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

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

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

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

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

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...

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,

L

Mommy Made Me Do It

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!

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

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!