Imagine

Hi Y'all! 

Today I thought I'd share a little something I whipped up for my mom for Mother's Day. She's been a Beatles & Lennon fan all my life and I don't know why I never thought of making something like this for her before, but I'm so glad I did. Sometimes stitching a simple line drawing like John Lennon's iconic Imagine is such a pleasure, I wish I did it more.

This particular drawing translates to embroidery so well, I love it when that happens! 

I added a short lyric from the song, one of my favorites.

I'm a dreamer too.

I have little dreams, but they are mine and I'm working at making them a reality. One at a time. Baby steps and then leaps and bounds, and then baby steps again. ♥

Pleased to report that Mom loved her little 'broidery. I had a feeling she would, but I can't take credit for that, she's a fan, this is his work. 

Mom's doing me a solid this week, she's staying with our pups because by the time you read this, we'll be off on an adventure, a little dream. We're taking a train trip! We've always wanted to ride a train and tomorrow we're headed to Portland for a few days for a little R&R and some special birthday's!

You know I'll be taking pictures! Can't wait to share!

Have a great weekend, darlings!

oxo,

Lisa

Huzzah, New Scissors!

Hullo Peeps!

A couple of weekends ago Mom and I went on our annual trek to the Northern California Renaissance Faire. I was still wearing that big walking boot at the time, so I didn't dress up in the full regalia this year, but it was still fun even if the boot made walking a little squirrely. I spent a lot of time that day concentrating on my next step, navigating the uneven ground & rocks. I managed pretty well and didn't fall down, so as far as I was concerned, it was aces!

I ran across a little something that I just had to have, a new pair of scissors. These little babies are sharp, and really well made.

Sometimes I take bits of stitching with me to the faire to work on while listening to the musicians, or during a play (Taming of  the Shew is on of my favorites), or just sitting under a shady tree people watching with a nice cold pint of cider. I thought it would be fun to have a period style sewing kit in my basket and these scissors fit the bill nicely. I couldn't say if they are historically accurate, but I like them, and they compliment my little wooden needle case, too. Huzzah!

 They're about the same size as my other embroidery scissors, fit well in the hand and are comfortable to use. And did I mention, sharp? Oh yes, right to the very tips.

I didn't really need a new pair of scissors, but I sure to like them! It goes that way sometimes, right? Right!

So hey, it's Friday! (insert Kermit style flailing here) Got any big plans this weekend? Do tell!

oxo,

Lisa

October... Already?!?

Hi Guys~

October already? Are you kidding me? I didn't blog for over an entire month? Whoa... how's that even possible? These are the questions I've been asking myself recently, the last several weeks are a blur, a blur I tell ya! Where'd September go anyhow?

There have been so many good things (and some rather challenging ones) happening in my real life, I'm looking forward to catching up here about all the goings on. There are even more great things around the corner, Melissa's wedding is in just one week, eeeep! I've been a busy bee, but I sure am sorry to have left this space quiet for so long. Unforch, I think it's going to be quiet for just a bit longer until I return from the wedding in Pasadena. 

There is still so much to do, and increasingly less time to do it! This maid~of~honor has to bring her A game, yo!

I hope you'll hang in there with me! I can't wait to get to a place where I can spend a day catching and visiting bloggy friends, I miss yas and I couldn't let one more day pass by without stopping here and saying hello, so HELLO CHUMS! How've you been? What's going on in your world? Do tell!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, I made her a little cake. It was extremely yummy, and I'm very glad I sent the rest of it home with her last night, because I'm pretty confident I'd have scarffed the rest for dinner tonight. It was so light, so fresh.  

I do hope you've been well and that you're enjoying autumn, such as it is (a speeding train, a lightening bolt, a race horse). I really can't wait to do some catch-up! In the meantime, tell me, what are your favorite things about this time of year? 

Mine are easy, 1.) The dang weather cools off. 2.) The dang weather cools off.

Oh, I'm such a funny guy!

oxo,

Lisa

Sutter Creek With Mom

Hi All,

Today was such a nice day, I thought I'd share a little. My theory is, that maybe if I blog about something right away, I can stay more current with my blogging, as I seem to have hit a major stall with it the last couple of months. So sorry about that, y'all. I have so much to catch you up on, I'm working on it!

Today my mother and I went up the hill a little way to Sutter Creek for the Mother Lode Quilters Guild, Golden Threads Quilt show.  There was so much to see, and so much inspiration! Here are just a few pictures I snapped at the show, I know there's a lot, but these were my favorites.

My favorites (naturally) feature embroidery, look at this beautiful crazy quilted bed cover. The fabric was comprised of vintage feed sacks, but was a backdrop for the hand embroidery. 

Every single seam is covered in a rainbow of stitches!

 And this one! Gorgeously quilted and 

Using my mom as a reference, you can see how much embroidery is on this hand embroidered lilac quilt.

 Oh my goodness, that's a lot of densely packed lazy daisies!

Something about this last quilt just makes me smile! It's not the fanciest, or the most beautiful, but I'm just crazy about it. So silly & whimsical! Just good plain fun.
*UPDATE*
I get a lot of emails about this terrific Chicken Quilt, even years later, to be clear, I DID NOT MAKE THIS QUILT, I just saw it at a quilt show and snapped a picture to share. I have found a link to what I believe is the original pattern, and where this pattern can still be purchased. As for the chicken wire fabric, I found similar fabrics for sale here, here and here.

After the quilt show we did some perusing through the small gold mining town, and even visited a gourmet cheese shop and did a little tasting. Oh, baby! Lambchopper rules!

We lunched at this lovely, out of the way eatery called Susan's Place. The food and service were wonderful!

After lunch, we did a little more window shopping, and even a bit of real shopping at my favorite store in the whole town, The Antique Gardener, where I picked up a couple more goodies for my fairy garden. This is such a pretty store, if ever you're in the area, you must try to stop. Out back, they keep a variety of pretty flowers, veggies, and a variety of tiny plants, suitable for fairy gardens, which they have several of laying about the garden, tucked in here and there. These were my favorites.

I ADORE fairy gardens! I've got a great Pinterest board where I'm always adding lots of cute & USEFUL links, pop over and follow along if you'd like more of this kind of thing! Here is a link to my Fairy Garden Pin Board.

Like I said, such a nice day, truly wonderful. Before hitting the road to come home, we even popped into an old fashioned ice cream emporium for a cold, creamy treat, it really hit the spot. It was SO hot today.

I hope you've enjoyed a peek at the day I spent with Mom, we sure enjoyed having such a nice day!

Hope the rest of your weekend is as groovy as can be!

oxo,

Lisa

A Quilt For Mama

Hi Everyone,

This post has been a long time coming, I started this project last January. You know how that goes, right? Some projects take a few hours, some take 11 months (mostly hibernating), but I digress.

Just before Thanksgiving this year, I pulled this out and got back to work, I wanted to get it finished and quilted for my mom for Christmas, and I still had a long, long way to go. Now, I've only made one other quilt, and it was just a bitty little thing, simple patch work and diagonal stitching, easy peasy. This one though, it was a horse of a different color, but such lovely colors they are.

A quilt for my mom. 

 Here's the quilt label I made, I incorporated it with a little bit of piecing (scraps from making the quilt top), right into the back of the quilt. The pattern I used was called "Turning Twenty Again". From what I understand this is a fairly well known quilt pattern, named because it's made of 20 blocks that can be turned any way you like that pleases the eye. The finished size of the quilt is 70"x84", big enough to lay over a queen size bed.

God willing, this quilt will outlast both my mother and I, and some day someone might wonder who made it, and why (I always wonder that when I find a quilt in an antique or thrift store), so I included that information on the label.

  Can you see this beautiful quilting?

 I had this quilt professionally quilted by the wonderful and talented, Shannon Freeman, I just found this morning that Shannon has set up a Facebook page for her business, This Chick Stitches. Shannon is awesome, and funny and kind and boy howdy, if you're lucky enough to have something quilted by her, you will be thrilled with the results!

Shannon quilted this quilt using a dense, edge to edge meandering daisy pattern... freehand!! I'm telling you, she's amazing, in the picture below you can get a better look at the overall quilting.

Ooof! I love it so much. This quilt would not be what it is without Shannon's considerable skill & talent, thank you Shannon!

Here's a better look at the entire back of the quilt.

(Oh, and see that guy on the mower back there? He thought it was funny to zoom past me on his mower while I was trying to get these pictures in my neighborhood park, and kick dust, dry leaves and broken acorn bits all over me and my quilt... why I oughta! *shakes fist*)

Hey look, binding!! I'm not afraid of it anymore, guys! And I have to say, I'm pretty proud of those corners! My skills at that particular task have definitely improved.

 I did all of the binding in one marathon day. Done in the traditional method, sewn to the front by machine and the back by hand... 11 hours, non-stop y'all!

Eeek, so proud about that darn binding!

Oh, these colors! I love all the jewel tones mixed with the neutrals.

One last shot of the quilt... hanging in a tree by the river.

Happy to report that mom loved her quilt, I gave it to her on Christmas Eve. It was a surprise, she had no clue this was what I had planned for her, yay surprises.

Now... will I make another one like this any time soon? I'd like to say not bloody likely! But you never know... I've already got two more quilts in the works, so we'll see how long these take to get finished. Joy!

Sew, what do you think, friends? Did any of you guys make/give quilts for Christmas? Please, do tell and point me to them, I want to see!

oxo,

Lisa

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

Groovy, Mama!

Hi Again! I know what you're thinking, she just posted yesterday, and yet here she is again today!

 I know, right?!? It's crazy.

Having this new laptop to zip around the Internet is quite inspriring. It reminds me of that Mazda commercial... "Zoom, zoom, zoom!"

So yeah, back in September I had a little something-something in the works for my mom's birthday which was in early October, just about the same time as the "great computer crash of 2010".

Want to see? Ok!

Hmm, what could this little package hold?

Bunting! Tye-dye bunting!!

Because, you know, every mom needs 12 feet of tye-dye bunting.
It's a fact. Ask your mom.

(Uh-oh... my garden doesn't look so nice in this picture. Look away, look away!)

My mom likes to camp, a lot. And when she does, she likes to hang bright tapestries in and around her campsite. It's really cool & groovy looking. I love it, especially when I pull into the campground after she's all set up, it's really easy to find her campsite. I made this bunting for her to use for whatever she likes, but I think it would look especially cool hanging in the woods.

I stitched up this wee little tag and sewed it to the backside one of the flags.

Oooh, swirly colors!

Mom really loved her bunting, I think she got a big kick out of it.

On her actual birthday she and I went to the Northern California Renaissance Faire, huzzah!

Happy birthday, beautiful, groovy Mama! I love you!

Hope you had as much fun as I did.

It's good to be back in Bloglandia, thank you all SO VERY MUCH for all your "welcome backs", you guys are the best! It's been great visiting you guys again (at warp speed). Looks like you've all been pretty busy too!

Holy moly, look at that! Perla makes 100!!

Hi Perla, welcome to the blog!

That's it! I'm having a giveaway!

More deets soon, pinky swear!

oxo,

Lisa