About Me

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Shoreline, CT, United States
I would love for you to join me (a retired senior)in my zany crafting adventures with quilting (waaaaay too much fabric); scrapbooking (will I ever catch up?); redwork; counted cross stitch; crossword puzzles; reading; and cooking.

Monday, May 30, 2022

JOURNEYING

 
TAW next block set up
to be sewn...

*Note later:
 A friend made me realize that this pattern
is "MANY Trips Around the Word" and 
not just "Trip Around the World" ! 
Sorry--thanks Lizzy ;)))

*****************
And...
Here is my special morning latte:

Soooo good!!

**************************
My handwork journey continues
in Hexagonia;)))
↡↡↡
HEAXAGONIA
Kismet fabric rosettes
are piling up; 

 And

Here is the reverse below;
 I have taken out the papers 
except for the last row--

 upon which I keep papers 
until 
they are sewn together..

I even like how the 
backs look
;)))

*******************
And "Blue Flags
are blooming
in our garden,
for all of our
brave fallen soldiers
this
MEMORIAL DAY
💙💟


Lest We Forget....

****************************
Hugs to you all
Julierose, La Blageuse
(traveling-while-remembering-euse)







Friday, May 27, 2022

MANY TAW, START OF MY JOURNEY

 
This quilt will commemorate
our travels while we 
were young...
👵👴

3 European trips:
2 with Tom and
1 with my Mom when I
took her to Ireland...

and 3 cruises...

So ....
"Many Trips Around the World"

I am using these very
scrappy leftover 
jelly roll strips--
all cut 16" long +/-

I cut two from the same strip 
and
only one from others..
and 

I am using Bonnie Hunter's
instructions:
↨↨↨

I still haven't figured out quite yet
how/when to iron seams...??
(Any hints out there?)

So far, I've tried AFTER tube is sewn,
then BEFORE tube is sewn;
and I am not that happy 
with either result...
the 2nd block on the 
right above is a bit wonkey!!

I ironed those seams 
on the wonkier one 
BEFORE
I sewed the tube together..
I think the 
the other one came out better...

I think it will be fun twisting 
and turning them
to find what I like best 


*********************
I send all best wishes to all of you 
out there celebrating 
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND...

Hugs, Julierose,
La Blageuse
(remembering-our-fallen-heroes-euse)






 

Thursday, May 26, 2022

OLD & NEW

 
17 mini charm blocks 
FINITO!
AND
One more laid out for today
↨↨↨↨↨
I still have some blacks, browns and 
a few yellow minis left \over...
BUT...
I am getting tired working with
mini charms...
ya think???

I will take 9 blocks for each 
of my Granddaughters

and back them 
with some cute panels
for lap quilts 
for Christmas this year.
When I can machine quilt
comfortably, I plan
to  start
these projects
AND...

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

SO:)))

I have moved on to my
many jelly roll
leftovers --
and
have laid these out
these colors 
for
my next project:

This one will commemorate our 
travels after Tom retired...

It will be 
(guess what? haha) 

VERY
SCRAPPY!!

[big surprise]
;)))

Hugs, Julierose
La blageuse
(moving-on-euse)




Sunday, May 22, 2022

FLOWERING, et al

 
My big front-yard Iris
in bloom...

It smells like grapes;)))

Also my Rhodie has begun
its yearly plethora of
flowering
↓↓↓↓↓
I do like this color bloom...
Almost a lavender-pink-ey hue...

Looks like Spring has begun here...
Pretty hot today, but not the 
scorcher they predicted..

************************
My Fabric Journal "Beautiful Bird
and Favorite Color" page is
finished...
Flying away home...


Some beading and some 
wayward French knotting...
to add some interest
and a bit of lace at the bottom...

I kantha stitched this little bit of 
binding on the 
edge also...
All the fabrics in this series are raw edge...

This has been my favorite prompt so far...
We have one more for
 this group of
pages in this style...

This has been a lovely Sunday--hot, but not humid;
we are sitting out on our deck after our
bbq hot dog and potato salad
welcome to Spring dinner...

Hugs, Julierose,
La Blageuse
(Enjoying-the-warmth-euse)










Monday, May 16, 2022

HAPPY MAIL ;)))

 
Look what arrived in my afternoon mail today!!

All these goodies for my Journal Pages Journey;)))

Thanks so much Lizzy 💖💝;)))
[click to visit her site]

This totally adorable little print:
↧↧↧↧
AND

These mushroom fabrics...
I just love mushroom prints...
and that cute little bird...

All so perfect for
future journal pages...

More lovely fabrics  to work with...
and
all these little bits for
decoration
↧↧↧↧
Including crochet lace and 
a lovely light blue lace strip.
What a truly beautiful and 
generous gift.
thank you so much, Lizzy;
you made my day..
👯
Go and see Lizzy's lovely blog 
at 
"Gone2thebeach.blogspot.com"

to see her beautiful photos and
quilt works...

hugs,
Julierose
La blageuse
(grateful-euse)










Friday, May 13, 2022

36 SQUARED, et al

I am continuing to get these
36-square blocks together.

Now there are nine
and
I still have a lot of mini
charms left...

It takes me two days of
limited sewing
to get one block assembled.
And...
I try to set out the next one
in readiness for my next
shortened sewing
session...

I am liking how they 
look all together--
very soothing somehow...
;)))

********************
Here is my latest hexagon rosette
finish:
I have quite a stack of them now...
14 so far and there is still more
fabric in the Kismet Line to be
die cut...
I haven't removed any papers
as yet until I decide
how I will be putting them 
together...

************************
L👀👀k
at what is about to burst
into bloom in our front 
rock garden
↡↡↡↡
What should be a lovely
deep purple iris...
and
a few daffodils are still
waving in the breeze:

This variety 
(I've forgotten the name!)
is a very light hue--
so soft and sweet
;)))

*****************
We have had fog all day
long and the humidity
has risen a lot...
so not comfortable out there.

Hoping for a nice weekend...
Hugs, Julierose
La Blageuse
(also-still-stitching-euse)









 

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

FABRIC JOURNAL: BEAUTIFUL BIRD PAGE

 

I have set up my 
"Beautiful Bird
and Favorite Color"
page to be 
tacked down...

This week is designated
for "composition".

I had a couple leftover
KF charm pack charms that
seemed to echo this 
Bird's coloring
just right;))

These fabrics are all scraps
and leftovers--except
for my Beautiful Bird--
which I cut from my
hoarded piece of 
Tula Pink 1/2 yard piece...

I have begun doing 
some kantha stitchery
on the purple piece and
my leftover bit of Batik...
and I will finish tacking 
everything
in place before I begin
embroidering...

****************
I tried sitting outside on
our deck planning
to work on tacking, 
but
the wind was too
strong...
Very gusty and still
quite chilly despite
our warming temperatures...

Here is a picture from outside
that shows the brilliant
colors to better advantage:

I am planning to do a lot
more embroidery on 
this one...
and quilting around 
the clouds..
***************
Dinner Menu:
😋😍😎
Tonight we are having 
black bean burritos
with sour cream and 
guacamole sides...

Hugs, Julierose
La Blageuse
(still-stitching-euse)



Friday, May 6, 2022

WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS

Since my long hiatus from
sitting at my sewing machine--
aka "Helga" ;)))

I have begun trying to use up all
my mini charms; I had sewn them
into twosies as 
"leader-enders"
before this back issue occurred.

Also, I found that nothing really
"sent me" after being away
so long....
(to use a really old
saying from the 50's 
remember that tune 
"You Send ME..??) 

Nothing felt right to me-- 
nothing at all; 
since I haven't been able
to sit and sew...

I don't know why, but 
everything was all a-jumble
in my mind...

AND

So, I've decided to 
"START AT THE BEGINNING"
so to speak.
[See title" When All Else Fails]

The first quilt I ever made was
for my Father and just was green 8"
squares; tied...and had a plain
solid green back...

It resides on our spare room bed
for the summer months...

I was so proud of finishing this one;
Mom helped me to tie it and then I gave it 
to Dad for his birthday...and
it still lives on...don't you
love how quilts last
so long....💚💗

SO...

This week I began sewing
the twosies into 36 piece blocks...

My skills have  ummm...
"slipped" a bit...
it seems (seams!!)
[matching seam crossings
and that pesky 1/4" !!].

So this will be a good practice 
for me...and I can do just
a few at a time..

I had collected so many
(a ga-zillion, I think!!)
;(((
mini charms to use for
my "Postage Stamp" 
fling...and was gifted
many more...
This will fulfill my need to sew
while hopefully using up
most, if not all, of those
mini charms...

***********************
I am slowly returning to a semblance
of normality here--
Able to exercise a bit and walk
a bit--still icing and being
super careful...

I want to thank all of you who 
sent me such good wishes and
encouraging mail; it really
kept my spirits from flagging
throughout all this...
💕💖💝
I am sending you my best
wishes for
A Wonderful Mother's Day
this weekend....

Hugs, Julierose
La Blageuse
(Still-square-ish-"after-all-these-years")
[Apologies to Paul Simon..];)))








Thursday, May 5, 2022

APRIL FINISH

 
I've finished up my
April fabric journal
page...

Here is a close up of the
tree bark I added using
chain stitching with
mixed threads...
↧↧↧↧
I noticed that I had pulled
the chains too tightly and
had a lot of fabric puckers--
 so
I turned the piece over and misted
the whole thing and pinned it out
on my ironing board to dry
overnight...

[you learn something with
each project, don't you?]
👵😌

Still a couple little places
that wouldn't stretch out left, 
but I may try a bit of steam
ironing to flatten it a bit more...

*************************
May's prompt is:

"Favorite Color and Beautiful Bird"

I have a bird fabric in my stash
and
 for some strange reason
no one color 
springs to my mind--
?????

Mine used to be blue, then peach,
and now?????
I like them all--
maybe I should use a printed
background or 
another one of my hand dyes...

I will have ponder this and 
look at colors...

It's really strange that nothing
springs to mind...

Hugs, Julierose,
La blageuse
(pondering-euse)