RWL: Les Misérables

January 9, 2013February 8, 2013 | leftylex

You knew that it was coming, right? The Les Mis Rainbow Wish List! I’ll wait while you pop in your Les Mis soundtrack (or at least YouTube I Dreamed a Dream) so that you can more properly get into the mood. Wink, wink.

Let’s break this down, I thought that I was so clever with this collection! Let’s see if you agree.

Red: modern-day Eponine’s hat, right? I can see her donning this bright beauty while walking the lonely streets of Paris and singing On My Own. Aww, poor Eponine.

Orange: I’m gonna say that this vest could be worn by either Marius or Enjorlas. These guys should still look swanky while defending the barricades, right?

Yellow: Marius’ ring of course! You know, the one that Thénardier steals from him. See, now you remember.

Green: Jean Valjean’s (or should I say the Bishop’s) candlesticks. Yes, I am well aware that the candlesticks are actually silver, but that wouldn’t work well for the RWL so they are green for today. I’m kinda diggin’ these bad boys; I would not mind having these for one of the many nooks in my house.

Blue: I know that you know this one… Javert’s coat. I LOVE this coat and would not mind one bit if Husband were to get it for me for my birthday (cough, cough).

Indigo: The whores’ working garb. Yes, I said ‘whore’. If you look at the film credits, playbill, soundtrack, etc. the ‘Lovely Ladies’ of the story are never referred to as working girls or prostitutes, they are called whores, straight up.

Violet: This would be Cosette’s stationary that she uses to send romantic notes to Marius while he’s playing Revolutionary. I really wish that I had kept up with calligraphy, took lessons in fifth grade and I terribly sad that I don’t remember anything.

Well, there it is: my colorful Les Mis love. Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did!

Shop Highlight: Fat Quarters

January 6, 2013 | leftylex

There is a place in Vista, California that is as close to fabric heaven as it gets. The name of this divine place? Fat Quarters Quilt Shop!

A previous job that I held required me to travel to Vista a few times a week and one day I (very happily) stumbled upon this giant gem. I don’t get out there nearly as much as I’d like to nowadays as it’s at least 45 minutes away from my house. But today, I visited one of my sisters who lives somewhat nearby, so I decided to stop in before our visit. It had been at least a few months since I’d last been there and I had forgotten about much the the shop’s charm.

Oh, how I love this place! Can you tell by the giant smile plastered on my face? I lucked out and I got there about 30 minutes before closing time and I was the only customer there so no one was watching me photograph myself and each little room that this converted house/shop boasts. Whew!

Enough typing, time for photos:

My favorite room would have to be the attic; I’m highly confident that I could occupy myself for several hours just starring at all their beautiful prints. I especially like the collections they keep in stock from 1930! I find different treasures each time I go there.

And better yet, they’re on Facebook; just search for Fat Quarters Quilt Shop. And if you live in or are ever in the SoCal area, you should stop by!

RWL: Bright Beginnings

January 2, 2013January 2, 2013 | leftylex

Happy 2013! There are so many things that I have to look forward to this year, the primary one being growing Lefty Lex Creations and opening my Etsy shop! I am keeping an optimistic outlook and my nose to the grindstone. I love being inspired by the crafty creativity of other shop owners. I absolutely love each of these little guys, they are ridiculously cute! I enjoy seeing the stitch styles and patterns of others. I have been doing a lot of stitching lately, so it’s nice to feast my eyes on the work of others once and a while.

Red: http://www.etsy.com/shop/pitsispopis?ref=seller_info

Orange: http://www.etsy.com/shop/mlmxoxo?ref=seller_info

Yellow: http://www.etsy.com/shop/OnTheWallByYoko?ref=seller_info

Green: http://www.etsy.com/shop/teataste?ref=seller_info

Blue: http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmplifiedPeople?ref=seller_info

Indigo: http://www.etsy.com/shop/whatnomints?ref=seller_info

Violet: http://www.etsy.com/shop/OnTheWallByYoko?ref=seller_info

And here is my own taken on rainbow goodness. Ciao for now!

Obsession Confession: Les Mis

Video | December 28, 2012December 29, 2012 | leftylex

If I had enough time (and money) I would walk two blocks to my local theatre and watch this every day until it is released on blu-ray. Once it’s released on blu-ray I plan on waking up at 2:30AM everyday (instead of the regular 5AM) and watching it before beginning my AM stitching session. Think I’m joking? Well, only partly. I cannot accurately explain how much I loved this movie! (I should probably preface this by saying that I have been a Mizzie [Les Mis fanatic] for some time now, but I plan on sharing more about the insane extent of this obsession at a later time.)

Half kicking I dragged my family to see it on Christmas morning after opening presents. We have a tradition of going to the movies after opening presents so it’s not like the whole family movie thing happened strictly on my account. And for about six weeks prior to our movie outing I had to endure my dad’s ridicule of musicals and enduring his whining about having to see “Miserables” (the English, not French pronunciation) was especially delightful (insert super sarcastic voice here). I would like to add, however, that once out of the theatre the first words out of his mouth were as follows: if I had been by myself I would have been balling, I had to hold back the tears so your mom wouldn’t see me. Told you, Dad! The story is amazing.

If you have not yet seen Les Mis the movie, then I want you to step away from your PC, Mac, tablet, iPad or whatever viewing device you are using to read this post and run (not walk) to your nearest movie theatre! Still there? Good, then you must have seen the movie. Wasn’t it fantastic? If you still haven’t seen it, then fear not, you still have plenty of time and we will still have many Les Mis related posts in the very near future!

Christmas Wrap Up

December 27, 2012December 27, 2012 | leftylex

And it’s over! So, how was your Christmas? Pretty good over here, spent time with my family, the in-laws, saw Les Miserables (much more on this later), got some pretty cool craft books, and ate some amazing Christmas cookie bars. Life is good, thanks be to God!

Now allow me to introduce you to (part of) the family. Let’s start with Husband (yes, I truly do call my husband Husband and that is how I will refer to him here). Isn’t he cute? And yes, he shaves his head by choice (long story). He hates taking pictures, so he was a good sport for me today.

Two sisters (Dee & Jeri) were missing from the morning festivities this year and Husband and I leave for his parents in the afternoon so I missed them entirely. Boo, I know. It always feels weird when one of us is missing; if you come from a big family you’ll know exactly what I mean. And in case you wanted to see the something stitched component to the sisters’ gifts, here they are. Like them?

Back to the line-up: sister #4 is Sam and here she is with her BF Skylar. This was right before they took a 3+ hour road trip to see his family. (Fear not, we connected via FaceTime later that night, so I was able to see that they arrived safely to their snowy destination, as well as meet Skylar’s entire family).

This is Andi (#5). She’s a beauty! And, I must say that she looks extra lovely in her Lefty Lex necklace. 😉

And lastly, this is Vince, my one and only brother.He’s only a sophomore in high school and he is a giant; he already towers me (and the Christmas tree) by nearly 6 inches!

Oh, and most important of all… Bosco! This was my mom’s early Christmas present from me. He’s a little maltipoo and he is adored and doted on by the entire family. Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled. And he found a hoop!

I am absolutely terrible, I didn’t snap a single photo of either of my parents. For shame. You’ll just have to meet them later. Any how, hope your Christmas was merry and bright (even if it wasn’t white).

RWL: Christmas Presents

December 25, 2012December 26, 2012 | leftylex

It’s finally here! I wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Christ! I love gift wrapping and prettying up presents much more than I actually enjoy shopping for them! So, I decided to highlight the best of Pinterest presentsin their glorious rainbow colors. Bon Nadal, Mele Kalikimaka, Feliz Navidad, Buon Natale, Feliz Natal, etc.!

And I can’t help but wanting to sneak this colorful guy in as well! I absolutely adore the simplicity.

Tió de Nadal

December 21, 2012December 23, 2012 | leftylex

Let’s be honest, we Americans have some pretty weird Christmas traditions. Baking, gifting/re-gifting fruit cakes, attending ugly Christmas sweater parties, sending/receiving awkward family Christmas cards, etc. No one truly likes doing these things but we do them anyway because they are part of the American Christmas tradition. Now, I’m about to introduce you to a Christmas tradition hailing from Northern Spain, the tió de nadal!

Cute, right? Wrong, this is about to get super creepy! In a traditional Catalan Christmas there is no Santa Claus, but don’t pity Catalan children for they have tió de nadal! (*Remember, this is Catalan, not Spanish and the accent is on the “o”, not on the “i” which would mean “uncle” in Spanish). Linguistics aside, “tió de nadal” translated literally means “log of Christmas”.

This little log might look festive and cheerful, but he has more coming to him than wearing a red barretina and a smile. On Christmas morning the children will gather around him, and sing a song while hitting him with a stick until he poops out presents for them! Don’t believe me? Look it up for yourself, I’m not lying! I could not even fabricate nonsense like this. All of a sudden fruit cakes don’t sound so weird, right?

As strange as the tradition may seem to us, you have to admit that the tió de nadal itself is quite cute and thus became my inspiration for this week’s project. Let’s see the step-by-step in photos now, shall we?

Bon Nadal!

Quatre Germanes

December 20, 2012December 20, 2012 | leftylex

Quatre germanes? Four sisters in Catalan (the language spoken in the northeastern province of Spain). I have four sisters! Yes, excluding me. There are 6 of us; 5 girls then a boy. My poor baby bro; 5 older sisters.

From left to right: Sam (4), Dee (2), me (1), Jeri (3), and Andi (5).

And this is Vince; the lone shot of testosterone among all that estrogen. He is a saint and I am always ridiculously proud of him!

So, the pros to having so many sisters is that there is always someone to hang out with, always clothes to borrow, and an endless supply of inside jokes. However, there are times when having 4 sisters can be quite challenging, particularly when Christmas is near approaching and handmade gifts still need to be made!

This is a flashback from several Christmases ago only weeks after I first learned to quilt. Just sharing this photo is enough to make me shiver with embarrassment! Don’t judge me, I had literally just began tackling the art of quilting and I was doing the very best that I could. I still can’t believe that I knocked these bad boys out in such a short amount of time. That being said, there is no way that I would ever gift these to my sisters now!

This year I have decided that I wanted to embroider something unique for each of them, but time is a precious commodity right now, so their something stitched is going to be very small. And although I can’t share full photos just yet (in the event that they are reading this post), I can share an underbelly photo and two color doctored photos (because I know for sure that Dee & Jeri are not reading this).

Only six days until Christmas…aaahhh!

RWL: Christmas Party Dresses

December 19, 2012 | leftylex

Challenge of the week (and I mean challenge) was to find desirable party dresses on Etsy in each lovely color of the rainbow. Seems easy enough, right? Wrong! Etsy dressmakers need to pick up the slack, several of these colors were severely underrepresented. And the ratio of true handmade artists vs. Asian factories posing under the guise of “handmade” was also quite appalling. I digress, here is the list…

Red: I love this little red number! I think this is a great choice for tall, lean girls will little up top (cough). It’s simple, yet playful; definitely one of my faves on this list.

Orange: I’m gonna be honest here, the pickings for orange dresses were not stellar (hence the reason I selected a photo of the dress’ back). I think what I actually liked most about this dress was the background of the photo. Gasp, I know! This seller lives in France and the background of this photo is very similar to a photo that I have of myself in France, which I’m sure is why I like it… memories. The dress? It’s an orange dress, it fit the job. I suppose I like the waistline.

Yellow: now, this yellow vintage number is true love for me! I adore everything about this dress, the neckline, the color, the ruching. It is also somewhat reminiscent of Belle’s ballgown from Beauty and the Beast, meaning it’s perfect.

Green: plain and simple. I’m digging the model’s natural look and the photo scenery here. She’s not pretentious, not overly model; just a girl in a green dress. I like the neckline here as well (this is yet another good dress choice for non-busty gals).

Blue: this is another dress that I enjoyed more from the back than front. The vintage fabric and color are awesome. I feel that this dress would best be suited for a swanky cocktail party with live a live jazz band and fabulous martinis!

Indigo: umm, the dress is indigo. There are tires in the background. That is all.

Violet: this dress is almost bridesmaid-esque. It’s short and playful; simple, but not plain. It’s cute and I like it.

Whew, that was challenging; easier topic next week!

leftylex

stitches on a mission

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