IT'S A START...

                                                      "Terri's Butterfly Garden"
                  Hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse (hand quilting-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????:)))

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

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)

RAINY DAY WORK

My version of Angela's Tiny Tuesday Block --isn't this just the cutest string
umbrella--I could not resist since I am making Spring Strings anyway.

I used the same paper blocks [5"] that I have been
using for my Spring Strings and my bountiful leftovers...
And a new piece is born--
{squirrelly moi--drop everything and do it}.
I think I will try to make a small scrappy rainbow of umbrellas..
what fun!!;))
*******************************

Here is the secret project I made for my blog friend, DAWN at [click]
for her birthday today and in memory of her little kitty, Phoebe, 
who passed away ......;(((( 

                            HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAWN.....;)))

I only hand quilted the white area around Phoebe..

Here is the reverse using the last of my favorite fabric--lower left is
a woman quilting, right is a man fishing, and at the  top is a lovely
old-fashioned home....

isn't that just scrumptious?

I hope that this little piece will bring warm memories to Dawn and Rich....
of their beloved Phoebe............💙💙💙💔
****************************************************************
My Spring String blocks are mounting up at two/day.........

                                                    A rainbow of OJOS.
This Spring String piece is not as planned as my other pieces--
I am pulling haphazard pieces out of my mash-up of leftovers....
so a true scrappy one... 
AND...........
I have a lot more strings leftover----
 OH! ..............................and those little triangles 
[that began their lives to become broken dishes--but no matter 
how I tried ;((((  when I sewed them together 
they came out all "skewgey"]
have just morphed into perfect little corners 
for my Ojos work..PERFECT!!

Hugs from STILL COLD CT
Julierose, La blageuse (stringing-euse)

EENEY, MEENEY, MINEY, MO

                      And I choose ....Y O U...the biggest at 52" square...
So, ironed, measured 3 times (and then began diving into my
stash)  
I came up with this lovely panel I had purchased years ago....

                             A Renaissance Mother and Child....
                                     for the back center
Ironed that and then went back into my stash.........

                surfaced with this old lovely fabric that just seems to be
                 perfect for bordering the sides of Milady....
tore that (I like to tear large pieces not cut with rotary--i feel it's 
straighter...)and ironed those pieces  ....
                            and I had just enough to sew on either side...
THEN:
I sewed them on...ouchey--my shoulders and back
let me know enough already for today...of hauling big pieces of fabric
around....

BUT I at least chose the top/bottom borders, cut this time and..
IRONED (sigh) and then sewed them together...to make the right width

                       Another lovely yellow flowered print...

Tomorrow I will sew those borders on and then the back will be ready for
layering...
I ordered batting from Connecting Threads
 [on sale $16.99 per Queen size  lightweight battings]--
I purchased two.....and as soon as it comes in I
will layer this one and pin baste and decide whether 
to tie, or machine quilt or do a bit of both....

AND, 
         VOILA!! 
all of a sudden, I am a lot happier with this 
                          Dancing Postage Stamp quilt.. 
                                 This will make a generous lap quilt.
*************************************
I also did two loads of laundry (with folding) and made these lovlies
for the upcoming weekend noshing....

                         I think I deserve one, don't you?  ;*)))
***************************************************
Meanwhile Thom is putting together a new file cabinet that came in
A-GAZILLION pieces...

 I don't know how he can do this--I  am not able to do those things
at all--
I am even vacuum challenged...lol
And...............
I am hearing a "colorful bit" of language, too-- %^&*#@!!
 hahaha

hugs from our busy home this morning...

Julierose, La Blageuse (backing-euse)

THREE FLIMSIES, ET AL

                                 Snowballs--ready to be layered...

                 An older "I Spy" ready also:

                                      with funky borders added....

                    A super (Really) older "I Spy"   also ready....

                                     With kitties, birds and butterflies

                                     flag, owl  and saiboat and
                                        Winter birches...

So, I am hoping to take one per month for April, May and June:
sew backings, cut battings, layer and pin baste them ready for
quilting....i now have to decide which one to tackle first...

They are all pretty big to handle...I am hoping to use my older fabrics
on the backs...to make more room for the newer Fabrics  I've caved in and
bought recently....;000

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

                  I've begun hand quilting using  No. 8 Perenscia thread 
                                      in the palest of pinks....

                                        Night Moves...;)))

The circles look like this on the back....pretty cool, I think...certainly not perfect
stitching, but definitely looking handmade....

*******************************************
We will be having new carpeting installed the end of April which involves 
having my Grand Piano moved by piano movers the day before and moved
back in the day after...

My Father bought the piano in 1950 from Hartford's
Goss Piano Co; it was a Tanglewood Baldwin--
he decided that we had to have a "real"
 piano in lieu of a new car at that time...
he often joked about  sitting down
to "drive" the Baldwin in the evenings after dinner....

He even took lessons along with me to encourage 
my playing...we did a lot of duets together...
what fun we had...
and every time we had company he would
sit down and play tunes by ear and my Mom would
sing--if a house had a piano it was a party when he
appeared....;))))

Lots of memories in my piano...
Thom says I should
write a story about its journies...
And it really would be the story of my life--

I will leave you on that final "note"...💞🎶🎹

hugs, Julierose, La blageuse (quilting with memories-euse)

HAPPY MAIL

                   
                            LOOK WHAT CAME IN THE MAIL YESTERDAY
                                           DAWN and Jacky (no blog)
sent me this Happy Easter and
                                         Happy Eyes present....

Just look at that cute bunny tin--I use these to store small projects--
after scoffing down those chocs hahaha.
AND:

Hahaha very
funny gals....

                                     "I PADS" with a googley eye;
                                     AND an eye mask..... AND AN
                                      EYEGLASS CASE....
WAIT............
There's more fun stuff....

                                    Peeps (yuck yuck!!) and an
                                      Owl eye mug rug...

Tissues to mop up
those pesky eye drops..







And this cute handwritten poem:

                                       what fun

Note the aliases:  Dawn="Ima Watchin"
And Jacky: "Seymour Betta..."
What a Hoot--;)))) 
Thom and I had some good chuckles 
[and groans!] opening this basket during cocktail hour yesterday....

                 💕💕💕        THANK YOU BOTH         💕💕💕
              so much for brightening up my day--so thoughtful....

Hugsx2 Julierose, La Blageuse (wiping the tears from mine eyes-euse)

TWO A DAY

                                          SPRING STRINGS 
I am doing 2 per day for April....I find that each two take about
one  to one and 1/2 hours-- between getting up to iron each seam and choosing from the leftovers...

[they are time consuming, but I only have one paper seam to rip off 
as I fold the papers back before sewing, using the paper just to 
measure each strip length...]

Right now I am trying to incorporate the "blues" leftover from Snowballs and
those mauves and/or purples from Stone Soup -- am trying not to 
"dither about "too much in my choices...

AND
I want to use more of that yellow-blue mottled fabric that I hand dyed (in another lifetime--a Summer long ago when my daughter was into tie dying 
in our backyard....fond memories of tee shirts and such)--
I think it lightens the whole shebang up a lot...

I haven't sewn these together as yet so I may be shuffling them about
(ya think? but that way may lead to utter madness...;000
what am I --crazee???).

********************************************
I just finished and mailed out that secret project this morning--I had started it
in January but then the EYES happened--so was happy to get this one done
and mailed out...
I will post a picture  (and, of course, a story--wordy moi!!) 
once my friend receives it...

******'********************************
It's not June in January" here-- it's JANUARY in APRIL!!

Constant wind right off Long Island Sound; so C O L D!!!

I did my exercise inside on my recumbent bike this morning after our
foray to Big Y to pick up a few items...
Thom is making his sauce for
our supper tonight and we needed plum tomatoes..
I cooked yesterday,
so he's taken over that today..
and tomorrow we will have the leftover 
chicken and rice...so two days with no thinking of a menu 
or cooking for me...
so
more sewing time and reading and diamond painting...AND
speaking of THAT --
I can SEE to diamond paint once again...;)))

Here's:                                 My Little Christmas Girl

She's bringing a basket of goodies to a neighbor for the holidays...;))))
So cute...

Hugs to you all
Julierose, La Blageuse...(stringing along-euse)