An Overdue Trip to Michigan for this Aunt

The end of October brought a long overdue trip to Michigan to visit the family.  I planned my trip to coincide with Halloween because I wanted to join in on the fun of trick-or-treating with niece Mackenzie (4 1/2 y.o.) and nephew Cameron (20 mo.) and newest nephew Benjamin (2 mo.).

We visited a cider mill and went pumpkin-picking.

Celebrated October birthdays (mine and sister-in-law's).


















Carved pumpkins...


















.....and took lots and lots of selfies. (I taught Mackenzie how to do this on my iPhone and now I have eleventy billion photos LOL!)

Trick-or-treating was short-lived as it snowed and snowed and the wind was blowing like crazy.  Only in Michigan....

My visit was much too short but I did fit in a trip to my favorite Michigan quilt store Mabelena's.  I picked up some new Fig Tree fat quarters for a soon-to-be project and some great Boo Crew fabric on sale for a future Schnibble project. 

 

My visit was way too short and I hope to get back soon before this little guy grows up too much.

I'm Back! It's October! It's the end of October!

Sleeping on the job.  No help blogging here.

I did not realize it had been nearly a month since I last blogged.  Sigh.  What a bad blogger I've been this year.
















I just got back yesterday from a week long trip to Michigan to visit my family,

celebrate October birthdays,



and spend oodles of time with this little cutie

Mackenzie 2 1/2 years old.

 My sister-in-law, aunt, mom, and I spent some time sewing.  I finished the center of the Schnibbles quilt for this month "Hubble".  I am using "Serenade" by Kate Spain charm packs and Moda Bella Solid in Eggplant.

Love the autumn-ness of these colors.   

Mackenzie, dad, and I picked raspberries and made a raspberry pie.  Mackenzie *may* have eaten more berries than ended up in her basket.

Now to get caught up on everything.

More Sad News

Poor Readers, this blog has become nothing but quilt blocks and bad news lately.  I'm feeling that way too. 

My beloved paternal grandfather passed away in his sleep the early hours on September 29th. I found out yesterday at 8:15AM and am still trying to process the fact that he is gone.

He was the most wonderful and loving and fun grandfather ever.  I think there was nothing he enjoyed more than his 11 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.  This photo is of him and Mackenzie last year.

His obituary said he was a Master Electrician but he was so much more so I wanted to write down, mostly for myself, the rest of his profession.  So please forgive the personal recollections.
My grandfather could fix anything--cars, houses, engines, you name it, including mashed potatoes and breakfast. He loved chocolate ice cream and telling funny stories and jokes. He didn't like pineapple so our family always tried to sneak pineapple in stuff just for fun and to have the grandkids sing-song say "you ate pineapple!"  He taught me about the great outdoors, how to fish, how to read animal tracks in the dirt, how to shoot arrows and ride motorcycles.   From him, I learned about gardening and composting and the joy of eating carrots straight out of the ground.  He loved carpentry and woodworking and made furniture, cradles, dollhouses for all the granddaughters, wooden trains and tractors for the grandsons, dulcimers and beautiful stringed instruments, shelves for tea cups and knick-knacks, and picture frames. I spent most of my childhood Sundays and summer days at my grandparents with my cousins--running and playing outside all day and having root beer floats while watching TV in evening.  I am the oldest grandchild and my whole life he always asked me if I would take care of him in his old age and I always assured him that I would.  I think I was still waiting for him to get old because in my eyes he was always so full of life and there was so much more I wanted to ask him and talk to him about.   Eighty-two years was not long enough and I was so looking forward to seeing him next month.   

Two New Roles

This new year brings two new roles for me. In March, my dearest and only brother and his wife are expecting their first baby. I am so excited about being an aunt!!! I wasn't able to be at the baby shower yesterday but of course, I sent a big box of goodies to Michigan for my future niece (nothing pink though, I don't do pink).
Yes, there was a quilt in that box. A sweet little 30s nine-patch.
I quilted it myself too.

The second new role was unexpected. I was promoted to a newly created management position at my day job last week. So now I am officially middle management and officially a Dilbert cartoon. In keeping with this economy, I got a very itty bitty raise with the promotion, so am still stuck working two jobs. But I am grateful for the opportunity and the challenge.

Happy Week Between Holidays!

Hello everyone from the frozen north! I have been absent in blogland and am way behind in finding out what everyone is doing. I am in Michigan visiting family this week and am very happy to be on a mini-vacation from work and work. It is COLD here and this Georgia girl has been wrapped up in quilts that I gifted my parents previously and trying to keep warm. (Note: this is a great tip, send quilts to where you visit and then visit your quilts:)

I arrived here on Christmas night after working at SBux and thankfully did not fly into Detroit and get caught up in the aftermath of Mr. Attempted Terrorist. Of course now one person has yet again ruined air travel for everyone else in the world. I still curse the shoe bomber for making me take my shoes off and walk around on dirty floors.... S. predicts that we will not be able to wear civilian clothes on airplanes anymore and that TSA will issue everyone Homeland Security Snuggies (remember you heard it here first!). Anyway...

I'm having a nice visit here with family and spent about two days sewing with mom. I brought Bonnie Hunter's "Double Delight" to work on and also a super easy jelly roll quilt so I alternate between millions of 3 1/2" square-in-a-square blocks and easy jelly roll blocks. Am also having fun visiting Princess Shiloh, my parents Alaskan malamute, and my nephew dog Jack, my brother and SIL's Siberian husky. Jack remembers me because I bring him fancy dog biscuits--this time it's organic pumpkin and apple cookies.

Before I forget, the cats had a great Christmas and loved their presents from purrfectplay.com. Edgar Poe squeaked by on the "good" list and received little catnip mice to throw around.

Happy Tuesday! Catch up with everyone soon!

Autumn in Michigan

Hello from Michigan!! [Waving to Cathy at Quilt Obsession since I am 900 miles closer] I arrived on Wednesday evening to spend my birthday weekend with my family and enjoy a change of scenery.

Wednesday was a perfect autumn day here. I had forgotten how beautiful fall leaves were in the north. There are pumpkins everywhere, cornstalks in the fields, and houses decorated for Halloween.

Thursday, we went on our traditional when-I-visit-quilt-shop-hop to Lake St. Mercantile and Guildcrafters. My mom and my SIL found the fabrics they were looking for and I bought some helping-the-Michigan-economy fabric (the BEST kind!). We had a fabulous lunch at my favorite deli (The Bread Basket) where they have HUGE sandwiches and make their own bread, corned beef, brisket, etc. I had pastrami and swiss on rye and brought half of it home. Because we were too full from lunch, we skipped dinner and went to Cook's Dairy later for ice cream. (Do I have a great family or what?) I brought a quilt kit with me and got it cut out last night too.

Today it is raining, but we are going to ignore that and go to a cider mill and hopefully a pumpkin patch for pumpkins. Also a trip to Mabelena's quilt shop. I'll post photos when I get back to GA.

Happy Fall Y'all!!!!

A Flurry of Activity

There's been a flurry of activity here at Stella Bella Quilts the past two days.

Well some of us have been busy...

Yesterday I took the day off of work and got up early to get the house cleaned and straightened before my parents arrived for a week long visit. Edgar Poe was a big help supervising and making sure the Swifter was attacked at appropriate intervals. Mom and dad arrived safely from Michigan before rush hour in Atlanta traffic (which starts around 2 PM and goes til 7 PM).

This is also Atlanta Shop Hop weekend and Becky invited me and my mom to go with her. We had tons of fun and did our part to stimulate the economy. (I'll post photos and a report tomorrow.) After we got home it was back in the car to go to our favorite Chinese restaurant (Mahjong) to celebrate E's birthday. Then it was off to Bruster's for ice cream. Whew! I'm exhausted. I better get to sleep soon since I have to work at SBux tomorrow.

BIG Thanks to Becky for the invite and for driving in the horrible rainy ATL traffic.

Thanksgiving in Michigan

I'm back in Atlanta after spending Tuesday through Saturday in Michigan visiting my family for Thanksgiving. I missed most of the ATL airport madness by going then instead of Wednesday-Sunday and I had today to catch up and do laundry. I had a great time and was really busy trying to see everyone and do everything in a few days.

Some of the highlights were:

1. seeing my parents, brother, sister-in-law, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who I haven't seen in a year

2. eating too much great food (thanks Mom for all the pies!!!)

3. getting up at dark-thirty to go shopping on Friday (a family tradition) and getting most of my shopping done and presents wrapped so I don't have to mail them!

4. enjoying 3-4 inches of snow

5. going to my favorite quilt shops

6. playing with Shiloh (my parents' Alaskan Malamute)

and Jack (my brother's Siberian Husky)

I know my quilty friends want a detailed report of the quilt shop hopping. One of the best quilt shops in Michigan is Mabelena's. Unfortunately, they don't have a website or blog so you can't see all the great stuff for yourself--just trust me, it's awesome! The owner, Brenda, is the sweetest and always remembers me even though I visit only once or twice a year. This is what I bought at Mabelena's

some Civil War fabric I actually don't have yet...

along with 4 yards of Duck cloth (a light canvas) for lining purses (I like this better than stiffer lining).

Another one of my favorite shops is Guildcrafters (they do have a blog). This shop has a wide variety of fabric and lots of kits and samples. I picked up some charm squares, a pattern, a cool neutral,

and some Amy Butler fabric to make into a purse. We went to two other quilt shops (Linda's and Canterbury Village Quilt Shop) but I didn't buy anything at those. We didn't make it to my other favorite shop, Lake Street Mercantile. Maybe next time.

Today, I have been sewing on Xmas gifts. Do you realize tomorrow is December???!!!????!!!??? Better get busy!

Long Weekend

Hooray for the long weekend! For the first time in who knows how long, I have a three day weekend from both jobs. It has been one of those long, tired weeks for me. I worked at SBux every night, then watched DNC speeches and got to bed late all week. No sewing for me this week but I plan to change that as soon as I finish my coffee (today's brew is Starbucks Pike Place Roast).

Also, three very dear people in my life had surgery this week. Becky of quiltingbooklady.blogspot.com had hip replacement surgery on Wed. She is doing good and would love it if you'd hop on over there and send her get well wishes. My mom had her second knee replacement surgery on Thurs. She is doing good and hopefully will be going home tomorrow. My grandma had bypass surgery on Thurs. and is doing fine. I am glad that everyone is doing well. Too much worrying with everyone having surgery in the same week. I figure that August must be National Body Part Replacement month--I'm glad I am not among the celebrants.

OK off to sew. I hope to get something done and posted so stay tuned...