FLYING FREE FINISH

                                                   RUNNING FREE...................

                                              RUNNING IN THE WIND....

                                            "SAVE OUR WILD HORSES"

This is my first "small project" for 2018; Since it is a tabletopper, just minimal quilting -- don't want
to corral those horses do we??? ;))))
AND....

                       Here is the reverse--the woodsey landscape for them to frolic in....

            All labeled and ready to be gifted to our very dear friends...in their new home....

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AND THIS MORNING:
I peeked into my "closet of shame" and
                                                           SURPRISE!!

guess what I found all pinned and ready to be
tied... my project depicting our last big trip to Italy....

                                                              "VENETZIA"

these butterflies are ready to fly free, too...so it's all laid out on my dining table for
some slow tying...

                                 this project has no time restraints, so easy does it...
I had honestly forgotten all about this one...talk about a "Senior Moment"!!;-000
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We are finally enjoying a mild and sunny day here...we went for a mile walk this morning, did some
errands and  Thom did a bit of yard pick up.
 I decided it was a MEATLOAF day for our Sunday supper...with
 boiled potatoes and french fried onion rings--oh yum....

There is nothing like a FINISH--big or small it doesn't matter...you just get such a great
feeling, don't you??

hugs to you all,
Julierose, La Blageuse (flying fee-euse)

WILD HORSES SET FREE

                                  Remember these wild horses, running free...??
they have been corralled in my UFO drawer for quite a while now and needed to
                                                                     RUN FREE...

Our friends who once owned a horse farm have just moved to a condo and we are going
to visit them in 2 weeks...so a housewarming gift would be in order...

I thought that this table topper
                                                                  "SAVE THE WILD HORSES"

...would be a lovely  remembrance of
their younger years as horse owners and riders...

I cut out the backing and the batting and need to layer it up tomorrow--then
quilt it "envelope style" .  

This  and a nice bottle of Champers should do the trick...;))))

Hugs, Julierose, La bBageuse ( tabletopper-euse)

A SCREECHING HALT!!

Sooo, yesterday I sewed on the two "fairyland" bindings on both of my I Spy quilts and .....
my whole left side: arm, shoulder, neck, and hand is terribly sore...couldn't sleep last night as I
was unable to find a place to put the aching arm that was comfortable (Boo-hoo girl!!
Hello Aleve!!)
And so the above title  ..;(((( no more sewing or knitting or yarn winding off for a couple days....

But I love how this binding will look..so old fashioned and girly:

Here are a couple close ups of the leftover fabrics I had on hand...

A few little green flower fairies...and

And some magenta woodland fairies...amid the green and white hydrangea blooms....
My two grandgirls are really into "Fairies" right now...and the backs are fairy prints also...

I am chafing at the bit to get them sewn down and labels done...
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AND....
On the knitting agenda:

Madame Smiley Row Counter shows 66 rows done...out of 270--like I said before, a long
term project and this is just the center square which is to be be bordered with knitted lacework...

It is just plain garter stitch, but the Brooklyn Tweed Loft yarn is so lovely and delicate to work on
that I am totally enjoying it...

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Does anyone recognize this plant?? When I was waiting for Thom to emerge from  his cataract op, a fellow waitee..and plant enthusiast brought me a slip of this (wasn't that nice??;)))
We talked plants during the long waiting periods....

I've forgotten the name --see the orange flowers below

And they fade out into these pretty white "fluff" balls...it just blooms like crazy in my living room's Northern exposure...anyone know it???
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And these two are running around my design wall waiting to be harnessed into something...

AND:

You can just see, peeking from the left side my other project that has been sitting around and that I hope to finish up...

My Japanese Garden --(Eye of God design) little 3.5" scrappy blocks sewn on telephone papers..
(4 together make up the pattern). I love making these and would like to make a Christmassy one
next...
The center yellow print has the remainders of my lovely Japanese Geishas strolling through my Garden.
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So, I have all these projects (along with my Pomegranate hand quilting which is another long project to finish, but I love it!!) on the go...
BUT, will have to wait for my poor body to catch up.....
And so it goes...
Hugs,
Julierose, La Blageuse (quilt-knit-euse in waiting...)

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)

2nd FILLY, et al

My 2nd filly is about 2/3rds appliqued down...After watching a whole lot of YouTube videos,
I feel better about this kind of work.  For one thing I changed my direction of work and that makes a lot of difference...

And using a chair with arms
and a pillow on my lap...



little by little--learning--I guess
you can teach an olde dog new tricks...lol

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And I am working away at my little vinyl- lined snack baggies for my grandgirls--here are the 1st 8:

There are two of:

These*
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isn't that kitty adorable???
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And two of these:

CAT in the Hat for those upside down days....

and two of:

Russian Nesting Dolls and

only one each of:

 the birds and bunnies:

I have Flower Fairies left--making double of those as I figure they will be sought
after by both girls....;))):

You can see these are all set up to be "velcro-ed" and sewn up....on the right you
can see the vinyl lining...great for fruit and veggie snacks at school.....

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Thom and I went out for an early breakfast this morning; and then I worked on our deck
appliqueing. Lovely cool breezes for about one hour--then the heat ramped up....

Tonight I am making Salisbury Steak meatballs in gravy over mashed potatoes with green beans...
A new recipe (NR) . I put the meatballs together this morning and got the taters ready to cook....

Hugs to all, hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday...
Julierose, La Blageuse (poop-ed-euse hahaha)

VENETZIA and BFF

                                              A foggy morning in Venice, trying out borders
                                                                  ....led to

..."the sun comes shining through..."

I love this old piece of Japanese cloud fabric

(even the thread doesn't want to let go hahaha)

It blends in so well with the Venice colors and

 I added the rest of my golden leaves for length..

So, my backing is all ready...

I just love this print; I had bought it in 2002 after our trip to Italy and never could find just how to use it as I didn't want to cut it up...and so,

another serendipitous moment..;}}}}}

This brings back so many wonderful memories of our fabulous trip to Italy--

A beautiful country and wonderful people....

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

MY BFF

(Best Filly Friend)

She is hoping to catch up with her BFF here...

{I can see some appliqued flowers in the borders...}

All corralled and ready to go...

This will be a Medallion block 

(frankly, I cannot believe I even attempted this applique,

and it is by no way, shape or form ;))) perfect--but it's mine own).

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And now, for a bit of a different kind of sewing;

My DIL requested some of those waterproof snack bags for Willa and Fiona

 to take to Pre-school (Willa) and Kindergarten (Fiona).

Exciting times......

So, this morning I ran out to JoAnne's and got some iron-on vinyl and 

now am set with 5 different cute fabrics to 

sew 'em up....

Hugs, 

Julierose, La Blageuse, (down memory lane-euse)

VENETZIA, ET AL

I worked on the side borders for Venetzia this afternoon--I needed to make this piece wider and decided to add more of the gold leaves -just a small 1" strip--and because this is
in Italy, what else but......--G R A P E S  ;))) (vino, vino, vino) 

Here's a closer look at that luscious fabric...I really will only have about 4" of it leftover...
just enough...(Tonight at cocktail hour, I will celebrate with a glass of Vino...;}}})
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I also worked a bit on "Save the Wild Horses":
I have maybe about 1/2 appliqued down...slow going for me....

I do like the prepared applique so that I don't have to think of 5 things to do  before taking
any stitches. ("Chacun a son gout", I guess). 


The idea for this piece comes from a PBS series on our vanishing wild horses--I rarely do
a "political statement" quilt--but this will be my entry for that category. 

These horses are simply the most magnificent creatures...
to see them running wild and free, to me, exemplifies America at its best...
it would be tragic to lose them...:.\-(((

...and so, I think that this Minick and Simpson pattern from their booklet "Sacagawea" really is expressive of their beauty...(I can only hope that my little effort will mirror it...).

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And now "for something entirely different"..;)))); 

My "Monsta Mash" blocks are all done in their 1st stages...
now to get them all to play nicely together--not easy when they are 
all so weird....lol ;*>000...

(They do want to just mash about!!  See them all stacked up
there--I found them that way this morning--they are night creatures, after all!)

I am thinking some kind of black/gray/silver fabric...maybe more than one piece...
Stay tuned for the Scarefest.....
hugs
Julierose, La Blageuse (En Italia-euse)