About Me

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Shoreline, CT, United States
I would love for you to join me (a retired senior)in my zany crafting adventures with quilting (waaaaay too much fabric); scrapbooking (will I ever catch up?); redwork; counted cross stitch; crossword puzzles; reading; and cooking.

Friday, May 1, 2015

SPRING FLING


A work in progress--we planted (actually who am i kidding?--DH planted)  our little Japanese Maple and the two little Mungo Pines....and the rocks.  We both spread the mulch this afternoon.  The wind off the water here is still pretty chilly, but all this activity does warm you up!! Just being outside is so wonderful!!


And, yes!!, here's my little "Always Afternoon" daylily coming out to soak up the sun.....

When my back started complaining I stood and drank in this lovely scene:


I think although those sparkly yellow daffs are lovely, I really love those salmon hearted ones best....maybe.....

The weather forecast here is for a warming trend beginning tomorrow; DH will extend the bed around our rock to enclose my three roses (names unknown: anonymous roses...we'll have to see what colors they come out) . And then we'll spread more mulch....off-dah!

I think a lil glass of vino is in order this evening.....feet up, a little music, followed by a roast chicken dinner.  Ahhhh, what could be better.....
Hugs to you all on this lovely day,
Julierose, La Blageuse Garden-euse



Wednesday, April 29, 2015

WEDNESDAY WORKS & THANGS


HELGA GOT A COMPLETE CLEANING THIS MORNING. 

 Not being mechanically minded, this is something I always put off doing!  (Bad girl!!) .;-000 

I mean after quilting the "surprise quilt" on every (stinkin') seam--there was an amazing amount of dust and lint in there! 

 The hardest thing was replacing her bobbin case correctly--each time I tried to pull up the bobbin thread, the top thread kept getting caught on the case!!  Yikes!!

 I FINALLY figured it out... (phew) 
plus:  it is totally necessary to use my left hand (the injured one) to do everything.  (OKAY I'm through whining!! ) DONE FOR A WHILE.....;--)) )) yay!!!

I also wound up 15 bobbins. 

Then I made this :



                          The scrappy binding for someone's surprise....

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You will notice a new gadget on my sidebar called "Postage Stamps" ; I have joined that group and as I am a "newbie" I will be getting free sets of 50 (2.5") squares in the mail from all over the world!! You can find more info on this group at The Curious Quilter.  I am really excited to embark on this quilting journey.  


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Miss Spring has brought a few hours of warmth here to our home...we were able to
sit out on the deck for an hour before the cold winds came rushing through once again.

She hangs on my quilting room wall--a harbinger of warmer weather to come....

********************************************************************** DH took me out for breakfast this morning: not a diet one either: a egg, toast, bacon and
homefries with great coffee....tonight will be his homemade Beef Barley Soup...
I think I'll keep him (LOL) ;-)))

Hugs 
Julierose, La Blageuse 

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

TUESDAY'S MAIL: A NEW READ


It has finally arrived!!          Sherri Lynn Wood's new Book:
                         THE IMPROV HANDBOOK FOR MODERN QUILTERS....
                    
 I am so excited!




 ( I have been a follower of DAINTYTIME (her blog) for a long time--AND..................
in fact:     my snakies are a result of one of her tutorials....I can hear them even now.....
hisssssing in antisssipation of being finally incorporated in their own ssssspecial sssssetting....lol)
                                              

After just reading a few pages I am already enthralled and engrossed...
.
Could even I be original? Creative? Perhaps even innovative in my work?

plus:+

it just sounds like fun.....;-))) No rulers, no templates....no hard and fast "shoulds".

I can see working my way through this for sure...I already have an idea to add to my 
RSC15  blocks forming.....

I like the idea of working freely and then having another stricter work going on. How one 
could "feed" the other....because I love beautifully planned quilts as well as innovative  art quilts....kind of like working on both Bach and Debussy at my piano....

More to fun come...hugs 
Julierose, La Blageuse 

Sunday, April 26, 2015

SUNDAY MORNING CATCH UP

(HAVING ONE TATW CUT OUT................I NEEDED TO CATCH-UP ON JAN-MAR FOR RSC COLORS....)

Here are my blue, pink and yellow TATW so far....just pinned up, waiting to be sewn...






















BLUES




and here is my favorite  fabric
below












Really love this type of old print....it looks worn....

YELLOWS bring out the Geisha in me ;-))) lol:


She is surrounded by good luck crows eating the cherries from her trees....
I guess i cannot get away from all these novelty prints that call my name.....

and FINALLY................ PINKS block.....

Again the center is a VERY old print...just managed to get one 2.5" square out of it..

THINK THIS MAY BE THE VERY COLOR OF MY VEST THAT I AM KNITTING!!!



This morning GO!BABY and i had a  FUN cut-a-thon...;--)))

I am going to machine sew these in rows (I think) as my first foray into hand piecing these was not too encouraging--
the seam crossings and flip-flopping to check if seams are aligned made me frustrated--and my failing eyesight didn't help. 
 Then I thought --well maybe EPP--
but the seam allowances were too small for my FAT  (piano)  fingers--so HELGA TO THE RESCUE.....
                                     
                                                       LIVE AND LEARN

I am thinking white-on-white surround for the final rows--I will wait until our RSC year has finished to make that decision  ...

Sewing rows  postage stamp style will be my next trial.....

hugs, from 
Julierose, La Blaguese (square-euse) 

Saturday, April 25, 2015

PURPLE JOURNEY

My first TAW (Trip Around the World) block is cut and set up for slow hand stitching
tomorrow.....(these are some leftover fabrics from a certain "surprise quilt" that I am now in process of machine quilting).  My sewing area is set up for machine quilting so I thought
I'd give hand piecing a try....


My little "Flower" friend wanted to come along for the trip....

Hugs on this sunny Saturday--to see more journeys hook up with SUPER SCRAPPY
Julierose, La blageuse Hand Piece-euse

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

JOUZAI JOURNEY BEGINS


My design wall has been taken over by the Geishas; I have another batch of lozenges ("Jouzai") to be finished yet but I wanted to set some up to see how they would work----

I had first just put them up with no definite scheme, but moved my ladies to the center as a focal point. 
.
Note:
 [ I had to remove my snakies as the ladies  got the "heebie-jeebies" hearing their hissing. ]


They are used to serenity......under the cherry blossoms amid  the soft bamboo.

Hugs from the Japanese Garden
Julierose, La blageuse (lozenge-euse) 
P.S.  Still machine quilting Le Surprise quilt--- but (sigh) hurt my back yesterday, so no quilting today.

Sunday, April 19, 2015

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....