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.

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY (sort of)

YESTERDAY EVENING..



TODAY, 

AND...
TOMORROW....

Hugs, Julierose,
La blageuse
(enjoying-my-Amaryllis-euse)





 

Monday, January 19, 2026

HIGH AND LOW, et al

 

Here is my 2nd amaryllis finally
coming into flowering and at the
lowest base you can just 
see another bud forming--
this has been the funniest of bulbs--
see those leaves falling
over at the back?  
Well, they do that and then
they get themselves back up again!  
They've done it 3 times now...
Strange...👻👽
Looks like these flowers will be so
pretty and striated with pinks, 
reds, and greens. ;)))

My 1st waxed bulb's flowers have 
all faded but a new stalk with
a bud has arisen...to take their place
I've really had good luck with these
this year--both bought on Amazon...
while searching for the least $$$
ones!! 😁😂😆

************************
I've set up my next panel on my
"Sentimental Scroll"
It is just pinned in place on a 
background of scraps that
I first invisibly basted and then
whip stitched all the raw edges...

This large crocheted piece was made by my
Grand-mere; this is one-half of it...

The two flowers represent her love
of flower gardening and the buttons refer
to the fact that she was quite the seamstress;
making men's suitcoats and white dress
shirts for sale and some extra income...

and....
This little piece of script fabric tear off
which refers to a "Marie"
is perfect as my Grand-mere's best friend
was named Marie...
And...
it even looks like my Grand-mere's 
hand writing--how serendipitous!
(click to enlarge)
 
I often buy fabrics just because I like
the look of them not having a specific 
plan for them...but somehow they
all seem to get used...;))))

I hope to begin invisibly tacking this
in place.
I am trying not to think too
 far ahead and just to
let the fabrics guide me...

**************************
We received an addition 4.5" of 
snow overnight...
here is what it looked like at
4:30 p,m, yesterday from our
living room during our cocktail hour:
👥👫
Taken through our picture window 
overlooking our surrounding forest....
it was so dark at that hour--you can
just make out the lamp's reflection...

This picture will go into my 
Trader Joe's Pita Box Junque Journal
(that's a mouthful hahaha!!).

I will use my Canon mini printer which
I have found absolutely invaluable for
small pictures --2"x3" to fit on 
my pages...

I hope you are enjoying this MLK Holiday
weekend and remembering that
Love, Light, and Hope are
the message....during these
"Dark Days".

Hugs, Julierose
La Blageuse
(stitching-with-hope)












Saturday, January 17, 2026

WHILE HELGA'S AWAY.... et al

 

....the shop vac will play...
{you can enlarge and see my little
kitty cat wall hanging there;}

Tom helped me to move all the 
tables, bins, baskets, etc.
aside and he is using our Shop Vac to 
deep clean my sewing room...

Above is the "little lady" whose suction is
strong enough to pick up errant
pins and slivers of fabric, too...;)))

Even those closet door trims are getting
a "going over"!! Tom is nothing if not
thorough 😊👲👳👴!!!
I attribute that to his Army Days...
He is also a super suitcase packer...
{the other kitty cat hanging}
💋👫

Helga won't recognize the place 
when she arrives home from her
"Spa Treatment". ;)))))
So "spic and also span"!!

********************************
MEANWHILE....
I have been working on 
"Lollipop Flowers"

The basket is quilted in a matching blue to the 
surrounding stitches..

and I am
moving onto the first  bottom border
Using cream perle 8 cotton thread...

I have quite a long journey to finish
the hand quilting
on this one....
Figuring out thread colors should prove
interesting...

**************************
Tonight we will be having a lighter
supper:
BLT's and a few french fries
on the side...
[after my week of a whole
lot of cooking including lasagna and 
chicken and rice casserole--both
of which are labor intensive...]

Hugs, Julierose
La Blageuse
(Quilting-slowly-euse)













Friday, January 16, 2026

JANUARY "SNOW" JOURNAL, et al

 

Here are the next two and final
pages for my little fabric booklet
for January following
Roxy's Journal of Stitchery Volume #9:

My chosen book was 
"Snow" by John Banville--
and since we have always lived
by the sea.....

The following two pages are 
subtitled:
"Winter by the Sea..."

and

I am still using the leftover
blue silk from the dress my Mom
made for me to represent 
 the ocean waves....

I made a couple little sea creatures--
a pretend crab with the two beady
eyes (L)
 and a little sea horse...

and below...
some underwater flora...

I also ringed the moon with some gold thread...
I used this piece of hand dyed fabric 
leftover from "Dark Days"
and the lacey bit to show the floating moon..

**********************************
Next, I will  sew the pages together
back to back and then into 
the little booklet...
making some hand stamped
titles to go along with
my pages...

*****************************
We are awaiting the incoming 
cold front/stormy weather
that is coming overnight...
Definitely 
"Puffy coat" weather here...

Hugs, Julierose
La Blageuse
(slowly-stitching-euse)










Sunday, January 11, 2026

LOLLIPOP FLOWERS et al

 

I have finished the hand quilting 
around the basket of Lollipop Flowers...

I have a question  from a newbie (moi)
appliquer
for all you appliquers
out there:

I haven't quilted the navy basket itself, 
and I don't know if it would be
a good thing to do????
Or not????

I think it looks kinda puffed out with all 
those stitches surrounding it...
??????
What do you recommend???

If I would quilt it, 
I think I would use 
a darker thread
and not the creamy white....as
I love how the basket pops
against the background.  

**************************
Here is the first page of 
my January all hand sewn
"#Roxy's Journal of
 Stitchery Volume 9"
in progress....

[We are to take a well-loved book 
each month for 6 months and make
a little library of volumes...
Isn't that a fun idea????]
😇
First double page spread below...

The book I chose to use for this little 
booklet is "Snow" by John Banville--
one of my favorite mystery reads and
perfect, I thought for 
January's volume...

I used the white sari silk to 
represent snow drifting;
the dotty fabric will become
embroidered snowflakes;
the netting is from part of an
old tablecloth of my
Mother's;
and the little house represents
our home....
I will be dotting the sari silk with 
those white Mikuyu beads...
I am still stitching it all in place...
just a little at a time...

Below is the cover for this little volume...
I wove this little piece quite
a while ago...
and.....
I've attached it to some more of 
the remnants of the blue
dress my Mom made me for
the back cover....
All the pages and the cover are backed with
soft flannel for ease of sewing...


 and here are both the inside cover pages:
I am working on being able to embroider words that
are LEGIBLE!!! Not so easy...

On the inside of the front cover 
is a little pocket to hold any little
photos I may take in January documenting
snowfall using
my little Canon miniprinter...

************************
A N D ....
HELGA is all packed up and ready to go for her
"Spa" treatment this coming week...

While she is gone, I plan to "deep clean" 
all around and beside her normal spot...
SOOOO DUSTY!!!!!!
Yikes!!👺👹👻

Full of these dust bunnies
🐇🐇🐇🐇
for sure.

**************************
Sunday Supper
at our house tonight will be :
My special Chicken and Rice Casserole
one of our favorite meals...

I prepared it early this morning
and will just pop her into the
oven for 1.75 hrs .....
I love not having to cook @ 4 pm...
💗💓💞
😁😂😄

I hope you are all enjoying your Sunday...
Hugs, Julierose,
La Blageuse
(slow-stitching-euse)











Friday, January 9, 2026

WAFFLING--AKA "MOANIN'", et al

 

Since before the Holiday Season I haven't 
found any project for Helga that:
"Floats My Boat" !!
😳😱😮😭

Perhaps, I've just made too many quilts????

I want a machine piecing project to offset
my hand work as I can only do just so
much of that before my hands give out!!
(See "moanin' " above!!
👿👾👽💀👹👺)

I have been searching blogs, Youtube, google,
etc etc for weeks now...
and telling myself
↯↯↯↯
But it's not---
Really...
N O T!!

So, I may be absent for 
a while......

not MIA 
which is "Missing in Action"

but, MNIA
Missing, NOT in Action...

Stay tuned....
Hugs, Julierose
La Blageuse
(searching-euse)

P.S.  Also nothing good on tv either--
or that we like anyway!!






Saturday, January 3, 2026

BLOOMING, et al

 

The beginning....of my
amaryllis story....

and overnight ...this...aaaahhh

and almost there.....ooohhh...

And today--ta dah....
fully opened...


There are two more buds to 
open on this stalk--
and another stalk has emerged..
Just so lovely....💚💗

***********************
And speaking of blooming...

here is the next panel in
my "Sentimental Scroll" basted 
but not
as yet embellished...

The large tulip upholstery fabric is a piece leftover
from my Mom's pillows 
which resided in 
 our living room when
I was growing up...

************************
The other part of that fabric 
I used to make the soft
spine on my new Paper Journal to 
be used for "Caroline on the Hillside's "
52 weekly prompts for 2026:

This will be my paper crafting 
Junque Journal;

below is a shot of that 
soft spine

I love how it looks and feels....
;)))))

an here below--
are the six paper signatures
I sewed into it...
↧↧↧
Each one has 5  different 
papers folded in half in it.


I am storing it on my shelf unit
right above my little crafting desk...
along with my hand sewing
necessities....
↡↡↡↡
It sits right next to my Trader Joes Pita 
Crackers Box Junque Journal that I work in
on an (almost) daily basis...I have one
more signature to fill in this 2nd 
Pita Box Journal--I began it in 2023
and i have saved 3 more boxes 
to continue these daily volumes...
***************************
That is how I am set up for 2026
so far...for hand sewing and 
paper crafting...

I hope you are all enjoying this little 
vacation time before the Monday work week
comes around...for those of you
still working out there...;)))

Hugs, Julierose
La blageuse
(prepping-for-crafting-in-2026-euse)