GARDENING AND STUFF

                                                 PLAYING WITH GRAND-PERE

Saturday, Jeff & Co came for lunch and "playtime" ;--))); we had pizza and salad and Grand'mere's
peanut butter brownies (Listen, gals, I don't know what happened but my brownies never and i mean NEVER come out right--this time I tried a box of Duncan Hines--followed instructions EXACTLY and yuck-) -BUT of course Mkey (aka DH) & girls loved them--Mikey eats anything (remember that ad? Or are you too young?   ;000

Any really good melt-in-your-mouth recipes out there--I'd be willing to make them from scratch....
I mean, Grand-meres HAVE to have super delish desserts after all.....

Grand-pere, can you come and sit with me...

Wait Wait, "Me too!!!"...............................................

Today we went out to breakfast (1 egg, 1 toast, 1 piece crispy bacon and ....wait, wait for it...
homefries...ooooh, such goodness.....
Then off to a local garden center where I got two of these "Hidecote" lavenders for the
front--since my poor baby hydrangea is a droopy mess....

One on either side to help out Hydie Hydrangea--oh yes I name them....Lolly and Lally Lavenders...

Okaaaay....
Then Mr. DH put in two lovely juniper bushes to fill a gap out front:

He is a hard worker.....

And here are my beau-ti-ful Ariel and Allie Azaleas

Loving that colors.....against the grey house....

They just shimmer....
And finally these little jonquils....by my garage door..and where they came from I don't know
they just appeared this year....

So sweet--three on a stem....

A lovely, if still cool, day; I hope you are able to get out and enjoy some Springtime
gardening...
hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse (jardin-euse)

FRANKLIN PLANNER

                   I have been using the Franklin Covey planner/journal for over 15 years now...

and this year I decided to embellish with stickers and my own artsy jelly  pen work....
Here are two pages and my place keeper that  I made...

while tv watching I use my jelly pens and my Heeda stickers to decorate the upcoming days' pages...

the left side was my attempt at a Springtime blossoming...it was fun to do...

As I have mentioned before here, my very first love was papers, and pens from my childhood--I spent all of my allowance at our local stationary store...lol

here is a little close up for all you doodling fans of my jelly gold pen work--I don't know why
this makes me feel good, but it does.....kinda loose-goosey and messy....

Aren't those stickers adorable??

So you can think of me sitting watching the Red Sox (man, they had better get "on the stick" pretty soon) and working on my planner pages.

 I L O V E my Franklin and so have decided not to change, but rather to use it as a little art fun....I love the fact that everything is in here...telephones, daily schedules, and my thoughts....
I truly like it better than the Fauxbonichi which I  tried for a while, but really felt
pressured by it.....Franklin . is comfortable and "home" for me...

hugs, to you all--
P.S. we got into the 70'S today finally
--and my DH (be still my heart!!)put together my new Rascog utility rolling three tray
cart from IKEA for my scrapbooking "STUFF" . what fun...
Julierose, La Blageuse (Journal-euse)

SIX ON THURSDAY

First six blocks on Cass' quilt are done...of course they will be separated by white sashing strips in the finished quilt....

I never thought I'd like this yellow, but paired with the impressionistic print
it really sings....Tula Pink knows ;--)))

you can see the pairings
I choose here and...

and here,,I L O V E this one,,, with that shocking pink

and
this one,

There's that purple Cass loves....

So Spring-ey --reminds me of my little parrot tulips, which by the way, fold up every night and then open up when Mr. sun shines--how cute is that????

I am trying to "straighten out" those wonky white strips by placing the center block with the
white onto the 2.5" strips which are "pinked" but straight--WHOA, that white is wavy for sure....

They appear more aligned to me, doncha think??? They are all measuring 11" and I'll be adding 1.5" white strips (which I may end up cutting myself(!!) as separators....

We had FROST again last night, but now it is a lovely 57.3 degrees, and the wind has dropped--
which is lovely.  Hoping to sit out a bit around noon time and get some Vitamin D...

I hope you peeps are having a lovely day sewing...

hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse (slow sewing-euse)

BLOCK NO. 1

Here she is--BLOCK NO. 1 --34 left to go....I L O V E those Tiger Eyes peeking out.....

                           It is a bit wonky.. ya think???(actually MORE than a bit!!)

.and I am totally blaming the Kona Honeybun strips I am using !!
                                            --why you ask (as well you may):

 Because they ravel TERRIBLY!! As a matter of fact the threads got caught
in my feed dogs many times while I was sewing!!

 And they looked like they were TORN and not cut when I opened them up!!
                                                        :--0000

I had purchased them quite a while ago from MSQ Co.---  so kinda surprised....
                                                         :--(((

And, too long ago to return or get replaced---so going with them...what is it they say--???

                                                   Go With The Flow
See ya--
Hugs, Julierose  La Blageuse (not!! lol)
AND
Later on.....after (isn't there always a before and after??)

P.S.  AND today I threw my back out somehow--canNOT figure out what I did either--
I just turned to get out of the car and WHAM BAM--
so icing, Aleve, and PT exercising again....(BOOOOO!!)

P.P. S.  so , instead of sewing or scrapping or anything else, really!!

am reading a new series--By C.C. Benison
 "Ten Lords A-Leaping (he uses the Twelve Days of Christmas as titles ---
 12 being the first one...)
VERY British and VERY funny.... ouch--don't laugh so hard....lol

NOW for the the good news.....;))))))

P.P.P.S..DH got me a Canon Selphy printer for my upcoming  May birthday---
Just SOOOOO Thrilled to bits....;--)))))
AND
 a new lens for my camera--what a guy!!

DECISIONS

Remember this selection of Tula Punk's EDEN????

Well................ I have the charms all surrounded by white now
and am deciding which strips will surround which blocks:

I have set up the fabrics into groupings: flowery, geometrics, tone on tone and petit-point looking....
AND
Am laying strips over blocks to see what I like..

Like this and

and this....and so on....

So, today I will start surrounding each block with one strip....
I am definitely a "Snail Sewer" these
days....

Meanwhile, in my little front jardin----these have emerged--Love 'em!!

Little baby tulips and

Jonquils and

Look, Dawn, my rose is budding out --your coffee grounds and banana peel mulch seems to have worked its magic ;--)))) on my old transplanted rose from our old house--
12 years now we've been here....time does fly by....

On our Sunday menu today, will be homemade chicken soup and salad--I boiled down the carcass yesterday and will skim the resulting broth this noontime and add my veggies and noodles--
then
 I'll spin out my romaine and make a big tossed salad for two....yummers!!

This morning we are off to do a few errands:
 CVS for photo pickup,
 JoAnne's for glittery scrapbooking paper for
 punching out my hearts for my layouts....

It is VERY WINDY here again today--so we will be doing the treadmill walk--
DH is doing an Irish History walk
and I will be continuing my Hercule mystery saga....

And that's the news from our spot for today have a great Sunday all
....
hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse (wearing many hats-euse)

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

My hydrangea, which I thought I had lost due to the freeze, thaw, refreezing we've had,
is all budded out--I L O V E hydrangeas--those big fluffy blooms--looking forward to that!

Even my Bleeding Hearts that my good friend Jean gifted me are up despite the weather...they
are so delicate and lovely...

                                                  AND Miss Lavender made it, too..

All these plants are just off of our back deck by the stairway down to our backyard...here is where I usually also plant my basil; my mums are still asleep--the dried twigs from last year and leaves keeping them warm for now.  I am waiting to uncover things as I do not TRUST this CT
up-and-down weather this 2016 year.

                                                                 V O I L A ! !

I set out my vase of forsythia and daffodils on top of my Spring hexagon garden topper that
I finished last year...I had forgotten how much I liked it as it was packed away in a drawer
wintering over....I got that pretty yellow vase from my daughter on my last birthday
...it goes so perfectly there....

                       My favorite daffs are the ones with the orange/salmon middle trumpets..
.
And now, for something completely different!

I have been able to resume walking on Madam Treadmill--I am up to 25 minutes/day before
that cough gets pesky---
 and this is what I am watching on the tv DH set up for us to wile away
the minutes:

                                             You DO know him, right?? ;--))
                                               Monsieur Hercule Poirot.
 I go on what I am calling my"Mystery Walks" with him.
 I have finished episode 1 and am on the 2nd one now....
AND
It really does help me to stay on the machine for my allotted time...I would really
rather walk outside--but the wind and cold has defeated that idea....
so on this no crafty doings post I wish you warmth and I am so glad that Spring is here....

Hugs, Julierose, La blageuse (Spring-ey-euse)

Memories of :MON ONCLE

                                                            My Uncle Julian

Uncle Julian (also known affectionately as "Nev" (his last name was "Nevins"), my mother's only brother, was also my Godfather....
he was named after his Grand-mere "Julie" as was I.

He served in the South Pacific in WW2 as an Army Cook--I was only about 1 1/2 yrs old when I first met him after he arrived home;
his uniform totally scared me...I remember his picking me up and my being very afraid of this tall"stranger" with his "funny clothes"....funny the things you remember....

Every morning when I was really une petite fille, Mama would invite me into the big double bed and Papa would serve us Cafe au Lait (mine, in my special little blue cup) and she would read me Uncle Julian's letters from the South Pacific en Francaise as I spoke only French until
 I was 7 yrs old.

She would say "Julie, dites-moi:

O--KI--NOW---A    and  I--WO JI--MA"  places where he had been sent....

I wanted to preserve this memory in "My Life and Times" album....I glued
all those little background ticket pieces in place and then sewed through them.
I saw this effect on Jen Schow's video...and knew it was perfect for his picture
in uniform...this was a very time consuming process, but I like the result a lot...

I hope you are warm and cozy inside on this rain swept afternoon..
hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse ( et la scrapeuse aussi)

SLOW START SUNDAY

                                   LOOKEE WHAT CAME IN YESTERDAY'S MAIL......

                                            My fabric for Cassidy's quilt....it is just so pretty....

                So, this afternoon, I set up and began sewing the 35 blocks I will need............

this is where I sat watching the sun play peek-a-boo with the snow squalls............

                  and here are the sewn strips for "round one" of eight rounds...


The first four rounds will use the white honey bun to surround each square -----
and then the next round will use the Eden 2.5" strips to surround them...
You can see a few bits of those pretties above on my ironing board....

I need 35 blocks in total--my quilt back (" Gypsy WannaBe") is 50" x 64"---and these blocks should finish at 10.5"--I say "should" as you  know how that goes....

Tomorrow, I will cut these apart and do round two and iron them out....
(I still tire easily, so baby steps).
I am moving slowly and enjoying the process of coming back to sewing.....after my long hiatus....

This morning I made my minnestrone soup for our Sunday supper along with
 my homemade cornbread.
AND............

For all of you who inquired--YES, I am finally beginning to feel better (despite this crazee
Wintry weather!!;--((( )
Hugs,
Julierose, La Blageuse (sewing-euse)