So Long, Little Buddy...

Hello My Friends,

Well, I've stalled long enough. I've been putting this post off for a few days, each night I start writing it, but then stop... maybe I just wasn't ready. I have sad news to share today, but it's something very important to me, and I need to acknowledge it here. A huge chunk of my heart has gone missing, and I can't blog-on like nothing happened, I hope you'll understand.  

If you're with me on Facebook, you already know, but...

My husband and I lost someone incredibly precious to us last Friday.

Our sweet, sweet Butchie-boy.

Butch was our first dog. Our son. Yes, we are those kinds of people, and damn proud of it. Our animals are our kids. We had Butch for far too short a time, just nine years. We adopted him when he was about a year old, so my little guy was only about 10 years old... small dogs are supposed to live a lot longer... I wanted another 10 years. Truth be told, in my heart I wanted another 50...

Back in March, I took Butch in to see his vet, he was straining to potty, and I thought maybe he had a bladder infection. After extensive blood tests and an ultrasound, the results were not good, he was diagnosed with advanced bladder cancer.

 We were gobsmacked. How was this possible? Butch is so healthy, so full of vigor and vitality! Here we were all just going along, completely ignorant, all the while this inoperable tumor was having it's way with his little body. The prognosis for his cancer was grim, our vet gave us 6-8 weeks with him, this type of cancer is aggressive. It didn't take us long to decide we were going to fight it for as long as we could afford to, and as long as it seemed to help him.

We treated Butch with chemotherapy for 3 months before we had to make the gut wrenching decision to stop. The cancer wasn't going away, it wasn't even stable... We were basically buying time, and the means to buy that time ran through my fingers like sand. Chemotherapy is very, very expensive. What a shitty choice...

When we stopped the chemo treatments we were again told "6-8 weeks". But my boy was strong. He gave us four full months...

 I don't want to grieve my sweet little buddy today, I've done so much crying I'm not sure I have any more tears. Today, I want to celebrate Butch! I want to share with you the kind of guy he was, because he was so much more than just a dog.

Things Butch loved:

Tug-o-war!

 He had the strongest little jaws you ever saw and a low center of gravity! Small but mighty, Butch would not give up no matter who how big his opponent was.

Kisses! 

(Mama likes them too)

The wind in his face! 

Oh, those flappy, little ears!  

Treats! 

Butch could leap a tall building in a single bound for a treat.

He liked everything, but best of all he liked cheese, hot dogs, Frito's, bacon, pizza crust... total junk food junkie.

...and beer!

Cuddles! 

Especially with little ones. He was a gentle soul.

 Didn't matter who you were, or what else you were trying to do. Butchie required cuddle time and lots of it.

Lola!

 He wasn't so sure at first, he was used to being an only child... the picture above is of their first meeting. It didn't take long until they were an inseparable team. Where one went, the other followed.

Right to the very end.

They were the terrible twosome!

Early morning wake up calls, get up dad!

Wrastlin', this was daily...

Playing in the mud.

Touring San Francisco.

Riding in Daddy's truck!

(Lol... I don't know why Sean is making that face... happy, dog breath perhaps?)

Butch liked to ride in the back seat with his front paws on the console so his head would be up front with us, that is until we went inside on some quick errand, then he'd jump into the drivers seat, always!

Camping & adventures! 

Have I mentioned our dogs are spoiled? Most of our vacations have been based around where we can take them, and Butch loved being outside... as long as we were there too.

More than anything, Butch was a goofball. Always there to make you happy...

Butchie had such a great smile. It was infectious. 

He was a real clown! Confession - that Halloween outfit up there, he hated it and I can't help but laugh! I only put it on him once, and just for a couple of minutes. He stood stock-still, then slowly tipped over like he was frozen! Feet sticking out perfectly straight and he simply refused to look at me until I took it off! Oh my goodness, that's a good and funny memory. I'm sorry sweet doggy, but it was.

The brush... 

OoOoOoh he loved to be brushed! It was like a big, long back scratch. If I was brushing the cats, he'd come and literally lay down on top of them and ask to be brushed.

His favorite chair. 

More specifically, the arm of his favorite chair.

And maybe you've noticed a theme running through most of these pictures... Butch's most favorite thing in his whole doggy life was his daddy.

Watching a game, or taking a snooze.

Butch was always at Sean's side.

My two boys. They were the very best of friends.

~~♥~~

A few funny things about Butch:

He was a terrible singer. Lola likes to howl at us, she does it almost every morning (on account of she thinks she's a wolf), "awooooooo". Often Butch would try to join in, and in his high, bright voice what he let loose sounded more like "yarr, yarrr, yarrrrrr!" It made me laugh, he tried so hard.

He hated it when Sean and I would hug. If say, we were standing in the kitchen, saying good morning or just being close. If our arms were around each other, he would stand at our feet and bark incessantly. I think maybe he just wanted to join in. If we were sitting next to each other on the couch, he'd wiggle in between no matter how tiny the space was, he'd find a way grunting and huffing the whole time.

He was "in love" with our cat, Chyna. I think he wanted to marry her, if you get my drift. She was definitely "his" kitty.

Whenever we went camping, he and I were sleeping bag buddies.

The first morning he was ours, I crouched down to let him out of his crate (they told me to leave him in the crate at night until he was used to his new home) and he peed right in my eye! Seriously. He was short, and the angle was just right, a little pee squirt hit me right in the face. Niiiice. That was the only night Butch ever spent in the crate. After that, Butch slept in a little bed right next to my side of the bed for the rest of his life.

He was obsessed with squirrels. I mean OBSESSED. So much as whisper the word "squirrel" and he would run to the nearest tree and try to climb it.

He had many names, most of which are silly, but he answered to all of them, these are just a few; Butch, Butchie, Butch-a-loo, Butch-a-roo, Butcher, Bud, Buddy, Butters, Sausage, Sauce, Swirly Cheeks (if you ever walked behind him on a leash, you'd know why), Cheetoh... and Poop.

No matter what we called him, we will never forget our little guy.

These are two of the last pictures I took of him, just hours before we went over the rainbow bridge... In the end, when he no longer wanted to eat or drink and could only walk short distances, he was content just to sit with us, and let the breeze blow through his nose.

On Friday, September 30, 2011 at about 4pm, Butch passed away here at home with the help of a kind mobile vet to help him along. He was in his own bed. Nose to nose with Lola. The last thing he did in this world was to give her a little kiss. We were right there too, whispering our love and assurances to him that we will meet again. Rubbing his soft, warm, little head and scratching behind those velvety brown ears.

Although I will miss Butch more than words can say, I am at peace with his passing. We got more time than we thought we would, and I know that the moment he left us was exactly the right moment. I'm happy that my boy is no longer in pain. No more yucky medicine. No more belly bands. No more tossing & turning because he couldn't get comfortable. No more cancer. 

He can run now and chase all the squirrels he likes. When I see him again someday, I know he'll be bouding towards me, ears flipping in the special, adorable way that they always did, and he'll be smiling like the sun!

I found a quote which I think sums him up perfectly...

To call him a dog hardly seems to do him justice, though inasmuch as he had four legs, a tail, and barked, I admit he was, to all outward appearances. But to those who knew him well, he was a perfect gentleman.

~Hermione Gingold

There will never be another Butch, he was truly a one in a million.

So long, little buddy, Mama loves you!

If you've made it to the end of this very lengthy, picture laden post, I thank you. I hope that I've conveyed to you a bit of a window into the deep love we have for our critters. They are family. I know many of you feel the same way, so give you furbabies a little extra love today.

Wishing you all a happy weekend.

oxo,

Lisa

Hello Rainbow!

Hi Guys,

Hooboy, where does the time go? Sorry I've been a little MIA lately, I've been slowly working my way through some crafty stuff, but I don't have anything I can share just yet, gotta love the super secret stuff. I wish I could say I've been more productive. Seems lately the more I have to do, the less I'm able to actually do it. I'm in the home stretch on three different projects for three special ladies so I should have something to share soon, promise.

In the meantime, I do have something that I think was so special. I know it's going back a little ways but this deserves its moment in the sun. Many months ago (I think) I may have mentioned to Jill that I'd always wanted a rainbow cake. Just in passing. That lady has the ears of a fox! The weekend after my birthday we'd made plans to go out to San Francisco to the Crown & Crumpet, which we did, it was perfect and lovely of course. But when she showed up at my house the morning we left for the city, she was carrying this...

BEHOLD!!

 Awww yeeeah!

Before we left, I had to have a piece. We took it out on the patio, it was a nice morning.

Dig those lovely colors!

This made me so happy, I can't believe she did this just for me for me!

What a pal!!

Thank you Jill, you are wonderful! Isn't she wonderful?? Yes, she is.

oxo,

Lisa



That's How I Roll

Boy, it sure is nice to have an extra day off from work. Happy Labor Day everyone!

Now that my package is safely (fingers crossed) winging it's way to its new owner (and because I don't think she knows I have a blog), I can share with you guys the piece I made for the most recent Phat Quarter Embroidery Swap, the theme of this swap: Food!

Excellent, who doesn't like food? This is a swap I can really sink my teeth into, harr-harr.

My partner, told me that her favorite foods were Indian & Sushi. Not knowing much about Indian cuisine, I went with sushi.

Three happy, little sushi rolls.

I used felt applique for the body of the rolls, then embellished with several other kinds of stitching. Lots of French knots, a bit of beading, padded satin stitch, straight stitches comprised the ingredients to my sushi.

Their smiley faces are done with open lazy daisies, and their garnish is done in long, straight stitch. I used satin stitch and an oriental font that I found for free online to trace on and fill in the words at the top.

Here's how I've been finishing my hooped, embroidery pieces lately. I trim the fabric to about 1/2", then use a thin bead of hot glue just inside the edge of the inner hoop, and fold, fold, fold down the fabric as neatly as I can. Then I use white felt, cut to exactly the inside hoop diameter. I spray the felt with adhesive, then carefully lay the felt inside the hoop. This is a one & done kind of deal, that spray adhesive is seriously sticky, and you can't move the felt once it touches the back of the embroidery, so this step always a bit nerve wracking for me, but I really like the results. In this instance I made and attached a note for my partner before I sprayed and added the felt to the back of the hoop. 

I also made an extra little goodie for my partner, a bottle-cap pin cushion in the shape of a sushi roll, it was fun and quick. I hope she likes it.

This was a one way swap, so I received my piece from a different partner. I love what I got!

 My partner, Pam asked me if I liked The Simpsons, and if I was a meat eater? Yes & yes!

The words are a bit of dialog from the episode called "Lisa The Vegetarian", an episode with Paul & Linda McCartney! How rad is that? I ♥ Paul McCartney.

Oh Homer, you always deliver the giggles. You can check out his disbelieving thoughts on where bacon, ham & pork chops come from here. So funny!

Pam is one heck of a stitcher, you can see her other work here.

Thanks Pam, I really dig what you've made for me, it's currently living on my kitchen counter, and I also have a strong craving for bacon!

This was a fun one, the Phat Quarter swaps never disappoint!

Whad'ya think?

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. MY SHUSHI PIECE WAS FEATURED TODAY ON CRAFT GOSSIP!! Yes, I was yelling, sorry about that, I'm just so thrilled and honored!  Heeeheeeeheeee!!!

Too Pretty To Pass Up

Hi Kids,

I hope you're all enjoying a long holiday weekend.

Yesterday was pretty productive for me, not in the creative sense, although I got a little work done last night on a small antique quilt I bought a few weeks ago. All the hand tied points need to be redone, they're falling apart and a bit delicate. I snipped them all out and retied two rows, but not much else as far as stitching and sewing. Lord knows I've got plenty to do, I just can't concentrate properly right now, most of my focus is elsewhere... I'll share this with you guys in due time.

We got out bright & early, Sean and I, and our dogs, Butch & Lola went downtown for breakfast, we sat outside on a patio and watched our little town come to life. It was a nice scene, one I don't get to witness often. The dogs loved getting treats (most of my bacon) under the table, and watching people pass by.

Later on I accidentally did a little antique shopping, you guys know how that goes, right? You don't mean to, but you see that the store is open, so you decided to pop in for a sec, just to see if there's anything new. Not going to buy anything, oh no, no... but... well, you end up finding just a couple of things. That's what happened to me yesterday. I picked up a handful of new-to-me stitchies, none of which were priced yet. When I inquired about a price, the lady asked me if I thought $1 each sounded fair? Let me tell you, I whipped out a fiver faster than you could say "jack-flash"!

I think this might be a small table runner, the stitching is about 12" across. It's brand spanking new, not a single blemish. It looks like it could have been finished yesterday, and then folded up and tucked into a drawer.

I think this is a small napkin, but I couldn't resist it's charm. I think it'll look great under a candle or whatnot.

I think this next piece is machine stitched, but the stitching is with a single thread, it's very delicate, and old. It's also brand new, still has the sticker on the back from China. I think it's might be a hand towel, but I'm not sure, the fabric is very thin, maybe it's a napkin also.

And then there's this, isn't it pretty? I have the perfect place to put it this Christmas, over an antique plant stand from Sean's grandparents estate.

This last piece is a vintage pillow case which I thought was so pretty, and so finely stitched, I had no choice but to rescue it. It's also in pretty good condition, with only a small spot of yellowing, some of the stitching has come out, but I think I can fiddle with that. After consulting my stitchy peeps, I gave it a nice long soak in a basin of cold water and Oxyclean, then a delicate wash in the machine with Woolite. It's currently out drying on the patio.

Isn't this a cute scene?

The handsome gentleman.

A lovely lady, I can see now that her umbrella is missing most of it's handle, yes a repair is in order.

Look at how finely stitched the trim on her bodice is! That is tiny, tiny blanket stitch. I think it's gorgeous, even if it isn't as perfect as it could be. Someone stitched this with a lot of care, and I'm so happy to have it. No life safely stashed in a closet for these two, they will be used and loved by me.

The pretty edging is done in pink & white crochet, lovely. I need to learn how to do this. Does anyone know if it's hard? It looks hard...

EDIT:

Just to share a bit of happy news, and some 'after' pictures. The Oxyclean worked perfectly! After a quick iron, my new pillow case looks great and ready to use for a nap!

Have you had any good thrifty finds lately? Tell me all about it!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. I don't know why my pictures are coming out so blue?! Anyone have any idea? These pieces are all snowy white. I don't get it, I need photo lessons...

Sewing Room Sampler

Hi Kids!

Are you ready for the weekend? I sure am!

So hey, here's a little something I've been working on, I wasn't going to share it with y'all yet because it's not complete, but I'm excited because a small piece of it was featured on We Love French Knots yesterday.

We Love French Knots is a new website, and it's all about embroidery. "Modern Embroidery Inspired By Grandma", how awesome is that? I won't lie, I get a little thrill every time I find a new embroidery site. Embroidery is the best thing ever.

This is a fun little sampler from Bari, of the aforementioned WLFK, you can still find and download the pattern for free on her site.  There are nine squares featuring nine different stitches

• Running Stitch
• Lazy Daisy
• Stem Stitch
• Back Stitch
• Chain Stitch
• Blanket Stitch

Also featured:

Feather Stitch

The Bullion Knot

(This was the picture Bari featured on her website, awww... thanks Bari!!)

These were my very first Bullion Knots. I know I should have practiced them on some scrap fabric first in case I made a mess, but I didn't think that far ahead... good thing they came out ok!

 And of course,

The French Knot.

As you can see, I'm almost finished with the embroidery part. I only have to finish the names of the stitches, which I will do in tiny back stitches. I'm waffling on the color though, it's between the lighter green (used in the Feather Stitch) and a bright lavender, almost purple... I'm leaning towards the purple.

What say you, my people?

After I finish the embroidery, I'm going to finish it in one of two ways, either as a pillow for the chair in my craft room, or as a quilted wall hanging, something similar to this.

If you guys come across any new embroidery, or generally cool sites, blogs or whatnot that you think are fun, please! By all means, pass that info on to me and help a sister out. I love visiting new blogs!

Speaking of new blogs, I see a few new followers up there, yay!! Welcome aboard, friends! I'm so glad to have you here! Don't be shy, jump in and say hello! 

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

oxo,

Lisa 

Snip, snip, pin!

Howdy!

So, I got a bit of a wild hair a couple of days ago, and lobbed off about six inches of my hair, wanna see?

Ok, but first I'll share the same quick disclaimer I shared with my embroidery pals on Facebook.

These pictures are kinda dorky because, well... I am a dork. Also, I'm not one of those people who takes pictures of themselves in the mirror and I felt like an idiot. I'm usually the one BEHIND the camera. But I digress...

I'm pretty happy with it. I'm a low-maintenance girl, the less the fuss, the better, and even though this cut still needs to be blown out & flat-ironed, it requires no hairspray - LOVE!

So yeah... that.

Moving right along! Do you Pin? I do... oh Pinterest... why you gotta be so awesome? I've just started, but lordy, I like it! It's so fun, and so terribly addictive! I think it can be a great tool and resource too, say if you're... uh... I don't know, planning a WEDDING! (Heehee, that was for my bestie, Melissa! She's just become engaged, yaaaaaay!)

Here's a link to my Pinterest account, please feel free to surf on over and join the party!

I'm going to add a link button over on my side bar as well, just under my Flickr link.

Oh yes, fun, fun, fun!

Speaking of fun, in just a few hours Jill and I will be off to the city for a girls day! We both decided that a trip to the coast was in order, sometimes you just need to see the ocean.

Have a great weekend, lovelies!

oxo,

Lisa

WIP-lash!

WIP's... oh yeah, I got some. Lots actually. See, while I wasn't posting these last few weeks I have been busy.

My work table is full right now, totally covered in WIPS, there's some on the sewing desk too, add to that one draped over the back of my chair, and another laid out on the floor, hehehe... this is not good people. Please tell me I'm not the only crazy person who does this! I have six different projects "on the hoop" and three stacks of fabric waiting to be made into specific somethings... but that's just the beginning, you should see the actual list I've got going... eeeegads! And it's not even time to start making "you know what" presents yet.

Yeesh.

So, tonight, on the eve of my 37th birthday (double-eeeegads!) I'm going to watch Despicable Me, slap some peanut butter cookies in the oven and get to stitchin'! I need to stitch like the wind!

I think I'll drink black tea tonight, I think I'll be up a while.

So tell me chums, what're you working on?

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. No joke, I really am turning 37 tomorrow, and guess what Jill and I are going to The Crown & Crumpet for tea in San Francisco on Saturday, weeeeeeee!

LMAO, I'm a winner!

Hey All You Beautiful People!

Thank you all so very, very much for all the kind and thoughtful comments you left on my last post about the embroidery of the Wynken, Blynken & Nod. You guys make me feel like I could fly, seriously. You're the best!

I wanted to reply to each and everyone of you, but I kept running into snags, many of you are "No Reply" bloggers. Have you heard of that before? When your comments come to me through my email address, I can easily respond and keep the conversation going, which is great - especially since you know me - I'm a chatty girl! Many times however, when I hit "reply" up in the address bar where your email address would normally appear, it simply says "No Reply" (insert sad face here)...  so I can't write back to you. Don't know if you're a "No Reply" blogger? I didn't know myself until I followed the steps I'm about to share with you. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I'm sharing a link to Karen's blog, Sew Many Ways. Click here to see if you're a no reply blogger, and if so, she'll tell ya how to change that if you're so inclined.

So hey! How've you been?!? Are you having a nice summer? It's been a while since I posted, and I guess that means I've been having a pretty nice summer too. I've been spending lots of time at the river with the dogs, goofing off and splashing around, and I have several cool embroidery and crafty projects in the works that I'll be able to share soon. I feel like I have so much to tell you guys! I guess I better blog more often so I don't overload you :o)

Today I want to do a little bit of braggin'! I won a little something recently from a rad, rad, rad lady! Even though I haven't met her in person, I'd consider her a friend, let me introduce you to Bex! Bex actually won a giveaway here on my blog a little while back, so you may remember her from then, but if not, go check out all the cool stuff she makes. She has an Etsy shop too, looky-looky!

Want to see what I won, hmm?

A very clever bookmark!

Watch out, you could literally LMAO too! Actually, maybe that's not such a bad idea... I've got some extra back there, maybe I need to laugh more and some of it will fall off? One can only hope! 

Oh, this "cracks" me up, harr-harr!

Thanks Bex, I love it! I'm actually using it in the book you recently recommended, The Historian. I'm only a few pages in, so far but I have a feeling this is going to be a very, very good book.

Well, ok folksies! I'm gonna let cha go, but I'll be back soon! I promise, no more 4 weeks between posts. That's far too long to be away from all you lovely people.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

oxo,

Lisa