MARCH'S FINAL TWOSOME

                                               "POSEY" fliomsy for RSC March

                                                                   AND  ⇊⇊⇊ this flimsey↧↧↧↧

                                                            " VERTICALITY"

I am wondering what the new color will be for APRIL??? Aren't you all???

***********************************************

Here's where I stand with my Courthouse Steps Wonkified blocks...

                    I have 22 done in three rounds of light/dark... 

No two are the same size--that should be a puzzle to get 
them together--but that is for later; 

I need to make some more hourglass blocks for more centers--
King Size beds take a LOT OF blocks...duh....;00000
I think I am crazee.....💃
***********************************
Is anyone else watching haircutting DIY videos???💇💇💇
In another week, Thom tells me that I will be cutting his hair...
What a brave soul he is--
the only hair cutting I've done is
trimming my own bangs...
my own hair is quite long--hmmmm
will I end up sitting on it by the time this is all over???
These are the burning questions flying through my brain ;000

[And did I say I want/need to know the color for April???huh? huh???]

Waving from here to wherever you may be ~ ~ ~ ~ 
Julierose, La Blageuse (isolating-euse)

MONDAY MUSING

                      Thanks to Chatty Crone's blog for this uplifting idea;))
                 ~ M~ ~ ~ O ~ ~ ~ N ~ ~ ~D ~ ~ ~A ~ ~ ~Y

waving to you all, while hand quilting for "serenity now" ;)))

Julierose, La Blageuse (Kimmi-ing-euse) 

TEAL FINALE

                                                                VERTICALITY

                        I got these pieces together this morning...
                               [Sorry for the dark photo--
                                  it is GLOOMY, dark and 
                                      raining here yet again!]

My new find during this month's RSC:

Putting teal and lavender together...
I would never have thought of these together --
BUT as it happened:
in my teal scrap baggie,one piece of
lavender was lurking  there ..👀

AND when I saw it --I knew it had to be;))
serendipitous for sure:)))

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

My last crumb blocks have been difficult to put together in
any way that I even liked...just so clunky looking, ya know?

This is how I plan going to use them:

                                      I call this "P O S E Y" :⇩⇩⇩⇩

                            I will be appliqueing the posey part;
                              and then I will try to cobble the 
                                        crumb-ey borders together ;
                                 and then, I think, add a final border of
                                         that impressionistic back 
                                 fabric behind those the Improv flowers..

It sure is different, I'll say that...😰   
it may turn out to be a 💣-------------who knows?

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

I am almost finished hand quilting Kimmi and I am looking 
forward to April and a new (I hope happy) color..


{I used my Go!BABY die to cut the flowers out of leftovers...}
It feels almost primitive to me except for those zing-ey colors...

Fare thee well this Sunday 
from:
the pouring, rainy, SE Coast of CT..

[today our first 
confirmed case of c-virus 
happened in our Town...😰😭]

~ ~ ~ ~ waving to you all from afar ;))))

Stay vigilant my friends...I appreciate you all, my blog friends;
and your comments; and I love reading your posts..
thank you for being there during this difficult time. 

Julierose, LA blageuse (cobbling-together-euse)

RSC, FINAL SATURDAY

                                                              Ojos Di Dios  (16 blocks)  ↟↟
                                               

                                                    "Verticality" and Flying Geese ↟↟

                                                                 Crumb Blocks ↟↟

AND...............................↡↡
                            "Maru-Gata Kimmi" still in progress:↡↡↡↡

                           These are my results working 
                              with my March Teal scraps.

I haven't finished trying to get the 1st threesome 
together in some kind of bigger piece; I  and will work on 
that these last few days of March...

I will be joining with Angela at Super Scrappy for our last
teal get together for the month...come and 👀👀 what everyone
has accomplished....
************************************
"Mask Making" interrupted my Teal work...
But I was able to make everyone in my family a mask--
12 in all--I made ones with ties and cut, ironed (a lot!)
and sewed the tie bindings which took a lot of time.👀😏 

I mailed them off yesterday afternoon...
at least I felt as if I were "DOING" SOMETHING...😕
This whole c-virus makes you feel so out of control--
at least it does us..

We are sheltering in place except for needed
grocery forays...
*************************************
Tonight Thom will be making his spaghetti sauce for dinner 
and
then freezing the leftover sauce for a future meal. 

We've been doing a lot of that to try to stretch our 
food supply...eating smaller portions, too...but

have I dropped any "lb-age"?????
NOOOOO of course not...😒
*******************************
Hope you are all faring well during this troubled time...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 👋waves from Julierose, La Blageuse (sewing-euse)

PROTOTYPE

                               I made my first mask last night as a prototype
                               before I make some
                                               for my family members...

I used a youtube tutorial @ "Sew Craftie with Connie" as I
like and understand her easy method;
 since I didn't have any elastic or flannel on hand,
 I just used fabric and double fold tape for the long ties...

And............
My pleats are not quite even! ;000
but then, who will even know when it's opened...
(the pleat inspector is in quarantine right now) ;}}}

I will be making 9 adult ones and two child sized...Now that should keep me busy
for quite a while, don't you think? 

And I will be making my own double fold tapes
as the one I used here is leftover from Mom's sewing box...💖💖

 I don't really know how effective these are,
but they do help stop the spread of germs when you go shopping...

We are staying put here; only venturing out for needed groceries 
during early morning senior hours...

Our beach town is about to be increased to its usual Summer numbers
with people leaving New York City to come and shelter in their Summer homes...
So vigilance is the keyword...

Hugs from afar to all of you --stay safe now my friends...

Julierose, La Blageuse (mask-making-euse)

                                 

ORTS and STRINGS and WONKY THINGS

                                      Leftovers...fabric- and food-wise--
                                       I decided I  was sick of seeing all
                                      these scrappy pieces all over and began a
                                         new journey....our bed quilt that I made
                                          is 21 years old and starting to show signs 
                                                               of wear..SOoooooo

I began sewing 
my favorite
log cabin method--
into wonky Courthouse Steps

(Mary Ellen's stripping method);

[I thought this block apt for our
coronacation....;000]


↑↑↑I started with these hourglass blocks that I made for RSC this month...
as the centers---about 2 and 1/4" give or take...which is fine as I am
only using scissors to trim and cut strips as needed...

                                   Here is the next batch of hourglasses
                                            ready to be sewn...

                                    I find them a bit tedious so I started
                                        on the Courthouse Steps,,

Round One--you can see the strips are differing widths...
                                                                all the "WONKIER" ;)))

AND here is where they stand, 
18 of them, after two rounds  ↡

These and these ↡↡

and these↡↡

Many of you will recognize a cut up block that I made

a while back and didn't like...

So I (whacked) cut it up into long strips, 

--no more leftover blocks--cut em up or

use them....

This was my morning's work today--

Having a fun sewing stint...

In these trying times I wanted to

relax and sew in chain piecing

style...

*************************************

The sun came out and it looks so pretty after yesterday's

gloom and doom skies...

We need all the positive and bright things we can get..

******************************

Tonight, Thom will be making his famous 

(at least to us)

Creamed Tuna on Toast (yum)

Along with a little tossed salad..

Lunch will be leftovers:

Bean sandwich with mayo for him and

leftover fried cabbage and

corned beef for me...

I hope you are all staying safe...we are in for

the duration and listening to MD's 

advice...(need I say more??)

Hugs Julierose, La Blageuse (shelterin-in-place-euse)

VIRTUAL TRAVELING

                I've never been to visit France...so I am settling for this.

My Mont St Michel puzzle....last made with Mom.....
                                          ↡↡↡↡↡↡

                        A jigsaw journey to while away long afternoons
                         and evenings when there is nothing on tv-- 
                            or if we've just
                                      had too much NEWS!! 

I am beginning, as we always did at home when I was growing up, 
by
getting all the border pieces 
culled out and 
turning all pieces over...               ↓↓↓↓

                         Here's the beginning of the border pulling....
Setting those apart...


And do you recall, if you did jigsaws, how after you've done all this
beginning work, someone comes over, glances at your progress --
when you've been without a "find" for a long while, and says: 
"Oh look at this piece [holding it up gleefully]
 it goes...
              right...
                         here" 
                                         and it does!!  ;0000
********************************************

I hope you are finding all the supplies and foodstuffs you need...
we are finding it difficult around here...

hugs from afar..staying in our home and yard....
Julierose, La Blageuse (chez-nous-euse)

RSC WALL STATUS

              I will be  making 4 more Ojos blocks with my leftover strips and triangles;
                 and the rest  of the tiny pieces will be crumb blocks...
                   and coping strips of some sort....

Then I will be deciding how to get these together into one piece....;---000 --
or maybe two???
Or who knows???
Waiting for the "AH-HAH" moment....
I am:
Linking up with Angela at:  superscrappy where all of us March Teal-ers
meet to show what we've made so far...

Kimmi is coming along:

                                     The outer blade ring is all stitched..↟↟↟
                                            now, I can begin on the white surround....

Most of my time has been spent hand quilting as my back told me to
rest up ....it is also coming along....;)))

I hope you are all staying close to home and doing well...

P.S.  added on Sunday--I have begun the white outer portion and am
listening to Pandora and the sun is shining...a few peaceful unstressful
moments...Hang in there;)))

hugs, Julierose La Blageuse (sheltering-euse)

Baby Laughing Hysterically at Ripping Paper (Original)

INNISHFREE MEMORIES

                              I took Mom on a bus tour of Ireland before she got so ill...
                     
When we returned,
                                  I made this photo memory montage quilt for her....

                                           "Oh Danny Boy, the pipes the pipes are callin'
                                               From glen to glen and down the mountainside..."

She sang all the Irish songs, especially Danny Boy, her favorite, in her
lovely alto voice, while my father used to accompany her on our piano--
to this day that song still gives me chills....fond memories......

 And
here she is with our darling bus driver who
was amazed that she knew all the words and to all the verses....
His tenor and her alto led the whole bus in song as we gazed at the
amazing green-ness of the Irish Countryside...

                                          We had such a wonderful and fun trip....

                                                      Wearin' O' the Green---Happy Times

                       ["Oh, I met with Napper Tandy and he took me by the hand,
                              And he said how's dear old Ireland
                                   And how does she stand..."]

                                HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY MOM💚💚💚💚👭
                                                      {Je me souviens..."}


And,
Happy St. Patrick's Day to you All....
💚💚💚
Hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse (simmering corned beef-euse)

SPRING SUNDAY MEMORIES

                     
                                 I put my "Spring Baskets" up in my dining room...
                                                  hope "springs eternal" ;}}}}

I love this little improv piece--the last one I made before Mom passed away.........
She really loved it, too....

Loving this toile
for the background

                                            Spring blossoming all around

I raw-edged appliqued a few fruits.......↑↑↑a luscious peach,

a lovely pear
and some leaves.....









and

                                     some ripe red cherries.....

I just love that print I found for the baskets...so soft and looking
tres French Provincial, I feel.

I think this was the first Improv type quilt I pieced that I ended up
loving.....
******************************

I began hand quilting Maru-gata Kimmi last night....

                                Here she is sitting on my knee 
                                   with her pink outlining....

I  decided she needed to be the star of the circle...;}}}
AND................this way she stands out;
and the dark green thread 
will fill in the rest of the center circle....

I am debating whether to add a few beads on the lotus 
blooms to accentuate that gold...

I haven't done a lot of beading since I made this piece for Mom:

                                This was her last Christmas present:  
                                               her "Mary Mandala"
                                                  for her bedside table.

                             It sits on my shelf in my sewing room now...
                                          bringing many memories
                                              of our happy times sewing together
                                                   HAPPY SPRING, MOM....💔

***********************************
I am plugging away on the "secret" project quilt...but my back problem 
has slowed that down a lot....
I am so glad that I began it really early--
it should still be ready for Christmas giving...hopefully....
**************************************

We have glimpses of Mr. Sun today which is nice....I am continuing to ice
my back and Thom is tending his cheek wound from the cryo excision--
We make quite a pair, the two of us 👫💕💕💕💑

But as my Grand-mere used to state:
                                                     "This too will pass..."
And so, 
We are purposefully NOT watching the News a lot...
the c-virus updates are troubling, 
but we are doing our part by staying home;
really, that is all we can do at this stage.  

I hope you all stay well and safe💝  

Hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse (remembering happy times-euse)

RSC-ing

I have been wanting to make this "Rail Fence" from Sujata Shah's
amazing book: "Cultural Fusion Quilts" for a long time....

So, &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
when I got those lovely teal chunk pieces from Wanda 
(click to visit her site) --
I thought I'd make a test block to see 
how I like the pattern and the sewing--- 
{as I've come to  discover-- that altho' I like the look 
of lots of blocks--sometimes the actual sewing puts me off--}
So it will be a new entry for RSC for March this week--
In making this block--I found that:

my first rotary long cut was really wonky--👾 
but the blocks did come together okay anyway...
BUT...................
I was unhappy with the choppy edges that resulted ..👀👿
💭💭💭
so,
I decided that for the 2nd block, I would mark the 
slight curve, and then use scissors to cut the layers
which I pinned--
and it worked out much better for me ... a bit more time, but
better results...

I have laid out my 2nd block now and ...
I think  the  challenge in making these will be choosing
colors to get that lace-y look I am trying to achieve...

Rotary cutting has become more and more
of a problem --especially through layers for me...
so I am using scissors whenever I can...
***********************
Here is the thread I've chosen to hand quilt "Maru-gata Kimmi"
                                      ↧↧↧↧↧↧↧

                        I think it will give just enough contrast without 
                                     being too bright...

I am linking up with Angela at super scrappy for my Saturday visit
to see what all the RSC-ers are up to....do drop in...;)))

Hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse (happy to be able to sew a bit-euse)

ORANGE SLICE IS QUILTED

                 I have finished my hand quilting on Orange Slice...;)))

I have decided to put this and other RSC pieces away for binding and 
finishing until
the month of December...
*************************
Now "Maru-gata Kimmi" is all layered and pinned; so this will be my next
handquilting project...

                                 I really L💖ve that little Kimmi doll...........................

************************ 
Meanwhile, we have stocked up for the c-virus ...staying away from crowds...
our State is, little by little, closing down and cancelling events and 
closing schools--going "online" for students' studies...
Good cautionary measures for a Pandemic event...

We can only hope and pray that we and you and your families stay safe
and healthy....

Hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse (sewing to calm down-euse)

SQUISHY MAIL

L👀👀 at the lovely fabric pieces that Wanda at (click to see her website)
gifted me....out of the blue..lovely teals to enhance my stash...

I love the blenders and that gorgeous dark teal print...
Aren't I lucky....???;)))

Her quilts are just gorgeous...go and see the beautiful quilts she makes....

What a generous gift...it really made my day; 
I've been dealing with a bad back strain and this brightened my day for sure...

thanks so much Wanda  ;)))💖😊 I really appreciate your thoughtful gift...

Hugs, Julierose,  La blageuse (petting fabric-euse)

ORANGE YOU GLAD.....

                       I am SO so close to finishing up my hand quilting 
                     on  my Orange Slice for RSC February...;)))

I will be working on this during the Red Sox Spring Training Game
this afternoon...;))))

I have used 3 different shades of thread:↴↴↴

               The outer band (on white) looks like a white thread;
                    but it is really a light peach thread...

I am so enjoying stitching round and round on this 
"roundish" 
circle
dresden... 
AND
Here is the reverse side↧↧↧

               I am using up a VERY OLD fabric that has lain 
                                undiscovered up to now
                                       in my stash 
                                        pushed back 
                                          underneath my novelties...
                       And......Why did I put it there?  
                             I don't even recall having done that!!

           Those are the unanswerable questions that give me pause....
********************************************

And now, I will have "Maru-gata Kimmi" to move onto.↡↡
Another "sort-of" circular, free cut dresden ;))) 

                          Isn't that little girl print just adorable???

I free cut those blades, 
{and sometimes I have to take darts 
and/or tucks to 
make the shape lay flat};

and then machine applique the outer edge, 
hand folding as I sew; and then machine applique the central circle.

My plan is to make one each month in the RSC color of the month
and use them as monthly table toppers -- this is a very free and
relaxing project for me..

So the dresdens will get cut FIRST each month--
out of whatever scraps 
are in that month's baggie...

I am hoping I will have enough for each month--
some may end up being very ....very ........
small
rounded 
shapes--
we shall see..👀👀👀👄💝

these are.............
A little monthly surprise for me....;))))

*************************************
I hope your Sunday, this first Sunday of Daylight Savings Time,
is wonderful....💖💖💖

Hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse (rounding the final round-euse)