SEASONAL KNITTING

Here is a picture of my cold weather knitting project: "Quill" by Brooklyn Tweed
                              (available on Ravelry : my name is pyanorose there)

                  It is a "HAP" shawl--tradionally knitted by  Shetland Islands' women...

And in here....







we have.....

this adorable ditty bag which is holding...................................

                                          The main color yarn for this project

It is "Loft" (from Brooklyn Tweed also) and called appropriately enough:
                                            "Storm Cloud"
We have been and are going through many kinds of stormy weathers lately --
and I expect Jose to be only one type of storm to weather...lol;)))

Here is how far I have gotten:

The (new to me) provisional cast on in waste yarn (turquoise--so that I can pick up live stitches later on) and 6 rows of 135 sts each done.  I have to knit slowly--a few rows at a time-- as my thumb issue rears its ugly head if I don't...but the repititon of the knitting 
motion really calms my mind--(it is the first craft I learned at my Grand-mere's knee...
I made a lumpy-bumpy red scarf and wore it til it literally fell apart........;)) and, I felt so accomplished...).
AND...........
Here is my cute little row- count -keeper smiling at me:

                                                   Isn't she cute?? 

And she has a cord so that I can hang her around my neck and just click off
the rows as finished...

I will need 270 rows for the first section--so "clicka-clicka-clicka" ;}}}}
 for quite a long while--ya think???

Definitely a long term project.  A nice change from my Pomegranate quilting....
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On the home front, hubby is progressing nicely--we took a short stroll today before 
the storm clouds (see above hahaha) from Jose come our way tomorrow....

Hugs,
Julierose, La Blageuse (tricoter-euse {knitting a la Francais})

REBOUNDING

We are finally back from our journey; and this is what has kept me
calm....my Pomegranate piece....

Here is the lovely batik leaf-ey block before quilting
which I really love...

Isn't that just splendid? ;))))

BUT then........................

Just look what happens when it has been quilted...be still my heart...
Gosh I love how it emerges and morphs .

It has such a wonderful texture and looks so impressionistic...
I have 4 more to do and then the smaller triangles along the sides also

                               ...Here is the whole piece--

isn't it strange how some quilts you put together
just "feel" right?  This has to be one of my all time favorite ones...and I am  sure that I will be quilting light--to neutral batiks a whole lot by hand in
the future...they have captured my heart....
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Look what Jacky (no blog) sent me from our orange slab fest...

this adorable little Halloween piece...Jacky, this came to cheer me at my
lowest moments this past week...and it surely did ;)))) thank you so much for your thoughtfulness....
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For those of you not in the know, my husband had surgery this past week and I
got him home yesterday to recuperate. 

We had to  travel 1.5 hours (one way) to an out of State hospital where they could perform the needed surgery....this involved my driving alone (of which I am not fond ;{{{ on long trips...) but needs must...and it got better as I repeated the trek...

He is resting but pretty sore and very tired--as am I, tired that is ;}}}
....but I have him home with what we were told are good results....thank goodness....it has been a very stressful time and I want to thank those of you 
who knew, for your kind thoughts, support and prayers..
they really helped me...

So, I will be posting intermittently for the next few weeks, when I take off my Nurse's cap (lol);)))

I am staying close to home and only going out to stock up on the food he is able to tolerate....at least over the weekend...

My knitting in hospital (I will post some pictures of my work  later on) waiting rooms and my quilting have really sustained me...I am sure you all know what i mean....
"busy hands, calm hearts' "....is so true....for me, at least....that and watching some very inspiring youtube knitting videos during my long nights alone here
(See: "The Gentle Knitter" and "Kommebaria" [in Swedish, but with subtitles]
allowed me to stop over thinking this whole deal). 
Au revoir mes amies....

hugs to you all
I am gratefully 
Julierose, La Blageuse (quilting/knitting-euse)

A LITTLE RESPITE

                                             LA BLAGEUSE  IS TAKING A SHORT BREAK....

Back soon, ;)))) hugs,
Julierose,  aka: La Blageuse

BACK TO BACK "BOO-VILLE"

                                 The reverse side  for: "Skullduggery"
                                           
                                          ( which is the little Halloween Dresden)

I was able to use up a lot of my 2.5" squares leftover from that Postage Swap
hanging around....(Ignore those skulls lurking across the top, they belong to
Monsta Mash, they keep on popping up everywhere--oooouuuu...)

AND:

The 2nd reverse : I only made a few of those hourglasses--not my favorite thing to make
too many seams crossing.....lumpy and bumpy is my name for these....

This will be the reverse side 
                                          FOR the "Monsta Mash" (Ghastlies)

I hope to layer these two tomorrow ready for quilting...just maybe this year i will have something to put out for Halloween (love the fabrics though);)))

(if I don't give them away....there's always that in the back of my mind, as I am not a huge Halloween fan {x-cept for the candy of course lol}

and my two grandgirls LOVE it at ages 5  ("...almost 6 Grand-mere!" reminds Fiona) and 4 yr old Willa ("I'm a BIG girl now, Grand-mere, I go to pre-school and everything!!").....
 hmmmmm, 

hugs, Julierose
La Blageuse ("It was a dark and stormy night-euse")

ORANGE SLABFEST ENTRIES...

                                                                      "Monsta Mash #2"
 I cannot wait to hand quilt this one...loving Dresdens as I do....
Right now I am working on a backing for it...below.............................

All oranges and blacks and cheddars...4-patch fun...still using up those 2.5" squares from my postage swap of a few years ago....

AND...

                               "Monsta Mash: # 1 will have some hourglasses for the backing...
Why, you say?

Knowing I find these very fiddley to work on--no kidding, ;{{{{ but loving how they look....

[As most of you know, I am triangle- challenged...and the only reason I am even trying
to make these is that I have the  Accuquilt die..which cuts them so well...and...
again a lot of oranges, blacks and novelties leftover....]

Actually, I am not a big fan of Halloween--too creepy for me, but the orange slabfest got me into it this year..AND
.(DAWN, the enabler, saw to that  hahaha--) She is such a sweetheart, how could I not join in the fun....;}}}}

Last year we maybe had 4 trick n' treaters in our neighborhood....so, of course, I ended up eating  ALL that leftover candy...;-{{{{ my favorite is Heath Bars...(just in case you want to send some to me hahaha)
So, I am doing just a few minutes sewing at a time, letting my back rest up...and my right side...
Hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse (Boo-euse)

FREAKY FRIDAY

                                                    IT'S THE GHASTLIES...
                                              Doing the "Monsta Mash"

                                  This is my first little piece for the Orange Slab fest over at  Dawn's
                                                  ....I've just begun making this table topper....and
                   I decided to have the two rows face opposite directions so wherever you sit you can
                                                       shiver along with them....lol

                             I am working on borders right now and am thinking of this choice:

                            I like the black and white option as there are a lot of colors going on in that
                                                                        "Parlor of Horrors...".
                                                       "Don't you just love the classy candelabras???"

Last year I began this little Halloween Dresden and it will reside on the
                                        back of "Monsta Mash.." 
            (Is that tune now bopping through your brain? heh heh heh)

I don't know if you can tell, but some of those little background white circles are little itty bitty skulls...I almost used up the whole charm pack and will use the rest for border pieces--maybe some tiny 1" squares....

I hope to get this finished and off my wall so that I can put together more of this Ghastlie Group....I have a lot more blocks--perhaps some place mats for
Willa and Fiona?  We'll see....
Hugs from Halloween-ville
Julierose, La Blageuse, (Boo-euse)

CORRALLED

                        These horses won't run away now; they are corralled...

The strange story is:
that I've had this long string of little rectangles hanging
around for eons--since the 1990's, in fact...and kept thinking now what'll I ever
use these for---???
BUT, I couldn't bear to throw them away...

I had used these fabrics in the first hexagon quilt I made (all by hand)
which is now hanging in our living room.

Here they appear in some of the hexies:

Which goes to show --wonderful fabrics and designs never go out of style...

Here's a closer look at them...now, I ask you,

 how could I EVER have just thrown them away??? the horse background and
that lighter leaf just go perfectly....

The pink waves is an old Jinny Beyer print, and I cannot recall who designed the silvery leaves; they are two of my favorite prints of all times...;)))

And here they are--popping up to surround my appliqued horses....who knew????

I obviously "ran out" of that leafy one when I originally  sewed them together on my old
Pfaff Varimatic and used this Asian fan in place of the leaves;

you know, I must have had some kind of project in mind that never happened....
and they just languished in my "drawer of shame" lol
And....I still have quite a few left over..
.
                                          How's that for serendipity??;)))

Because I used a different machine and seam allowance there are some variances in points
 match-ups and sizes...but I'll work it out.

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Meanwhile, Pink and Green didn't like ANY of the border selections I made--worked all morning
trying out different ones....N O P E...it won't be the back of my 52 x 52 scrap piece after all....
it went off to visit some new friends in my closet (:*))).
hugs,
Julierose, La blageuse (happy-dancing-euse)