WEAVING A WALL

It appears that I have woven a wall:

I now am working on my 18th (!!) of 20 blocks ...it just happened--I LOVE, love, love this new method--all by hand:  pre-washing all fabrics, tearing strips,
hand weaving them, pinning them and then best of all--voila !: hand basting them in place during our long, summer evenings either out on our deck or watching tv.  Works for me. 

Supris, supris!!  At first I looked at them and thought:--this looks like old rags --but now I am seeing applique possibilities and cut out spaces for moons, stars, hearts...

Here's a close-up of a little woven block within the weave...I have no idea where this will take me...no pattern at all...just 20 (fifteen +/- ") blocks tobe sewn into a Winter quilt for myself...

I have used scraps only.  Now THAT makes me feel virtuous...(but not too much so--I'll have to wait and see how it turns out, non?).  Gosh, I love taking classes and learning new things.

Here is one of my fave pix from this past weekend....

My son Jeff (proud Daddy) ad my adorable Fiona --bedtime for baby....

My poor back is finally calming down from its spasms...I can actually walk w/o shuffling today---yay!! As tomorrow I am set to go to my daughter's to babysit for her four.  Busy days,--I am surely blessed with my family so close around me....Til next time, I am (thankfully) yours avec amities---JULIEROSE, LA BLAGEUSE, GRAND'MERE,,,,

BEACH DAYS--

Here's what we've been up to:

It is just soooo hot--and Fiona L-O-V-E-s her "big bath"

Don't you just love that hat????

My son, Jeff, Lindsay and Fi at our beach...

Fun days, Sun days....

(Very little quilting going on)

Happy Family times.....

Avec amities, Julierose, La Blageuse, Grand'mere

COOLING THERAPY/ Bits & Bobs

Handworks:

These are three of my weaving blocks from Jude Hill's video class --all hand work, with ragged edges.  I do these in the evenings watching my Red Sox......

HERE IS MY MACHINE WORK-IN-PROGRESS on my "Doggie Bones" a/k/a Bowties:

Thank heavens for our AC:  I am esconced just by  my front window in my sewing spot, right here:

My trusty LARGE tea mug, my little bunny holding bobbins, and a small box that my Dad made years ago for me.....

I have finally finished the quilting on the "Spiders: Dans Le Jardin"--will post pix when I get it bound; a few other things on the back burner----

AND, TRUE CONFESSIONS TIME:
I broke my promise to myself to not buy ANYMORE fabric--BUT--loving novelty fabrics as I do, I was totally SMITTEN by some Michael Miller Paris prints--I have never been to Paris, City of Light, sooooo--this will replace that trip--and, it IS much cheaper, non? (hhe heh) 

Do I know exactly what I am going to do with them?????--ahhh, no.   But....your see:  they made my brain go into overdrive & my heart go Pitty-pat! ---I'll post pix of them  when they arrive.. ("Mea Culpa....").......
KEEP COOL, ladies....Julierose, La Blageuse

SILENT (almost!) SATURDAY-INTO THE WOODS EDITION

                                                  {Crocheted edging from my Grand'mere --}

Julierose,  La Blageuse

Blues-ey Needs a Back

I am taking Jude's online "Weaving" Cloth to Cloth workshop as my treat (I love learning new things s l o w l y --and this is "at your own pace") for the Summer (actually, probably for the most of this year...as I intend to handsew):

Here are the first three 15" blocks that I wove this morning:

A lot of these fabrics are old ones and others that I had dyed years ago and have just re-discovered packed away in my old sewing basket.  What fun!!  I love how quiet and peace (piece--heheh)-ful this work is....

I plan to use these as the reverse of "Blues-ey" for my Winter quilt....I need a break from hustle-bustling for a while....

Still handquilting Spiders every evening --fueled by the Red Sox and their woes....
Have a wonderful weekend.....Julierose, La Blageuse

D-DAY-68 years ago....A Reminiscence

I usually visit Mom in her nursing home every Wednesday. Some days are better than others; she is 92 and ""with us,& not so much sometimes"....

 Today we recalled D-Day memories--she was "with it" for a while..., enough so that we could recall together--those golden days......Little memories, like shards of shiney glass sparked between us for a while..
.how Dad used to bring her coffee in bed before leaving for work most days...I would have climbed into bed with her --I was just one year old then...and he would bring me my own special "cafe au lait"--mostly milk, in my own special blue glass demitasse (I can see it still, his handing it to me in its little saucer) and Mom and I would sip our morning drinks together--very serious business this.

 My Uncle Julian, her brother, and my godfather, was away at war...so...she taught me how to say "Okinowa" and Iwo Jima"...some of the first words I mastered....I was named after mon oncle Julian and my Grand'mere Rose's  mother who also was "Julie"--not Julia--very important this also...we only spoke french in our house--I still sometimes dream in french...and so  here I am "Julierose"....

We remembered that one of Dad's carpenter brothers made me a big sandbox under our backyard "Catalpa" tree--I don't see those anymore...I would sit and play for hours in its shade with the sifters and pails...while Mom hung out the wash and talked with our neighbors who came from Wales...and mon onlcle Joe hung  a big swing on two cedar poles...I used to peel the bark off of them and swing so high.......why do I remember these things and not others--it is a mystery, this mind we have....

This was a very good day for us....How can you be sad and glad at the same time?

I came home soon after she was "gone away" again into that special world of hers were I cannot follow....

Came home and sewed and sewed....Julierose, La Blageuse

One of those Weeks/July 4th

Haven't posted as we were "hi-jacked" and couldn't get to our browser...what a nightmare--then, our modem went ka-flooey---at any rate.  I just have been quilting the spiders (yawn) and I bound Scotties....nothing else to report...just that I think we are too dependent on our computers...

This is where we will be for July 4th this year in RI--the guys are "The Eastover Reunion Band"--my Tommy (far right on clarinet) and the other guys all played together at a Berkshire, Ma  resort in the early 60's-(-that's 1960!!--Tommy and I were in music college then)--and now they have re-united to play together.  We wives and "significant others" are underneath a lovely awning sippin' wine....we are "fingers crossed" for good weather this year......have a great rest of your Sunday..
.Julierose, La Blageuse