So Grateful.

Wishing you all a very happy and relaxing 4th!

This year, I'd like to show you just two of the many, many soldiers out there who protect our freedoms. Without complaint, and because they WANT to. These are members of my family and I couldn't be prouder of these two. They make my heart swell.

Alexandria, 20 years old. US Army. My niece. Currently stationed in Georgia.

Garrett (far right), 21 years old. US Army. My cousin. Currently stationed in Afghanistan.

Hooah!

May God keep and protect them.
Happy 4th of July!

oxo,

Lisa

Gettin' Crewel!

Hello There Lovelies!

You know something good is coming your way when you get an envelope in the mail with this little sticker in the corner.

 You already know I love Alicia Paulson, right? Sean got her newest book, The Embroidery Companion for me last year on my birthday, remember?

Not too long ago Alicia announced the a crewel embroidery sampler she and her {hot!} husband, Andy had been working on was about to be released. I love the looks of this sampler, so I jumped on board and made my pre order, the kit arrived in Friday's mail, yehaw! I'm going to stitch this lovely, frame it up and hang it in my guest room.

Crewel wool! Isn't it gorgeous? These colors sort of remind me of ice cream sherbet. I've never done crewel embroidery before, so this is something totally new for me, I'm excited. I think the texture will be amazing. Textural embroidery is so yummy to look at. If I run into any troubles or questions, I'm going to ask this lady for help! Becky is a kitty lover and a stitchy friend, and she's made some incredibly lovely crewel pieces lately. She has an Esty shop too where she shares her creations, go on, take a look, you know you want to!

Anyhoo, the finished size of this piece will fit into an 11 x 14 frame, a nice size for wall art. I wasn't so sure about the color of the fabric at first, it's sort of... peuce, but it's growing on me, and I like to keep things eclectic, I don't care too much for matchy-matchy rooms, so I think this will fit just right in my guest room.

Hope you are all having a great weekend and sipping something cool, it's another scorcher outside today!

oxo,

Lisa

Action Jackson

Hullo Everyone~

Ready for some serious cuteness? I finally was able to get some shots worthy of sharing, to show with you guys the awesome surprise that Jacquie sent me a little while back. She is such a doll, I tell you. I know this for a fact because I got to meet her in person. This package came out of the blue, and put a super happy ending on what had otherwise been a very "bla" work day afternoon. Jacquie had said she was cooking something up for me, but I had no idea it was going to be so great!

Something to hang in my new craft room!

Isn't it great!! It the most sublime mix of vintage funk and straight-up sweet! Oh, I love it so much! These circles are cut from the soft, vintage flannel, then stitched on to the pink fabric which is wrapped around an artists canvas. Sew~sew pretty.

And teacups, eeep!

Do you see what I see? Yes folks, that's metallic floss, and if you've worked with it, you already know it can be a booger, but Jacquie is the "metallic floss whisperer". No really, she is. Click here for additional proof.

And lookie there! This trim is vintage ribbon pulled from Jacquie's stash. I feel honored, I know the torture of cutting into a treasured bit of stash. It goes so perfectly with this piece, for a minute I thought she embroidered that too!

So here's a little peek at a developing corner of my craft room. You can see the stitched monogram I talked about last week, as well as the corner of my chair covered in the first quilt I ever made. Soon this corner will fill up with many more embroidered pieces, some of which I've made, and some of which I've received from stitchy pals, and in swaps.  It will be a wall of happiness to be sure!

This wasn't all the package had in it, oh no. Jackson (you can call her that, it's cool.) also sent me two notebooks she made herself, crafted from the cardboard packaging of a of beer we both dig (Lagunitas IPA, yo!), a very awesome biography of Jerry Garcia that I didn't have (woo!) and lovely, ready-to-stitch, stamped, embroidery set. So much goodness in one box!

I should have blogged about this a long time ago, I hung the embroidered piece on the wall the very night I opened the box! It's so perfect for me. Jackson isn't just a metallic floss wizard, she's a mind reader. Fact.

Allrighty then, I better hit the hay. Being a night owl and having an early morning schedule are the banes of my existance. Tomorrow will be a good day though, know how I know? It's only supposed to be in the high 70's and I'm riding the Vespa to work, yeehaw! That's a good start to any day.

See ya on the flip side!

oxo,

Lisa

A Quick Stitched Monogram

Hi All~

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend! I have a little something to share with y'all t'day.

I made this to hang in my craft room along side something Jacquie made for me (which is the most adorable thing ever, and that I've teased about twice, but still haven't shown here on the blog). This week though, I promise! My room is a wreck at the moment, I'm going to fix that situation tomorrow. It's still a work in progress and probably will be for a long time, but once I get everything put back in order tomorrow, I'll take some pictures and share my little space, and Jacquie's piece, here with you. I really love that little room ♥

I used an iron on transfer from Aunt Martha's which I picked up a long time ago. I like monograms, I think they're charming, if a bit fancy~pants, but so cute.

This pattern was an easy peasy stitch too, I just chose a few pretty colors, and off I went. Seemed to stitch itself, really. The flowers sort of remind me of Mary Engelbreit's fried egg flowers.

To finish the piece, I trimmed the fabric close around the back, secured it with a thin bead of hot glue just around the inside edge of an inexpensive wooden hoop that I painted a pretty, robins egg blue, then hung it with a pink ribbon.

Simple & pretty

♥

What have you all been up to? Enjoying your summer so far? I have a feeling the days are going to whiz by quickly these next few months. That's the way summer goes though, doesn't it? Pack in as much happy as you can my friends!

Here's wishing all the dads out there a wonderful & relaxing Father's Day tomorrow!

oxo,

Lisa

Aaaand I'm back - with a winner!

Hi All~

My, my... where has the time gone, and where the heck have I been?? Well... I'm not sure to be honest. I admit, it's been a bit hectic around these parts, but geez. I recently started watching Dr. Who (starting with the 2005 season, the 9th Doctor {singing} it's amaaaaaazing!) and it's kinda like that, like I jumped into the Tardis and it seems like I've only been gone a few minutes, but when I come back to check in with y'all, I see that I've been gone for over two weeks, TWO WEEKS!?? How's that even possible? 

Bizzaro.

Anyway, so yeah ~ we have a winner from tea party week, drum roll please.....

Bex!

Yay, Bex! Bex is a fellow stitcher, and all around awesome chickadee. She makes rad stuff, she's a crazy animal lover, a real life, red hot, pin up girl, and she has a wicked sense of humor. I ♥ me some Bex!

Bex, I'll email you to get your mailin' particulars, then I'll be sending you some tea (caffeine free~Spackle~teehee!) and a wee little stitchy goody shortly!

So what've I been working on these last couple of weeks? Well, it's still a secret, but I can tell you it's a Phat Quarter Swap and it's based on a little book that I've loved for many, many years. And that I'm making it for my partner, someone whose work I've admired for a long time. I took some some sneaky, nearly indiscernible pictures to send to my partner, Nicole, as proof that I really am stitching something for her (I'm shamefully late on this swap, like bad.) that I can also share with you guys. I've spent a lot of time unpicking and restitching this piece. I'd really like it to be as perfect as possible. In fact I'm hoping to get in at least an hour of stitching tonight, as soon as I wrap up here.

Mmm, shiny!

I dare not show any more, I want it to be a surprise.

I've already received the piece my partner made for me, and I CAN NOT wait to show it to you guys!! It nearly knocked my socks clean off. I got goosebumps when I pulled it from it's packing. No joke, goosebumps.

Sorry I've been gone so long bloggy friends, I promise to be more mindful of the time next time I take a spin in the Tardis. And oh, hey! I see up there that there are a few new folks following along, wahoo!! I'm really happy to have you here, welcome aboard!!

Talk again soon, pinkie swear!

oxo,

Lisa

Tea Party Week

Hi Everybody~

If you've come over from Wild Olive, welcome!! I'm so glad to have you here.

If you haven't seen all the cuteness happening over at Mollie's blog, Wild Olive, I encourage you to pop over and have a look! Her place is brimming with tea-riffic things this week, and if you like tea parties, boy oh boy, are you in for a treat!

I'm jumping into the tea party action too, because you know I love a tea party! Today I'm going to share a couple of things, one of my favorite tea sandwich recipes, and some Tealightful Treasures tea, that's right it's a giveaway!! 

This recipe is my go-to, never-fail, everyone-loves-it tea sandwich. It's versatile and can be modified to your personal tastes. I've made this with canned chicken, baked chicken, rotisserie chicken (from the grocery store) and even a roasted turkey breast.

Since I made this recipe up, I don't have any measurements, it all depends on how much you need, ie. a sammie for yourself, or a platter for a crowd.   

Here's what you'll need:

• Chicken (fresh or canned - if using canned, get the kind packed in WATER)
• Celery
• Green onion (any other onion is too strong and will overwhelm the fruit, if you can't get green onions, skip them)
• Dried Cranberries
• Dried Apricot
• Roasted Almond Slivers
• Mayo (the good stuff! diet won't work here.)
• Celery Salt
• Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
• Loaf of soft white bread
• Loaf of soft wheat bread

Everything should be chopped small (approx 1/4").  Except the almond slivers, just put some of those in a baggie and smash them on the counter. Mix everything together and cover with plastic or in an air tight container until assembly. It's best to make these the night before you need them so that the flavors have time to blend. Right before I make the sandwiches, I add a bit more mayo to moisten up the mix, then I trim the crusts off the bread and assemble the sammies, easy peasy! I like to use a light & dark bread for each sammie, but that's not necessary.  Stack them on a pretty platter, sneak one for yourself, and viola! Tea sandwiches!

Oh, yum. Now I want to make these...

Back to Wild Olive!

Here's another little goodie from Mollie's Tea Party Week, an adorable little embroidery pattern that she made to share with all of us.

You can download the PDF file that Mollie made here.

Ok, giveaway time!

To play along I'd love to share some tea with you, my friends. I wish it could be in person, but since you bloggy pals are all over the world, it'll have to be a virtual tea party. 

I am going to give away a 2oz. bag of loose, Tealightful Treasures tea, and a few stitchy goodies to one person that I'll choose randomly, the evening of Monday May 30th.

**Please make sure that you leave me your email address in the comment if you're a "No-Reply" blogger so that I can get a hold of you if you win... not sure? Click here for details**

 Entering couldn't be easier, just leave me a comment here on this post, and tell me what kind of tea is your favorite, green, black, rooibos, or fruit & herb. This way I can make sure to choose a tea you'll enjoy. I have a wide variety of teas, because I'm a consultant for Tealightful Treasures, betcha didn't know that, aye? 

♥Tea-heehee♥

Can't wait to hear from you!

oxo,

Lisa

p.s. If you're new round these parts, thanks for popping in and I hope you'll come back again soon!



Dancing With The Stars!

Ok Girls!

Who's it gonna be?!?

*edit*
Congratulations, Hines!!

Kim & Hines

Kirsti & Maks

(and yeah, I agree with the first two commenters, I never get tired of lookin' at this hawt piece of man!)

 Chelsea & Mark

Come on now, I know I'm not alone!!

Who's your pick?

Talk to me!

oxo,

Lisa

Han Stitched First

Hi All,

Just a quick linky today! I'm pretty stoked to have one of my little stitcheries included in a fearture on Mr. X Stitch today, I have much love for this website and today, Bridget (Beefranck) is featuring a Flickr group that I've added some pictures to, called 'Han Stitched First' - a Star Wars only embroidery/cross stitch picture group started by fellow Northern Californian, Whatever James.

There's a lot of awesome in that group for those of you who are of the nerdy persuasion, go take a peek!

May the force be with you!!

This is Boba Fett, he's a badass bounty hunter. He's also Sean's favorite. This was my first experiment with Crayon tinting.

More Star Wars stitcheries in my future, I see...

Have a great day!!

oxo,

Lisa

Yo~Yo's, Yo!

Hi Girls,

I'm sure glad it doesn't look like the world is going to end today...

Because...

I feel a burgeoning obsession coming on.

Well, and for lots of other reasons too, of course.

Live♥Laugh♥Love

Have a wonderful, peaceful & loving weekend, friends!

oxo,

Lisa

With Fairy Grace

Hello Folksies!

Ok, Blogger finally seems to be cooperating, I think it was having a moment earlier this week. Did you guys have trouble with that too? So! Now that that's over, I can finally share about a little WIP that's been in my basket for a looong time.

My beautiful, littlest niece turned 2 years old recently, and here's one of the things I made for her birthday.

A pretty wall hanging for her room.

"Hand in hand with fairy grace, we will sing and bless this place"

~William Shakespeare

I've always been a Shakespeare fan, it kinda goes hand in hand with the whole Renaissance Faire thing...

Tiny, wool felt flowers and micro seed beads, ala Paulette.

I cut the fairy design from a little book of stencils that I found in the kids department at Beverly's Crafts. I appliqued her with a blanket stitch, and embellished her with some pretty, pink ballet shoes and some fancy stitches along the border of her skirt, as well as some tiny laces on the front of her bodice.

Here's the tag I made for the back. Not that I wanted to share my personal sentiments to my little one with the world, but I was really pleased with how this came out and I've often struggled with how to mark a piece of embroidery, so I thought I'd share this aspect too in case others struggle with the same kind of thing. I don't mark every piece of embroidery, mind you, but special, meaningful gifts that I've given to friends & family, I like to label with the when & the why of the piece. I used printable fabric for the message, which I machine stitched to the felt that I tucked inside the back, after I secured the fabric with a thin bead of hot glue, just inside of the inner hoop. 

Here's how the entire backing looks.

A pretty button flower for her to hold on to, adds just the right amount of sparkle without distracting from the overall soft feel of the piece... I think.

♥♥♥ 

And here's the birthday girl with her own little birthday fairy outfit.

Miss Ava-amazing!

Isn't she an absolute doll? Oh my, I love her so much!

Her mommy, my beautiful and talented sister-in-luv, Apryl, made her the gorgeous fairy wings and head piece. They're so perfect I could weep.

My mom fancied up the little skorts by stitching silk flower petals (the kind you sprinkle on tables for weddings) in layers over the entire skort. It's got a very soft, dreamy look and makes a cool wooshing, rustle when Ava walks or moves around.

Here she is running away from pictures. "No moh ant lees!" Translation = You've taken enough pictures of me today Auntie Lisa, knock it off! I'm like a paparazzi, swear. My poor family.

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! We're getting a late spring storm passing through today, as I write these words thunder & lightening are booming outside and it's cold! So cold that I have a fire crackling in the fireplace, it'll be the last one of the year, I am sure. Today is a nice, cold lazy day, one of my very favorite kinds!

oxo,

Lisa