Multiple Choice

Morph is saying:

A. How many more days until the election???!!!????!!!

B. Mom!!! Edgar has my favorite toy!!!!

C. Listen to me sing an aria...LAAAAAAA

D. Mom!!!! Gomez is eating all my food!!!!

E. I'm glad all my investments are in catnip HA HA HA

F. I'm going to be a vampire for Halloween

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Isn't this a funny photo? Add a comment and let me know what you think Morpheus is saying!

Coffee and Books

Last night I had a great night out (on a Monday!). After my day job, I went to have coffee with S. at (no not Starbucks) Two Dancing Goats. The cool thing about Two Dancing Goats (besides the fun name) is they have the uber-ultra-mega-expensive-unbelievably-awesome coffee brewer called the Clover, which is currently the top of the line coffee brewer. Let me tell ya, it makes one excellent cup of coffee. So I had a fabulous cup of Costa Rica La Minita del Sol .

Then we went to a lecture by Rick Atkinson , Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author. He gave a lecture about his second book in a trilogy about World War II called The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy 1943-1944. It was a great lecture and he is a wonderfully entertaining speaker. I got my two books signed by him and he was very gracious with everyone answering questions and chatting while signing books. The first book in the series An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa 1942-1943 is one of my all-time favorite books (I told him that too--I'm such a dork!) Anyway, if you have any interest in history, I highly recommend his books. He brings military history to life in a wonderful narrative way (i.e.: not dry or boring!)

In local news, Atlanta seems to be running out of gasoline. Besides the numerous closed gas stations I've seen around in the past week, tonight there were actually lines of cars wrapped around and down streets waiting for gas--something I'd only seen photos of from the 1970s! I am glad I filled up over the weekend but am now wondering if there is some contingency plan....I mean just for getting gas to get to and from work which is all I do anyway. Um.....hello Governor/Homeland Security/somebody....y'all better get it together...it's not like we have much of a choice here in metro ATL with the lack of public transportation....

International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

ARRRRRGGGG! Avast ye mateys, it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day! One o' th' best 'olidays if ye ask me.

Iffen ye don't know about this 'oliday, check out this web site for all things pirate. Aye there's e'en a pirate gloss'ry iffen ye don't know pirate speak an' a pirate translator iffen ye want to change yer post to Piratese.

I had to give a speech at me non-pirate job today an' me boss wouldn't let me give th' presentation in Piratese grrrrr. No fun and would'a made it more interestin'--shiver me timbers it would'a. Aye, I'm off to watch th' best pirate of em all--Cap't Jack Sparrow.

Raise yer mug o' rum and sing with me "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me"

A Detour

I took a detour on the way home from work today.....to Conyers....that's a big detour hee hee! I went to Sweet Home Quilt Co. AKA Bad Melisa's to pick up my "on hold" jelly roll right off the truck
(this is "American Primer" by Moda)

and some new yardage of Moda's "Heritage" line.

Here's the nine-patches I started on Sunday with the "Heritage" jelly roll.
Aren't nine-patches just the sweetest block?
Of course I get home and a couple of hours later Bad Melisa sends an email saying she has MORE new Moda fabric....Bad Bad Melisa!! I think I have enough to keep me busy for this weekend...and beyond.....

Positive Changes

I feel Fall in the air. There is a smidgen less humidity in the air here in the ATL and the A/C is running less (both very positive changes). I love Fall--it's my favorite season. Be prepared (forewarned??) for lots of Fall-inspired posts. I'll wait until October to start the Halloween-themed posts...

A BIG positive change for me is that I demoted myself at Starbucks from shift supervisor to plain ol' barista. After 6 1/2 years of being "in charge" during my shifts, I am now not in charge. This means less hours and less stress (let's do a happy dance for less stress--even a smidgen). Less hours means more sleep, more time with people--and cats--in my life, more time for quilting and reading and all the fun stuff I like to do, and yes, even more time to get rid of clutter in my house. Just being able to come home after my day job and gasp--have an evening at home--is going to be great.

Hooray for Fall! Just don't remind me that holiday season is coming up...

Visiting Day

I had a fun day visiting friends. I got up early (for me on a Saturday) and dropped off two quilts for Peggy to quilt (I really need to get cranking on some binding since I have 3 here to do and now 2 more soon). Then I went to visit Becky who is recovering from hip replacement surgery. Karin and I got Becky a "Quilter's Get Well Gift" at Sweet Home Quilt Co.--a Jelly Roll from Moda's Portobello Market line. Even thought Becky isn't quite up to sewing at the machine yet, she can plan projects like nobody's business LOL! She loved the gift and I brought her goodies from SBux. I had a wonderful visit with Becky and her in-home "doctor" Rusty (her dachshund and shadow).

Sharon, a good quilting friend, was having a "quilter's yard sale" this week and today was the last day. A bunch of friends (including Becky and Karin!) went Thurs. and Fri. but I had to work, so on the way home I stopped by to see what was left. (PS to Becky: You know you are a quilter if the first day out with your walker is to a fabric sale!!!!!) It was great seeing Sharon and Sharon B-A and I picked up a couple of things--some random fabric, a present for my mom, and some Thangles. AND I got talked into doing a swap with everyone (including Sharon who was unloading years worth of kits and now started another swap LOL!)

Now I'm sewing binding and watching Hurricane Ike updates. I am doing much better after sleeping a bunch and chillin' last weekend and because Laurie was worried that the shoe was one of mine--it's a photo from an archaeological dig!!!!

Old Shoe

This past week I have felt as tired and worn out as an old shoe

I have done zilch, nada, nothing in the way of sewing and basically spent all weekend sleeping or laying on the couch watching the "House" marathon on USA.

The cats, of course, feel no guilt about spending the weekend (or every day) like this. Here is Stella enjoying my favorite couch quilt.

I don't need Dr. House to diagnose what's wrong with me though--working too many hours, not getting enough sleep, too much stress, general malaise, and allergies, allergies, allergies. What I do need is a cure, but that's not going to happen any time soon. Here's hoping for a better and more productive week.

Mutts YESH!

On Sunday, I was fortunate enough to meet one of the people I admire most on the planet--Patrick McDonnell, the comic artist who does "Mutts" comic strip. Since 1994, I have read every single comic strip and collected all his books (I have T-shirts and calendars too). It's corny but "Mutts" really touches my soul. Any other major "Mutts" fans out there??? If you are not familiar with "Mutts" check it out for yourself here http://www.muttscomics.com/

Anyway, on Sunday I went to the Decatur Book Festival to hear Patrick read his new children's book South (there were more adults in the audience than kids LOL!). He drew some of the main characters from the comic strip:

Earl


and Mooch
Here's Patrick "reading" his new book (there's no words so it was more of Patrick explaining the story and the art).

After the talk, he signed books so I now have a signed copy of South and Shelter Stories and I got to say thanks to a great artist who adds a little cheer to every day.

Labor Day

Well it's nearing the end of a long holiday weekend. I am relieved that Hurricane Gustav didn't hit New Orleans and hopefully it won't do much damage in Louisiana. Now hurricanes Hannah and Ike are headed toward Florida and I expect we will get lots of rain here in Georgia from those later this week.

I didn't get as much done this long weekend as I thought I would. I did get lots of sleep though, which was the important thing. The cats got lots of sleep too...
Morpheus must have had a hard day being a kitty since he is deep in sleep. What exactly is so hard about being a kitty??? Eat, sleep, get attention, sleep, eat, sleep, get attention, play with toys, sleep, repeat.
Here is Morph looking irritated that I woke him up (hee hee).

I didn't get much done quilting-wise this weekend. I did a lot of housecleaning (yuck--but necessary). Saturday, I went to Sweet Home Quilt Co. to pick up the new "Quilt Sampler" magazine. Thanks to Melisa, I got one of the last 2 issues!
and a new ruler and a new jelly roll (Heritage by Moda).

Here is the current jelly roll quilt I am working on called "Sparkling Gemstones" in the book Jelly Roll Quilts. It is made from 2 20-strip Kaffe Fasset jelly rolls from Intown Quilters. I am about halfway done putting the rows together and will finish it next weekend.