Sill Life: Two Sleeping Cats and Quilt

Stella and Gomez 11-25-2012

Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope everyone in the U.S. enjoyed the Thanksgiving weekend!!!!!  I spent more time off-line than on so I thought I'd do a weekend wrap-up post.

Thanksgiving, I worked half a day at Starbucks.  It was busy and lots of fun.  Came home, collapsed for awhile, S. bought a ham and I made side dishes, and we called it Thanksgiving. Simple and no frills, just the two of us.

Friday was no-shopping-for-me day.  Edgar and Stella went to the vet for their annual check-up.  Both are doing great.  I came home and started working on some handmade Xmas gifts.

Saturday, finished up Xmas gifts and made myself a new purse.

When I was in Michigan in October, Mackenzie helped me make pie crust.  She liked stirring, cutting in the shortening, and rolling out the dough.  I thought it would be fun to make her a couple of aprons.

 I made two aprons--one for her house and one for Grandma's house.  I used the super-easy reversible apron pattern from the Moda Bake Shop website. She likes owls so I made this and a matching chef's hat from the Michael Miller fabric blog.

For Grandma's house, I made used this cute dog and cat fabric with polkadot accent fabric. 

Here's the reverse side with the dog fabric.

Here's the purse I made for myself.  I love this pattern and this is the third one I have made.  The pattern is "An Everyday Bag" by Favorite Things.  I love it because there is 4 pockets on the inside and one on each end on the outside that is perfect for holding my work ID and business cards.  I used two magnetic closures instead of the ties in the pattern and it keeps your stuff from falling out if your purse falls upside down.  I used an older Moda fabric I had with a dark purple for the interior. 

Sunday was another busy day at Starbucks making holiday drinks.  I am sad that this long weekend is coming to an end and I have to go to my day job tomorrow. 

Here's a sweet photo of Remy to cheer us all up!

Remy-versary

I missed posting on November 13th, the one-year anniversary of Remy's adoption.

Here he was a year ago--just a little guy

And here he is today (on the same quilt no less)--

In the past year, Remy has:

1. Spilled countless bowls of water because he likes to play in the water bowls and really likes to drop cat toys in the water then fish them out
2. Ate all the tails off the toy mice, chewed ears off the others, shredded lots of toys because he thinks he is a dog
3. Chewed the straps off my favorite pair of Mary Jane chunky heeled shoes because he thinks he is a dog
4. Torn up countless paper bags, played in countless boxes, and chewed on every box, bag and any other paper in the house because he thinks he is a  Remy recycling machine
5. Hid under rugs, under couches, up in the box spring of the bed, under dressers and armoires because he thinks he is a hermit crab 
6. Reminded us that the cat food container was nearing empty by fretting and fretting and meowing and rubbing against the container whenever it was getting low because he never wants to miss a meal.
7. Kept Edgar, Stella, and Gomez on edge from countless Remy-stealth-ninja-kitty attacks 
8. Caused great joy and laughter in the past year

We love you Rem, you silly cat.  

Finally a Bit of Sewing

There seems to be a paltry lack of sewing going on at Stella Bella Quilts.  I have no idea what I have been doing but I am still behind in everything--emails, sewing, blogging, reading blogs, etc.

If you commented on my posts or emailed me and I haven't responded, I am very sorry and thank you for commenting/emailing. I read everything and sometimes forget to reply back.

September and October flew away and now it's almost Thanksgiving.  I am working more at Starbucks and getting ready for the big weekend promotion this week (buy one, share one holiday drinks 2PM -5PM Nov. 15th-18th. Take a friend and )

This is the little bit I have done:

1. Sewed three backings together for Hubble, Civil War Block of the Week  and Good Fortune.  Made one binding, and have binding fabric for the other two quilts. Now I just need to get these to the quilter (not gifts--thankfully--all for me).  A big task finished 'cause I really dislike sewing backings together.

2. Figured out most of the Xmas gifts for this year--ordered some online, making some the Friday & Saturday after Thanksgiving, plans for the rest, no malls/stores/madness for me.

3. Made October & November's blocks for the Fat Quarter Shop Mystery Block of the Month

October FQS BOM

November FQS BOM

4. Made a couple Votes for Women Block of the Week blocks.  I am behind in this from being so busy in October and getting hung up on hand piecing (OY!!) the sunflower block from week 4 (I am still working on that one).

Here is New Jersey (week 5)

And Aunt Eliza's Star (week 6)

Nights are getting chilly and Stella has perfected the quintessential cat-curled-up-in-quilts pose.

My thoughts are with everyone two- and four-legged affected by Hurricane Sandy.  It is going to be a long road to recovering, particularly with winter arriving.  On behalf of my warm, safe, & healthy cats, I made donations to the ASPCA, which is on the ground helping rescue & reunite pets.  I know there are a lot of causes and people out there helping & it's much needed.

Veterans Day

Image from The Guardian newspaper accessed 11/11/12

Remembering the sacrifices of our men and women who served our country past and present. Thank you from a grateful nation.