Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Action Jackson

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

Sunday, June 19, 2011

A Quick Stitched Monogram

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

Monday, June 13, 2011

Aaaand I'm back - with a winner!

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.....

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