IRIS WEATHER

                          On this foggy morning my favorite iris just glowed .......

And.....even more blooms are emerging...they appear fluorescent in the morning light...

and right next to them are these Japanese iris .....

Violet iris grow on the side of my garage off of our tv room...along with the 
white that just appeared for the first time this year.....

such a glorious pure white...so sparkling in the early morning light....
I am hoping to acquire more iris this year to add to this flowering heaven.....

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and our little blue spruce is showing new growth this year, too...
I guess spring is really come at long last....

hugs Julierose, La Blageuse 
(relaxing in my garden-euse)

READING, QUILTING, GARDENING

                                                    HELLO, KITTY;))) & Peeps ;)))

I want to make each of my two little grandgirls one of these in pixilated form--using 1" squares...
Cute Kitty...this is on my list --maybe for Christmas shhhh..... We'll see.
But, I digress (again!!)
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Now for what I am currently reading:

One of my very favorite authors is Rosamunde Pilcher--
and I just got her  "Coming Home".
I really love her writing style; and she pens a good, long 
book to get lost in... 
{my paperback copy is 977 ppgs long...YAY!!}

I read her "Shell Seekers" before and instantly fell in love with her
storytelling-- the kind of story where you really want to know what happens
to the characters and hate it when it ends....

I usually read British mysteries (actually I devour them so fast that I cannot
seem to find anymore-- and have re-read all of the ones
I own more than once!!). 

So,
I am now waiting for Ellie Griffiths'  "Ruth series"  next book and also Ann Cleeves' Shetland Series...to come out in paperback---

Meantime, this is a nice change for me; and, I see that Pilcher has written a lot of novels...(doing my happy dance)--
I love it when I see a whole range of books ahead of me...
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On the quilting front:

I have finished quilting Oasis and trimmed it up ready for binding which I cut this morning...as you can see, I just did a wavey line--and I really like
how it came out...[it is such a gorgeous breezy day here at last!!]

Here is the back--I used Moonshine by "Free Spirit" fabrics...

In my usual Christmas-type holiday reverse style...
I love the colors in this one...
I had it on hand in my backing box...another serendipitous event!!

I am hand quilting my 4th Dresden right now--I usually work on them in the evenings while watching the Red Sox.

and look what came out with all of our rain:

My Bleeding Hearts--a gift of two tiny sprigs last Autumn from my gardening
friend Jean...hasn't it just taken well??? So old fashioned and so lovely, thank you Jean B.  

And my lettuce has really been moving along--even just in this pot on my deck:

Two yummy varieties...I will take selective cuttings for our sandwiches and
salads and hope they will continue to grow throughout the summer...

I also planted some saved marigold seed from last year in front and I found a
packet of Aster seeds that I hope wintered over in my back fridge...
Little by little I am getting into my Spring mode--now to move all my long
sleeved shirts to the back and bring forth the short ones...

Tonight I am making American Chop Suey for dinner with a small side
salad for us both...
hugs from sunny, warm (at least for now) SE CT  a blessing of a day...
Julierose, La Blageuse

P.S. Bonnie Hunter (at Quiltville) is doing a Snowball 9-patch BUT,  her snowballs are string pieced--be still my heart--I may have to do one of those..I love how hers is looking with blue/yellows and neutrals...I just watched her quilt cam--love her and her stuff...take a visit to be inspired...;)))

SUNDAY SAMPLER

My Santolina and daffodils are finally blooming.....Spring has come at long last.

I love those two colors together...windy this afternoon and to see the daffs dancing with the blue/grey santolina is such a treat!

this is the herb bed that my darling DH dug for me this morning--

This is to the left of my front door as you walk in; right now I have some small azaleas which I transplanted in the Fall and six lilies just beginning to poke up.  I want to grow basil, French Tarragon, and Parsley--- and put a small border of some kind of low growing shrub along the grass edge. We just had the patio paved late last summer--so it is a work in progress.

here are a few shots of my roses (behind the long ledge rock where the daffs and santolina are...)

I hope this means that they will be happy here and take hold--they were moved (by DH again--what a job!) last Fall;

You can see that the canes are pretty old--but they are still throwing out some buds--i had
no idea if they would survive as they were pretty large when we moved them.  I pruned
them back hard and kept my fingers crossed.

can you just make out those little red points?  all on old hardwood, too...

love this 

My vest is coming along--I LOVE this pattern....kind of like a wishbone shape...

Measuring about 9.5" so far.  It is 14.5" to underarm when I have to divide and work each side separately....I am enjoying working on this while watching the Red Sox....

I had my piano tuned and am working on bringing this back into my fingers....one of my very favorite Chopin Nocturnes (op 32 no. 1).....just a few minutes a day...taking it slowly to keep from hurting my Left Hand again.....

I have also begun machine quilting Le Surprise quilt...did 3 rows today before my shoulder began
to complain.  More on that tomorrow......

I made my chicken and rice casserole for dinner tonight--so I'll just pop'er into the oven at 4 pm and I can sit and knit this afternoon...

Hope your Sunday is a good one....hugs,
Julierose La blageuse jardin-euse....