MUTE MONDAY (almost)

                                                      ↑↑↑↑ Journal extract... 
                                 
                                         I am a bit "under the weather"

                                  Be back in a few days.....

Hugs to all from afar, Julierose, La Blageuse 

FRANKEN-QUILTING

                      Going to be hand quilting my Franken Christmas quilt

          The stitches don't show as much on the Christmas Doggy print,
                          but show up beautifully on
                                                the Franken blocks...

I am out on our deck this morning; and I am glad of the quilt on my lap
                             as it is a bit  on the chilly side with the sun
                                                         going in and out.....

                                                        Here is a Sunny picture.....
                                                   { I just 💓 that Lady print }

I will be quilting along the vertical seam lines --
one line of stitching on the doggy print,
and one right next to it on the franken blocks....

I hope your Saturday is a good one...
Stay safe👋👵

Julierose (La Blageuse) Franken-quilting-euse)

ALTERED BOOK JOURNAL

                                       I altered this old cookbook to become my
                                           next few  months'
                                                                 Planner/Journal..
I removed at least 2/3rds of the pages and then glued two pages together throughout
for strength.

The front inner cover has a pocket I made to house two pens (black and white inks)
and some papers ....

Here are a sampling of some altered pages:  In this one I am tearing papers from
magazines, deli papers, and my dried teabag holders also....

I am leaving the original
illustrations for food
throughout as they are in
such beautiful colors....
and I can write around them..

                                     I am collaging throughout these pages; and I
                                      will be doodling,
                                                    writing thoughts,
                                                              and ideas for future projects....
I've set up my months like this:

                                  HERE IS:   ↥↥↥    J U L Y 's calendar....to be filled in...

AND below....
A sampling of how I can write on collaged papers ⇊⇊⇊

                            Using illustrations from many magazines, old books,
                                     as well as  fabric scraps here and there;
                                          on some pages I will be using
                                                 Gesso and then watercolor washes.....

 The TORN edges mirror my feelings and thoughts
about our world in these difficult days.....just writing in my normal
Franklin is not enough for now....
***********************************************

I hope you are finding some outlets for your emotions --I find that this kind of
solitary work and writing {along with my sewing} helps me to deal with all of this....
What kind of a world are we in?????


Hugs from Afar
Julierose, La Blageuse (Art-journaling-euse)

FINALLY, A FINISH

                                         "4TH of July Baskets"  is finished....
                                    All hand quilted; binding by
                                      machine....
And...........

I decided that it needed my Grand-mere's old buttons 
that I
inherited...
45 buttons in all
                         ↴↴↴↴

                     This one has a lot of Lizzy's  fabrics on it...
                                    thanks so much Lizzy;)))

                          The back has cute little ducks on it from an
                                  Old Layer Cake...

                  I like the mix of my husband's old shirts and pj's--
                           and the flowered fabrics....

                       I am happy with this outcome....;)))

All I have left to do now are the hanging straps 
(from leftover binding strip)and the label....
and she will be ready
        to hang for July 4th..;)))

*********************************
Now to make the binding for my SIL's Zig Zag--I will be working on that
this week......
Stay safe
Hugs from afar, Julierose, La Blageuse (doing-my-happy-dance-euse)

CORNERSTONES, et al

  I spent my morning sewing the long rows of cornerstone sashings and
                               then attaching them to four rows.  
                                     AND: I am loving the "look"; 
                  and I really liked having those match points 
                          across those long sashing rows...

Mostly they matched up really well, a few were off by a bit...but for my
first attempt I am happy with how they look ;)))

NOW:   I have run out of the taupe grunge fabric totally...so my
top,bottom, and side borders will have to be a different fabric 
again...totally but totally scrappy here...;000

I know i could purchase some more of the taupe online, but I
want to use my stash on hand...I will have to see what will 
work.
**********************
I made my chicken/rice casserole for our dinner tonight which will
not only be good, but we will have enough leftover for Monday's meal..
I also made a lovely banana bread in my Oster bread machine...
I tell you that machine is 25 years old and still works a dream...
Cooling on my counter⇓⇓⇓

                                     ;((( still too hot to cut yet ;((((
                            Soon Tom, soon----- hahahaha

Stay safe on this lovely first Saturday in June

Julierose, La Blageuse (busy-as-a-bee-euse

BLOOMS AND BUTTERFLIES, ET AL

                      My favorite Iris finally bloomed in our light rain last night..
                   Just love all those ruffle-y bits...and that tinge of yellow..

                       My Japanese Iris are also coming out:

                  And they are quite a different shade of purple-y blue
                                             aren't they???
Here they are juxtaposed ;you can see the two distinct
shades here         ↴↴↴↴

                                                     ;)))) 
I love those little yellow, thin bud wrappings--like tissue papers...

                And:      Tah-Dah- my one peony BLOOMED
                                   looking like vanilla ice cream....
                                                     !yum!

And here is one of my embroidered butterflies to accompany
the flowers..:

 I was out on our deck yesterday working on finishing 
                                this one's
                                      black outlines...
******************************

I finished adding the right side sashes to my BAD project ⇊⇊⇊

   I chose a Moda Basics Grunge in a taupe with gold shots...

Below is a close up of one of my favorite blocks↡↡↡

         This fabric seemed to blend with all the blocks pretty well..

So I cut the rest of the sashings and cornerstones...↴↴↴↴

        the cornerstones  is another Moda Grunge-y one in a pink....
                              
I have never done cornerstones before, so this will be a challenge
putting it all together for me....[fingers crossed]

Today I  sewed the blocks in their final layout rows 
to prepare for tomorrow's cornerstone rows: ↡↡↡

                 Can you find the block I made a mistake on????? 

Somehow, I mis-measured and made it too small...probably on a 
day that i was feeling especially low....;0000
                                         [Hint: it was on the May 24th...]
*****************************
I will end here with my lovely Rhodie all  in bloom⇟⇟⇟⇟

             That pink-y violet is a lot more intense in real life; 
                           Our gray skies here today
                                  have toned it down a lot....

We had replanted this on the 
front left corner of our house two years ago 
and then wondered if it would
even "take"-- it had gotten pretty big for transplanting...
Last year we had no blooms and it had 
yellowed, wilting
leaves...
                               Quite a comeback!!;)))

**********************************
Tonight we will eat my homemade minnestrone soup 
{this time I added some Cannellini beans to the mix} 
and garlic bread...
I hope you are all staying safe 
Difficult times....
Julierose, La Blageuse (staying busy-euse)

HQ BASKETS

             I have begun hand quilting (HQ) my "4th of July Baskets" ;

We were able to sit out on our deck 
this afternoon for a while....  

                 Thom power washed our Subaru ; and I got everything 
                                 ready on my little side table.
                        I took short breaks to read a bit 
                                      and rest my hands....

I have found myself getting anxious lately--
feeling like the whole world
has been turned upside-down
and, sadly, it has.;000

Hand quilting just calms me down.
  
I am so happy to have this project now to work on; 
I made the decision to hand quilt my baskets;
and I just LOVE how the  the teacup (redwhite) fabric looks when
big stitched.  It just takes quilting stitches beautifully! 
It is a softer than usual fabric so the stitches just snuggle in there.

                Boy oh boy, for my money there is nothing like the 
                   "look" of hand quilting...

I am working the two long seams first and then will do the crossways
ones before I decide just how much quilting I will do on this...

I probably won't finish before the 4th, but hopefully sometime
for a July "hanging". 

          And as usual I am quilting in my lap and without a hoop....
                  with my favorite DMC Perle Cotton in ecru...

**************************************
Earlier this morning I began cutting some sashings for my
"Merry Month of May" BAD blocks...

*************************************
Tonight I am making American Chop Suey for our dinner...

And, along with usual household chores:
"That's a Day"

Stay safe
Julierose, La Blageuse (hand quilting-euse)