Sashiko Rainbow

Konnichiwa!

Today I thought I'd share a recently finished embroidery piece, a new style of stitching I had not tried previously, do you know about Sashiko? It's a Japanese style of embroidery dating to the 1600's, a simple running stitch often used to reinforce points of wear on clothing, or to repair tears and patches. The decorative designs can be quite beautiful, striking and simple in their nature all at once. 

Traditionally, Sashiko is done in thick, white cotton thread on indigo blue fabric, but the kit I used contained pre-printed white cotton and navy thread. It was given to me by the stitchy duo, Katy & Maureen of Sew Lovely Embroidery at a wonderful tea party the ladies hosted, gosh, almost two years ago. Time flies! 

I'm not a terribly traditional person, and bright colors always call to me from my floss box, not surprisingly  a lively rainbow trumped tradition.  

As always, feel free to click & embiggen any of the pictures for a more detailed photo.

I thought the back of the piece was quite pretty as well, I love seeing all these colors come together.

I'm going to mount this piece simply, stretched over canvas, add some hanging hardware and put it on the wall in my guest room, perhaps. 

So there we are, so many pretty rainbows! I've loved them since I was a child, I'm sure I always will. This piece makes me happy.

This is such a simple style of embroidery, I think it'd be great for a beginner, especially if, like mine, the fabric is pre-printed. Then it couldn't be simpler, just grab your colors and go.

Have you done some of this type of embroidery? Do tell, and point me to your Flickr, blog, or wherever I can oogle them. I'd love to see! 

Hope your week is off to a wonderful start!

oxo,

Lisa

Super Butchie!

Happy Saturday, Chummies!

Here's one of the secret projects I've been working on recently. I finished up last night and entered my project in the challenge, now I can share, and you can vote! Heehee, only if you want to.

You guys remember my darling, little pal, Butch? You were all ever, so very sweet when he went over the rainbow bridge last year and I shared about our life with him, and saying goodbye. I'll never forget that kindness. Recently, I learned of an embroidery challenge on Craftster and thought this was as good a reason as any to do something fun to memorialize our doggy friend, hence the Altered Photo Needlework Challenge... and Super Butchie!

 Years ago, on a muggy summer evening, we were in our backyard goofing around with our dogs, Lola & Butch, and taking pictures. I was down on the grass at dog-level and they were playing around me, wrastlin' and such. I happened to get a shot of Butch that looked like he was launching himself into the air (in reality he was launching himself at Lola). Once I had uploaded the picture to my computer, I added a little cape with a big, yellow "B"  in MS Paint to amuse myself, and christened him Super Butchie! It's been in our family photos that way ever since. I have another one where he looks like a bucking rodeo beast that I added a little saddle and a tiny cowboy to, but that's another story.

Here's the original photo, and my stitched, altered photo.

Butch did in fact turn out to be a superhero. As you might recall, he fought a long, hard battle with cancer and he was a trooper right to the end. 

A bit of technical info about the project; I printed my photo on Photo-fabric, but the image didn't "stick". I think the printer I used was the wrong sort and the ink just did not adhere to the fabric. I was horrified when I rinsed it, per the instructions, and much the the image detail washed down the drain! After consulting with a friend, and a bit of brainstorming, I decided I'd use that ruined fabric anyway, fill in the image with color pencils, then add embroidery over the top to really alter the look of the original photo quite a bit. It really challenged my ideas of how this project would look in the end. I've taken Super-Butchie in a semi-comic book sort of direction. I still may add a few things before I'm done, but I dunno, I kind of like him it 'as-is', too.

Butch had the craziest fur, it went in every direction and was every known shade of brown, as well as black, silver, white and even some blonde. for this project I used 9 different colors of floss, and made lots of little crazy stitches to represent my fuzzy fella.

So, voting you ask? Why yes, you can, please & thank you!

Right here!

There are some fabulous entries in the challenge, I especially love this one, by Xperimentl, who makes, rad, rad stuffs. It's awesome, and I LOVE rainbows. 

I'm so glad this week is over and it's the weekend, this week seemed to drag on & on. Sean and I are thinking of scooting up the a Celtic Faire this weekend, woowoowoo, men in kilts! If I do I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

What are you up to this weekend, anything fun? Do tell!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s.

Go vote!

♥

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

Watch The Leather, Man

Hi Everyone!

I can't believe we're already into March! I'm working on a few stitchy things that I can't show just yet, things I'm pretty jazzed about, but my projects always seem to take a little longer to complete than I initially estimate. Does that happen to you guys, too? Since I can't show you what I'd planned to, I'm breaking out something I was particularly proud of that I made for my brother for Christmas this year. 

These items were a bit of a departure for me, I've never worked with leather before (well, yes, I have, but that was back when I was a Camp Fire girl, and we just stamped leather strips to make bookmarks, so that doesn't really count) and since I like to make as many of my Christmas gifts by hand as I can for my family and friends, but I struggle with making "guy things" I had to get crafty.

I've been holding on to a stash of  small leather samples that I got from work a few years ago, and this year I finally got to use a few of them to make my brother a suite of small leather goods. 

A simple billfold, hand stitched.

(and some business cards to encourage my super talented, hard working brother to go into business for himself)

A nightstand bowl for the odds & ends a busy dad finds in his pockets at the end of the day.

This bowl was very simple to make, I found a link to a tutorial on Pinterest (naturally). The bowls in the  tutorial are made with felt, but hey, same technique. Just sore-er fingers, stitching leather is hard, yo! I made one of these dresser/nightstand bowls for my sister-in-law too, I made hers in the super soft red leather pictured below.

I made her a pretty little necklace, too, but the picture above isn't very good, here's a better one.

But my favorite thing that I made for Greg was this little journal. I love this wee book, I was tickled with the finished project.

Love it! I used a pretty stone button I had in my button jar and cut a thin strap to keep the journal closed as my brother adds little bits of this & that to it over the course of its life.

The signatures are stitched up, all proper like! I used a medium card stock for the paper so the pages are nice & sturdy for drawing or painting or what have you.

I used this excellent tutorial, and the journal came out perfectly! Not only have I never worked with leather, I've never made a book, so this was a double lesson for me, and I was very happy with the result. I'm very much looking forward to making more of these journals in the future. 

So there you are, a trio of "masculine" handmade gifts! 

I only had to buy one tool (two, if you count the rubber cement used to secure the book pages the leather) to make this trio, this spikey wheel jobbie used to mark even spaces in the leather that I then punched through with my awl. This was a project that was all labor, and practically no moolah. But the labor, oooh, let me tell you, I had practically no feeling in the fingertips of my right hand for two weeks. I found that even though I pre-punched the leather, it was still hard to pull the thick needle through over & over again. Ouch. I wonder if there's a better way...?

So yeah, leather, man! 

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. Curious about the title of this post, lookie here. Love that movie. Have seen it waaaay more times than I should admit. :)

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