Happy Halloween!

From Zombie Kitty!!!!

And the winner is....

"Hey what's in the bowl?"

Morpheus finds no food in the bowl, so loses interest...
Edgar is always ready to help...

"I think it says CAT TREATS"

"Yes it definitely says CAT TREATS. Sounds great! Bring on the cat treats!!!!" Silly Edgar! It's the winner for my b-day month giveaway. The winner is...

Michelle at Michelle's Quilts & Stuff. Hooray!!! Michelle, please email me your mailing address and your gift will be on it's way! PS: Edgar says sorry but any cat treats are staying here...

I Haven't Forgotten!!!

No, I haven't forgotten about my b-day month giveaway. I went to the mountains for the weekend and enjoyed all the requisite vacation items:
1. Enjoyed a long hike in the mountains (check)
2. Enjoyed all the pretty fall leaves (check)
3. Ate too much good food (check)
4. Bought and ate some yummy fudge (check)
5. Went to quilt shops and bought a few goodies (check)
6. Came down with a nasty virus on Sunday (Wait a minute that's not supposed to happen!!!!!!!)

Yes, I suspiciously have a flu-like virus even though I got a flu shot!!!! Maybe I just got the GA flu shot and wasn't supposed to leave the state???

I am so sorry I am behind on blogging and awarding prizes. But I am on the mend and will post the winner of the giveaway tomorrow!!

PS: a big thank you to S. for the fab b-day weekend. Next time let's skip #6 'K?

The Best Thing about Traveling...

...is coming home!!! It's great to be back home and it seems like Fall appeared in the ATL while I was gone. It's chilly here! The cats are all fine and are piled up in a big fuzzy pile next to me on the couch. I would take a photo and post but we are all just too comfortable here to find a camera and the cord yada yada. I am catching up on stuff and drinking some hot tea. What a great way to spend a chilly Fall evening.

Blogging from the plains

Hello from Tulsa, Oklahoma!!! All together now "Oklahoma where the wind comes whipping down the plain... "(that's all the lyrics I know so you are on your own for the rest...) I am here for a two-day workshop for my day job. I gave a presentation today that went really well so I'm glad that is over and now it's just workshopping. Hooray for wireless internet because I have no way to get to any quilt shops for quilt shopping so I am catching up on blogs and friends and emails.

While surfing blogs, I found a Halloween Giveaway so go here and check it out! But don't enter cause I want to win this mystery prize from Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe hee hee! Her shop is full of Fall goodies so check that out too.

On the homefront, Morpheus is doing well and is out of his cape since I am not there to supervise and make sure the other cats aren't making fun of him too much. S. is taking good care of him but I am anxious to get back. Morph and I thank you for all your comments and well wishes. He usually "helps" me blog by hanging out in my lap or pawing at the cursor on the screen.

This is not quite what I had in mind....

for my birthday month....vet bills! Poor Morpheus had to go to vet yesterday to get a benign tumor removed from his leg and has quite the incision. After tearing off two of the hard plastic Elizabethan collars at the vet's office, my vet suggested that I use a soft vinyl one turned inside out. So instead of looking like a flashlight, this is what Morph looks like

As we say in the South, bless his heart! The other cats have stared at him from a distance with the fascination of the paparazzi watching a Britney Spears meltdown. I had to work at SBux and called S. about every hour to check up on him. When I got home, Morph followed me around the house meowing constantly. I'm sure it was NOT polite kitty conversation!

So apparently against his will, Morpheus is dressing up like Daffy Duck in "Duck Amuck" for Halloween

Morph says he is passing on entering my Birthday Giveaway and just wishes the other cats would quit making fun of him.

The Perfect Coffee for October

October brings one of my favorite coffees to Starbucks--Anniversary Blend. One of the perks (pun intended! I love a good pun!) of working at SBux is getting a free pound of coffee a week. If there is ever a worldwide shortage of coffee--I'm all set for a little while. Since it's only two weeks until Halloween, it's time to get out the Halloween coffee mugs. Gomez decided he needed to be in the photo, so there he is too (it's pointless to try to argue with him).

If you like a good, bold coffee stock up on Anniversary Blend because it's a limited offering (black cat not included).

Birthday month

October is my favorite month!! I love Fall, I love Halloween, and my birthday is a week before Halloween (I think I was born a week early) so this is my birthday month. Since I was a kid, I have had Halloween-themed birthdays with Halloween cakes, decorations, pumpkins, etc.

We have a great tradition in my family that not only can you celebrate your birth-day, but some years you may celebrate a birthday week or even a birthday month by doing fun things that you want to do for a longer period of time. You could also say things to your little brother like "be nice to me, it's my birthday month" or "the last brownie without edges is mine, cause it's my birthday week" (my brother and I always wanted the brownies in the center of the pan without edges so we would argue over the last center brownie).

Anyway----in the tradition of quilty bloggers, I am having a giveaway to celebrate my birthday. A couple of Moda charm packs, a great pattern by my friend Pat of Silver Thimble Quilt Co. and some Halloween stuff. I will probably add some more fun treats before this gets sent out to the lucky winner.

Here's the details if you are interested in the drawing:

1. Leave a comment on this post and let me know what your favorite Halloween costume was (in the past or last year--doesn't matter) and you get your name in the drawing once.

2. If you mention this giveaway and add a photo of yourself in costume on your blog, you get your name in twice! (if you don't have a photo of yourself in costume, you can use a child, pet, or something you want to be :)

3. Deadline is noon (EST) on Sunday, October 26. If you don't have a blog, make sure you add your email address in the comment.

I'll get y'all started:

Here is me as Isis (check out the blue eyeshadow!). In case, you didn't watch The Secrets of Isis on TV in the 1970s here's a photo and info from Wikipedia:

(see the resemblance? Mom did a great job on the costume!)

From Wikipedia: "The Secrets of Isis (also called simply, "Isis") starred JoAnna Cameron as Andrea Thomas, a high school science teacher who found an ancient mystical amulet on an archeological dig in Egypt. The amulet belonged to Hatshepsut, an ancient Egyptian Queen and it gave the wearer the powers of Isis... Whenever Isis was needed, Andrea would reveal the amulet and incite an incantation ("Oh, mighty Isis!") and she would be transformed into the goddess Isis. As Isis she was given great strength, the ability to move inanimate objects, and the power to fly and run at super speed...Unlike other superheroes who responded when people called their name, Isis often came to the rescue of people who didn't call for her, arriving in the nick of time and encouraging the wrongdoer to see the error of their ways through self-reflection." (Did anyone else watch this or was it just me???)

Thanks for helping me celebrate!!!!!!

A Visiting Day

One of my favorite bloggers Michelle is having a birthday giveaway! Visit her blog and wish her a happy birthday!! Hooray for October Birthdays!

I had a zillion and two errands to run after work and I quickly stopped by Pat's house to say "hey" and wish her luck. Pat is busy busy busy getting ready for quilt market in Houston. I hope she has a great successful market--she has some fabulous new patterns coming out that I'm sure I will just *have* to make! She has a new photo of her fabulous pattern "Peace in the Valley" in Civil War fabrics on her blog.

Now I have a zillion and two chores to do tonight so I better get busy....

Three Quilt Photos

Today is a state/fed. holiday (Columbus Day) and also Canada's Thanksgiving--Happy Thanksgiving Canada!! I have three--count them three-- quilt photos today. How did I spend my weekend? Finishing binding and borders. Here is my finished "Peace in the Valley" (pattern by Silver Thimble Quilt Co.)

And here are two quilts from my favorite quilt book "Jelly Roll Quilts"

the completed "Prairie Pailey Peer Pressure" quilt (pattern is "Garden Trellis" in the book and

the complete top for "Civil War Nine Patch" made from Moda's Heritage and some stash. For some reason these photos are kinda blurry--either my quilt-holder-upper or I have had too much coffee today, take your pick.

If you have been following this blog, you know that Karin and I are making just about every quilt in the "Jelly Roll Quilts" book and have convinced every quilter we know to buy the book and join us too. Well check out this blog for a sneak preview of their new book. Karin--we have until March to finish up this book so we can be ready for the next LOL!!!!

Michelle has reminded me that it's time to get busy on Christmas gifts so I also started that this weekend. Can't show photos of those!

One of my favorite things

By Gomez:

What Edgar does during the day

Baking with Bella

Not really. While I was baking, Stella Bella was doing this

(this is a favorite cat lounging spot)

We are having a potluck lunch at my Day Job tomorrow so I am bringing dessert. Let's bake some cookies.

Get out the trusty Kitchen Aid and the oh-so-trendy-and-retro orange Tupperware measuring cups (these may be as old as I am, I'll have to check with Mom)

Of course along with butter and brown sugar, eggs, and flour, these cookies are good for you because they have whole grains See oatmeal = good for you, breakfast even. On to the next step,

let's just skip on by the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk and focus on the whole grains ok?

and pecans--these are good for you too. Yum glossy melted chocolate let's not think about hot fudge sundaes and focus on finishing cookies. We need to put some dough into a pan, top with chocolate, and finish with some more dough.

Pop in the oven. Bake.

And here they are. Now where's a glass of milk...

Hooray for Fall!

A wonderful fall day here in the ATL. I LOVE fall. It's my favorite season and October is my favorite month (it's my birthday month--more on that in a later post--stay tuned). According to the weather report, it's supposed to be in the upper 40s tonight--time to break out some more quilts woo hoo!

I have been super busy with the Day Job. It's our busy season with lots of Big Events, Big Meetings, and generally too much stuff to do. Tomorrow I have a Big Event, but my speech is written, my powerpoint is together, and I think I know what I'm wearing--I'm set.

As y'all may know, A-T-L has been O-U-T of gasoline. I have conserved and lucked out by finding gas after working at SBux at midnight so it's been OK for me. A couple more weeks of spotty supplies but supposedly the situation is getting better. In a city where mass transit is nonexistent to impossibly inconvenient for someone who works two jobs, it's been an adventure. I even had to tell Melisa to hold some charm packs for me until I was sure making an extra trip to Sweet Home would be OK. Not being able to pick up charm packs would be a minor crisis (not really) in ordinary times--except it hasn't really been a normal time these past couple of weeks now has it???!!???

Which leads me to admit, nay pronounce, that I have been watching WAY too much TV (msnbc-cnn-jon stewart-stephen colbert-keith olbermann-bill maher-rachel maddow and repeat). Remember when news stories used to be about misbehaving celebrities--all seems pretty silly compared to the implosion of our financial firms doesn't it?