Fresh Start, Full Heart

*Edit*
Woohoo, my crazy heart has been featured on Craft Gossip!

Howdy How!

How've you been, my dearies? Oh my goodness, I've been gone from this space for so long, it's hard to figure out where to start this post, how to explain my absence. I had so much to share with you back when it was still fall, like my best friends wedding, our trip up to see the leaves change in Hope Valley, pumpkin carving with my nieces & nephew, and so much more.  

December whirled by, as its wont to do, full of busy fun, too much food, and lots of visiting, not to mention all the making. I wanted to share those times with you too, but the days just flew. By the second week of December, I'd resigned to take the rest of the year off from blogging to concentrate on being present in those fleeting moments, trying to soak it all in, but I still meant to pop in and say hello. We spent Christmas in Tahoe with my brothers family this year, so much snow! 

New Years came and went, and left us feeling... not well. January was not kind to me, friends, I am not sorry to see it go. Most recently, I've been struck with the dreaded flu that's making its rounds, and my poor hubby has bronchitis... again. I don't remember ever being so sick, this flu is beastly! Oh, then there was that whole "oh-god-i-think-i'm-having-a-heart-attack-what-is-going-on-i'm-too-young-to-die!" episode at the beginning of the month, in which I was rushed by a co-worker from my office to the EKG machine to see what the hell was happening to me. I think I understand the phrase "my life flashed before me eyes" in a way I never did before. I do not wish to repeat it anytime soon. Needless to say, much of my month was spent in various doctors offices, laboratories and waiting rooms. Thirty-eight year old females are not prone to heart attacks, after all.

Lol, what fun! 

HAHAHA... NOT.

Yeah, goodbye January, smell ya later!

And now February!

{{deep breath}} 

A fresh start! A new beginning, MY new year!

I'm ready to begin anew, to start taking better care of me and my slightly broken (but still mighty) heart! And to get back in the swing of things here on my blog, too. Speaking of hearts, the little cutie pictured here is something I've worked on a few evenings recently. Crazy quilting makes me swoony, and although I don't think I'll ever really be great at it, I sure do enjoy playing with it, and that's just what I did here, play! A little bobble I made for myself, I think it's cute.

I'm looking forward to catching up with you all! I've been lurking this last week, peeking in on so many of your blogs, peek-a-boo! I've added a TON of photos to my Flickr account, if you're curious about catching up with me too, there's lots of new things to see over there, please feel free. 

So here's my question, how's winter treating YOU? Are you well? Did ya miss me as much as I missed you? Heheheh...

Do tell!

oxo,

Lisa   

What Is Home?

Hi All!

So, here's something I made several months ago that I've been waiting to share with you. This piece was made as a submission (my very first!) to an art show that my pal Ellen was curating in Los Angeles, it was called Home Is Where The Needle Marks. The show was comprised of stitched pieces and textile work, exploring the theme of the word "home" and what it means to different artists. The show has now closed, and was a great success! My piece was not used in the show, but now that the show is over, it can see the light of day because it holds some powerful truths... 

Are you ready? Can you handle the truth?

{snort-giggle!}

Oh. Yes. It. Does.

Upon submission, applicants were asked to fill out an Artists Statement (yikes!). The following words are my artists statement and the meaning behind the piece... This is kind of an over-share, and I'm a little nervous putting this out here into the big, bad internet, but it's good to be honest, and if I was prepared to share this information with the world in an art show, surely I can share it here with you guys.

Home Is Where The Bra Comes Off

by

Lisa Leggett

Embroidery gives me permission to go slowly, one stitch at a time. For a woman who hurries through everything, stitching is a gift of time that I give to myself. A reason to sit still, calm my rushing mind and still hope to achieve something beautiful, funny, or useful; sometimes all at once. Embroidery is my meditation.

I try to approach life with a sense of humor, from the best news to the worst; no problem seems as serious if you can laugh at it. Whether what I’m working on is pretty, whimsical or subversive I enjoy a good laugh, and I try to incorporate humor into everything I do.

Home is where the bra comes off. Not only something to garner a giggle, but an unbending truth in my life, one which I believe many women can relate too.

I haven’t left the house without a bra on since I was in the 3^rd grade, I was seven years old. All at once my body developed, and it was no longer ok to go to school or anywhere else, without wearing a bra.  I didn’t feel grown up, perhaps the way some girls might, but rather slightly ashamed and embarrassed.  My budding boobies must be bundled up, and they must stay that way! That was 30 years ago. Home for me, is where I feel safe enough to be unguarded, to remove that armor and be free of the straps, hooks and wires. Home is many things to many people, myself included, but maybe one of the best things about home is that, home is where the bra comes off.

So... yeah... that. I'll be even more honest here; most days I'm dying, literally dying to get home and get this damn thing off. I hate it. Days when I don't put on a bra at all are like a vacation! Please girls, tell me I'm not alone in this? Being rather, ahem, "well endowed", bras have never, ever been comfortable for me. They are a necessary evil. They hurt my shoulders, they pinch, they poke. They are the devils work.

Right? Right.

This piece was a stretch for me even though it looks simple, I don't do cross stitch very often (oy, the counting!) and don't feel like I'm an artist, so modifying a font to the right size to be seen from a distance, and a developing a border which all lined up properly was a challenge, but one which I enjoyed. I don't know what I'm going to do with the piece moving forward, right now it's just chillin' on a shelf in my craft room... I'm kind of getting used to seeing it there, maybe I'll just leave it. 

What do you think, girls?  How do you feel about your bras? Are they a cage or a comfortable familiar? Do tell! I am always genuinely curious how other women feel about this subject. I'm looking forward to your comments!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s.

OH! I've been featured on Craft Gossip!

Check it out!

Little Puffy Pillow

I was going to title this post 'poofy purple pillow' and challenge you to say that three times fast, but that's just silly. *waggles eyebrows*

You guys, something really neato happened yesterday which made me get on the fast track. My vintage flowers for the July Stitch Along was featured on Feeling Stitchy! I'm so flattered and it totally made my day so I thought, ya know, I better get to moving on making that pretty little thing into something other than a piece of fabric that goes into the WIP pile (y'all know how that goes, right?). So Saturday night I got busy and whipped it out.

Ta-da, poofy purple pillow! Go on, say it three times fast!

I raided my precious charm pack stash of 30's vintage inspired fabrics to jazz up the front of the pillow. The pieces I used were actually cut from scraps from my on-going yo-yo project. Charm packs are small pieces of fabric to start out with, just 5" square, but I'm going to save & use every square inch.

 It was fun choosing which patterns to use, I love them all so much. Here's the left side.

And here's the right.

I used a different fabric for the back to make removable envelope style pillow cover. I love this fabric too, I've had this one in my stash for well over a year. I'm glad I finally got to use a bit of it.

Viola! A quick project, done! Kinda pretty too. It's always so nice to tick something off of the 'to make' list.

Gratuitous beauty shot!

This picture is deceiving, it looks so nice and shady and cool, HA! It was 103 degrees this afternoon when I took this photo. Oooofa! That's hot!

Thanks for visiting today, I see there are a few new folks following along, welcome! I'm glad you're here, please pop in often and say hello, I love meeting new people! 

Hope you all have a great Monday!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. Eeeep! My little pillow is featured on Craft Gossip today, check it out!