SATURDAY SEWING, et al

Helga is set up with her walking foot...

(finally!! I think I have

mentioned before 

how I don't like how 

you have to attach this...) 

And so I took out my last year's

Easter quiltlet and

began to machine quilt....

I did all the sashings first 

That took about 1  and 1/2 hours of slow 

stitching... (with breaks).

I used my machine's 

"Fix" button to begin and end each row--

so no back stitching needed;)))

I cannot believe it took me so many years

to even find this feature!! 

[And, yes, I did read and re-read 

my booklet....

But evidently missed this one!!]

Here is the back with the wonderful

Easter Eggs fabric and two leftover 

pieces of  KF fabrics 

that just seemed to

"go with" them...;)))

I hope tomorrow to quilt the squares 

diagonally...

I referred to my favorite machine

quilting book 

for those of us who

do not do free-motion quilting: I

could never get the hang of free motioning.

I can only do short stints as my shoulders

and shoulder blades complain mightily even

though I do  try to sit as close as I can--

Perhaps I tense up????

(that is the extent of my sewing for today....)

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

On Hiwmhi (Home is where my heart is)

the first 4 pages are all basted and

mostly done--i may add a few more little

bits and bob though--ya think???;)))

😁😀😂😃😄

So now, I am thinking about an Ocean page

as we have always lived close to the Sea...

Thinking of some kind of little landscape

I am reviewing Magpie's Mumblings"

beautiful landscape art as well as 

searching throughout 

Youtube for inspiration..

I made one little landscape piece

"yonks" ago for a close friend who had

sent my a postcard from South Africa

to commemorate her trip...

this will be  quite the challenge...

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

Here for those of you who asked--

are the first little pieces of Winter Rye

poking up in my little planter box....

Can you spot them?????

↴↶↷↴

We've been watering each day to keep them moistened as 

S I G H --still no rain in sight here...

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend

Hugs, Julierose

La blageuse

(working-on-UFO's-euse)

 

"HOME IS WHERE MY HEART IS" UPDATE

 

I've had a change of 💖about how

to proceed with my four pieces

celebrating our 60 years together....

I am going to make, instead of a wall hanging

a  Fabric Book...

I love working in that medium and

I feel these would be better

displayed in that type of

format.

And I want to add 4 more pages

displaying various themes that have

run through our lives together.

Here is the cover I've made to house

these pieces:

This is the front cover using my usual

scrappy crumb pieces and

featuring a little rosy birdie

[can you find her?]

and

the blue silk shantung fabric border is

made from the leftovers from a dress

my Mom made me for a dance

when I was in high School...

(I thought that bit of nostalgia 

would be perfect for this booklet.)

The back is the same:

Just using different scraps of fabrics...

And here is the interior:

A lovely leftover from my "Dark Days" project.

I have quilted the whole thing after sewing it

together envelope style...

My 8.5 x 10" pieces will fit just right...after

I trim them up...

Now.....

I am working on finishing up the slow

stitching and additions to this page 

↴↴↴↴

I added this little doggie to represent all the

dogs we've owned through the years...

And...

I've begun Kantha stitching on this section...

and generally invisibly basting everything

down...

A lot of the stitches 

are meant 

to show---

as on the doggie above...

I felt she just would melt into

the background without them...

the pieces being so busy and all...

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

As Helga is set up now for quilting,

I may be pulling out older UFO's ready to

be quilted and work on them while

my quilting foot is on. 

[I think I've mentioned how difficult

it is to change this before so

will want to use it while in place.]

I've been resting my hands from quilting 

"Sunrise, Sunset" but hopefully this

weekend I will be able to resume 

that work...

Hugs, from windy SE CT,

Julierose,

La Blageuse

(busy-creating-euse)

LATE SEPTEMBER--- MORNING, et al

 

As I stepped out on our back deck this 

early morning, as I do most mornings 

to check on the "feel" of the day,

I was treated to this early light 

illuminating the cloud tatters  

in the East....

I decided since I had removed the

last of the tomato plants this

past week, to plant

my Winter Rye seeds

In our other house, before we moved here,

I had an in-ground garden right outside

our back door where I spent many

wonderful hours puttering around. 

One year, at the suggestion from the 

old farmer where I got my "chicken" hay

for mulch, I planted a crop of Winter Rye...

It so enriched my soil when turned over

and under the next spring that I had 

a beautiful bounty of vegetables and flowers.

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

As I turned to the North and viewed 

 our  surrounding bit of forest,

I was treated to the first "turning" of

our maple tree in amongst the oaks 

and ashes:

Just that little hint of red and some oranges 

and some indefinable coloration --

heralding the advent of Autumn here...

Only 59 degrees out there this morning, but the 

fresh air still held a bit of warmth.

It will be a lovely day, I think...

😊

💚💛💜

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

Inside, I placed my little tribute to October

on my October Ojos  table runner

on our living room cocktail table

↓↓↓↓

By the early morning light 

it glowed.....

↴↴↴↴

And....

I took out my Snowball quilt and laid it 

over my Grand-mere's old caned rocker--

the oranges repeating those in

my Ojos...

And so, 

Autumn has come both inside 

and outside here

at the house on the Hill....

Hugs for a wonderful weekend ahead

enjoying these last few days of

Summer's warmth...

Hugs, Julierose,

La Blageuse

(sipping-my-coffee-and wool-gathering-euse)

RE-ORG FINALE, et al

 

I have reached the final phase of the re-organization of

my fabric stash;;;

the 

SCRAP BAGS!!

[Above is one hour's work!!]

👀👻👀

I set myself up on my dining table on top of my 

old sweater blocking board and began to separate

colors and types of leftovers:

tiniest crumbs, little pieces, narrow strips,

wider short strips, 

 started and abandoned blocks,

and Christmas leftovers, etc etc...

they will all go into labeled bags except

for the starts which will go into a box...

Here were all the bags and baskets

I had taken out...

How did they get like this?

I did this just last year?

👿👹💁

The only bag that is semi-reasonable

is the Christmas scrappy one--but I spy 

other fabrics in there, too!!

I will be working on this throughout

the next few days--ending

with ironing the bagsful so

that they are ready to be used...

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

AND....

This week, I was lucky enough to 

receive a lovely box of fabrics

from Wanda...

She told me she thought my re-organized

stash looked awfully small....

and so...sent me these

beauties....

↴↴↴↴↴

Just lovely pinks and gray-greens.... so yummy...

.and hard to find these days...

and 

that is not all...

She also included 6 back issues of 

Quilting Arts magazines which are

full of crazy quilts--love that!; 

and also

these below

Three of her lovely hand-knitted

dishcloths..

.actually I will use them

for face cloths as they are so soft...

😂😇😊

THANK YOU SO MUCH, WANDA,

for your generous gift--

💘I love all of it...💓

And will definitely be using everything..

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

We've finally finally gotten rain 

overnight and this morning...

1.11 inches of the lovely stuff...

I'd forgotten just how much 

I love hearing it on the roof..

Hoping for a bit more later on

we can really use it as we've been

in a drought all this summer...

Hugs, Julierose,

La Blageuse

(sorting-away-euse)

THE HEART OF HOME: A Year of Remembrance Project, et al

My "Heart of Home" project is coming

along now...

I am celebrating our 60th

Wedding Anniversary by

working on this.

  

Sept 11th, 1965...

Phew--so many years ago--

a whole lifetime really...

Tempus Fugit for sure...

🎼🎹🎷📅

These four little vignettes I plan

to put together 

into one bigger

piece..

This block is really finished...

(our joyous life together);

and  this one

below

is just about done also

Almost, anyway--I need a 

heart of some kind in that large

pink area at the top...

with the Winds of Time moving

us along in life...

and

perhaps I will outline that area 

with some couched sari silk

echoing the outlined heart on

the first panel.  

(Our Gardens, so many meals, 

cups of coffee and tea, etc.--

family life together)

The following two are in process:

This block is all basted down with

the backgrounds in place; it

needs additional feature elements 

reflecting our home life...

AND...

This final block is just pin basted

with backgrounds only and a few

natural elements 

that have featured prominently 

in our lives:

Deer visits, owls calling

during the night, and

lovely snow falls under a full moon...

perhaps Christmases together...

These are my long term slow stitch 

project for this year of remembrance...

Finding meaningful feature elements

is such fun for me...searching my

novelty fabrics to find the 

"little" things that meant so much

through the years...

💙💜💞

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

Meanwhile, my poor tomato plants 

are slowly fading away....

as summer passes into Fall 

here in SE CT...

Our driest summer yet has not helped at all either; 

even though we have watered assiduously, 

I think the colder nights have taken 

their toll on them...

They are still producing a few cherry

tomatoes --and lots of greens

They are hanging on for dear life.

While...

those naughty squirrels are 

feasting on them

by taking only

one bite and then 

leaving the remainder

to rot...

I found this travesty this morning...

are they teasing us????

I mean really...how annoying can you be????

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

Here are the October place mats

 I made for Willa and Fiona...

along with those 

Harry Potter"kisses" for a 

little Halloween treat....;))

Isn't that fabric just a "Hoot"???

So cute and funny...

That's the latest "goings on" here from

the house on the hill for 

this First day of Autumn...

hugs, Julierose

La Blageuse,

("still-crazy-after-all-these-years"-euse)

STARS X2, et al

 

I put the 2nd block together this morning and

set up the next two whole blocks...

I am debating whether to make 2 or 4 more...

I have enough to make 6 in total...and

I do like how the diamond

shape is emerging 

in the center a lot...

Six vertically would make 

a lovely table runner

with borders...

Stay tuned...;)))

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

Le Chef Tom is making his

 Tuna Noodle casserole

for us for dinner today;

I will provide the sliced tomatoes

and cucumbers...along with

applesauce for the sides.

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

Meanwhile, 

 we will be watching Formula One from

Azerbaijan which is the "Quali" today.

(short for qualifying for first position for

the race tomorrow--called 

"Pole position"--

much desired for obvious reasons)

And I hope to do some more quilting

on Sunrise, Sunset...this afternoon...

while watching.

I have 

completed the two blocks

the middle row above--↑↑↑↑

and begun 

↧↧↧↧

working my way around the next center strippy block..

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

We have been having a run of lovely sunny, coolish 

days here and are trying to sit outside a little

bit in between various housekeeping chores...

💕👫💕

Have a wonderful weekend

Hugs,

Julierose, La Blageuse

(still quilting-along-euse)