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   

Boswell's Bath Time

Happy Monday, Friends!

I hope you all had a wonderful (and hopefully long) Thanksgiving weekend! Of course, no matter how long it is, it could always be longer, amiright? We had a great weekend, I hosted my family and cooked up a storm. Loved it. Had a great time. Ate too much, naturally.

This post has nothing to do with crafts, or cooking, or anything practical, it's purely for my own enjoyment, because this thing that happened made me giggle, I hope you'll indulge me, I have to share.

On Saturday my hubby took the dogs for one of their many daily strolls, they're very spoiled. There's a park very close to our home, which the Mokelumne River runs along side of, we visit often. This Saturday however, Boz just had to get in that water, had to, like he was pulled by a magnet (or more likely, a dead fish!) and hoooboy, did he come home stinky!

Bathtime!

Boswell is such a good sport when it comes to baths, he sits quietly in the sink, looking forlorn and humiliated, but he doesn't try to escape, or shake water everywhere, he's a good boy. So good, in fact that I had time to grab my camera and snap some photos. His face cracks me up, so expressive! And normally Boz is a puffball, seeing him wet just kills me, he looks like a tiny drowned rat. What follows is the inner dialog that I imagined from him...

 "It was only one little fish! I don't smell that bad, not enough for all of this!"

"You're going to put this in the internet, aren't you? This is so embarrassing, mom!"

"Really? You're going to make a bubble wig?"

"No mom, I do not look like George Washington."

 (Yes he does! Eeeeeeep! He's so cute!)

Sleeeeeek!

"Rinse me good, I don't want to smell like mango shampoo when you're done!"

"I require a warm hairdryer. Stat."

Aww, poor Bozzy! He did get a nice long brush and a warm hairdryer, and he only smells slightly like mango, but that's worlds better than dead fish. A few minutes and a few treats later and he was back to his happy, puffy self! He went straight out into the backyard and rolled on the grass... le sigh.

Hope you got a little smile from my boy, Boz! Sometimes Monday's just require something silly! He's pretty darned silly & adorable if I do say so myself.

oxo,

Lisa

A Fairy Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!

Lookie here, there's a new resident in the fairy garden!
Looks like she's made herself quite at home and claimed the cottage as her own.

She sure is a pretty thing!

She came to me from far away, a special gift from a very, very special friend. I'm so glad she's here, working her little brand of magic, and reminding me how special a thing it is to have friends, and how thankful I am for them.

I'm grateful for so much, thankful for all that I have and those that I know, and every single one of you!

My little fairy and I wish you an abundant and cozy Thanksgiving!

oxo,

Lisa

Halloween Swap Part II

Morning Everybody!

I'm writing this post quietly, while hiding in my craft room, there are sleeping children everywhere in my house ♥ I have three nieces and a nephew spending the weekend with me, so fun! Last night we played several rounds of the ABC's of Harry Potter and made Acid Pops and had pizza and giggled a lot. Good times!

Today, I thought I'd share the awesomness which I received from Jacquie in our Halloween swap, look at this gorgeous pillow! I love it so much, the image is great and Jacquie's embroidery is perfect - as always! 

I love the ribbon trim she used at the top & bottom of the pillow, more Halloweenie goodness!

I love the backing fabric, too. It reminds me of Saturday mornings, much like this one (they're all awake now) spent lying on my tummy watching cartoons, specifically scary episodes of Scooby-Doo.

Jacquie added some great details to the pillow, check out this great ruffle!

And these pom-poms! I need ask Jacquie how she did these, I think they're turkey work stitch, but they're very dense I can't see. Whatever they are, I luv 'em!

Here's the rest of my haul, Jax made me some great Halloween envelopes and sent me some terrific Halloween fabric, and some yummy mummies, and Godiva chocolate, oh yeaaaah!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mafiossagrrl!

In a couple of hours, I'm taking my little brood to the pumpkin patch, and later, a Zombie Walk!

What are you guys up to this weekend?

Oxo,

Lisa

Halloween Swap Part I

Hi All!

Today I thought I'd share the first part of  a Halloween swap I participated in with some of my stitchy friends, my partner for this swap was the lovely and crafty Jacquie of Maffiosagrrl, wooo! Today I'm going to show you the little package I whipped up for Jacquie, tomorrow I'm going to show you what she made me, it's pretty great.

Oh happy day, I love Halloween! Let's go through the package, shall we?

When I was in Portland, Pam and I got to do a little shopping and I found this great little craft paper casket, thinking it would be great for our Halloween swap I went ahead and picked it up, not knowing exactly how I'd spruce it up. Happy accidents being what they are, shortly after returning from my trip I was contacted by a representative of Scotch Duct Tape to see if I would like to try some of their patterned tapes. When I saw the cute colors & patterns they're making these days I happily said yes!

Orange giraffe and purple are you kidding me? I lurve it!

I cut some of the tapes into smaller strips that were more appropriate to the scale of the box I was covering, then I mummified that little box in a very professional style I like to call "willy nilly". Hee!

I left the inside of the box plain, just finishing the inner rim of the lid with a strip of purple. The tapes were really easy to use and cut and I would definitely use them for other projects, there's a plethora of ideas out there, I'm thinking of trying some of these next.

Being a sucker for all manner of buntings I made a couple of Halloween types for Jacquie, this one I made using my Sizzix Big Kick & my sewing machine. I cut loads of paper circles from Halloween scrapbook paper, then ran them one after the other through the sewing machine. It's the simplest way I've ever tried, I for the inspiration for this bunting based on this pin,the original source found here.

Mug rug! I whipped up a cute little Halloween mug rug too, a little embroidery, a little quilting, right up my alley! I also covered some tea lights with the duct tape, as well as some cool washi tape I've had in my stash forever. You can never have too many candles, right?

No fridge is complete without cute magnets, so I made a few little Halloween fabric covered buttons then hot glued magnets on the back. 

Eeeeeeek! A sparkly little sign just because ♥

A dramatic, black fan. Now this is my kind of drama! This fan was an extra from the bridal shower favors, but I couldn't send it out so plainly, so I thought I'd give it more of a Victorian/goth feel by giving it a spray with matte black spray paint. I really love the look of the fan painted black.

Oh look, another bunting! This one says Happy Haunting and is a really neat free printable I found (darn it, I can't find the link! I'll work on that and edit this post as soon as I find it). It has a neat, vintage/creepy vibe to it, and I really wanted to share it with you guys. I'm making another one for myself, I'll show here in more detail soon.

I also got Jax a cute pair of argyle kitty socks, some matching Kleenex and of course something sweet, a big vial of Reese's Pieces, yum! Altogether a pretty neato package ♥ I was actually on time sending out this swap, and if you know me you know what an utter miracle it is that I do anything on time, ha!

Are you getting ready for All Hallows Eve? What'cha doing? 

Tell me all about it!

oxo,

Lisa

A Weekend In Portland

Well hello!

I'm back and I'm ready to blog (cracks knuckles menacingly), and boy do I have a lot to catch up on, but first, HI NEW PEEPS! I see there are a few new people following along, so to you folks, hello & welcome!

I'm going a little way back for this post, just to early September when I had the opportunity to take a quick weekend getaway to see some friends. Friends, who to this point had been bloggy/internetty friends, that is, we'd never met face to face, but we're as tight as any girlfriends! We chat online about all manner of topics nearly every day for the past couple of years, I already felt like I knew them and vice versa. Also... they're stitchy/crafty rock stars!

From left to right is me, Tara, Pam & Shannon otherwise known as The Mistress T, Kittykill and Gigglymama! (HI GIRLS!!) These girls are just as terrific as I knew they would be, as though there was ever any doubt.

We'd kind of planned a low key weekend of relaxing, talking, visiting, stitching and such. Welp, we never got to any stitching, but we did eat really well and see lots of very cool stuff. Pam and her hubby, Mark were excellent guides, they took me all over their wonderful city. 

Saturday morning we started with breakfast and a little shopping. We took this picture for our friend, Ellen. Yay unicorns!

Hey look, it's one of Portland's famous Horse Rings! 

AND BIGFOOT!

I took a TON of pictures, so I've taken the liberty of making some collages so as not to bog you guys down, feel free to click any of the pictures to see the large version of any of these photos.

The International Rose Test Garden

The Oregon Holocaust Memorial.

Visiting the memorial was a very deep and humbling experience, as it should be. This is the first time I've had the opportunity to visit any Holocaust memorial, it was profoundly moving for all of us. It's very hard for me to express properly, so I'll leave it at that. 

We visited a very cool old cemetery, we discovered we all LOVE old cemeteries. And not in a creepy, emo way. Just an old, historical love for them. 

Whoa.

That's my maiden name... it's always a little unsettling when you run across one of those.

Next visited the Side Street Gallery which was featuring Pam's Sugar Skulls.

T

This was such a great place, eye candy everywhere, good shopping too!

For dinner that night, Pam & Mark took me to The Kennedy School. This was the neatest restaurant I've ever been to, a converted, historical elementary school. It's so cool! 

Two drinks, one mouth. Drinking problem? Nah...

The Kennedy School is full, to the brim of art, there are murals everywhere, here are some of the ones I liked best. 

Here's my favorite!

And they let'cha walk around with your drinks, too... neato!

Sunday had us going to a birthday celebration for one of Tara's Beastie Grrlz, Delia. Dog parties are fun!

Several of dog park, doggy friends came to celebrate Delia's 1st birthday, we watched them scamper around and play ball, and watched every one of them roll on a mysteriously attractive (and I'm guessing stinky) spot on the grass. Dogs and stinky spots go together like peanut butter & jelly. Am I right?

Speaking of dogs! Let me introduce you to the girls's kids, these furry friends kept me company, made me laugh and made it easier to be away from my own fuzzy brood.

First up the birthday girl & her sister, these are Tara's dogs,

  Betty & Delia

And the Pedersen Pups!

Lola ~ Pete ~ Jujube

I had such a great time up in Portland, meeting my friends in real life was so awesome! I can't wait to see them again. Lodi isn't as great as Portland, but ladies I'll show you the town and we'll paint it red if you decide you need to see Northern California, teehee!

Coming home was nice too, look who was waiting for me!

Lola & Boz

I think they were happy to have me back home.

♥

I hope you've enjoyed coming along with me for a little bit of Portland, like I said I've got a lot of catching up to do so come back soon because I'm hoping to get several more posts published this week, better late than never I say!

How've you been friends? What's shaking in your neck of the woods?

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