Friday, April 26, 2013

Home Sweet Home

Hi everyone! I'm so glad to wake up at home in my own bed this morning, to have had coffee out of my favorite mug surrounded by my dogs & cats, on my own couch, ahhh, home sweet home!


This has been a long, fun week of travel and art, and friends and family, and peach cobbler and even alligator tail! So much good stuff, and I can't wait to tell you about it as soon as I sort it all out. It took an hour and a half just to go through my email this morning, whew!

We flew back to California last night, I stitched all the from California to Georgia and back, got a lot done too (more on that later). But in the meantime, I just wanted to pop in and say hi, and thank you for all your lovely comments and emails of support about last weekends art show. It was a blast! I'll post about it this weekend.


I'm lunching with a pal in a few minutes, so I better get moving. Wishing you all a great Friday!
Oxo,
Lisa

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Hello World - The Big Day!

Today's the big day, kiddos! 

I'm flying to Los Angeles this morning to take part in my first art show, and it's a doosie! I'm very excited to see so much fantastic art tonight, and nervous about what people might think about mine!

Lookie there, I've got business cards! 500 of them! Arteests need business cards, ya know...
I used an image from the Sashiko embroidery that I completed not too long ago for the front of the cards, and went with matte black on the back with my contact info in white, I wanted it clean and simple. I'm official now, yo!

The show's begins at 2pm, and ends at 10pm and there's going to be music, drinks, and art! Art! ART!
If you're in the Los Angeles area please, please come, I'd love to meet you!


I feel so, so... hopeful! So open to possibilities. Energy and love are flowing on an electric current. Watch out, I'll zap ya with my looove!

Thank you for all your encouragement and your kind comments, dear friends!
I'll take tons of pictures, I can't wait to come back and tell you about it. 
See you tomorrow (or tonight if you're coming to the show, hint-hint!)!

oxo,
Lisa!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

On My Hoop

Hello~hello,
Doesn't it seem like the week before vacation just drags it's heels? That's how it seems to me, that this week has been a series of repeating feelings, hurry up & wait. Hurry up! Wait!

 Such exciting things on the horizon, so I hurry up and make plans... then I wait for the days to pass. Le sigh...

At any rate, my needle keeps passing through my fabric, and slowly slowly, something pretty is emerging. It makes me happy.

Pretty colors make me happy, too and that's what's on my hoop this week, what's on yours?
Do tell and point me to it, you know I'm a nosy lil bugger.
oxo,
Lisa

Monday, April 15, 2013

Spring Fling Towel!

Hey Guys!
Oh boy, I'm so excited about sharing this with you. You might remember that a few of my stitchy friends and  I decided last year to do an embroidered tea towel swap. We each started with our own, blank slate towel which we sent out into the wide world to be embroidered by our friends. It took a lot longer to complete the swap than we initially thought it would but I love this so much that it was worth the wait!

Here is my completed towel! This small piece of cloth has traveled around the world, much farther than I have, but more than that, it was held for hours and stitched by each of my friends! Many of whom I may never meet "in real life" but who are just as dear to me as if they lived across town. I will cherish it always, let's start the tour!
Eeeeeeep! My friends know me so well! I love these people dearly.

Could it be the Dormouse?! I think it is!
This adorable little fellow and these tea-rrific teacups were stitched for me by Erin Gibson, she lives in swinging city of Las Vegas, Nevada. This little guy makes me smile, he's one of my favorite characters. Love his tiny hat!

Oh, this sweet flower girl, I cannot get enough of her! 
This little lady with her perfectly pink French Knot hair and all these beautiful flowers was stitched for me by my friend, the one and only Pam Pedersen of Portland, Oregon. I have met Pam in person, I was fortunate enough to get to spend a few days with her last September, and she is just as fabulous as she seems. Love ya, girl!

 Oh my!! Oh my!! I love this one to death! A Mad Hattress!
This delightful lady was stitched for me by my pal Becky Stancil of Raleigh, North Carolina. Ok, look for a moment at this, look at the detail! She has my hair color, she's wearing pink, she has big bazooms (heehee!), she's in a chair that's embroidered with flowers, and she's embroidering flowers! I love flowers! And, and! She's resting her little Mary Jane clad footsie on a teapot! I mean, does Becky know me or what?? It's perfect. I wonder if I could rock a top hat in real life? 

Oooh, look at this cool dude!
This handsome Praying Mantis was stitched for me by the enormously talented Victoria Crowder Payne in Kansas City, Missouri. Did you know that one of the earliest references to the mantis is in an ancient Chinese dictionary and it's attributes are that of courage and fearlessness? That's Victoria in a nutshell, she's as 
courageous and fearless as she is beautiful. Thank you, VCP!

It's not just ladies in this tea towel swap, oh no!
The irrepressible, Bascom Hogue of Wichita, Kansas stitched this wonderful little winged elf, perched on a mushroom for me, he's a real fungi - haha, get it, fun guy. Oh, I kill me. He is wonderful (actually, they're both wonderful, Bascom and the elf!). I love him, and I really love Bascom's style. Bascom has been through a lot these last few months. You're in my thoughts & prayers, Box. 

Eeep! A scooter girl!
I've wanted to stitch this pattern for a couple of years, and my friend Jack B. Nimble of Salt Lake City, Utah stitched it for me! Woohoo! I love her, and her flirty little dress and her cute little shoes! Although, I do have to admit, if I saw this young lady in person, I'd be compelled to have a very serious conversation with her concerning her scooting apparel, safety first! 

Off to New Zealand!
This fantastic Maori poi spinner was stitched for me by my friend, Jo Ashcroft of Auckland, New Zealand! I love, love, love her! Jo stitched something for each of us that related to her adopted homeland, and I was the lucky duck that got this lovely poi spinner. Unknown to Jo, is that several of my friends and family spin poi! My friend Lorna does it with fire! I love this spinner, reminds my of my friend Jo who lives so far away, and of my family here at home ♥

 I want to take this with me everywhere!
My friend Becky Wagner of Greensboro, North Carolina stitched this beautiful Scandinavian design for me, it is so, so pretty! Becky is a elementary school teacher, which makes her a superhero. Teachers don't get the credit, or support they deserve. They devote so much of themselves to the children they teach, so much more than spelling and arithmetic, and they never really "clock out", I don't know how they do it, especially in an increasingly demanding, results orientated environment. Like I said, superhero. I wish I'd had a teacher like Becky when I was a kiddo. Bee-dub, you're the bomb!

 Eeep, flowers & tea cups! 
This happy cuppa was stitched by my pal, Crystal Rhew-Staley of  Chapel Hill, North Carolina and I just love his sunny disposition. Those sweet flowers, too! I want to eat them I love them so. Speaking of things I love so much I could eat them up, Crystal had the sweetest little boy last year, his name is Baxter and he is a doll! You can read more about Crystal & Bax here. His smile is enough to turn me to mush, cutest kid ever.

Hey, is that Bigfoot?!
Why, yes it is, and he's rather a dandy gentleman, thankyouverymuch. This fact is evidenced by his gold, striped bow tie and his oh, so proper meerschaum pipe. If I were to imagine the whole ensemble, I see Mr. Foot as a professor. Professor Foot, and he would be wearing a tweed suit, slightly rumpled with patches on the elbows. And polished wingtips. With a name like Big Foot, snazzy footwear is not an option. My pal, Tara Fields of Florence, Montana (formerly of Portland, OR) has a sincere love of the Big Feet. Check out all the sightings she's caught of him! Tara has stitched a variation of Big Feet for all of us in the swap, they are fantastic! 

And that, as they say, is a wrap!
I can't say enough how much I love what everyone has stitched for me, every one of these embroideries is perfect, simply perfect. I don't know yet what I will do with my towel, currently it's hanging in my craftroom where I can gawk at it at close range whenever I pass by. I always see something new, too.

Thank you, stitchers & friends. You're silver & gold to me!
oxo,
Lisa

Friday, April 5, 2013

Bloglovin'


Clicky~clicky that little link up there, pretty please?


Jump on in, kids, the water's fine!
oxo,
Lisa

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Hello World!

Hello friends! Hello World!

Things are coming together and I'm feeling good, really good! I have some news to share with you guys today that I'm very excited about and that I've been keeping under my hat here on the blog. 

I've been accepted as a contributing artist to show a few pieces of my work in an art show! 

In Los Angeles!

In less than three weeks! 

Photo credit

Hello World opens on April 20, 2013 and you're all invited! No seriously, if you're in the LA area, please come! The exhibition is being held at a very cool location called The Service Station, in Los Feliz. It's going to be amazing! 

Someone needs to come over here and pinch me because I think I'm dreaming, but this is for real. It must be, I just booked airfare. I'm thrilled to be a part of this! This show is going to be incredible, the variety of art that will comprise this show is dizzying, there are over 40 contributing artists for Hello World, some of them incredible fiber artists and fellow stitchers such as, Ellen Schinderman, Alaina Varrone, Amy Goldsmith Sheridan, Mark Bieraugel, Tod Hensley & Mo Powers.

More exciting news! I made a website, a genuine dot com!

www.lisaleggett.com

It's basic, it's simple, but it's a place to start! It'll be a work in progress as I figure out this whole website building stuff (which is kind of scary! I have no idea what I'm doing, people! none!). All the links are there and working, and that's the important part. Pop over for a visit, tell me what you think!

It felt a little odd to think of being at this art show and referring people to my blog as a starting place to meet me on the web because you never know what you'll find here on my blog. I'm kind of an all over the place blogger, and I like it that way. One day (ok, most days) it's about embroidery, but it's also about taking tea, my dogs, my life, my family & friends, the places I go, things I see and other crafty endeavors. I love this space, and I love all of you guys, and I'm not going anywhere. But to have an actual website feels... I don't know, solidifying in a way. And good!

Guess what else? I ordered business cards! Like, professionally printed business cards to hand out to actual people. What a kick! Never in a million years could I ever have fathomed I'd need to do that. Wow, what a blessing this all is.

I'm sure I'll have more details to tell you guys in the days to come, but for now, wooooooo!
I'm going to be in an art show!
oxo,
Lisa