Sassenach

Greetings friends,

Just a quick pop in post to see what you thought of the premier of Outlander? I know there are a bunch of you out there who are Outlander fans -psst! you're safe here, come geek out with me! If you're not a fan, please pardon my indulgence. This might not be the post for you because I'm about to go full-on fangirl.

My friend Lorna hosted a little mountain shindig, and we watched the first episode, Sassenach on her ginormous, awesome TV, felt like the actors were right in the room with is, too cool! We had a great night chatting about the stories, we'd all read all of the books and several (if not all) of the shorter novels and supplementals, or as Diana calls them, "the bulges" and they go deep! There are SOO many layers. Anywho.. we munched, we discussed, we drank whiskey! It was a good night...

Just touching on a few key points here mixed in with the few pictures I took at the party...
I'd love to know what YOU found interesting, please share!

How great was the opening scene, Claire during 1940's wartime, under pressure, fixing someone? Claire is grace & ruthless efficiency under fire - over and over again through out these stories. What a woman!

I put together a little goodie basket for our Outlander evening, a sort of thank you gift for my friend since without her prompting I probably would have never read these stories and happily sunk so deeply into Diana Gabaldon's world. I am forever grateful. ♥

Whiskey, ale, short bread and jam - and more importantly, JAMMF! I made Lorna a Pocket Jamie of her very own. I was also given a few small Outlander posters from a lovely gal in an Outlander FB group I belong to so I passed a couple of them on to Lorna. And neatest of all, I snagged a couple of hankies which were given away as swag at ComiCon this year - eBay is still awesome - sometimes.

It all began with a reuniting-honeymoon WWII was over... Claire & Frank.

I know lot of folks don't like Frank, I do. I think that like all of Gabaldon's characters, he's human and therefore flawed, and that's part of what makes these stories so amazing. He's not a perfect man, but I do believe up to this point (and maybe ever after - I have mixed feelings - but we'll find out more about that later on...) he's a good man. That's just my opinion. I know others have different opinions... bottom line, he loves his wife. What happens further on in the story gets complicated...

Let's go see the witches! Druids, actually...

I liked this scene, it wasn't how I pictured it in the books, it was better!

Here's a little picture of our spread! I popped into my local cheese shop (my town has a cheese shop, ha! So fancy.) and picked up a couple of nice cheeses (a sharp English cheddar and a lovely little herb chevres) , to go along with the fresh oatcakes that I made for snacking. I used this recipe and this one. Each of these rendered VERY different results. I wish I'd taken pictures... generally speaking, I think the second recipe was more enjoyable and versatile. 

 Claire, can you hear the stones?

You're not Frank! Uh-oh, here comes trouble! 

Black Jack Randall, what a cad. I thought Tobias Menzies has started these two very different roles with a bang! To my eyes, these could be totally different actors, although related generations apart, Frank and BJR are nothing alike.

Look what Lorna made for desert, a Craigh na Dun cheese cake! The standing stones were made out of rice crispy treats! 

Here we are in the little cottage where Claire meets Dougal and Jamie for the first time - great scene! Nearly word for word from the book. Loved it. 

On the road with the McKenzie clan, after being unceremoniously dumped from a horse, Claire makes a break for it.

But of course Jamie finds her and gets his first taste of her feisty willfulness. 

And Claire's first taste of the famed Fraser stubbornness, I liked this scene too. Actually, there weren't any scenes I didn't like. I know I'm going to love the entire series!

And before we know it, we've arrived at Castle Leoch and the end of episode 1! 

*wistful sigh*

Episode 2 is this Saturday - which incidentally is my birthday, what a great pressie! I'm so glad that this story is being made into a beautiful, visual feast, and so grateful that the people who are making it are doing so with such love and devotion. We're in for a rollicking good time!

So tell me! What are YOU looking forward to? I have a whole list! I'll answer in the comments so we can all be a part of the conversation!

oxo,

Lisa

Goodreads

Hey Y'all!

So, once again I'm late to the party on this internet goodie, but I'm sharing anyway because this is fun, and I wanted to see if any of you are there too, maybe we can be chums! I have no personal ties to this website, other than it's neat. 

Who's on Goodreads? I just joined a day or so ago, and it was fun going in and finding a good chunk of the books I've read over the years and rating them. I've always wanted to keep a list of those books, but for one reason or another, I could just never make it happen, with Goodreads, I've created a list that I'll never lose, and can add to and take around with me all the time because they have apps for Androids & Apple phones, sweet! So what is Goodreads? I've borrowed this blurb from their About Us page.

A Few Things You Can Do On Goodreads

• See which books your friends are reading.
• Track the books you're reading, have read, and want to read.
• Check out your personalized book recommendations. Our recommendation engine analyzes 20 billion data points to give suggestions tailored to your literary tastes.
• Find out if a book is a good fit for you from our community’s reviews.

Sound good? You can also follow your favorite authors in a more bookish environment than say Tumblr or Facebook, and read their own reviews of other authors. Pretty cool. 

I know a lot of you are also book lovers, so we should share because great minds think alike! So, here's me! Come find me, pretty please! I want to be your friend and snoop through your bookshelves! Teehee!

Bookclubs. Let's discuss! Who's in one? I'm in one active one with my girlfriends that's been going consistently for years, and another one that was meant for a couple of other close friends and family that's kind of fallen by the wayside... I've been debating reviving that one and opening it up to you guys, is that something any of you would be interested in? I'm thinking a very loose format, one book every two-three months, because hey, as much as I love reading, and I really do, there are only so many hours in the day for each of us, and we've all got a pretty full plate as it is. So tell me what you think in the comments, maybe we can set something casual up, I think that could be fun!

So what else? Oh, just this!!

This may not be a big deal to a lot of other bloggers, but I think it's pretty dang cool, my blog has now had over 100,000 views! Actually, as of writing this, I'm at 100,221! Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my pink, fuzzy little heart!!

Let's talk books, ready, set, go!

oxo,

Lisa

A Visit With Salley Mavor

Howdy Kids!

Last weekend my mom and I headed down to Fresno to meet one of my favorite fiber artists, Salley Mavor, who's traveling exhibit, Pocketful of Posies is currently on display at the library at Fresno State University, the exhibit opened Friday night, but we went down Saturday morning.

This photo is an image from Salley's book, Pocketful of Posies. It's also the  image she's currently using as her blog header, such amazing detail! Look at all that chain stitch!

 Salley was doing a book signing at a wonderful, local children's book store called Petunia's Place, so that's where we headed to first. Fresno is quite a drive from where I live in Lodi, about 150 miles, but the opportunity to meet Salley and see her work in person was well worth it. I've been a fan of her art, and her blog for some time.

Salley was so friendly and gracious! I enjoyed a little bit of time chatting with her about her work, and embroidery in general. I even got to see a something she's currently working on, a small patchwork quilt with lots of stitching, it's going to be amazing when it's done, an heirloom to be sure. I got to have her autograph my copy of Pocketful of Posies, look at how sweet the small illustration is that she drew!

Salley's work is incredibly intricate and creative, I absolutely love the detail that infuses every piece.

I think this is my favorite panel from Pocketful of Posies, A Treasury Of Nursery Rhymes, look at all the sweet little faces of her Wee Folk!

And of course, a tea shop! Isn't is terrific? Again, the extraordinary detail is just gorgeous.

This is another of my favorites, a wee fairy hiding from the rain under a delicately stitched mushroom.

This image is from Salley's book In The Heart, which is sadly out of print, but which I was fortunate to  purchase a copy of that day at Petunia's Place. I'm a lucky ducky!

I also picked up a copy of Hey Diddle, Diddle! 

I've now got myself a nice little collection of Salley's books, happy, happy!

After hanging around the book shop and chatting with Salley and her husband, who was kind enough to take our photo, as well as give me a few pointers with my camera (darn white balance!), mom and I took off to find some lunch. Then headed over to the University to see the exhibit... queue scary music!

Dun, dun dun!

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The library was CLOSED!

Boo! Hiss!

The exhibit had only opened the night before, this was opening weekend, how could this happen to meeeeeeeeeeee? I called the bookstore to verify if I was in the right location, and sadly, I was. They were shocked to discover the building closed too. I gave that closed sign a mighty scowl, let me tell you.

I don't think I'll have another chance to make it down to Fresno to see the exhibit before it moves on as it's so far away :( What a bummer... 

But hey, look who I met in the parking lot at FSU, this little chubster!

He was friendly, a little too friendly. He ran up on me so quick I thought he was going to jump in my pocket! I love squirrels, but that was a little too close. I squeaked and jumped in the car! He only loved me for my cookie crumbs anyway...

So even though I didn't get to see the exhibit, the day wasn't so bad. I got to spend quality time with mom, chatting about all manner of things on our long, long drive to & from. Meet one of my favorite artists, eat a killer lunch from Whole Foods (and can I just say, Whole Foods, if you're listening, please, please come to Lodi! I love your hippy foods and delectable deserts, I'm pretty sure I can single handedly keep you in business). And get an up close visit with Mr. Squirrel. Not too shabby!

This week has been a busy, exciting one! I can't believe it's already Easter weekend, and I can't wait to tell you guys my breaking news! You'll have to stay tuned for more, mwuahahaha!

oxo,

Lisa

Velveteen Dream

Top O'the Morning & Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!

I've been a busy bee this week, stitching in every spare moment, trying like heck to get this project done. Why the rush? I dunno... Because I'm a glutton for punishment, because I like a challenge? Maybe I'm just crazy. Sometimes I see embroidery projects as a specific block of time. I can often look at a pattern and guesstimate about how long it might take. I would have said 6-10 hours start to finish on this pattern ... pah! I would have been wrong, it was more like 18-20... but I LOVE the outcome!

This is something I've had in mind for a quite a while, years in fact, since I last stitched on velvet and found it to be such a beautiful background for embroidery. I purchased another finished cotton velvet cushion cover (similar to this one) at Ikea some time ago, and it's been waiting in the wings for its time to shine. 

Since choosing the pattern, I knew I'd want to embroider the whole thing in one color and thought that a soft gold was a perfect contrast to this deep green velvet. I used a lot of floss on this project, five entire skeins of DMC (676 Light Old Gold)! That seems like a lot, but then again, I used all six strands at once because I wanted the knot to be bold, and really stand off the fabric. I did the outlines of the pattern in stem stitch, and the center knots in split stitch, which gives the piece a nice, thick, almost rustic feel.

Getting the pattern onto the fabric was a bit of a challenge, I found some great advice about stitching on velvet and decided to trace the pattern on to tear away embroidery stabilizer, which I found at JoAnn's (make sure to use your coupons, friends, this stuff is pricey!) then basted the pattern onto the cushion before starting the stitching. The stitching itself was easy using the stabilizer, it didn't shift or crinkle at all. My biggest issue seemed to be using all six strands of floss at once, I felt like I was constantly untying knots and re-threading the needle, grr...

After finishing the embroidery, getting the paper off was fairly simple, but delicate work. I just had to go slow and use craft tweezers to pick the little bits of stabilizer from under the stitching taking care not to pull the stitches loose. I took pictures as I went along, and I'll add them to my Flickr photostream if you're interested.

I'm still in the midst of the Outlander series, and loving every moment of it, which I think contributed to my finally getting this project done, Jamie Fraser really lights my... inspiration! Yeah... inspiration, that's the ticket.

So just in time for St. Patrick's Day, I have a lovely new Celtic inspired pillow to decorate our bed, yay decorative pillows!

We don't really "celebrate" St. Paddy's Day, per say, but I'm sure to wear green for a bit of good luck, and making corned beef & cabbage for dinner, one of my favorites! I'm thinking of attempting Irish Soda Bread, too, we'll see. Mainly I plan to take it easy, this was a busy week and I've had a bit of a cold, so I think I'll indulge in a day of lazily catching up on chores and prioritizing my to-do list. That thing has a life of its own and keeps getting bigger by the day, yikes!

How 'bout you guys, anything exciting on the agenda? Do you do anything special for St. Paddy's? 

Do tell!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. Did you see Google's home page today? These little dancers are so cute!

Tea For Me

Evening friends, 

It's so chilly and feels like rain tonight. We need the rain here in Northern California, it's been so dry this winter, and I like rainy evenings so I won't complain if it starts to pour. I'm snug as a bug in a rug with my tea & my kindle. Happy, happy.

Tea... boy howdy, do I love ya. And tea things, I love tea things! Pretty pots and teacups and little spoons. Delicate plates and cozies and creamers and sugar bowls. Vintage linens and embroidered napkins, ooh I'm getting fluttery! I love it all, and have a lot of it. I need a hutch or china cabinet, like this one, or this one, something with some storage and a gang of display space. I miss the glass front cabinet I had in the kitchen of my last house. Since we moved here I have no place for my tea things or my Jadeite collection and most everything has been packed up in the garage. How sad, right? 

 Normally in the evenings I have a big cuppa tea, a giant mug (this one is my favorite) and hang out with my hubby & the dogs. He watches TV and I stitch or surf the web. But tonight I decided to have myself a proper little tea and read for a bit, I'm way behind on my book club reading and I need to catch up. Right now I'm finishing up The Distant Hours, and about to start The Fault In Our Stars. Also, I'm listening to a book on my commute to/from work everyday, or rather a series of books that one of my best friends turned me on to, and to which I'm now helplessly addicted, it's the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. I just started Drums of Autumn yesterday, Jamie Fraser. Unf... So many books, so little time.

Anyhoo... this is kind of a rambly post, isn't it? 

I think I'm going to have a tea party soon, I haven't had one in ages and spring is the perfect time. I wish you all lived close enough to come, wouldn't it be great to hang out and have tea? I would love, love, love that.

Ok, I better hit the book, erm, kindle! Times a'wasting.

oxo,

Lisa