i WORKED REALLY HARD TODAY and /i don;t like this quilt!! Aaargh

You know this quilt is just "not me"...Now that I finished the last two blocks today--6 hours later!!--I don't like it!   AAAARG....hAS THIS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU??  It just doesn't say "me"!!  And my arms are sore and my hands are sore...boo-hoo...I am feeling frustrated and sorry for myself.....

I really don't like this quilt whereas I L O V E Sea Glass.  Also, Microsoft 8.1 just uploaded to my computer and it's all DIFFERENT AGAIN!!  i am really not that computer savvy and I hate CHANGES!  

At any rate, I am going to "gift" this quilt to my mother's nursing home for auction to add $$ to their arts fund.  Maybe someone will enjoy it....in the meantime I have pin basted Sea galss and tomorrow I will prep my room for machine quilting and then --after we pick up my grand dog Libby, i will start to quilt it ....

Whereas, Sea Glass is really my style.....see these low volume and pretty strips!  

i really am excited to begin to quilt these

Now i just love these....

Well, we all make quilt that don;t please us ..I know that--

Today While Tommy painted our bed-bathroom  and I finished up those blocks I looked up at the design wall and asked myself--W H Y???? BUT...then...all of my scraps--except for a few--are all 

G O N E !!!

Perhaps, someone will love it...but I certainly don't....

And so it goes....

Hugs to all, your disappointed Julierose, La Blageuse....

WHAT WE DID TODAY

We are thrilled that our mason, Bennie, and his crew extended our sidewalk to include a small seating area in front of our house.  He is really a stone artist--the new area just feels like it has been there all along...

this afternoon Tommy and I extended the curve outlining the small garden in front...--Tommy dug out the grass and I planted the small azaleas --they were hidden away in a corner being overtaken by pachysandra--we found four of them--and I can't wait to see what color they will bring next Spring.

This lovely blue spruce should expand now that the other bushes crowding it have been removed.  --I love its color against the gray house...

I am so excited to be able to do this work.  i have always wanted to have a pretty welcoming area at our front entrance.  

i found this really cute welcome sign at --of all places--JoAnnes!  


Tomorrow, i plan to get herbs to fill in: basil, tarragon, and perhaps some bee balm-- I hope to install day lilies also...

On the quilt front--i am continuing with "Where in the World is Tommy"..

I am sewing twosies and ironing the long seam open and flat--with all those crossing seam I felt that I needed to take the time to do that.

i am using a little water to keep those crossing seams flattened....

I got some new fabrics in the mail today...this KF which I love...and

Just had to have this one... and....

this baby...yummy...and

Blue Crabs....

We got to see these babies over the weekend, too:

Willa is WALKING!!  

Ohhh, Grand'mere, my hoodsie cup is sooooo cold!

It has been a busy and fun weekend for sure...
hugs to you all...I have spread out my batting to rest and un-kink overnight for my Sea Glass quilt which is ready to be basted.....
Julierose, La Blageuse

AND...HERE'S TOMMY..................

A few years ago I was transferring photos to fabric and made a few pictorial wall hangings; I found this "leg shot" of my DH--Tommy-- at the beach and thought it would be perfect for my "I Spy" strips.  This certainly won't be easy to spot--a real toughie...gotta love it!! 

Now why can't I have nice thin legs like his??? Huh?? Huh?? Not fair!!  

Have a super 4th; I'll be beaching it with family...
HUGS, Julierose, La Blageuse

MONDAY'S OLD "BITS AND PIECES"

Remember me????
Ya know all those old fabrics that you once really loved?? And now, they are stashed in the depths of your fabric closet???
Well here's what I did today--not paper piecing BUT..............
Piecing on paper--precuts of old phone book pages on the above quilt-- the strips are 8 1/2"  x 2 1/2"  and I also had some little 3 1/2" squares that I cut from the page leftovers (Waste not, want not huh??) anyway..............

they kinda look awful here: 

and below

BUT Look what happens when you trim them up....

Gotta love these little babies and...........

and also

Even cutey crow is doin' a happy dance!!  

Scrappy, mis-matched and kinda like my brain these days--and then when you put it all together you get:

A cornucopia of colors that I call "Where in the World is Tommy?? 

It makes me happy anyway..

Hugs to you all on this humid afternoon

Julierose, La blageuse

THANKS STEPHANIE!

Stephanie, sent me this lovely assortment of scraps.
Purples.....

Turquoises.....

and Blues!  
I have had two horrendous days dealing with various matters relating to my mother's continuing care and this package really made my day!

Here are two projects (UFO's) that I will add these colorways to to finish them up:

Formerly Strips and Scraps but now entitled "Where in the world is Tommy?"
(More on this later)

And this old bow tie sew along that I began from the Bonnie Hunter video cam....

Perfect additions for both of these....

Hugs and thanks Stephanie for your generous gift....

hugs all, and happy weekend-- Julierose, La Blageuse

P.S.  Quiltesse Interruptess until my darling DH fixes my chair to the right height so that I won't have this sore neck and back issue anymore.  

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS

It's one of those nights. ........Ever have those?  When my children were younger I usually dropped like a rock into sleep every night (unless someone was sick)......not so much as I age....(Moi???) ;--ooo

It's now 12:45 a.m.  usually in bed by 10 or so.......

SO:
Finished the grey round on my Christmas crocheted afghan blocks; stacked them in another bag together;

Wound up the variegated (red, white and green with silver flecks) yarn for the next round yarn  from the humongous skein of Red Heart--five balls from this one!! 

Had two cups of tea so far, with 1/2 & 1/2--figuring that the milk product might make me sleepy--NOPE

Ate a Nonnie's Biscotti--(not on my diet, but had the munchies)...and STILL no yawns in sight

All the while watching the Red Sox lose (AGAIN Arrrgh!)  to Oakland 4 - 2....but got to hear that cute Dennis Eckersley do the color...(plus he's informative--right? and funny...hmmmmm--life in the old gal yet !)

Wrote a journal entry in my Franklin--trying to find what's on my mind--lotsa family losses and issues, Mom's fading and shrinking each time I see her she seems smaller to me....and I always found her to be bigger than life.....

--like my friend MA says".... It builds up....you can't ignore it...it WILL eventually rise to the surface and keep you awake nights".  Yup--right on MA.....

Well, I'm still sitting here...waiting to get sleepy....don't want to eat/cheat anything else......

I guess I'll turn on a video and hope to get drowsy...perhaps Poirot will make me drowsy..
.OR NOT!!!

Goodnight gals, from your sleepless Julierose, La Blageuse

TUESDAY'S DESIGN WALL

Here are my strips n' strings that I pieced on 81/2" x 2 1/2" pieces of telephone book papers.  They all decided to get together this week and play nicely.

;--)))

I saw the pattern for "Dancing Nine Patches" and decided that I would use my UFO (unfinished opus) to make huge 18" blocks...Four together make one huge block.  I have enough left to make 3 more and will need to sew more scraps and strings (YAY!!) on papers to make 2 more after that....gettin' rid of those scraps!!

Bonnie Hunter had a video about this method and I loved it right away--hmmm
perhaps because seam allowances for piecing don't matter.....and you all are, I am sure, tired hearing about my shenanagans with that nasty 1/4" thingey.

ANYHOO................

Can you find Santa---can you find a sailboat, can you find a butterfly??????

I guess this has turned into an "I SPY" string quilt.....

What fun!!

Go to this blog to see a lot of neat string projects!  

Hugs and stay cool--man is it HUMID!!, Julierose, LA Blageuse