like you were.

I think about you every day, I always have, I always will.

I still miss you...

John Douglas Kramer

March 7, 1955 ~ November 5, 1986

I love you, Daddy.

oxo,

Mommy Made Me Do It

2011-11-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

I had no intention. None whatsoever, to make myself a little quilt for Christmas.

My mother made me do it.

How, you ask? This.

Santa Claus on a scooter, that's how.

Seriously, how am I supposed to resist this? You guys know I ride a fire engine red Vespa, right? I'm a sucker for all things scooter, and my mom knows it.

There I am innocently working away at my office yesterday, and my mom sends me a picture from her cell phone of this fabric. She was at JoAnn's... with coupons! I was powerless.

Twenty minutes later I was with her, and we were picking coordinating fabrics.

Gah! As if I didn't have enough to do...

I blame Mom.

Isn't it the cutest though?!? I think I'm going to quilt this by hand, just by outlinging the girls and santas with a running stitch in coordinating thread. Should be pretty fast... I hope.

Wish me luck!

oxo,

Lisa

Harry - I Mean Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T12:39:00.000-07:00

Greetings Wizards & Witches and Muggles and Squibs!

Halloween, it's finally here! Too bad it's on a Monday, but I digress... So! I'm excited to show you guys my final Halloween post, I think I've saved the best for last and I hope you like it too.

What I wanted to share with you guys today is a little interior Halloween decor, more specifically, the way I decorated the mantle above our fireplace. After seeing Jill's Harry Potter shrine last year (and this year too, look here!) I knew that this was something that I would love, love, love to do! I'm also a huge Harry Potter fan (to the point of obsession!) but I've already told you that. And although Harry Potter isn't necessarily tied with Halloween, when else could you decorate like this? Never. I'd probably leave my mantle like this year round if I thought I would get away with it. Ready?

I wanted my shrine to look realistic, items pulled right out of Hogwarts. My friend told me she thinks it looks like a movie prop, that made me really happy, that's exactly what I was going for! Ready?

Here is the first shot of the mantle, we'll go through it from right to left. I've packed in lots of little details, so we'll take a look at all of them. Get ready for lots of pictures! You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them for more detail.

The Sorting Hat! I've been sorted into Gryffindor. Yup~yup!

Someone's been into Professor Snape's stores! Boomslang Skin... Lacewing Flies? Could somebody be brewing Polyjuice Potion?

Harry's glasses, and a few of his galleons. Also, what's this?

Felix Felicis! Liquid luck!

The star of the show, the jewel in my crown, my personalized, hand stitched Letter of Acceptance! You might remember that this was made for me by Gemma, Ms. Crafty & Devious, as part of the Phat Quarter Books Swap.

Harry's things, his books, his wand, the Golden Snitch he caught in his first Quidditch Match, and of course some goodies, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, and of course some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

This is the symbol of The Deathly Hallows. I couldn't *not* stitch something myself to add to this Harry Potter shrine.

Is is Scabbers? Is it Peter Pettigrew? Is it Wormtail? This wretched traitor is one in the same!

Scabbers was known to have a raggedy left ear...

And he was missing a toe on his left foot... that was all that was ever found of Peter Pettigrew.

Sirius Black, have you seen him? He might be in the form of a great, black dog.

Also pictured are Hagrid's keys, he was Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, we can't forget about our half-giant friend.

And Fawkes, Dumbledore's highly intelligent companion and defender, a Phoenix. An amazing creature.

Fawkes has extraordinary plumage, his feathers are hot to the touch, and he gave two of them to Mr. Ollivander who fashioned them into cores for two wands. Two very famous wands.

I love Fawkes's eyes, they're pitch black.

And of course, who could forget Aragog, the great Acromantula? This must be one of his children, for we all know that Aragog, was a great, great hugely scary spider!

Here we are looking back from left to right...

Oh, and did I forget to mention, floating candles! Just like in the Great Hall.

And in the evening...

That's it my friends! What do you think? I've enjoyed "lighting" the candles every evening, and I've been watching all of the movies, and re-reading sections of the books again throughout the course of the month. It's like visiting old friends. I'll always love Harry and his magical world. There's so much to love Rowling's world, it's a rich tapestry. It's not just for kids either, if you haven't read it I encourage you to give it a go, it is a wonderful literary work.

Now don't think that I'm done here, oh no, I have plans! I'm looking forward to next year, there other things swimming in my mind to incorporate, more characters, more magical items, more fun! This might take over my house, y'all! You can't collect everything at once after all, where would the fun be in that? I'm looking forward to re-imagining this Harry Potter Shrine for years to come.

I hope you've enjoyed my little tour, please let me know what you think, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Wishing you all a very happy, spooky, silly, magical, wonderful Halloween!

oxo,

Lisa

A Little Batty Halloween

2011-10-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings Ghoulies!

We're creeping ever closer to All Hallows Eve, only 2 more days, yay! Are you ready for some more Halloween foolery? What I have for you today is my favorite thing I've made this spooky season, a little stitchy, a little quilty and a whole lot of color.

A Little Batty Halloween!

A Bad Bird pattern by Andrea Zuill available in her Etsy shop here.

I stitched this pattern in no time at all, less than a day actually. Once I started, I couldn't stop and didn't want to. This was a truly fun stitch up, it reminded me why I love embroidery so much.

I knew exactly what I wanted to make with this stitchery, a quilted wall hanging to add to my Halloween decorations.

I found this fun Candy Corn printed cotton at JoAnn's after I'd stitched my piece, and the colors and style worked perfectly! I love the way they're both kind of silly and cute, but not too cute, ya know?

The piecing around the embroidery was simple and fast, and I didn't even freak out about the binding this time, bonus! Plus, I'm getting a lot better at corners, all four of these look pretty darned good (if I do say so myself).

To hang this piece, I just made two little tubes to slide a piece of dowel through, then tied ribbon around the end of each side of the dowel. I painted the dowel black to so it would coordinate better with the fabric.

Viola, Halloween art!

I love it!

I still have a couple Halloween tricks up my sleeves to reveal in the next couple of days so stay tuned! I hope you guys have enjoyed these little Halloween posts, I sure have enjoyed sharing them.

See you tomorrow!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. After I hit publish guess what I'm going to do? I'm headed to the kitchen to whip up some Harry Potter themed goodies to take to Jill's Harry Potter Ball tonight, wahoo!! I'm making Pumpkin Pasties and Butterbeer Cupcakes, ooooh! I hope they come out ok! If they do, I'll make sure to snap a couple of shots and share the recipes. Toodle-doo!

Halloween Hairclips

2011-10-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids~

Continuing on in the Halloween vein, I have another quick little whip up to share with you today. I made these for two of my nieces for Halloween. They're easy and fast, and I like that you could make these any number of ways, or color combinations, as you'll see below.

This one is for my niece Ana. Black and orange are typical Halloween colors of course, but I stitched the edges of the flower petals with contrasting floss in bright lime and an equally bright magenta. I made the little yo-yo with some iridescent green fabric scraps that I had, and added a black, fabric covered button.

This next one was made for my niece, Anais. She's only 7 years old (just turned yesterday, happy birthday, sweetheart!) so I made the center of her clippy with a brighter, more kid-ish green and a cheerful orange button. I stitched around the petals of the flowers with some light, peachy-orange floss.

The backs are finished with simple hair clips stitched to the center of the flower. I don't think these would do a great job of holding the hair in place, you'd need a different clip for that. These are just for tucking a playful splash of color into their flowing locks.

Here are the two together. Similar, yet different. One for a little girl, and one for a young lady. I hope they like them, the should be getting them in the mail today.

This is another one I made for Anais for her birthday, along with the giant princess pillow we mailed to her. She looooves the princesses. Oh, to be 7 again...

So there y'are! Another quick, and fun Halloween craft. I think I'm going to make a few more of these for another special lady in my life who has a birthday right around the corner. I'm think I might try to make them in the shape of plumeria, her favorite flower... aloha!

See you again soon!

oxo,

Lisa

Halloween (cheater) Quilt

2011-10-27T01:15:00.000-07:00

Hello Ghoulies!

Are we ready for Halloween this year? I am! This is in stark opposition to the last several years where I've yanked my decorations down from the rafters in a mad dash, hurrying to get the pumpkins (electric - cuz I don't have kids and I'm lazy) plugged in and the candy in the bowl by the door, before the bell starts ringing. I'm actually ready ahead of time this year, I've got my house decorated, my candy ready and I've been working a little Halloween magic!

I have a few Halloweenie things to share with you guys this week, and I thought I'd start with this little quilt I whipped up last week. I feel a little guilty claiming this is a quilt, because there's no piecing in it whatsoever, but it is quilted, technically, so I'm calling it a "cheater" quilt.

Welcome to Trick or Treat Street! This is a once piece panel from Beverly's, which brings me to something that I've been meaning to tell you guys for a while. Do you guys know about Beverly's Deal of the Day? Every morning at 9am (Pacific Time) Beverly's puts up three coordinating fabrics for $2.97 per yard. Seriously. These are nice fabrics too, quilters quality. Sometimes it's flannel, sometimes there are panels, like the one above, and other times it's chickens. Yes, chickens. I might not like every fabric on the deal of the day, but I still check in daily because you just never know. For this project I bought 1 panel (1 yard) and 2 yards of the backing fabric, for a total of three yards. The cost of the this wee little lap quilt $10.00. I should actually add that the distribution center for Beverly's is in the town I work in, so I get a double score on that end. I call the store, order my fabric, then pick it up after I get off work, so no shipping charges for me, yay! Even still, $2.97 for a yard of fabric?? It's a good deal, you should check it out.

I didn't want to be too perfect with this project, I just wanted to make something quick and fun and useful, and I didn't want to get too wrapped up in the details. I quilted this piece around the borders, and then in just a few places within the center, like this spooky tree.

I do have one little concern, I'm not sure if you can tell in the picture above and I don't know if it's something normal or just something that happens with black fabric (I haven't made anything with black fabric before). But after I finished the quilting, I washed it and the black parts of the panel seemed to fade quite a bit more than I thought they would. The black looks like it's been washed several times, not just the one time... heh. Any clue, friends?

The backing fabric is full of cute little devils. Since I have extra of this fabric, I think I'll make a few place mats for the table.

Here's how the two fabrics look together.

I love little blankets, it's so nice when the weather starts to change and I can snuggle up with one after a long, hot summer. This one is pretty small, literally just big enough to cover my lap (with a little extra for Lola to bury her cold dog-nose under), but it's nice for these coolish October evenings when I'm not ready for my poofier winter blankies just yet. Plus, it looks pretty cute hanging over the back of my couch. It's actually on my lap right now, as I'm writing to you guys. :)

So come back soon, I have lots to show you, and only a few days left til Halloween. Shoot, I might be blogging every night between now and then, woohoo! Have you guys done any Halloween crafty/sewey/stitchy stuff this year? Tell me all about it & point me to it if you've blogged it, I wanna see!

Have a creeeepy evening,

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. Lord of the Rings in Concert the other night was amazing!! I didn't get any pictures because I was too enthralled with the performance, but if this comes to your city, do make sure to get yourself a ticket! It's worth every penny.

This & That

2011-10-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Just a quick check in this beautiful Sunday afternoon. Sean and I are headed out for some geeky fun today we're going to Sacramento to see The Lord of the Rings in Concert!

This is our little treat, a celebration of our 10 year wedding anniversary which we celebrated this past Thursday. Ten years, wow... doesn't seem like that long ago. Where does the time go?

Evidence... of time lapse? My nieces. Claire (in the white) and Alex (in burgundy) were 5 and 10 years old, respectively in this photo... they're now 15 an 20 years old. 15 AND 20 YEARS OLD?!? Yeesh...

Oh... where does the time go?

There's no one else like you, Sean. They broke the mold after they made you (and rumor has it, they beat the hell out of the mold-maker)! My partner, my friend ~ here's to another 10 years!

In crafty news, I've been a busy little Halloween bee! I've got several things to show you guys this week, so watch this space! I've been holding back because my new camera will be here tomorrow!! Yaaayy! You might remember, I wrecked my other camera earlier this summer on a camping trip. No amount of rice in a bowl could save it. So, just in case you ever wondered, hot coffee and digital cameras do. not. mix.

I am SOOOO excited about getting my new camera you guys, like SERIOUSLY excited! I even canceled my Bunco date this week so I can attend a Photography Meetup Group in my area. This is the camera I've chosen. It's a huge step up for me, but I think it's worth the investment. I take tons of pictures, and I think this one will last me for years. Isn't it gorgeous??

So yes, as soon as this baby is delivered tomorrow, and I figure out how to use it a little bit, I'm going to be snapping pictures like a crazy woman! And first up, all the Halloween crafty/stitchy/decorating I've been doing. Can't wait!

Anyhoo, time for me to get moving, there's an orchestra waiting for me, woo!

Hope you all enjoy the remainder of this gorgeous autumn weekend.

oxo,

Lisa

Quick Craft / Quick Post

2011-10-16T21:43:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Just a quick post today (by recent standards, hehe). My girlfriend Mel recently had a birthday, yay birthdays! For my birthday, back in August Mel got me this nifty craft book, so for her birthday I thought I'd make her a project from the book she gifted to me. Circular giving, I dig it!

So here's what I made for Mel, I don't think she'll mind me sharing with you.

I whipped her up a monogrammed covered notebook.

M for Marvelous Melissa.

Felt is so great to work with, I love that a clean cut can just be left, and that it won't fray or unravel.

A little Mary Engelbreit notebook tucked inside. Gotta love polka-dots!

Stitched all the way around, easy peasy.

This truly was a quick craft, start to finish about 2 hours including the monogram stitching and the applique to the front of the cover (which I stitched on by machine).

So yeah, how bout that for a quick craft? Quick, just like this wee little post!

Toodle-doo my dearies!

oxo,

Lisa

A Craft Of A Different Kind

2011-10-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hello my lovely, lovely friends,

Thank you, thank you, thank you SO much for all of your sweet comments, thoughtful wishes, hugs and condolences for the loss of my Butchie-boy. You people are awesome, I already knew that, but it makes me feel so good that so many of you feel the same way about your animals as I do mine. A pets love is so special, so unconditional, I think we're lucky to get as much time with them as we do, but no matter how long you get, it still never feels like enough.

Let's get back to the crafty goodness, shall we?

Recently, I tried something that's still pretty new to me and it turned out pretty good, so I thought I'd share with you guys. One of my very best friends, Melissa recently became engaged, and I'm SOOO excited for her. I'm going to be in the wedding, y'all! Maid of Honor to boot!

I wanted to send her a "congrats on your engagement" card, but I wanted to do something a little different than just your standard Hallmark fare, something she can keep and that kind of fits with her dream of a fall wedding. My answer, a custom banner!

I have mentioned before, but paper craft isn't my speciality. Not by a long shot. It confuses me, there's so many options, and I don't feel like I have a good handle on what goes with what, and how it's all supposed to come together... so I had some help designing this project, cutting & scoring my "ingredients". Did you know Jill is a paper craft goddess?? It's true. She won't admit it, but it's true none the less. I've been in her playroom. I know her secret.

Jill scored approximately 14 billion little strips of paper for me while I set about cutting all the other pieces out with my Sizzix and some of Jill's die cutters. I didn't take any "in-progress" pictures, but here are some close ups of the way each piece came together.

Each piece was comprised of four different paper elements, the back piece done in purple,

The ruffle, (that's the scored part - thanks Jill!) made with three coordinating papers,

A scalloped circle, which I then ran through the Sizzix again with a texture plate, and the letter. I added a little bit of glitter with a glue pen, and added some gems for sparkle.

After the pieces were finished, I punched holes in the top corners of each of the purple pieces and added little grommet-dealios (that's a technical term) with Jill's Crop-o-dile so that I could run a coordinating ribbon through the tops.

So then, how to ship this thing? Mel & Cory live in southern California, so it was going to need to go through the mail. I wanted it to be safe, and I thought it would be neat for Mel to be able to open the package, pull one piece and have the rest of the banner come out in a neat row, also to have some place to keep it, if she wanted to save it. So I devised a plan.

I used a plain, round craft box from JoAnn's and Modge Podged a piece of pretty fabric to it to make a nice, sturdy box. This was the first time I've really Modge Podged anything like this. I had a few "ooopsie" moments, but I think it came out ok.

I also made a little coordinating tag, ala Alice In Wonderland...

And a little envelope and card which I taped to the top of the box lid.

I'm happy to report that Melissa loved her "card" and even sent me video of her opening it, so sweet! She even said she's going to incorporate it into the wedding reception somehow, isn't that cool?! Melissa & Cory are getting married in 364 days, woowoo!

I liked making this banner, it's fun to do new kinds of crafts and stretch my comfort zone a little. I know as time goes on and we get closer to the wedding, Mel & I will probably be up to some other crafty adventures, so I'm sure I'll have other things to share with you guys. Yay, wedding craft!!

That's all for now, I suppose! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Next up, I have some fun little Halloween projects to show you, so stay tuned.

oxo,

Lisa

So Long, Little Buddy...

2011-10-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hello My Friends,

Well, I've stalled long enough. I've been putting this post off for a few days, each night I start writing it, but then stop... maybe I just wasn't ready. I have sad news to share today, but it's something very important to me, and I need to acknowledge it here. A huge chunk of my heart has gone missing, and I can't blog-on like nothing happened, I hope you'll understand.

If you're with me on Facebook, you already know, but...

My husband and I lost someone incredibly precious to us last Friday.

Our sweet, sweet Butchie-boy.

Butch was our first dog. Our son. Yes, we are those kinds of people, and damn proud of it. Our animals are our kids. We had Butch for far too short a time, just nine years. We adopted him when he was about a year old, so my little guy was only about 10 years old... small dogs are supposed to live a lot longer... I wanted another 10 years. Truth be told, in my heart I wanted another 50...

Back in March, I took Butch in to see his vet, he was straining to potty, and I thought maybe he had a bladder infection. After extensive blood tests and an ultrasound, the results were not good, he was diagnosed with advanced bladder cancer.

We were gobsmacked. How was this possible? Butch is so healthy, so full of vigor and vitality! Here we were all just going along, completely ignorant, all the while this inoperable tumor was having it's way with his little body. The prognosis for his cancer was grim, our vet gave us 6-8 weeks with him, this type of cancer is aggressive. It didn't take us long to decide we were going to fight it for as long as we could afford to, and as long as it seemed to help him.

We treated Butch with chemotherapy for 3 months before we had to make the gut wrenching decision to stop. The cancer wasn't going away, it wasn't even stable... We were basically buying time, and the means to buy that time ran through my fingers like sand. Chemotherapy is very, very expensive. What a shitty choice...

When we stopped the chemo treatments we were again told "6-8 weeks". But my boy was strong. He gave us four months...

I don't want to grieve my sweet little buddy today, I've done so much crying I'm not sure I have any more tears. Today, I want to celebrate Butch! I want to share with you the kind of guy he was, because he was so much more than just a dog.

Things Butch loved:

Tug-o-war!

He could NEVER get enough. He had the strongest little jaws you ever saw!

Kisses! Mama likes them too!

The wind in his face! Oh, those flappy, little ears!

Treats! Butch could leap a tall building in a single bound for a treat.

He liked everything, but best of all he liked cheese, hot dogs, Frito's, bacon, pizza crust...

...and beer!

He also loved cuddles!

The more the better, and it didn't matter who you were, or what else you were doing. Butchie required cuddle time!

Lola!

He wasn't so sure at first, he was used to being an only child... the picture above is of their first meeting. It didn't take long until they were an inseparable team. Where one went, the other followed.

Right to the very end.

They were the terrible twosome!

Early morning wake up calls, get up dad!

Wrastlin', this was daily...

Playing in the mud.

Touring San Francisco.

Riding in Daddy's truck!

(Lol... I don't know why Sean is making that face... happy, dog breath perhaps?)

Butch liked to ride in the back seat with his front paws on the console so his head would be up front with us, that is until we went inside on some quick errand, then he'd jump into the drivers seat, always!

Camping & adventures! Have I mentioned our dogs are spoiled? Most of our vacations have been based around where we can take them, and Butch loved being outside... as long as we were there too.

More than anything, Butch was a goofball. Always there to make you happy...

Butchie had such a great smile. It was infectious.

He was a real clown! Confession - that Halloween outfit up there, he hated it and I can't help but laugh! I only put it on him once, and just for a couple of minutes. He stood stock-still, then slowly tipped over like he was frozen! Feet sticking out perfectly straight and he simply refused to look at me until I took it off! Oh my goodness, that's a good and funny memory. I'm sorry sweet doggy, but it was.

The brush... OoOoOoh he loved that! It was like a big, long back scratch. If I was brushing the cats, he'd come and literally lay down on top of them and ask to be brushed.

His favorite chair. More specifically, the arm of his favorite chair.

And maybe you've noticed a theme running through most of these pictures... Butch's most favorite thing in his whole doggy life was his daddy.

Watching a game, or taking a snooze.

Butch was always at Sean's side.

My two boys. They were the very best of friends.

~~♥~~

A few funny things about Butch:

He was a terrible singer. Lola likes to howl at us, she does it almost every morning (on account of she thinks she's a wolf), "awooooooo". Often Butch would try to join in, and in his high, bright voice what he let loose sounded more like "yarr, yarrr, yarrrrrr!" It made me laugh, and I gave him an "A" for effort every time. He tried so hard.

He hated it when Sean and I would hug. If say, we were standing in the kitchen, saying good morning or just being close. If our arms were around each other, he would stand at our feet and bark incessantly. I think maybe he just wanted to join in. If we were sitting next to each other on the couch, he'd wiggle in between. Always.

He was in love with our cat, Chyna. I think he wanted to marry her. She was "his" kitty.

Whenever we went camping, we were sleeping bag buddies.

The first morning he was ours, I bent down to let him out of his crate (they told me to leave him in the crate at night until he was used to his new home) and he peed right in my eye! Seriously. He was short, and the angle was just right, a little pee squirt hit me right in the face. Nice. That was the only night Butch ever spent in the crate. After that, Butch slept in a little bed right next to my side of the bed for the rest of his life.

He was obsessed with squirrels. I mean OBSESSED. Mention the word "squirrel" and he would run to the nearest tree and try to climb it.

He had many names, most of which are silly, but he answered to all of them, these are just a few; Butch, Butchie, Butch-a-loo, Butch-a-roo, Butcher, Bud, Buddy, Butters, Sausage, Sauce, Swirly Cheeks (if you ever walked behind him on a leash, you'd know why), Cheetoh... and Poop.

No matter what we called him, we will never forget our little guy.

These are two of the last pictures I took of him, just hours before we went over the rainbow bridge... In the end, when he no longer wanted to eat or drink and could only walk short distances, he was content just to sit with us, and let the breeze blow through his nose.

On Friday, September 30, 2011 at about 4pm, Butch passed away here at home with the help of a kind mobile vet to help him along. He was in his own bed. Nose to nose with Lola. The last thing he did in this world was to give her a little kiss. We were right there too, whispering our love and assurances to him that we will meet again. Rubbing his soft, warm, little head and scratching behind those velvety brown ears.

Although I will miss Butch more than words can say, I am at peace with his passing. We got more time than we thought we would, and I know that the moment he left us was exactly the right moment. I'm happy that my boy is no longer in pain. No more yucky medicine. No more belly bands. No more tossing & turning because he couldn't get comfortable. No more cancer.

He can run now and chase all the squirrels he likes. When I see him again someday, I know he'll be bouding towards me, ears flipping in the special, adorable way that they did, and he'll be smiling like the sun!

I found a quote which I think sums him up perfectly...

To call him a dog hardly seems to do him justice, though inasmuch as he had four legs, a tail, and barked, I admit he was, to all outward appearances. But to those who knew him well, he was a perfect gentleman.

~Hermione Gingold

There will never be another Butch, he was truly a one in a million.

So long, little buddy, Mama loves you!

If you've made it to the end of this very lengthy, picture laden post, I thank you. I hope that I've conveyed to you a bit of a window into the deep love we have for our critters. They are family. I know many of you feel the same way, so give you furbabies a little extra love today.

Wishing you all a happy weekend.

oxo,

Lisa

Hello Rainbow!

2011-09-21T00:21:00.000-07:00

Hi Guys,

Hooboy, where does the time go? Sorry I've been a little MIA lately, I've been slowly working my way through some crafty stuff, but I don't have anything I can share just yet, gotta love the super secret stuff. I wish I could say I've been more productive. Seems lately the more I have to do, the less I'm able to actually do it. I'm in the home stretch on three different projects for three special ladies so I should have something to share soon, promise.

In the meantime, I do have something that I think was so special. I know it's going back a little ways but this deserves its moment in the sun. Many months ago (I think) I may have mentioned to Jill that I'd always wanted a rainbow cake. Just in passing. That lady has the ears of a fox! The weekend after my birthday we'd made plans to go out to San Francisco to the Crown & Crumpet, which we did, it was perfect and lovely of course. But when she showed up at my house the morning we left for the city, she was carrying this...

BEHOLD!!

Awww yeeeah!

Before we left, I had to have a piece. We took it out on the patio, it was a nice morning.

Dig those lovely colors!

This made me so happy, I can't believe she did this just for me for me!

What a pal!!

Thank you Jill, you are wonderful! Isn't she wonderful?? Yes, she is.

oxo,

Lisa

That's How I Roll

2011-09-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

Boy, it sure is nice to have an extra day off from work. Happy Labor Day everyone!

Now that my package is safely (fingers crossed) winging it's way to its new owner (and because I don't think she knows I have a blog), I can share with you guys the piece I made for the most recent Phat Quarter Embroidery Swap, the theme of this swap: Food!

Excellent, who doesn't like food? This is a swap I can really sink my teeth into, harr-harr.

My partner, told me that her favorite foods were Indian & Sushi. Not knowing much about Indian cuisine, I went with sushi.

Three happy, little sushi rolls.

I used felt applique for the body of the rolls, then embellished with several other kinds of stitching. Lots of French knots, a bit of beading, padded satin stitch, straight stitches comprised the ingredients to my sushi.

Their smiley faces are done with open lazy daisies, and their garnish is done in long, straight stitch. I used satin stitch and an oriental font that I found for free online to trace on and fill in the words at the top.

Here's how I've been finishing my hooped, embroidery pieces lately. I trim the fabric to about 1/2", then use a thin bead of hot glue just inside the edge of the inner hoop, and fold, fold, fold down the fabric as neatly as I can. Then I use white felt, cut to exactly the inside hoop diameter. I spray the felt with adhesive, then carefully lay the felt inside the hoop. This is a one & done kind of deal, that spray adhesive is seriously sticky, and you can't move the felt once it touches the back of the embroidery, so this step always a bit nerve wracking for me, but I really like the results. In this instance I made and attached a note for my partner before I sprayed and added the felt to the back of the hoop.

I also made an extra little goodie for my partner, a bottle-cap pin cushion in the shape of a sushi roll, it was fun and quick. I hope she likes it.

This was a one way swap, so I received my piece from a different partner. I love what I got!

My partner, Pam asked me if I liked The Simpsons, and if I was a meat eater? Yes & yes!

The words are a bit of dialog from the episode called "Lisa The Vegetarian", an episode with Paul & Linda McCartney! How rad is that? I ♥ Paul McCartney.

Oh Homer, you always deliver the giggles. You can check out his disbelieving thoughts on where bacon, ham & pork chops come from here. So funny!

Pam is one heck of a stitcher, you can see her other work here.

Thanks Pam, I really dig what you've made for me, it's currently living on my kitchen counter, and I also have a strong craving for bacon!

This was a fun one, the Phat Quarter swaps never disappoint!

Whad'ya think?

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. MY SHUSHI PIECE WAS FEATURED TODAY ON CRAFT GOSSIP!! Yes, I was yelling, sorry about that, I'm just so thrilled and honored! Heeeheeeeheeee!!!

Too Pretty To Pass Up

2011-09-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

I hope you're all enjoying a long holiday weekend.

Yesterday was pretty productive for me, not in the creative sense, although I got a little work done last night on a small antique quilt I bought a few weeks ago. All the hand tied points need to be redone, they're falling apart and a bit delicate. I snipped them all out and retied two rows, but not much else as far as stitching and sewing. Lord knows I've got plenty to do, I just can't concentrate properly right now, most of my focus is elsewhere... I'll share this with you guys in due time.

We got out bright & early, Sean and I, and our dogs, Butch & Lola went downtown for breakfast, we sat outside on a patio and watched our little town come to life. It was a nice scene, one I don't get to witness often. The dogs loved getting treats (most of my bacon) under the table, and watching people pass by.

Later on I accidentally did a little antique shopping, you guys know how that goes, right? You don't mean to, but you see that the store is open, so you decided to pop in for a sec, just to see if there's anything new. Not going to buy anything, oh no, no... but... well, you end up finding just a couple of things. That's what happened to me yesterday. I picked up a handful of new-to-me stitchies, none of which were priced yet. When I inquired about a price, the lady asked me if I thought $1 each sounded fair? Let me tell you, I whipped out a fiver faster than you could say "jack-flash"!

I think this might be a small table runner, the stitching is about 12" across. It's brand spanking new, not a single blemish. It looks like it could have been finished yesterday, and then folded up and tucked into a drawer.

I think this is a small napkin, but I couldn't resist it's charm. I think it'll look great under a candle or whatnot.

I think this next piece is machine stitched, but the stitching is with a single thread, it's very delicate, and old. It's also brand new, still has the sticker on the back from China. I think it's might be a hand towel, but I'm not sure, the fabric is very thin, maybe it's a napkin also.

And then there's this, isn't it pretty? I have the perfect place to put it this Christmas, over an antique plant stand from Sean's grandparents estate.

This last piece is a vintage pillow case which I thought was so pretty, and so finely stitched, I had no choice but to rescue it. It's also in pretty good condition, with only a small spot of yellowing, some of the stitching has come out, but I think I can fiddle with that. After consulting my stitchy peeps, I gave it a nice long soak in a basin of cold water and Oxyclean, then a delicate wash in the machine with Woolite. It's currently out drying on the patio.

Isn't this a cute scene?

The handsome gentleman.

A lovely lady, I can see now that her umbrella is missing most of it's handle, yes a repair is in order.

Look at how finely stitched the trim on her bodice is! That is tiny, tiny blanket stitch. I think it's gorgeous, even if it isn't as perfect as it could be. Someone stitched this with a lot of care, and I'm so happy to have it. No life safely stashed in a closet for these two, they will be used and loved by me.

The pretty edging is done in pink & white crochet, lovely. I need to learn how to do this. Does anyone know if it's hard? It looks hard...

EDIT:

Just to share a bit of happy news, and some 'after' pictures. The Oxyclean worked perfectly! After a quick iron, my new pillow case looks great and ready to use for a nap!

Have you had any good thrifty finds lately? Tell me all about it!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. I don't know why my pictures are coming out so blue?! Anyone have any idea? These pieces are all snowy white. I don't get it, I need photo lessons...

Sewing Room Sampler

2011-08-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids!

Are you ready for the weekend? I sure am!

So hey, here's a little something I've been working on, I wasn't going to share it with y'all yet because it's not complete, but I'm excited because a small piece of it was featured on We Love French Knots yesterday.

We Love French Knots is a new website, and it's all about embroidery. "Modern Embroidery Inspired By Grandma", how awesome is that? I won't lie, I get a little thrill every time I find a new embroidery site. Embroidery is the best thing ever.

This is a fun little sampler from Bari, of the aforementioned WLFK, you can still find and download the pattern for free on her site. There are nine squares featuring nine different stitches

Running Stitch
Lazy Daisy
Stem Stitch
Back Stitch
Chain Stitch
Blanket Stitch

Also featured:

Feather Stitch

The Bullion Knot

(This was the picture Bari featured on her website, awww... thanks Bari!!)

These were my very first Bullion Knots. I know I should have practiced them on some scrap fabric first in case I made a mess, but I didn't think that far ahead... good thing they came out ok!

And of course,

The French Knot.

As you can see, I'm almost finished with the embroidery part. I only have to finish the names of the stitches, which I will do in tiny back stitches. I'm waffling on the color though, it's between the lighter green (used in the Feather Stitch) and a bright lavender, almost purple... I'm leaning towards the purple.

What say you, my people?

After I finish the embroidery, I'm going to finish it in one of two ways, either as a pillow for the chair in my craft room, or as a quilted wall hanging, something similar to this.

If you guys come across any new embroidery, or generally cool sites, blogs or whatnot that you think are fun, please! By all means, pass that info on to me and help a sister out. I love visiting new blogs!

Speaking of new blogs, I see a few new followers up there, yay!! Welcome aboard, friends! I'm so glad to have you here! Don't be shy, jump in and say hello!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

oxo,

Lisa

Snip, snip, pin!

2011-08-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

Howdy!

So, I got a bit of a wild hair a couple of days ago, and lobbed off about six inches of my hair, wanna see?

Ok, but first I'll share the same quick disclaimer I shared with my embroidery pals on Facebook.

These pictures are kinda dorky because, well... I am a dork. Also, I'm not one of those people who takes pictures of themselves in the mirror and I felt like an idiot. I'm usually the one BEHIND the camera. But I digress...

I'm pretty happy with it. I'm a low-maintenance girl, the less the fuss, the better, and even though this cut still needs to be blown out & flat-ironed, it requires no hairspray - LOVE!

So yeah... that.

Moving right along! Do you Pin? I do... oh Pinterest... why you gotta be so awesome? I've just started, but lordy, I like it! It's so fun, and so terribly addictive! I think it can be a great tool and resource too, say if you're... uh... I don't know, planning a WEDDING! (Heehee, that was for my bestie, Melissa! She's just become engaged, yaaaaaay!)

Here's a link to my Pinterest account, please feel free to surf on over and join the party!

I'm going to add a link button over on my side bar as well, just under my Flickr link.

Oh yes, fun, fun, fun!

Speaking of fun, in just a few hours Jill and I will be off to the city for a girls day! We both decided that a trip to the coast was in order, sometimes you just need to see the ocean.

Have a great weekend, lovelies!

oxo,

Lisa

WIP-lash!

2011-08-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

WIP's... oh yeah, I got some. Lots actually. See, while I wasn't posting these last few weeks I have been busy.

My work table is full right now, totally covered in WIPS, there's some on the sewing desk too, add to that one draped over the back of my chair, and another laid out on the floor, hehehe... this is not good people. Please tell me I'm not the only crazy person who does this! I have six different projects "on the hoop" and three stacks of fabric waiting to be made into specific somethings... but that's just the beginning, you should see the actual list I've got going... eeeegads! And it's not even time to start making "you know what" presents yet.

Yeesh.

So, tonight, on the eve of my 37th birthday (double-eeeegads!) I'm going to watch Despicable Me, slap some peanut butter cookies in the oven and get to stitchin'! I need to stitch like the wind!

I think I'll drink black tea tonight, I think I'll be up a while.

So tell me chums, what're you working on?

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. No joke, I really am turning 37 tomorrow, and guess what Jill and I are going to The Crown & Crumpet for tea in San Francisco on Saturday, weeeeeeee!

LMAO, I'm a winner!

2011-08-14T15:41:00.000-07:00

Hey All You Beautiful People!

Thank you all so very, very much for all the kind and thoughtful comments you left on my last post about the embroidery of the Wynken, Blynken & Nod. You guys make me feel like I could fly, seriously. You're the best!

I wanted to reply to each and everyone of you, but I kept running into snags, many of you are "No Reply" bloggers. Have you heard of that before? When your comments come to me through my email address, I can easily respond and keep the conversation going, which is great - especially since you know me - I'm a chatty girl! Many times however, when I hit "reply" up in the address bar where your email address would normally appear, it simply says "No Reply" (insert sad face here)... so I can't write back to you. Don't know if you're a "No Reply" blogger? I didn't know myself until I followed the steps I'm about to share with you. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I'm sharing a link to Karen's blog, Sew Many Ways. Click here to see if you're a no reply blogger, and if so, she'll tell ya how to change that if you're so inclined.

So hey! How've you been?!? Are you having a nice summer? It's been a while since I posted, and I guess that means I've been having a pretty nice summer too. I've been spending lots of time at the river with the dogs, goofing off and splashing around, and I have several cool embroidery and crafty projects in the works that I'll be able to share soon. I feel like I have so much to tell you guys! I guess I better blog more often so I don't overload you :o)

Today I want to do a little bit of braggin'! I won a little something recently from a rad, rad, rad lady! Even though I haven't met her in person, I'd consider her a friend, let me introduce you to Bex! Bex actually won a giveaway here on my blog a little while back, so you may remember her from then, but if not, go check out all the cool stuff she makes. She has an Etsy shop too, looky-looky!

Want to see what I won, hmm?

A very clever bookmark!

Watch out, you could literally LMAO too! Actually, maybe that's not such a bad idea... I've got some extra back there, maybe I need to laugh more and some of it will fall off? One can only hope!

Oh, this "cracks" me up, harr-harr!

Thanks Bex, I love it! I'm actually using it in the book you recently recommended, The Historian. I'm only a few pages in, so far but I have a feeling this is going to be a very, very good book.

Well, ok folksies! I'm gonna let cha go, but I'll be back soon! I promise, no more 4 weeks between posts. That's far too long to be away from all you lovely people.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

oxo,

Lisa

Wynken, Blynken & Nod

2011-07-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

Wynken, Blynken & Nod one night, set off in a wooden shoe... sailed on a river of crystal light into a sea of dew. "Where are you going, and what do you wish?" the old moon asked the three. "We've come to fish for the herring fish that live in this beautiful sea!"

Have you heard this story before? It's been one of my favorite lullaby's since we sang it in choir when I was in high school, yes I was a choir geek. Surprised? President of the club in my senior year, actually. Hehe... yeah...

This was what I chose to embroider for my partner, Nicole in the second half of the Phat Quarter Embroidery Books Swap. I decided to use the cover art from a copy of the book that I owned, illustrations by Sheilah Beckett. This is another picture heavy post, I hope you don't mind.
You can enlarge any of the pictures by simply clicking on them.

Here's the cover, my inspiration

I've had the idea to stitch this cover art for some time, but never had a reason to do so. When I saw that Nicole was my "send to" partner, I knew right away what I wanted to make for her. I weighed this carefully, I always want my partners to get something they really like and want, and I almost didn't do this piece in favor of making something she'd suggested, but I couldn't shake the feeling that she would like this. I've been a fan of Nicole's work and Follow The White Bunny since I began stitching two years ago and I felt that while different from her work, this had a familiar vibe, whimsical, but not silly, and pretty and thoughtful, but not overly sweet. That's my kind of style too!

It starts with a tracing.

Then some simple outlines and some hair...

I for the hair I used mainly stem stitch for all three children.

Next, some colorful fish...

I used rayon floss, in a stem stitch to outline, and filled with a rainbow variegated open fly stitch to make "scales".

Next was the mast, and some flying ribbons... (and Doctor Who - I'm utterly hooked!!)

I decided a plain mast was too boring, so I quilted on a crescent moon and a hanging star

And more hair touch up after the mast was appliqued and secured with a blanket stitch.

Next came the net. The text of the poem says that the fishermen three have "Nets of silver and gold", so I had to make our little boy a silver net. This net had me quite tripped up. I actually stitched it twice, I snipped out the first version entirely. When I completed it the first time, I released the tension from the q-snap, and something went wonky with the stitching, the Kreinik thread I used got wavy and looked strange to me, other people said it looked fine and I should leave it alone, but I just couldn't. It bothered me that much. After a day or two, I started again, this time with success! The tension was much better, the net kept its shape when I removed it from the hoop.

Lastly was the waves, oh the waves! I consulted Nicole's tutorials for some pointers here...

(Somehow I managed to miss pictures of these until after I'd done the color tinting.)

I used many different colors here, chosen to match the color of the water in the illustration as possible. Lots of different kinds of stitches here as well, some gleaned from Nicole's own website. Fill stitches aren't yet a strong point of mine, but after this project, I think I rather like them!

Next was the color tinting, I used color pencils for this, it was fast and easy and gave an immediate, dramatic effect.

Subtle skin tones and a slight blush to his sweet cheek.

Warm flush across the skin on her face, neck and hand...

Color added focus to the center of the piece.

Every body got a bit of color, even the baby and her bear...

Can you see Baby's collar? This is the tiniest text I've ever done!

The color tinting was the last step before hooping up this piece. I painted the hoop a soft dove grey/blue and added a layer of frost over it so it had some sheen and was smooth to the touch.

Before hooping, I layered a fluffy piece of quilt batting so that the finished piece would be soft to the touch and stand up off of the hoop just a bit more. I was really pleased with the effect.

Ready to see it completed?

Viola!

Pretty close to the cover art, I'd say!

Nicole received her piece a couple of days ago, and I'm so happy that she likes it! It's now hanging on the wall of her living room among other very beautiful embroideries, so far from its orgins in California, all the way to The Netherlands! Nicole also featured this piece on Feeling Stitchy this morning!! I'm so honored to see something I've made featured there!

I'm so happy with the way the finished embroidery came out, there are a LOT of different stitches and components that comprise this piece, satin, stem, blanket and back stitches, open fly, French knot, brick and chain stitches, couching, applique, quilting, color tinting, rayon, metallic and Keirnik threads and many, many, many hours. Everything but the kitchen sink, basically. I gave it everything I had.

♥♥

♥

What'cha think friends? Did I do ok?

oxo,

Lisa

I'm Going To Hogwarts!

2011-07-15T01:58:00.000-07:00

It's must be true, I have my acceptance letter and everything!

I've been holding out on you guys with this nugget, I've been waiting for today. What's today, you ask? Well hello, sillies! It's the beginning of the end, the premier day of the last Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II!

This mind blowing piece of embroidery is what I received in the most recent Phat Quarter swap, the theme this time was books. Naturally, my favorite book of all time is Harry Potter. My partner for this half of the swap is the Crafty & Devious, Gemma! She made me an embroidery of epic proportions and sent it to California all the way from Australia!

I almost wept when I opened this letter. Seriously, I had to put it down and take a few laps around the house. It's addressed to meeeeeee! Meeeeeee!

You guys! Would you look at this?! Gah, all that metallic floss! I'm gobsmacked, every stitch is perfect! Just under the Hogwarts 'letterhead' is the name of the most loved Headmaster of all time, Albus Dumbledore, along with his title which Gemma stitched in gold, silk floss, it's gorgeous. If you're not familiar, here's Professor Dumbledore's title in it's entirety:

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards)

This picture is for scale, I know it can sometimes be hard to tell the size of things when you see pictures on the Internet. This piece is large, 8"x11"! Epic indeed!

I'm framing this piece, it's going on the wall. For the rest of my life.

I've never been so excited to go to school, I can't wait for September! I'm excited to get to Diagon Alley and pick up my supplies. You know - wand, robes, cauldron, books and pet. Oo-ooh! What should I get, an owl? A rat? A kitty?

Wait. What? Hogwarts isn't real? Get outta town, of course it is!

Right?

...

right?

...

right guys?

♥

So! Who's going to see the movie this weekend? Did anyone go to the midnight premier last night? I'm excited to see this movie, it's been a long ride and I'm kind of sad to see it end, but also stoked to see the story play out.

The saga isn't exactly over you know, there's a whole new world opening soon, have you heard of Pottermore yet?? OoOoOoh, looks goooood!

Discuss.

oxo,

Lisa

Happy Camper

2011-07-14T00:53:00.000-07:00

Hi All~

I spent this past weekend camping in the mountains with my niece Ana, my mom, and her husband Johnny. It was such a relaxing weekend and provided me a desperately needed recharge. I've been feeling a little too tightly wound for the last several weeks and this camping trip was exactly what I needed to feel more like myself.

The mountains are unbelievably beautiful right now, so I thought I'd share some pictures. In case anyone is interested, this is Pi Pi Campground (Site #33) in the El Dorado National Forest, Northern California. Get yourself a nice glass of iced tea, I took a lot of pictures! I couldn't help myself, it's so pretty.

We camped near this meadow in full bloom.

A walk way built along the border between the river and the meadow and forest, goes on for miles...

Miss Hollywood ~ My niece Ava was there for one afternoon too, she loves nature walks.

I don't know what type of flowers these are, Lupine perhaps? But they are enormous and there are thousands of them in the meadow.

This hole is very old, it's an Indian Grinding Rock

Gigantic dandelion wishes. I wished along with her...

This is a shot of our campsite from the meadow directly behind my tent. Reminds me that we are indeed very small.

After our walk it was time for a snack. Ava is trying to share her yogurt with me in this picture, I can tell you that 2 year olds with full spoons don't aim very well. I'm not sure how, I only looked away for a split second, but that entire spoonful ended up in my hair. It gave us both quite a giggle, who could resist that face?

These are the talents of the other women in my family. My sister-in-law Apryl made these tye-dyes, aren't they amazing? My mom made the ribbon rings which hang high in the trees. These two represent water and fire, eventually she'll make two more representing the other two elements of earth and wind. They're so pretty and the ribbons make a nice rustling in the trees. She was inspired to make these after seeing them hanging in the trees at the Renaissance Faire.

Fire

Water

What's that? You've never seen a decorated camp site? Well then, you've never camped with my mom.

Here is the bunting I made for her birthday last year, along with a new yo-yo bunting (one of several) hung in and around our camp, or rather our "encampment" as we came to call it. Also - this is my new tent! Isn't it awesome? Oh, it's so nice to have a tent with a functional door instead of a broken zipper!

Large tapestries add color and pretty to our site and give a lot of privacy in a completely packed campground, we felt like we had the place to ourselves.

Here's how our encampment looked from the campground road

The trail leading into the meadow at dusk

Sun down and hazy, soft light filtering through the trees, lovely...

After dinner and dishes it was quiet talks and cozy moments near the fire.

It was a productive weekend for me too, I got a great deal of stitching done on these lazy afternoons while the others napped or read.

This is a small tablecloth I'm making for myself to put on my little table inside my tent. I'm a night owl, even when camping, and the new tent is big enough for a small table and chair where I can sit and read or stitch after the others doze off.

Ha! My mom just posted this picture on Facebook, she caught me stitching! Can you see me, sitting next to my tent? Lol...

The night before we left, I quickly I drew a simple the design out on some sturdy forest green cotton that I already had (pre-washed even!). What's funny is that I chose the colors before I left, and took only those colors with me. Little did I know that they were almost exactly the colors that would be blooming around me all weekend. This little table cloth will always remind me of this camping trip. I finished all of the stitching by the way, all in that one weekend too! I love it... I'm going to simply fray the edges and maybe add a contrasting running stitch near the bottom. I'll try to get a better picture to share tomorrow, I'm really happy with the way the embroidery turned out.

Anyway, this was my weekend, I can hardly wait until I get another one just like it. I love camping, it feeds my soul.

If you've made it to the end, congratulations! I know this was a long, picture heavy post. Tell me, do you enjoy camping? What's your favorite thing?

oxo,

Lisa

So Grateful.

2011-07-04T14:34:00.000-07:00

Wishing you all a very happy and relaxing 4th!

This year, I'd like to show you just two of the many, many soldiers out there who protect our freedoms. Without complaint, and because they WANT to. These are members of my family and I couldn't be prouder of these two. They make my heart swell.

Alexandria Ochoa, 20 years old. US Army. My niece. Currently stationed in Georgia.

Garrett Reim (far right), 21 years old. US Army. My cousin. Currently stationed in Afghanistan.

Hooah!

May God keep and protect them.
Happy 4th of July!

oxo,

Lisa

Gettin' Crewel!

2011-07-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

Hello There Lovelies!

You know something good is coming your way when you get an envelope in the mail with this little sticker in the corner.

You already know I love Alicia Paulson, right? Sean got her newest book, The Embroidery Companion for me last year on my birthday, remember?

Not too long ago Alicia announced the a crewel embroidery sampler she and her {hot!} husband, Andy had been working on was about to be released. I love the looks of this sampler, so I jumped on board and made my pre order, the kit arrived in Friday's mail, yehaw! I'm going to stitch this lovely, frame it up and hang it in my guest room.

Crewel wool! Isn't it gorgeous? These colors sort of remind me of ice cream sherbet. I've never done crewel embroidery before, so this is something totally new for me, I'm excited. I think the texture will be amazing. Textural embroidery is so yummy to look at. If I run into any troubles or questions, I'm going to ask this lady for help! Becky is a kitty lover and a stitchy friend, and she's made some incredibly lovely crewel pieces lately. She has an Esty shop too where she shares her creations, go on, take a look, you know you want to!

Anyhoo, the finished size of this piece will fit into an 11 x 14 frame, a nice size for wall art. I wasn't so sure about the color of the fabric at first, it's sort of... peuce, but it's growing on me, and I like to keep things eclectic, I don't care too much for matchy-matchy rooms, so I think this will fit just right in my guest room.

Hope you are all having a great weekend and sipping something cool, it's another scorcher outside today!

oxo,

Lisa

Action Jackson

2011-06-28T01:12:00.000-07:00

Hullo Everyone~

Ready for some serious cuteness? I finally was able to get some shots worthy of sharing, to show with you guys the awesome surprise that Jacquie sent me a little while back. She is such a doll, I tell you. I know this for a fact because I got to meet her in person. This package came out of the blue, and put a super happy ending on what had otherwise been a very "bla" work day afternoon. Jacquie had said she was cooking something up for me, but I had no idea it was going to be so great!

Something to hang in my new craft room!

Isn't it great!! It the most sublime mix of vintage funk and straight-up sweet! Oh, I love it so much! These circles are cut from the soft, vintage flannel, then stitched on to the pink fabric which is wrapped around an artists canvas. Sew~sew pretty.

And teacups, eeep!

Do you see what I see? Yes folks, that's metallic floss, and if you've worked with it, you already know it can be a booger, but Jacquie is the "metallic floss whisperer". No really, she is. Click here for additional proof.

And lookie there! This trim is vintage ribbon pulled from Jacquie's stash. I feel honored, I know the torture of cutting into a treasured bit of stash. It goes so perfectly with this piece, for a minute I thought she embroidered that too!

So here's a little peek at a developing corner of my craft room. You can see the stitched monogram I talked about last week, as well as the corner of my chair covered in the first quilt I ever made. Soon this corner will fill up with many more embroidered pieces, some of which I've made, and some of which I've received from stitchy pals, and in swaps. It will be a wall of happiness to be sure!

This wasn't all the package had in it, oh no. Jackson (you can call her that, it's cool.) also sent me two notebooks she made herself, crafted from the cardboard packaging of a of beer we both dig (Lagunitas IPA, yo!), a very awesome biography of Jerry Garcia that I didn't have (woo!) and lovely, ready-to-stitch, stamped, embroidery set. So much goodness in one box!

I should have blogged about this a long time ago, I hung the embroidered piece on the wall the very night I opened the box! It's so perfect for me. Jackson isn't just a metallic floss wizard, she's a mind reader. Fact.

Allrighty then, I better hit the hay. Being a night owl and having an early morning schedule are the banes of my existance. Tomorrow will be a good day though, know how I know? It's only supposed to be in the high 70's and I'm riding the Vespa to work, yeehaw! That's a good start to any day.

See ya on the flip side!

oxo,

Lisa

A Quick Stitched Monogram

2011-06-19T03:13:00.000-07:00

Hi All~

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend! I have a little something to share with y'all t'day.

I made this to hang in my craft room along side something Jacquie made for me (which is the most adorable thing ever, and that I've teased about twice, but still haven't shown here on the blog). This week though, I promise! My room is a wreck at the moment, I'm going to fix that situation tomorrow. It's still a work in progress and probably will be for a long time, but once I get everything put back in order tomorrow, I'll take some pictures and share my little space, and Jacquie's piece, here with you. I really love that little room ♥

I used an iron on transfer from Aunt Martha's which I picked up a long time ago. I like monograms, I think they're charming, if a bit fancy~pants, but so cute.

This pattern was an easy peasy stitch too, I just chose a few pretty colors, and off I went. Seemed to stitch itself, really. The flowers sort of remind me of Mary Engelbreit's fried egg flowers.

To finish the piece, I trimmed the fabric close around the back, secured it with a thin bead of hot glue just around the inside edge of an inexpensive wooden hoop that I painted a pretty, robins egg blue, then hung it with a pink ribbon.

Simple & pretty

♥

What have you all been up to? Enjoying your summer so far? I have a feeling the days are going to whiz by quickly these next few months. That's the way summer goes though, doesn't it? Pack in as much happy as you can my friends!

Here's wishing all the dads out there a wonderful & relaxing Father's Day tomorrow!

oxo,

Lisa

Aaaand I'm back - with a winner!

2011-06-13T23:03:00.000-07:00

Hi All~

My, my... where has the time gone, and where the heck have I been?? Well... I'm not sure to be honest. I admit, it's been a bit hectic around these parts, but geez. I recently started watching Dr. Who (starting with the 2005 season, the 9th Doctor {singing} it's amaaaaaazing!) and it's kinda like that, like I jumped into the Tardis and it seems like I've only been gone a few minutes, but when I come back to check in with y'all, I see that I've been gone for over two weeks, TWO WEEKS!?? How's that even possible?

Bizzaro.

Anyway, so yeah ~ we have a winner from tea party week, drum roll please.....

Bex!

Yay, Bex! Bex is a fellow stitcher, and all around awesome chickadee. She makes rad stuff, she's a crazy animal lover, a real life, red hot, pin up girl, and she has a wicked sense of humor. I ♥ me some Bex!

Bex, I'll email you to get your mailin' particulars, then I'll be sending you some tea (caffeine free~Spackle~teehee!) and a wee little stitchy goody shortly!

So what've I been working on these last couple of weeks? Well, it's still a secret, but I can tell you it's a Phat Quarter Swap and it's based on a little book that I've loved for many, many years. And that I'm making it for my partner, someone whose work I've admired for a long time. I took some some sneaky, nearly indiscernible pictures to send to my partner, Nicole, as proof that I really am stitching something for her (I'm shamefully late on this swap, like bad.) that I can also share with you guys. I've spent a lot of time unpicking and restitching this piece. I'd really like it to be as perfect as possible. In fact I'm hoping to get in at least an hour of stitching tonight, as soon as I wrap up here.

Mmm, shiny!

I dare not show any more, I want it to be a surprise.

I've already received the piece my partner made for me, and I CAN NOT wait to show it to you guys!! It nearly knocked my socks clean off. I got goosebumps when I pulled it from it's packing. No joke, goosebumps.

Sorry I've been gone so long bloggy friends, I promise to be more mindful of the time next time I take a spin in the Tardis. And oh, hey! I see up there that there are a few new folks following along, wahoo!! I'm really happy to have you here, welcome aboard!!

Talk again soon, pinkie swear!

oxo,

Lisa

Tea Party Week

2011-05-26T00:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody~

If you've come over from Wild Olive, welcome!! I'm so glad to have you here.

If you haven't seen all the cuteness happening over at Mollie's blog, Wild Olive, I encourage you to pop over and have a look! Her place is brimming with tea-riffic things this week, and if you like tea parties, boy oh boy, are you in for a treat!

I'm jumping into the tea party action too, because you know I love a tea party! Today I'm going to share a couple of things, one of my favorite tea sandwich recipes, and some Tealightful Treasures tea, that's right it's a giveaway!!

This recipe is my go-to, never-fail, everyone-loves-it tea sandwich. It's versatile and can be modified to your personal tastes. I've made this with canned chicken, baked chicken, rotisserie chicken (from the grocery store) and even a roasted turkey breast.

Since I made this recipe up, I don't have any measurements, it all depends on how much you need, ie. a sammie for yourself, or a platter for a crowd.

Here's what you'll need:

Chicken (fresh or canned - if using canned, get the kind packed in WATER)
Celery
Green onion (any other onion is too strong and will overwhelm the fruit, if you can't get green onions, skip them)
Dried Cranberries
Dried Apricot
Roasted Almond Slivers
Mayo (the good stuff! diet won't work here.)
Celery Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
Loaf of soft white bread
Loaf of soft wheat bread

Everything should be chopped small (approx 1/4"). Except the almond slivers, just put some of those in a baggie and smash them on the counter. Mix everything together and cover with plastic or in an air tight container until assembly. It's best to make these the night before you need them so that the flavors have time to blend. Right before I make the sandwiches, I add a bit more mayo to moisten up the mix, then I trim the crusts off the bread and assemble the sammies, easy peasy! I like to use a light & dark bread for each sammie, but that's not necessary. Stack them on a pretty platter, sneak one for yourself, and viola! Tea sandwiches!

Oh, yum. Now I want to make these...

Back to Wild Olive!

Here's another little goodie from Mollie's Tea Party Week, an adorable little embroidery pattern that she made to share with all of us.

You can download the PDF file that Mollie made here.

Ok, giveaway time!

To play along I'd love to share some tea with you, my friends. I wish it could be in person, but since you bloggy pals are all over the world, it'll have to be a virtual tea party.

I am going to give away a 2oz. bag of loose, Tealightful Treasures tea, and a few stitchy goodies to one person that I'll choose randomly, the evening of Monday May 30th.

**Please make sure that you leave me your email address in the comment if you're a "No-Reply" blogger so that I can get a hold of you if you win... not sure? Click here for details**

Entering couldn't be easier, just leave me a comment here on this post, and tell me what kind of tea is your favorite, green, black, rooibos, or fruit & herb. This way I can make sure to choose a tea you'll enjoy. I have a wide variety of teas, because I'm a consultant for Tealightful Treasures, betcha didn't know that, aye?

♥Tea-heehee♥

Can't wait to hear from you!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. If you're new round these parts, thanks for popping in and I hope you'll come back again soon!

Dancing With The Stars!

2011-05-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

Ok Girls!

Who's it gonna be?!?

*edit*
Congratulations, Hines!!

Kim & Hines

Kirsti & Maks

(and yeah, I agree with the first two commenters, I never get tired of lookin' at this hawt piece of man!)

Chelsea & Mark

Come on now, I know I'm not alone!!

Who's your pick?

Talk to me!

oxo,

Lisa

Han Stitched First

2011-05-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Just a quick linky today! I'm pretty stoked to have one of my little stitcheries included in a fearture on Mr. X Stitch today, I have much love for this website and today, Bridget (Beefranck) is featuring a Flickr group that I've added some pictures to, called 'Han Stitched First' - a Star Wars only embroidery/cross stitch picture group started by fellow Northern Californian, Whatever James.

There's a lot of awesome in that group for those of you who are of the nerdy persuasion, go take a peek!

May the force be with you!!

This is Boba Fett, he's a badass bounty hunter. He's also Sean's favorite. This was my first experiment with Crayon tinting.

More Star Wars stitcheries in my future, I see...

Have a great day!!

oxo,

Lisa

Yo~Yo's, Yo!

2011-05-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hi Girls,

I'm sure glad it doesn't look like the world is going to end today...

Because...

I feel a burgeoning obsession coming on.

Well, and for lots of other reasons too, of course.

Live♥Laugh♥Love

Have a wonderful, peaceful & loving weekend, friends!

oxo,

Lisa

With Fairy Grace

2011-05-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Folksies!

Ok, Blogger finally seems to be cooperating, I think it was having a moment earlier this week. Did you guys have trouble with that too? So! Now that that's over, I can finally share about a little WIP that's been in my basket for a looong time.

My beautiful, littlest niece turned 2 years old recently, and here's one of the things I made for her birthday.

A pretty wall hanging for her room.

"Hand in hand with fairy grace, we will sing and bless this place"

~William Shakespeare

I've always been a Shakespeare fan, it kinda goes hand in hand with the whole Renaissance Faire thing...

Tiny, wool felt flowers and micro seed beads, ala Paulette.

I cut the fairy design from a little book of stencils that I found in the kids department at Beverly's Crafts. I appliqued her with a blanket stitch, and embellished her with some pretty, pink ballet shoes and some fancy stitches along the border of her skirt, as well as some tiny laces on the front of her bodice.

Here's the tag I made for the back. Not that I wanted to share my personal sentiments to my little one with the world, but I was really pleased with how this came out and I've often struggled with how to mark a piece of embroidery, so I thought I'd share this aspect too in case others struggle with the same kind of thing. I don't mark every piece of embroidery, mind you, but special, meaningful gifts that I've given to friends & family, I like to label with the when & the why of the piece. I used printable fabric for the message, which I machine stitched to the felt that I tucked inside the back, after I secured the fabric with a thin bead of hot glue, just inside of the inner hoop.

Here's how the entire backing looks.

A pretty button flower for her to hold on to, adds just the right amount of sparkle without distracting from the overall soft feel of the piece... I think.

♥♥♥

And here's the birthday girl with her own little birthday fairy outfit.

Miss Ava-amazing!

Isn't she an absolute doll? Oh my, I love her so much!

Her mommy, my beautiful and talented sister-in-luv, Apryl, made her the gorgeous fairy wings and head piece. They're so perfect I could weep.

My mom fancied up the little skorts by stitching silk flower petals (the kind you sprinkle on tables for weddings) in layers over the entire skort. It's got a very soft, dreamy look and makes a cool wooshing, rustle when Ava walks or moves around.

Here she is running away from pictures. "No moh ant lees!" Translation = You've taken enough pictures of me today Auntie Lisa, knock it off! I'm like a paparazzi, swear. My poor family.

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! We're getting a late spring storm passing through today, as I write these words thunder & lightening are booming outside and it's cold! So cold that I have a fire crackling in the fireplace, it'll be the last one of the year, I am sure. Today is a nice, cold lazy day, one of my very favorite kinds!

oxo,

Lisa

I'm A Winner

2011-05-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

Hi There Girls!

So yesterday I was doing my daily blog hop, checking out all my favorites, which includes Lilla Lotta. She is such a beautiful artist, and makes the most lovely printed twill tapes, always good eye candy. I've always wanted some, it's gorgeous, go take a peep at her shop.

Yesterday's post revealed the winners of last weeks giveaway of some lovely printed cake tape, and guess who's name was on the list?!?

Meeeeeeeeee!

I'm so excited, I can't wait to get my wee little package in the mail. I'm already imagining ways to put this adorable tape to good use!

Have a lovely weekend!!

oxo,

Lisa

Fabric Bowl Fail

2011-05-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Cinco De Mayo, Senioreeties!

Last night I was feeling good, feeling like I could tackle and knock out a little project. I'd found this great little tutorial and thought, "yeah! I can totally do this!!"

It all went smoothly at first, but perhaps it was not meant to be. Wanna see my fabric bowl fail?

Oh dear. That's some baaad binding. But that's the inside so not too bad, right?

No one will really see that part.

Hey, this picture doesn't look so bad, but this is the "good side". Trust me it's got an ugly side too.

Oh dear. The gathering gave me problems (the threads broke!) the binding gave me problems too (I missed a few sections) and it was really hard to sew because the bowl is pretty small. I'd say it's about 2" high and maybe 4.5" wide. But, this was my first try.

Gah! Some things look easier than they are.

I shall try again.

Hope your day is rolling smoothly along!

oxo,

Lisa

Stitch & Bitch: Tea In The City

2011-05-03T23:36:00.000-07:00

Hello~hello!

Come with me to a tea party, won't you?

I finally got a chance to meet some of my favorite California stitchy bloggers and all-around, damn fine chicks this weekend when Katy & Maureen, the fabulous ladies of Sew Lovely Embroidery, graciously hosted a Stitch & Bitch Tea Party in the sunny dining room of their San Francisco home.

The table was oh, so pretty!

Maureen made cute bunting!

Gorgeous tulips.

Mmmm, cupcakes! Perfectly moist & delish (I had three... oink!!)

The girls also made a variety of scrumptious tea sandwiches and fresh scones, raspberry & white chocolate, yum!

Look at all these teas, I'm in heaven!

Happy, stitching girls!

(made happier with copious amounts of champagne, woop-woop!)

Maureen, Jackson, Jocelyn, Katy & me...

It was SO great to meet all of these gals, but especially Katy & Jackson, we've been commenting on each others blogs, and chatting on facebook for a while now, so to finally get to meet each other *in person* was amazing! Maureen, the artist behind Sew Lovely couldn't have been sweeter! Jacquie (otherwise known as Mafiosagrrl, Mz. Jackson if you're nasty.) is a total sweetheart! I have a whole other post about Jackson coming soon, wait'll you see what she made for little old me! Jocelyn, a pal of Jacquie's came along too, which was great because I got to see knitting, live and in action! I want to knit, it looks cool (but hard)... I must add that to my to-do list. Then there's Katy, dear Katy. Total bombshell and a real fire cracker! I wanted to put her in my pocket and take her home with me.

Katy has an art show coming up, how exciting is this?!? I got an up close & personal look at one of the pieces that she'll be showing, and I only have one word... EPIC!!

After we got our grub on, we got down to business. Stitchin' & Bitchin'!!

Awesome. The afternoon flew by way too quickly. Before I knew it, it was time to head for home.

Katy & Maureen are so sweet, they even made us goodie bags!

Can you see Katy's amazing embroideries in the background? If they're impressive when you see them online, you should see them in person, they're incredible.

And what a goodie bag it was!!

(ew, bad cell phone picture... sowwy!)

SO much great stuff, thank you, thank you, thank you ladies! I can't wait to do this again.

An extra huge thanks to Katy, who let me steal all these pitcures (except for that last crappy one) from her blog because I'm a dingaling and left my camera at home the day of our party. I think I was too excited to get to San Francisco.

There's nothing like finally getting to meet your bloggy, crafty friends in person. It's such a treat. I hope that all of you get to have this experience too.

Ok, I better wrap this up. As always, I've gone on far too long.

Have a great day!!

oxo,

Lisa