NEED I SAY MORE???

 

Thank goodness for AC!!

The Heat Index Max alternates

with the following:

"Heat exhaustion probable"

👺👹😧😱😰

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

Meanwhile, inside I have finally 

opened my tea dye bundles:

Here are the results from my 

larger piece tea-dyeing...

these photos look washed out

on my screen--the browns

are deep, dark and chocolatey!!

I love the variations within each piece...

My plan is to 

make a little stitcheries;

to be sewn into a small 

wall hanging.

The biggest question is which

side to use, as both sides

are lovely....

I am thinking of white laces and white embroideries maybe with some

really light blues or pinks...

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

Meanwhile I am making 

progress in

hand quilting my

"Pears Ojos"

The central bottom  two

squares are almost finished 

[click]

I even like how the backing is looking

All highly textured

;)))

hugs, Julierose,

La Blageuse

(trying-to-stay-cool-euse)

 

CHRISTMAS IN THE HEAT, et al

 

My Winter Journal page

is finished...

I added a snowflake on the top 

to fulfill the 2nd prompt.

I included a cluster at the 

top right --which was 

an embellishment for 

this prompt--

I have never made fabric 

clusters before and 

wasn't sure what to use; 

and tried to keep it simple..

[you can click on any 

photo and it will

enlarge]

 

I used some leftover pink raw silk

from my CQ days,

leaving  the edges all frayed.

I love that look

💗

Then;;;;;;

I  added some  silver beads 

and topped it with a MOP button...

(mother-of-pearl button).

Here are the Wreath page and Tree page

as they will appear in the Winter Journal

side by side:

I am liking the plain and simple

look in contrast to the more

colorful and embellished

Christmas Journal pages

below:

↓↓↓↓

I like these too, just  different

takes on the Christmas themes.

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

I am making two different bases for the

next two Winter Journal page prompts

which will be published

 on August 17th.

This one is just pinned to the backing

so far↧↧↧↧

I wove these scrappy strips together

and will invisible baste them to

get those pins out of the way.

Like this:

Here is the first finished base

 that I basted onto

a backing page made of

 light weight

linen...

As you can see they begin and end 

"Willy-Nilly" and use up little

sari strip pieces and some

CQ leftovers;  I will take care

of that when I pull the pages

together...

I feel like they keep in the CQ 

themed backings I had

started with....

💞

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

Another sweltering day--the worst so far...

Tonight will be grilled hot dogs 

and beans....

Too hot to cook anything elaborate.

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

Yesterday, Heartstrings Group

came and picked up my

 donation bags of

fabrics and some clothing.

It feels so good to have them

out of here.  

My fabric shelves are a lot roomier--

4 bags gone....

I hope you are staying cool and

you can get some fun 

sewing done today.

Hugs, in the AC!,

Julierose, La Blageuse

(Stitching-journaling-away-euse)

PEARS OJOS, et al

 

Here is my "Pears Ojos" progress...

[if you click you can see that the

central square is all quilted...]

I am presently working on the

square directly above it

↧↧↧↧

If you click you can see where

I've "parked" my needle

part way through..

  

Little by little I am getting this done...

;)))))

(Note: for some reason the colors seem

washed out in these photos...??)

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

FABRIC JOURNAL PROGRESS

Christmas Journal 

Page Two:

I finished this late this morning....

I was wondering if more should be

added, but in the end

I decided that with the busy 

background

it is done...

The fabric I used for the body of

the tree is part of an old

damask tablecloth of 

my Mom's...

I just love its subtlety...

And here are the first two pages of

this journal together...

↶↶↶↶

I plan to use that green/blue-black

fabric (another Jason Yenter print)

throughout as much as is feasible...

I hate to waste any snippet of it!!

I think of the first page as the "doorway"

into my journal 

and the Christmas Tree

takes you into the Season.

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

Here is my  Winter Journal tree

in progress...

There are five layers of

rounded branches on  this tree...

[click for closeup]

I used this older fabric that has

been in my stash forever!!

↡↡↡↡

I thought its subtle colorations of greens, and 

whites and grays looked like it could 

become--

snow laden branches...

Now I have to decide how to 

and how much to embellish

this page....

My  Winter Journal 

is meant to have simpler pages.

I hope it is cooler where you are than here...

👹👺👹

S O  H O T!!!

Hugs in the AC here,

Julierose,

La blageuse

{sewing-once-again-euse}

O CHRISTMAS TREE, et al

 

Our prompts for August

for Roxy's Fabric Journal

are:

"Christmas Tree"

and "Snowflake"

Here is the "base" for the 

Christmas Tree.

I used my Christmas 

scrap bag for all the little

cutoffs I had leftover...

Here are the first additions

of embellishings:

I covered the green branches 

across the back of the tree with

white Perle cotton for a

snowier look

and 

I added a few little snowflakes too.

I whip stitched various pieces

in place so that I could remove most

of the pins...

I am still debating about the 

star on top...

And I have to decide how to 

outline my golden tree...

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I am thinking about my "Winter" 

journal's tree; I am still casting

around for ideas on that one...

[Remember?  I am making 

2 separate Journals]

I also glued the cover on Winter Journal

↧↧↧↧

As you can see, I added a button and

a closure tie (variegated silk ribbon)

Here is a closeup of the 

beaded button and tie...↖↖↖

A N D 

I have prepared the base for my Winter

Tree prompt page

My intent is to keep most

of the backgrounds in the

Crazy Quilt Style...so

I am able to use up my

CQ leftover pieces...

and some light batiks that 

have that wintry feel..

I prepare these on the machine

ahead of time...

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

HOT HOT HOT!!!!!

Feels like temp is 102 right now!!

Needless to say we are indoors.

👺👹👺

We are in a "Heat Advisory"

now until 11 p.m. Friday night...

Y I K E S!!

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

Tomorrow morning I have my

haircut --at 9:30 luckily--

before it gets really really hot...

Tonight I made us tuna salad

and we will have that easy meal

with french fries...

no muss, no fuss...

I hope you are staying cool if you are

experiencing heat like this....

🔥

hugs, Julierose,

La Blageuse,

(hand-stitching-away-euse)

P.S.  If any of you "bloglovin" folks are not

getting comments from me it's because

I cannot get to the site;

Bloglovin is down!!

 If you leave a comment here,

 I will try to add you to my

RSS feed through Blogger...

PEARS' PROGRESS, et al

 

I talked about re-entry hand quilting

in my previous post; the top pear

fabric shows my very first efforts...

and the bottom one shows 

my stitching today.

I slowed waaay down and

did just one stitch at a time.

I am feeling a lot better working

this way...[do you call this stab

stitching? ] I don't know, but it 

seems to be working for me

right now...

💙

I love how it puckers up the fabric...;)))

I am also only working every 2-3

days on this hand quilting project

to make sure my hands don't 

get really sore...

AND

Here is the first section I am 

working on...So many many

fabrics I love💚--

Look at that green and white

leafy one--this piece holds

the very last little strips of it! 

AND

Here is a picture of the backing fabric 

I chose:

↴↴↴↴

I thought these woven baskets would

be perfect as my backing...

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

My granddaughter, Willa, has an

August birthday coming up and

she just got her ears pierced--

she will be 9 👧.

and....

She just loves little foxes...

I found this pair of earrings

for her present:

Aren't they just the cutest things???

I think she will love 

wearing them--

at least I hope so...

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

Another hot, humid day has dawned here;

I did an early morning stroll just around

our cul-de-sac and found it difficult

to even get an air!! 

So AC for me AGAIN today.

  

TGIF to those of you workers

out there..👌👋

Stay cool and 

stay safe

😷

Hugs, Julierose,

La Blageuse

(Happy-to-be-back-to-hand-quilting-euse)

RE-ENTRY: PEARS OJO

 

I have begun hand quilting 

my "Pears Ojo"

It seems that my eye-hand coordination and

visual spacing of stitches have

suffered 

A LOT [!!!!]

in the year I was

unable to quilt at all!!

👀😒👀

S I G H ..

But I am persevering

and slowing way down--

hoping to find my rhythm

once again...

But...

Meanwhile, I may have to

remove these beginning stitches

and start over again!!

AAargh...

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

We awakened to 58 cool

degrees this morning

what a relief from all

that heat and humidity

for the past 2 weeks!!

;))))))

This morning we will do our

 weekly food shop

and we have a garage door 

repairer coming this afternoon

as our automatic sensor 

has failed--

Tom is not liking 

having to lift the heavy

door at all !!

It seems that everything is 

failing around here

at the same time...

windows, appliances etc. etc.

👺👾👿

Home ownership is not for

the faint of heart...

I hope you are all doing well;

take care and stay safe.

😷

hugs, Julierose

La Blageuse

(quilting-slowly-euse)

CHRISTMAS IN JULY WORKS

 

Here is the title cover

for my 

Christmas Fabric [soft] Journal..

I love the little "snowdrifts"

on the lettering 💝

and

I just pinned together the 

"Christmas Wreath" page

for this soft Journal.

There is the wreath on the door--

and the scrap of Jason Yenter

fabric also wreathes the door

itself...;)))

So a double wreath...

I have to decide how to

embellish this one

as the fabric  

seems enough by itself....

The doorway is 

the first page and 

the entry into my Christmas

Fabric journal...

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

Here is the finished

"Winter Fabric Journal"

[hard cover book]

page for the  

"Wreath" prompt

↓↓↓↓

I did some kantha stitchery

on the little Winter vignettes

(top L and bottom R),

and made a little suffolk puff

(aka yo-yo)--

and added a 

scrap of lace on the bottom...

The wreath is a ruched piece of 

sari silk tied down with

my Grand-mere's old

buttons and smaller

buttons from 

my good friend

Lizzy...

[who so kindly sent them to me--

thanks so much;)))]

I am (this time around)

wanting to keep my pages less

busy --trying to use

the fabrics themselves to

set the scenes....

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

I have as yet not begun my "Pears"

hand quilting as I decided that the

cotton thread would be 

too hard on my hands;

and I have ordered some 

yellow hand quilting thread

online...

But it is all pin-basted and

ready to go;)))

T G I F everyone..

👋👏

Stay cool and safe

😓😷

hugs, Julierose, La Blageuse

(staying-in-the-AC-euse)