Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Happy Birthday to Edgar Poe and Stella!

It is so hard to believe that "The Kittens" (as S. and I call them) are six years old today.  Happy Birthday and catnip confetti for Edgar Poe and Stella Bella.

Turning six is cause for a nap in the late afternoon sun

I've never had sibling cats before and it has been just more fun that I ever would have thought with these two sweeties.  They love to play and sleep together and are endlessly entertaining.  With Remy in the house, Edgar and Stella are no longer the youngest but we still call them The Kittens.

One of my favorite posts with Edgar and Stella is this one from 2009.  Here is another one of a young Poe getting into more trouble. 

And here's the first photo of the orphan kittens when we brought them home.  S. and I found them on May 27, 2006, during a walk and the kittens were roaming wild in the street.  Who could resist little stripey tabby kittens? Especially when they started following us. Definitely not us.  

Monday, February 27, 2012

Weekend Report: Sewing, Cats, Oscars


I did manage to squeeze in some sewing time on Saturday to work on a project from retreat earlier in the month.  I had finished all the blocks for the quilt I am calling "Chocolate Raspberry Truffle" (after my favorite ice cream at the local Bruster's ice cream chain).

I started sewing the rows together with help from Stella.  I think she is making sure the colors are all distributed evenly.

The fabric is French General's Maison de Garance.  Yummy yummy yummy.

I got about half of the top together so maybe I'll get the other half sewn this upcoming weekend.



My Battle Hymn fabric project is calling me and I sewed one of the star blocks together to see what it looked like.

Hmmm need to think on this.












On Sunday, I worked at Starbucks all morning. On my way home, my truck (Xena) drove itself to Intown Quilters to rest in the parking lot while I browsed inside.

Really it was Xena's fault, she wanted to rest in the beautiful spring-like sun for awhile.

Really.  That's the story and we are sticking to it.

I hadn't been in the shop in a long time, even though it is on the way home from Starbucks and my day job, I try to be good and only stop every once and awhile. The shop is filled to the brim with Modern Quilt fabrics, Kaffe Fassett, brights, and batiks.

I had a "filled" shopper card so snagged some goodies with a discount.  A couple of yards of Robert Kaufman organic cotton solid in gray.  I'm looking forward to sewing with this.  A cool laptop bag pattern by Fig Tree Quilts. Some Valdani thread for wool appliqué in pretty purples.  And a patterns to make owl potholders.  Owls as potholders. Oh owly love!  These would be great in my kitchen.  Now I just need some time to make all this LOL!

Did you stay up late watching the Oscars?  S. and I said we were not going to this year because we only saw a couple of the movies that were nominated for several of the main awards (Moneyball, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Bridesmaids).  We stayed up until the end anyway.  I was sorry that Brad Pitt didn't win for Moneyball because I thought he was really good in the movie.  I was so happy that Meryl Streep won though. She is class and graciousness personified as well as being an unparalleled actor extraordinaire.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Remy's Saturday

Paper bags are fun.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Mardi Gras!!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!  King Bacchus this year in NOLA is none other than Will Ferrell.  How fun is that??!!!  I hope to visit NOLA for Mardi Gras someday.  Today, I'll just have to settle for wearing beads to Starbucks.

Image courtesy of The Times-Picayune on nola.com


Not much partying going on here in Stellabellaland. I have been working working working  these past two weeks (70 hours last week and 65 this week) as we are short-handed at Starbucks and I have my usual 40-hour week day-job (no President's Day off for us).  That means not much sewing and not much of anything.  Le sigh.

I did finally finish reading the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy (or Millennium trilogy). I may have been the third to last person on the planet to read this (two of my Twitter buds are the others lol!). I enjoyed it a lot and am anxious for the next two movies to be filmed.  My current book is Just My Type: a book about fonts by Simon Garfield. I think I qualify for an uber-geek award with this selection.  I admit I am a font noticer and prefer serif fonts to sans serif fonts (old fashioned in this regard).

In other miscellaneous news, Downton Abbey has ended for US audiences and now we have to wait for Season 3 along with everyone else.  I already miss the Dowager Countess.  I think I liked Season 1 better than Season 2.  Season 2 was a little overdramatic and soap-opera-y in my opinion.  The last episode (Christmas episode) was much better although ended a bit abruptly. I guess to set up for Season 3.  What are your thoughts Abbey fans?    

PS:  I got rid of the new, annoying, incomprehensible word verification so please comment away without having to decipher.

PPS:  If you do comment, please let me know what you think of my new plain-style blog layout.  Too boring? Too dreary? OK?  Need different colors?  Don't have an opinion?  I hope to add a colorful photo banner at the top with quilts/cats/something. S is supposed to work on one for me in exchange for doing his taxes for him.  Hint hint S!  Thanks!!!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Collections

Among the (many) collectible collections I have is a collection of city Starbucks mugs. (I am such a Starbucks geek) One of my SBux co-workers is living in Germany for a couple of years and is sending me mugs from cities that she visits. Love this one!! Prague is one of the places I hope to visit someday but for now I'll enjoy my mug. Thanks Abi!!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Monday, February 13, 2012

Retreat Report

I had a fabulous time at quilt retreat.  The days went by so fast that it didn't seem like we spent three solid days and one partial day sewing.  Ginormous thanks to Pat Wys for organizing this fun, productive, wonderful retreat.


Pat had a few demos for us including this great block board inspired by Lori at Bee in My Bonnet. 


Remy is hard at work inspecting my blocks for another project made from French General's Maison de Garance fabric line.   He must be checking my 1/4"seam.




"I don't approve of this block!" 



Here is another photo of my finished project and a detail. Can't wait until next year's retreat!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Edgar Poe's Report

Hello! Edgar Poe here for a guest post.  Mom came home today from her quilt retreat.  There was much purring and rejoicing among us cats.   Although S. does a great job taking care of us when Mom is gone, we like Mom to be home.  Besides, S. always tells Mom that we misbehave when she is gone (maybe the other cats, surely not me.)

Mom was so happy to see us that she curled up on the couch and took a cat nap with us.  Guess quilting is hard work.

Friday, February 10, 2012

On Location



Hello from the North Georgia mountains!  I am on retreat at a gorgeous location with about 30 other quilters from the Silver Thimble Quilt Club.

Beautiful view from our sewing area.








Here is my little station right next to Karin.

Thursday I worked on an old UFO from the book Layer Cake, Jelly Roll, and Charm Pack Quilts called "Damask Rose".  The fabric is Windham's "Clara Barton" fabric line.

This is a quilt on my 2012 UFO list and guess what...









Ta da!  It's done.  (not the greatest photo from the iPhone but you get an idea.

OK time for lunch and back to sewing.


Sunday, February 5, 2012

Quilting Question

Do you think 57 projects is too many to bring to a four-day retreat?

Not really 57 projects

I thought not.









Through the graciousness and wonderfulness of friends, I am going on a long-weekend retreat to the mountains for some major sewing and fun time.


And I've already started packing.


 Remy has decided to "help" pack.