Doggelganger

You guys, my dog has a twin! A doppelganger, or in in this case, a doggelganger!

I found this little fella in a Flickr group for Spitz breeds, his name is Jantar and he's such a handsome little man. I can't get over the similarities of  Jantar & Boswell! Especially since some of the pictures of him, are nearly identical to some I have taken of Boz over the last year. 

This is the picture that started it all, for a moment when I first saw this picture, I thought someone else had snapped a photo of my dog and posted it in the group. This really, really looks like Boz!

Bozzy, is it you?

This has amused me to no end this week, I had to blog this, so I made a couple of side by side comparisons of these two boys. In all three pictures, Boswell is on the left & Jantar the right.

Smiling in the sun, eyes closed.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaawn!

Giving good face!

Is it me? I think they're twinsies separated at birth! I wish we could meet Jantar, but I think he lives in Eastern Europe somewhere. I'll just have to admire him from afar.

I'm working on a couple of projects that I'll be able to show you later this week (I hope!). Boz is keeping my company in my craft room this afternoon, he keeps stealing my chair.

What are y'all up to this weekend, anything exciting? Do tell! We're hoping to do some scooting on the Vespa's tomorrow, it's too windy & bitterly cold today, brrr! 

Keep warm, friends!

oxo,

Lisa

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, Sweeties!

It's been fun sharing a few Valentine things with you this week, Sean and I aren't too much for the mushy stuff, and don't generally make a big deal out of the day, but reds & pinks are two of my favorite colors and if nothing else, I enjoy this day as an excuse to douse the house in them. 

Today, I have something extra sweet to share, the best for last! I had a little swap with a few of my friends and these pretty Pennie Pockets are what I made for them, filled to the brim with sweets and a couple little goodies. I loved these as soon as I saw them on Pinterest, and found the pattern in the Moda Bake Shop.  

I got to make new yoyo's! It's been a while since I made my last batch, and it was fun to make a few new ones for this project.

The original recipe called for the little pearl drops as above, but I found some pretty heart shaped Swarovski crystals and I couldn't help myself, they were just too perfect.

Stuffed and ready to go, these pennie pockets got sent all over the country!

Oh, one other goody I made and packed into my friends packages...

 

Scrunchies! 

Remember scrunchies, ladies? Don'cha miss them just a little? I remember a time when I always had a scrunchie with me, either in my hair, or around my wrist, sometimes multiples. 

These were a fun little sewing project and could easily be adapted to any holiday simply by changing up the fabric choices. The pattern was originally from one of my favorite fabric designer/quilters, Monica Solorio-Snow, I ran across some that she made for Christmas, adorable!

So, any special plans for today, chums? Nothing spectacular here, I think I'm going to make pizza & salad for dinner and catch up on the last episode of Downton that I missed on Sunday (Sean won't admit it, but he likes that show!), maybe I'll make the pizza in a heart shape this time! Oh, that sounds pretty good actually. I think I'll do it!

Sending you all a squeeze and a big fat Valentine's Day smooch!

oxo,

Lisa

Make Do & Make New

Hey Y'all,

Did you have a nice weekend? Ours was pretty low key, but on Sunday we had a chance to get the scooters out of the garage and be in nature for a bit, it was a gorgeous, crisp day. We went to the Consumnes River Preserve, and walked a couple of paths, then stopped for a late lunch at a famous local joint. Best darn pork chop ever, and we sat next to a Hells Angel. For realsies. We fit right in with all those Harley guys on our Vespa's, lemme tell you what.

Where was I? Oh yes, making do and making new. I like wreaths on the front door, I think they're pretty, and I like to change them up for the seasons & holidays, but I don't want or need a stack of wreaths taking up space, and have you priced a pretty wreath lately? They're spendy! I have a couple different ones that I can change up with a little imagination and very few, or NO pennies, like this one! 

Made new for Valentines Day.

I have a pretty good stash of felt, both synthetic and wool blend, so I cut out some simple heart shapes with the pinking shears and sewed & stuffed them. I attached them to this pretty, but plain, white flower wreath with safety pins. I clipped the pins around some of the stems of the wreath, which is great because nothing is permanently stuck to the wreath and I can switch it up whenever I like.

Using scraps from the hearts, I cut a four small triangles and chopped letters out of some white, felt scraps to spell out, love. Oh, la, la! I punched some little holes in the corner of each triangle and ran the whole thing through with bakers twine, which I tied to each side of the wreath. Easy peasy and I didn't spend one red cent.

But this is something new, and so simple! The little hearts, pictured above are those stiff, felt stickers they sell for every holiday at JoAnn's. The package was $2.99, but marked 50% off. I bought two packs, so for a whopping three bucks I made five of these long strings of hearts, stuck back to back with more bakers twine in between. The hearts are adorable, they're printed to look like they're stitched, which is perfect for the embroidery lover, such as myself (and a bunch of yous guys, too)!

Here's how it would look if y'all were coming to visit. Come on over, I'll put the kettle on!

I know I'm not reinventing the wheel or anything with my remixed wreath, but I thought it was cute and it surely was cheap (hello, it was free!), and sometimes that's the name of the game.

I hope you liked the peak at my porch! Do you decorate for the little holidays? What do you do, and where do you do it, do tell, I'm always curious about these kinds of things, post links in the comments if you've got one, I'd love to come for a visit!

oxo,

Lisa

Just A Dash

Happy Saturday!

Aren't the weekends loverly? I love to sleep in a little, then mosey out to the family room and have a couple cups of coffee with Sean. I catch up blogs, the weekend news, and critter cuddles. It's not unusual to have both of us, both dogs and both cats all snuggled up on the couch at once, especially on cold winter mornings like this. I love Saturdays.

This week, I decided it was time to get my rear in gear and make something that I meant to make last Valentine's Day, a small, quilted table runner to liven up the pub table in the family room. I already had the fabric, I just needed to get moving before I missed V-Day again this year. 

I used this little, laminated pattern that I picked up at a local quilt shop some time back. Easy peasy!

Basically, sew three long strips together, slice them into 5" pieces, flip every other one, sew together and viola!

I backed the piece with this pretty, pink striped Moda, Love those stripes.

I only quilted the long seams where each slice was sewn together, I used one of the fancy stitches on my machine, it kind of looks like a feather stitch.

I guess that might be why this runner feels puffy to me, it doesn't have much quilting. I actually wish it lay a little flatter, anyone have any tips on that? Maybe a trip through the washer & dryer and a pressing? I'm all ears.

See? It's kind of thick-ish...

Just a dash & a kiss.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with this sweet & simple project, I don't think this runner took more than a couple of hours start to finish, but it makes a nice addition to the table. In fact, it was so easy that I think I might make another one soon, maybe for St. Pats.

SO! What'cha doing this weekend, chums? 

Got any exciting plans? Do tell!

oxo,

Lisa

It's Organic

You know who's terrific? You guys! 

Thank you for welcoming me back to Blogland with such open arms, it was so great hearing from you, and I enjoyed writing back to each of you, good times! I'd been so worried about what to say, and you all were just as friendly and awesome as ever. So cool.

Ok, so! How do we feel about some more embroidery? 

Back on New Years Eve, a few of my stitchy friends and I were chatting online about our big NYE plans and the lack thereof. Heh! I had a stomach flu at the time which meant, I had no plans. Zip, zero, nada. We decided to stitch in the new year together/apart.

I had nothing going at the time, having just finished the Christmas making season, so I got to pick something just for the heck of it, how novel! I had this Stitcher's Revolution transfer pattern in my stash forever, as well as some of this cotton toweling

Since I was making this for me and I wasn't rushed, I decided to challenge myself to slow down, get a little creative, and do the entire pattern in fill stitches. Like my broccoli? It's all French Knots! It kind of cracks me up, it seriously looks like real broccoli. I did the stems in split stitch

The carrot the satin stitch treatment, and for the apple I experimented with the long-short stitch. I'm still not great at that one, but I really liked playing around with it. The little strawberries up there, I think they're originally intended to be peas, or maybe grapes, but I felt like this embroidery already had a lot of green going on with the leaf border, so I made them into teeny, tiny strawberries. 

I'm very pleased with the final pattern, and really glad I stuck all that fill stitching out. I'll be honest about something though... ain't nobody going to be wiping their grimy mitts on this towel, it's for looks only since it's got about 20 hours if embroidery time into it :) Silly, I know!

I've only got one other thing on the hoop right now, but I'm thinking of starting something else (isn't that the way?), a Follow The White Bunny pattern that I've wanted to stitch forever, we'll see!

Hope you're all having a great week so far, it's almost hump day!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. OH! I almost forgot something I wanted to ask you! Who's watching Downton Abbey this season?? Isn't it great? How could something be so wonderful & gut wrenching at the same time, gah! 

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