TIED,QUILTED AND GIFTED

                                                                      VENETZIA
Ready for binding....

                                 A Memory quilt of our Trip to Italy,,,

                                          Here is the back --I just love this fabric...
                                           So evocative.....


And
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          An early birthday present from my DDH (dear darling hubster);)))
A Magnolia tree....

Aren't the flowers just beautiful??  I have always wanted one...and this is a hybrid
that is a late bloomer to avoid the frost--uh...good thing as our Winters
are getting longer and longer it seems....

And while we are on the birthday front....
How lucky am I....
Look what came in the mail...........

these goodies from my 




sweet friend, DAWNIE


One of them is all nice and
"Squishy"....hmmmm



Can I really wait til Saturday to open them....?????

NO WAY JOSE!!

OH LOOK....
                   A sewing machine mat with pockets across the front--how wonderful is that...

And a lovely set of notecards....

Aren't they pretty???

                                                      THANK YOU SO MUCH DAWN--
                                                               you really made my day

And I will leave you with this (disturbing?? maybe--no funny) visual
Her card....

                                                                STILL  GETTIN' DOWN
                                                             AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!!
                                                                            ;}}}}}}}
                                                             [GOTTA LOVE THOSE SHOES]

HUGS, Julierose, La blageuse (jiving-euse)

GRAY AND CRUMBY SUNDAY

Even my daffodils, it seems are sad with this continuing gray weather....

I love this variety....
and

This IS lovely too.....

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I have embarked on a "Crumby" adventure--my scraps are overtaking my storage
...so

Here are the beginnings of my journey...in blues, yellows and oranges...
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And here is my little liberated basket piece I am trying to get to go together...

I have a few extra snippets that I machine appliqued on...

an Apple a day............

little leaf

                                                                     A Lovely pear













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                               and this gal flew by to take a look...still tying away
                                                          on "VENETZIA"
                        using different colored ties on the butterflies and ecru on the quilt .....

*AND.................                                  *********************
Sunday supper is leftover Chicken and Rice casserole from yesterday....

The usual round of laundry, stretches and walking finishes my Sunday round--and
a Red Sox game later on....
Happy Sunday
Julierose, La Blageuse 

HEXAGONIA HERE I COME

Since I won't be able to hand sew hexagons anymore, I have decided to use all my
rosettes as as appliques for some table runners...(added: joining with Sarah
on her hexagon linky)

These fabrics are from 1989!!  I used to work on these when we would spend
 long Summer afternoons at Harkness State Park relaxing and taking in the
lovely ocean views and cooling breezes...

I have a lot of rosettes with varying numbers of rounds left over from 
a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt I had planned..

these three





all have a white 






surround

And I used Helga to applique them

As it is white on white fabric I thought this stitching with pure white thread would
look good....

I am trying to figure out how to utilize all those stitches on my machine as I can no
longer hand quilt either...my hand problems just won't allow it...

Everything comes and goes in cycles in life........

and I am really surprisingly thrilled {;-))}
at how nicely this stitching came out...

So, I will be reading up on machine applique and trying to refine my almost
 non-existent skills...
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The sun is trying to break through these low, gray clouds here today and our daffodils
are finally emerging...Spring has finally sprung here----I think???!!

Hugs to you all
Julierose, La Blageuse (in the meantime also tying Venetzia-euse )

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....

************************************
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
******************************************
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)

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....

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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).

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

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)

FINALLY FLIMSY

                                    And so, my butterflies are soaring over "VENETZIA"   ;)))

hugs,
Julierose, La Blageuse

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...).

******************************************************************
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)

CIRCLING BUTTERFLIES

THE first row of my circles added to the sashings....

three more to go.. my accuquilt Go! Baby circle cutter really is great--
I love cutting my x-tra index cards into circles and then using the starch and iron method around them ....

on the left is a possibility for the side border--but I don't know--- kind of same old, same old and bland...we'll see what else I can come up with....

Oh.............. still not perfect, but better..
I love this fabric--and why didn't I get a yard of it?? ;(((

*****************************************
Today, Thom and I took a ride and found this lovely tree to add to our front yard...
A Colorado "Baby Blue" Spruce...I love the shape and color...

We added it along our paved sidewalk leading to our front door... and what's nice is that 

it echoes the

blue spruce we have along the front of our house....

I just love this color--and am imagining how beautiful it will look when the ground is covered  with snow....and perhaps a few little wind chimes...
hanging from the branches....
("Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...")

hugs,
Julierose, La Blageuse (circling-euse)