BRAMBLE and CACTUS

 

My central panel for Audrey's QAL is

finally all hand stitched down...

I decided to use a simple little running

stitch along the flowers' raw edges

I used the same color purple thread for all

the little circles...

thinking of

crocus colors...

This will go up on my design wall and 

wait for the next prompt...

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

Here is my new white Cactus...

in bloom ...

It just looks so 

Festive for

this time of

year....

with that bit of 

red/mauve peeking out

;)))))

And my

Peach cactus continues to

 bloom profusely...

:)))))

These blossoms look like silk...

don't they??

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

We are having a quiet, restful day;

Tom had a bit of a scare this

morning thinking that he was 

having another obstruction event;

but so far, so good---it

seems to be going away

on its own...

✌

Fingers crossed that it will...and

that another ambulance/hospital

event won't happen...

Hugs, Julierose

La Blageuse

(resting-euse)

CHRISTMAS OJOS, et al

 

Working on my Christmas Ojos piece

this afternoon; I noticed

that I am really running low

on my stash of 

Reds and Greens..

THEN....

the mail arrived

 and I

received

this lovely huge package

of these

↧↧↧↧

I won Sally's

 [click to visit her blog]

December giveaway

and all this yumminess !!

;))))))

A huge bundle of cut offs and 

strips all ironed and neatly

folded...

All reds and greens...

Thank you so much Sally..

💓

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

My Peach Cactus is all bedecked with

a ga-zillion blooms

And more to come...

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

I took out my "Christmas Puppies"

lap quilt today 

Christmas Coins setting...with

white bar separators...

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

I will be continuing to work 

on my Christmas Ojos project 

a little each day...now that

I have a lovely variety of

reds and greens....

All that is left to put out is my little

collection of bottle-brush trees...

I have to decide where to 

display them this year...

Hugs, Julierose

La blageuse

(Ojos-ing-euse)

MINI GARDEN, et al

 

Just this morning, on our quick grocery

run, I found this lovely white 

Christmas cactus...

Now we are three....

A little Mini Garden...;)))

I am so excited to have plant windows

in our newly set-up, side tv room...

The peach one has begun to bloom

prompting me to believe it

likes its new home;)))

It is actually a darker peach than this--

the bright Northern light has 

washed out

the pix....

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

Here is what my red, green and white

scrap bags have yielded:

A few Christmas Ojos with either white or

[just a few] gold centers...

they need to be paper stripped and

then sewn together.

I was hoping to find more of that

gold--but only 

"just" had enough to make 

four little blocks..

so I took one of the

 blocks with white centers 

and put it in the center..

This little left strip will be the center of 

my countertop table runner to match last

year's red dotty placemats...

This looks on the orange

side, but it is redder than this

;(((((

I hope to add to the white centered

ones if i can dig out more red and green

hiding in other unsorted scrap bags...

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

Here is a little nighttime shot of our little tree

in our side tv room...

It just looks so magical to me...

After Christmas, this table

will become another mini garden with

African Violets and perhaps

a nice begonia...

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

Here is a long shot of our

living room during our 4 o'clock

cocktail hour last evening...

Our Christmas wreath is now up

by my piano....

Our living room tree  is below

Every evening  around 4 pm we sit on

either side of this picture window which looks

out upon our back woods, have a cocktail and

watch for deer meandering through....

And here is a little vignette on one

of my kitchen corner shelves

The two Willow Tree statuettes 

which  were gifts from friends

 when Tom retired 20 years ago now!!

AND.....

Where has the time flown????

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

And so I  leave you with this little

picture of our house at 

Christmas.

Very minimally decorated, 

but truly enjoyed...

Hugs, Julierose,

La Blageuse

(sipping-away-euse)

DECEMBER BEACH WALK, et al

 

Looking out from beneath the railroad tunnel onto our beach....

Brilliant sunshine blinds me, but my little phone camera

captures the view beautifully anyway....

serendipity...;))))

Storms have washed a lot of seaweed up on the

shoreline in long curved swathes...

In the distance you can just make out

geese swimming while honking loudly.

We haven't been down here all Summer long; 

in fact it's been way too long....

This walk in requires that my back is 

in good shape; a friend tells me that just

beside the tunnel is a bench for

sitting; and so, I am able to make

the trek....

I walk the shore once with Tom and then sit

gazing out to sea and smelling that wonderful

salty air while he does his three tours....

The bright sunshine keeps me warm....

There is just something about the ocean

that is so calming....

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

I hung up my JOY banner in

our little entrance hallway

yesterday....

I had such fun putting this together...

I used up most of my mini charms

on it...my morning walk has given

me 

JOY...

My Grand-mere crocheted the lace

across the  top and 

I collected the 

driftwood and shells...

The reverse fabric is an old fashioned winter

scene that reminds us of old 

Currier and Ives prints.  

I will turn it over for the days after

Christmas until the first 

daffodils emerge in the Spring..

I hope JOY has visited you today...

Hugs, 

Julierose,

La Blageuse

(enjoying-the-day-euse)

MONDAY (B)RAMBLE, et al

 

So far, on Audrey's  Bramble QAL,

I have slow stitched 

the basket with a buttonhole stitch

and

whip stitched the stems with brown...

[Ignore the bottom fabric it is the

pillow upon which I am sewing]

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

This morning's travels led me

to Big Y where I found this

beauty:

A Christmas Cactus in full bud mode...

;))))

I love the cute little reindeer attached...

It appears that the flowers are tinged

with a peach-ey color--but

we shall wait and see when they flower.....

Now I own two cacti:

This one is a raspberry color when

it first blooms and then

fades to a light, rosy pink...

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

Yesterday we totally re-configured our

side tv room--or rather Tom did most

of it!! I now have three windows for

plants that I  can use...

Before, our recliner and our big screen

tv were blocking most of our windows...

Once Christmas is over, I will go

hunting for a nice Begonia and

A tall corner low light plant

for these spots and perhaps

an African Violet, too...

[Sorry for the dark photo, but my phone 

camera doesn't fix the lighting any better]

The little tabletop Christmas

tree will (hopefully) be 

replaced by a nice begonia...

These windows face the North, and 

on the right, the East in the corner...

I sit right along that righthand corner

with that lovely view 

of the wooded area 

in our backyard...

We are both recuperating 

from this move and

re-settlement of our room...

UFFF-DAH!!

Hugs, Julierose,

La Blageuse

(slow-stitching-euse)

CHRISTMAS CAME TO VISIT US TODAY...

I took out a few of my Christmas pieces 

this afternoon...

Strictly speaking, the red/white piece

is not a Christmas one;

 I made this

with Lori at her Humble Quilts

QAL quite a while back--

but it just "looks like" 

Christmas to me ;))

My little reindeer likes to

rest upon it...

and

my Christmas Fabric 

Journal from

last year with Roxy's 

Journal of Stitchery

SAL keeps him company...

Also my "Dancing Santa" table topper

made its entrance...

It is sitting on top of our cocktail table in front of

our fireplace...

I love that Santa fabric...;))) 

this is a really old piece I made 

before we moved here....

and

"Angels We Have Heard on High"

hangs in my dining room...

This was from selected parts of

a Jan Patek pattern..

that I made a few

years ago...

I love its Prim-style simplicity...

Last but not least is just a little 

piece of fabric from my very

old stash that I made into a 

side-table topper...

I am a big fan of "Old World Santas"

this is an old piece and not quilted...

when I first began sewing...

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

Today Tom and I went for our walks

and I saw this beautiful tree

with just a few of its

remaining leaves shining

in these lovely colors...

Deep maroons, rusts, and golds of

all hues--this picture just

doesn't capture how

brilliant the colors appeared...

but I wanted it to add to

my Junque Journal as the

ending page for November..

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

We plan on setting up our two little

tabletop trees over this coming

weekend --I am still hunting for 

tiny ornaments..

I hope your house is" 

"...beginning to look a lot

like Christmas..."

Hugs, Julierose

La blageuse

(",,,fa la la la la,

laaaa la, la laaaa...")

 

WINTER JUNQUE JOURNAL AND DECEMBER DAILY

 

My Trader Joe's Pita Box

"Junque Journal" for the 

Winter Season is getting

really chunky...;))))

The lovely dingle-dangle on the spine

is from Kri Rama's Etsy shop--

isn't it just beautiful??

I have designated the 5th signature

as my "December Daily " 

(well--sorta "daily")

section:

Here is the first page and

Cover:

Starting out--looking forward to

Christmas Day...

[altho' it hasn't snowed 

here yet--I am

hoping to get some 

white stuff this year]

And here is the 2nd prepared spread

with the envelope holding my 

three journaling

cards:

I have prepared quite a few pages

ahead, so at this busy time, 

I can add a few daily items

and journal without spending

a whole lot of time...

Here is the 2nd page (actually the cover

of the envelope opened in the previous pix).

I have used old Christmas cards that

I have saved over the years;)))

And used the greeting and signature

parts of the cards for journaling ...

Here you can see the 3 journaling cards,

former pretty cards,

peeking out .

These pages are a combo of

magazine pages, Christmas Cards

and envelopes, 

stampings, washi tapes, 

 and bits and bobs

collected over the years...

Here is my Journal open to show

the spine and dangles:

[click to enlarge any pix]

I really Love re-using items that

have a "daily" meaning to add to

my journaling:

Both: pix and words.

[BTW, these crackers are my 

latest fave and amazingly

yummy...]

So, this is what I've been working on

since the

 "thumb incident"!!👎--

which is healing slowly--👍

I cannot hold anything with

that hand --hence

two broken cups so far!!;((((

Hugs,

Julierose,

La blageuse

(Junque Journaling-euse)