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)

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!!

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)

HAPPY NEW YEAR WITH FLOWERS, et al

 

A Christmas cactus bloomfest

and...

 soon to be Amaryllis blooms

I hope!!

⇊⇊⇊⇊

"all nestled together and

snug in their beds..."

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

Here is the finished 3rd panel on my 

"Sentimental Scroll"

I  just had to add a bit of "bling" on

that big flowerhead with 

silver beads :))))

(click to enlarge) 

I hope you and yours have a wonderful

New Year's Eve and 

a Healthy and a Happy

New Year

Hugs, to all

Julierose

La Blageuse

(Slowly-stitching-along-euse)

"SENTIMENTAL SCROLL"--HAND STITCHING

 

Here are the first two finished panels for my

"Sentimental Scroll" 

all hand sewn together...

Below is how they will attach 

(wind around) to my

Grand-pere's old velvet mill bobbin

that he brought home 

when he retired----

part of the "Sentimental" 

idea that sparked this project

for me...

↧↧↧↧

As you can see, it is a good sized

bobbin; I will be adding on a 

fabric piece to the left end of 

that first panel to be

sewn around the bobbin 

to hold it all in place once

all the panels are attached 

and done...

Below is the 3rd panel 

I have just begun to set up

↧↧↧↧

The central bit of bureau scarf 

was hand embroidered by my 

Grand-mere...

The flowers represent her 

love of gardening....

and the color blue...

The chunky "stems" are part 

of the leftover fabric

from my "Dark Days" project..

and that blue silk strip is leftover

from a dress Mom made for me...;))))

I will be adding stitches and other

bits and bobs to this as I go along...

You can see the "kantha" stitching I have

begun to add in white perle #8 cotton

on the right hand side...

So I will be using bits of crocheted

lace, doilies, and embroideries

made by my

Grand-mere 

that I still have left, and 

also some leftover fabrics

from my Mom's sewing for me, 

and a few 

vintage yo-yos (as above).

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

I hope those of you who celebrated the

Holidays had a wonderful time....

Our little gathering was truly 

wonderful....💖

Hugs, Julierose

La Blageuse

(slow-stitching-euse)

MERRY CHRISTMAS ALL!!

 

May the Light of hope fill your lives

Hugs, Julierose

HOLIDAY BAKING, et al

 

I made my Orange Chocolate fudge

this morning and it is setting in

the fridge:

Below is the (obviously) 

well used:)))) recipe

{click to enlarge}

and below

is my

Delicious White Chocolate fudge...

😋😋😋😋

Friendship Christmas Fudge 

 never fail recipe

above;;;;;;

{using white chocolate bits,

dried cranberries, freshly

zested orange rind, and

 I used sliced almonds

this time...}

So I can check these off my 

list for Christmas preps

;))))

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

AND...

While I was putting the fudges

together, I put two trays of

diced, stale bread crusts

dotted with olive oil and 

spices to make our next

batch of croutons.

I cannot see throwing crusts away that we

really don't eat that much!!

Instead I save them in the fridge and

dice them up right before

baking...

They take about 1&1/2 hrs 

at 225 degrees---

stirred about 

once halfway

through....

(don't stint on the good olive oil!!)

And now they will be savored on salads

and on Tom's soups--he is going

to make Canadian yellow 

pea soup tomorrow for us...

What a guy👴

👄👫😗

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

I hope you are all making headway

with your preparations for the 

big day...or if you don't do holidays,

are just enjoying this little respite from

the bitter cold today...

Hugs, Julierose,

La Blageuse

(resting-oof-dah-euse)