BLOG BREAK

          Here are the beginnings of my Christmas greeting cards this year...(sorry for the glare!!)

I have made 6 of them so far ; they will be mounted on cardstock and mailed out in lovely scalloped kraft envelopes....

(For those of you who have asked: Torn pieces of an old French Grammar, stamped with archival black ink for the backgounds; trees from a magazine; and then Heidi Shine gold spray....all affixed with matte medium).  I truly enjoy putting these together each year...

{Last year was the only one that I just wasn't in the mood after Mom passed--but this year I am feeling better }

I have moved Helga to her resting area until after my eye surgery is over;
hung up the front ofConnor's quilt along with the backing fabrics and border pieces
 in my closet ready to be re-started in January;
and will be taking a respite until my eyesight has been taken care of.
I have a lot of glare issues and at this point cannot seem to see much with or without my glasses....ugh!!

I begin my pre-surgery drops on Halloween (my hubster said "Too bad you didn't
 have the surgery that day--you could be a Pirate ---'aaaaargh!!' " --
 he is such a comedian LOL).

 I will go in on Thursday for the op.
At this point I am sick of waiting around....and getting eyestrain headaches...

So, I will be taking a bit of a respite from posting--just a few weeks....
just so you know., guys
..
hugs,
I appreciate all of your encouraging comments and lovely messages throughout this year...

Hugs,
Julierose, La Blageuse (impatient-euse!!)

MIXED MEDIA FUN

Here is my 3rd page using a mix of different types of media....
The black is acrylic paint; then i washed her head and dress with watered down lavender acrylic before  coloring the rest in with  all Prismacolor Premium pencil work;  the sparkle-ey parts are Liquid Pearls....

this is a practice page to try out how i like using a mix of acrylics, and colored pencils on top of acrylic washes.  the acrylic gives the paper more "tooth" i.e. it is rougher and so you don't see the white dotty surface showing through...

Here is a little closer view of how the Liquid Pearls sparkles up her headressing.....(It you look closely at the actual brown hair, you can see some of the white dots as i did not use a wash over this part...

I used many light layers of colored pencil to get these effects....this has taken me about a week and one-half off and on....

I am not that happy with Mr. Owl--i think he needs more colors feathered in--
so i may work on him a bit more...

So, this was my Slow Sunday work...
hugs, Julierose (La Blageuse-coloring-euse) 
(Picture from "Enchanted Forest" coloring book)

RED RHYTHM PROGRESS

The top and the batting are now all "quilted-as-you-go"; 
I quilted only the neutral squares and left the red strips unquilted for now...
thinking that, when I finish the backing I will attach it by working across the reds...

It turned out a lot more graphic than I had envisioned, but I am liking it for
Connor...

Tomorrow we will be going to Fiona's FIFTH birthday party; how time does fly...

Thom made his Beef Barley soup today to bring along (yum!!);  
and Lin will be making her own chicken soup, roasting a turkey AND a ham for sandwiches...sounds delicious.  This will be the "family" party....

AND, of course,  the "piece de resistance" the CAKE. ;)))) 

Looking forward to doing some leaf peeping on our way up North, too....

hugs, from chilly CT,
Julierose, La Blageuse (excited-euse)

WHERE'S WALDO--WATERCOLOR STYLE

This afternoon.....

I picked out and water colored  all the Death cap mushrooms..using my own mixture of Cadmium Red and Payne's Gray to get this color...I tried out a color for the leaping bunnies--a bit too yellow-ey--so will try a new mix tomorrow..

I am reading about mixing colors to get the shades I want...this is all using a very small Koi Field Sketch set--the paints are not that good quality--but okay for learning and seeing if I like this and so far I do..I find it fascinating...

 {This drawing is from the coloring book  "Imagimorphia" by Kerby  Rosanes.}

It's kind of like finding Waldos......a very complicated drawing... with little mushrooms and leaves and plants hidden over and under those cute bunnies...such fun....and I love doing this...)

On  Connor's quilt scene..I got both long strips pin basted and ready 
for quilting...

There are two sections one with two rows (shown here) and the other with three rows...I will begin quilting on all the squares and not the strips....we'll see how that looks...

Hugs to all
Julierose, La Blageuse (water coloring-euse)

FRIDAY FROLICKING

                                   My Muse has okayed my new "relaxation" project.....;)))

I treated myself to a set of 72 Prismacolor pencils and have begun working in my trial coloring book...

Here is what I have accomplished so far--working on blending and shading before attempting
a more complicated book of drawings...(This one  is by Selina Fenech--"Enchanted --Magical Forest")--such a nice assemblage of drawings -- very mythical--
this one is entitled "Blodeuwedd"-- which I had to look up--it means literally "Flower Face"  and it comes from an old Welsh myth..
.
As a child I always loved to color and shade and outline....I never had any art classes when I was in school--jut not in the curriculum then; so I am doing a lot of YouTube video and UStream watching and gleaning what I can about how to learn about colors....
I LOVE color and want to know enough to begin to do some real watercoloring work.

These drawings are complicated--trying to figure out where the leaves end and the central Flower she sits on begin...

Above I have chosen 4 greens (dk,, med, light + olive), one Siena Brown and one purple-ey maroon.

I thought these leaves kind of resembled Coleuses...so--being "the boss" of my coloring book (LOL)
I am forging ahead with that idea in mind....
                                                                       SUCH FUN!!!! ;))))
On the quilt front...

I have finished all of Connor's blocks--they are pinned on my wall and I will start to sew rows together this weekend...

Tonight we will be meeting with two other couples for our yearly foray out to dinner where they specialize in a yearly October Fest menu..SO, no cooking tonight....
Hugs
Julierose La Blageuse (Prosit-euse)

HAPPY MAIL

Look what came with Smilin' Jack O'Lantern in the mail for me yesterday...

DAWN sent this to me from both her and her quilting buddy Jackie to help out with my
darks for Connor's quilt making...I was running out of dark black print fabrics...as a matter of
fact I had JUST gotten down to the last three 2.5" squares when

                                                        V O I L A !!

                                       these appeared in my mailbox.

Thank you so much Dawn and Jackie--I really
appreciate your timely and generous gifts...it appears that I now have enough to finish up the last eight blocks ...and this has re-energized me to get on the stick and finish these up..... I want to get them done before my cataract
surgeries begin in early November as i don't know how my vision will be
during and just after (don't need to be sewing up my fingers now, do I?)
\;0000

Aren't quilty folk just wonderful?  and generous to a fault??? :))))

Smilin' Jack is waiting on my front hall table for the little bowl of treats for
all the little witches and goblins on the 31st....

hugs (especially to you two gals)
Julierose, La Blageuse (excited-euse)

HAPPY MAIL

Look what came with Smilin' Jack O'Lantern in the mail for me yesterday...

DAWN sent this to me from both her and her quilting buddy Jackie to help out with my
darks for Connor's quilt making...I was running out of dark black print fabrics...as a matter of
fact I had JUST gotten down to the last three 2.5" squares when

                                                        V O I L A !!

                                       these appeared in my mailbox.

Thank you so much Dawn and Jackie--I really
appreciate your timely and generous gifts...it appears that I now have enough to finish up the last eight blocks ...and this has re-energized me to get on the stick and finish these up..... I want to get them done before my cataract
surgeries begin in early November as i don't know how my vision will be
during and just after (don't need to be sewing up my fingers now, do I?)
\;0000

Aren't quilty folk just wonderful?  and generous to a fault??? :))))

Smilin' Jack is waiting on my front hall table for the little bowl of treats for
all the little witches and goblins on the 31st....

hugs (especially to you two gals)
Julierose, La Blageuse (excited-euse)