THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER

                                                                       TERRI'S BUTTERFLY

I've finished hand quilting this piece and...............
I feel that, for me,
there's way too much quilting going on...
I am not much for the overall "wrinkly" look...
I am much more used to tying my quilts and quilting sparsely....

Well...here is the back anyway....

And here is a view of each oriental-themed string blocks:

   






with the partial geisha
faces....

                              Did you find all the faces?? ;)))

This very last one only has a piece of a geisha's headdress
peeking out....

This was the absolute last little corner of my geisha fabric, but..
I went on etsy-- and on the very last page of my search 
                                  GUESS WHAT?????
I found another yard of it...and snapped that baby right up....

                   That really made my day....;*}}}}

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And here is my progress on Spring Strings:

I have 10 and 1/2 big blocks so far......
soo.... 
that is 42 separate quarter blocks 
and YET>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

LOOK at my scraps! 

                                   HOW can this be......?????

I don't think they've been whittled down very much at all...;0000

but, I will say that  the range of available colors has been cut
a lot--

so, each little block is a bit harder to put together
and takes more "thinking" .

More blues have been added and there are
fewer yellows or greens in my pile...

I am not planning, so to speak; 
still pulling semi-randomly; 

and, not thinking of the "Big" 4-part blocks or trying to 
coordinate those...just each smaller quarter....

We'll see how it comes together...
So far the Nine Big (4-part) blocks are sewn together--
[but not to each other as yet--]

I am trying not to shuffle too much--
as that way lies madness....;000 
they are pretty much in the order as I finished them.

AND
I am still doing 2/day ...
amazing how fast they are mounting up..

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I don't usually make lists, but when I looked in my
spare closet this morning I saw this array:

Many, many small and medium and-- 3 large projects 
either to be layered, quilted and/or bound 
hanging there:

12 here








And:

                                            Eight more here 
                that makes :TWENTY finishes ahead of me....(ack)

.....SOOOOOO, why am I working on new ones, I ask???
?Quien Sabe? 

One of the mysteries of my life....;))) and
quilting, I guess...

Hugs from rainy CT on a dark afternoon, 
Julierose, La Blageuse (wondering-euse)

UME = PLUM

                I worked on the backing for top No 2--Plum Postage,
                          yesterday and this morning.

And, I have decided to call it "UME" (Japanese for plum--for the strip
color throughout ) and also for the Japanese backing I've used....

             I have had this fabric for ages and never 
                                  wanted to cut into it.

So I used my one yard of it; 
and then bordered it with a newer pinky-roses fabric...
to give it a more vintage look...

                        I love this scene by a faraway shore...
herons........
                                         
                  in flight..........
                                  under the sailing moon.........
                                                             
                                             Very romantic, I feel....

            Here is a closer look at the borders, top, bottom and sides...

and finally another scenic view :

So the 2nd top is readied to be layered...

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

And onto my third and last big top:

 My SNOWBALLS

Tomorrow I will be stash diving once

again to find just the right

backing fabric(s) for

this one...

it measures 46.5" wide and 

52"long...

These tops are all big ones...;-0000

I must say I am getting used to working with big pieces of fabric 

YA THINK????:)))

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On the hand quilting front, since I've finished the hand quilting part of

Stone Soup

I took this out to work on

for Spring...

My little center butterfly gift from 

TERRI 

that I surrounded with garden fabrics...

I am psyched to begin working on this one

Hugs, from SUNNY (YAY) CT,

Julierose, La blageuse (backing-euse)

PIN-IT SUNDAY

                                                         Ready For quilting
Here is the reverse:

                                             LOVE this fabric 💜

And .

                                    Terri's butterfly also pinned up...
and the opposite side--a few mini string blocks...in a Springtime setting....

I used leftover fabrics from this reverse side side for the butterfly rounds....

Check these off my "To-Do" list for today.....
***************************************
On the home front...
Thom and I plan a walk on our Boardwalk later on this morning; we are hoping it'll be a
bit warmer (33 is cold and it will be windswept down there);
the day started with bright sun, but as usual it has clouded over
and I am sure by 3 pm it will feel like nighttime...so sick of this grayness...

Thom is recuperating nicely from his leg surgery on Friday and MD told him he could
walk today--so,
we are hoping that it will go well;
there are many benches along our route so
if he needs to rest it should be the best place for him to see
how the leg is doing...

and, oooohhh yes..this too ;)))
the Grinder Shop doesn't open til 11:30 .

Our main meal today at noon  will be Genoa Salami Grinders
(affectionately known in our household as "Jennies")
with potato chips...easy delicious meal...
Which we will have earned with our walk (at least that's what I say..hahaha)
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                                        POMEGRANATES IN THE RAIN...
                                                          PROGRESS

I have MADE IT  to the first of the four corner blocks...line by S L O W line...
this will be my first finish for 2019 I  HOPE
...fingers and toes crossed ..;)))
I love this piece and look forward to binding it...
Linking up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching today for the 1st time in a while
YAY
Hugs,
Julierose, La blageuse (forging ahead-euse in 2019)

WINTER BUTTERFLY and ROSES

                                                         Terri (click to visit her)
sent me this lovely paper pieced butterfly as her giveaway  winner.
THANK YOU SO MUCH, TERRI, I JUST LOVE IT 
I would like to learn paper piecing this coming year...so many pretty blocks....
AND 
I have put the first set of borders around it ;
and will be playing off of that small bit of orange
on its body...
I've put up some trial fabrics to see what I may do...

.

We'll see how these go (or not)....I love that flowery one...a lot.....

AND
somehow, in my mind (those strange corridors with so many doors..lol) it goes with
this:as perhaps for the reverse side...

                       the leftovers of my Geisha Prints for a Springlike setting and
                                               also not finished ....
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Here is another project that I want to continue to work on...I don't recall just what I had
in mind even...but I found it wrapped in the above piece...it fell in my lap and
called my name....;))))

                     
AND
I found (yay-- after a LOT of searching)
some more of that Geisha Faces fabric you see above on Etsy
and plan to make some more of these little arcs in the NEW YEAR
(my gosh!! 2019--just imagine!!) .

*************************************************
My Winter Roses are really coming together--to me this is looking like a Renaissance painting...

Here you can see the sparkle of the little drills:

Each one is carefully placed and sticks to the stickified (is that a word, no? Well it should be haha)
canvas....

such lovely colors

I am so loving this craft....it has definitely become one of my
                                                 <<<<<<<<<FAVORITE THINGS>>>>>

("When the bee stings, when the bug bites, and I'm feeling blue,
I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so bad.." apologies for
the paraphrasing. lol)..
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On the Holiday scene, I got gifts for Willa and Fi today and finished my gifts to be mailed out
around the 10th...
AND
I hope you are all giving yourselves some quiet time during this busy
Holiday Season...I am settling myself down to read for at least one hour a day...

My latest gem is:
"Divind Inspiration" by Jane Langton...
isn't the title just PERFECT for this time of year?
And it is such a great, fun read..
.her detective, Homer Kelly, is so funny and
likeable...
I highly recommend this entire series...
I just finished "Dark Nantucket Moon" by her--also amazing..
If you got to the end of this VERY WORDY post of mine....

I COMMEND YOU 💓💕💚;)))

hugs, Julierose (DP-euse).