Happy Mother's Day

 Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!!

I am celebrating cat-mom day :)

Happy New Year!

Hope 2014 brings peace, love, happiness, and prosperity to all.

PS: No, I did not attempt this last night. I stayed home and went to bed early LOL!

photo: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

Christmas Eve

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!  Happy Christmas Eve to those who celebrate.
I have been busy working, making cookies for my fellow coffee slingers, and sewing.  The house sale is progressing s--l--o--w--l--y and I may have more of an idea of a time frame after the holidays (keeping fingers & paws crossed that it will be done by end of January). It's a complicated and aggravating story so I won't go into all the details. Let's just concentrate on getting done with it all soon.

Oh how I wish I was in Santa Fe with Mr. SBQ and the cats.  I had Mr. SBQ send me a photo of the Plaza with the lights and snow.

I will have to wait until next year to to experience the wonderful tradition of the Farolito Walk on Canyon Road.  Thousands of farolitos (also called luminaries) line Canyon Road on Christmas Eve and there are carolers, cider and hot chocolate, bonfires, and festivities.  It sounds simply wonderful (if a bit crowded).  This article has more about holiday traditions in the area.


This year, I'll be working tonight and all day tomorrow at Starbucks for all those last minute shoppers and coffee fanatics.

I also have been requesting more cat photos from Mr. SBQ.  I explained to him that there are hundreds if not thousands of cat photos NOT being taken because I'm not there to capture every cutemous moment.  

I don't think he quite understood. 

This cutemous photo of Remy and Edgar Poe arrived via text one day.  Awww.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates!

I love the classic Charlie Brown holiday cartoons, don't you?

Today was a working day for me. People still need their Starbucks on their way to family & friends :)

I have so much to be thankful for this year---my family and friends, all you wonderful bloggers out there in blogland, my job, my faithful truck, and my lovely, clean, soon-to-be-someone-else's-house, but I'm especially thankful for my wonderful husband and four furry cats out in Santa Fe.

Happy 4th of July!

Hope everyone has a Happy and Safe 4th of July!

On this day especially, remember to keep your pets safe indoors!!!

There is nothing but rain and more rain in the forecast for today in metro Atlanta.  No fireworks or grilling out for us.

Holiday Weekend in Washington, DC

Happy Hanukkah to all those that celebrate! Hope you are having a wonderful holiday.

Last Thursday, S., E., and I went to the greater Washington, DC area to visit S.'s family for a long weekend.  We planned the trip far in advance, and because I had never been to the White House on past trips to DC, I thought it would be a great time to visit while it was all decorated for the holidays.

The process to tour the White House is much more complicated in this post 9-11 world than in Thomas Jefferson's day when each morning visitors could just walk right in. Today, you have to go through your U.S. Congressperson's office and submit information for a background check.  You only find out if you are accepted for a tour about two weeks before your trip so it's good to have backup plans.

I was overjoyed that we were accepted for a tour, especially since we would be five out of the 90,000 people expected to go through the White House this season.

There was so much to see from the architecture, paintings, portraits of former Presidents and First Ladies, flower arrangements, antique furniture, not to mention the beautiful Christmas decorations.  It is impossible to adequately describe everything.

To add to the festivities, on the day we visited, an a  capella group from Smith College sang carols in the ground floor visitor's entrance and a group from a New York church played English hand bells in the East Room.  

Here is a view of the official White House Christmas tree in the Blue Room.  The theme this year was "Joy to All" and the tree was decorated with red, white and blue ornaments made by U.S. military families from around the world.   This tree was nearly 19-feet tall.

The White House gingerbread house complete with the First Lady's garden and beehive on the right and First Dog Bo on the left.  I just love gingerbread houses and this one is incredible with the painstaking details and stonework-like finish.  It is also huge, weighing 300 pounds.  Wonder what happens to it after the holidays?

A portrait of President Lincoln in the State Dining Room.  I thought the decorations in this room were delicate and airy looking and matched the plasterwork on the walls, the gold tablecloths, and the floral pattern in the carpet.  

Can you image what my cats would do to garland with glass ornaments?!?!? Remy would be hanging from the walls, breaking everything!

The State Dining Room is much smaller than you would imagine and seats 130 for dinner. Can you tell I read my White House brochure?

Here is the East Room, the largest room in the White House. The portrait is Martha Washington with the famous painting of George Washington on the other wall.  The Christmas trees are just amazing. You could spend all day looking at one to see all the different ornaments. Unfortunately, there are 80,999 other people wanting to see it too so time to move along.

Here is the famous portrait of President George Washington by Gilbert Stuart that Dolly Madison saved when the British burned the White House in 1814. The portrait was painted in 1797.

Yes, I paid attention in art history class.

And read my brochure.

In the grand entrance hall and cross hall of the White House were four large Christmas trees decorated with ornaments representing past First Ladies as well as ornaments honoring Gold and Blue Star military families.  There were also gold and bronze star metals on the trees.  A poignant reminder to remember our troops and their families this season.  

For more info about the White House history and decorations and to download a tour book and even  try a White House cookie recipe visit this link: 

 http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/inside-white-house/holidays

There is also a super-cute You Tube video of Bo giving a tour of the White House decorations. 

For even more history about the White House visit the White House Historical Association website at this link:  http://www.whitehousehistory.org You can see decorations and Christmas cards from the Kennedy administration through the present. 

And because a post is not a post without one or more references to Remy, here is a statue at the National Gallery of Art that reminded me of a certain leggy kitty at home.

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!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!  Hope you have a wonderful holiday!

I predict a rather lazy and quiet 4th of July here.  Right now all the cats are sleeping and I'm still drinking coffee and reading blogs.

Flag is flying from the porch, although our little town has had to cancel the parade once again because there is no money to have a parade.  I miss seeing all the kids on their decorated bikes and waving to the firefighters who saved my house last year.

Fridge is stocked with BBQ, watermelon, strawberries, cole slaw, and I don't have to cook (hooray!)

I'll be firing up the Bernina today and getting some sewing time in.  Betsy Ross would approve.

Happy National Quilting Day & Happy St. Patrick's Day

A fun day to celebrate!  I actually got lots of sewing time in last night and today.  Hooray sewing time.  I went to my Silver Thimbles Quilt Club after work yesterday and for my usual time today and worked on the "T is for Thelma" Schnibble for this month's Another Year of Schnibbles. (the real pattern name is "Bibelot" but it is now and forever "T is for Thelma" to me)

Here are a couple of green T's  

As for St. Patrick's Day, we have been eating corned beef, cabbage, & potatoes all week thanks to S. It's one of the handful or so of dinners he makes and it is great.

Even more great is a finished quilt top!  I braved the pollen today to get a photo of my "Chocolate Raspberry Truffle" quilt top outside so the colors would show (and the cats would not).  The fabric is "Maison de Garance" by French General for Moda and the pattern is "Raspberry Ripple" from the book Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts by Nicky & Pam Lintott.

I need to dig through the stash for some French General yardage so I can piece a scrappy back and send this off for quilting.

I hope everyone had a great two-holiday day and you all got to sew with some green fabric.

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!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Baking and happy Festivus!

Finally a day off! I did get some sewing time in and made two kinds of cookies.
These are molasses gingerbread cookies rolled in sugar and orange zest. Wonderfully old fashioned and not too sweet. I'm off to have a couple with some English breakfast tea.
Tomorrow starts 7 days in a row at SBux.
And of course a happy Festivus to all.

It's December??!!?? Is There Something I Should Be Doing?

It's week two of December already?!?!?? Oh my.  Let's just day I've been working a lot and kinda lost track of things I'm supposed to be doing for December.

Instead of frantically making gifts (most of which I have started and didn't finish last year *cough cough*) and instead of resorting to making dear Max work like crazy =================>

I flexed my online shopping fingers

and BOOM!

shopping done and had everything sent to my elves in Michigan for wrapping.   I love my elves in Michigan:)

Tonight I am determined to get cards addressed for mailing later this week when I have a chance to zoom by the post office.

Wish I had elves to do laundry and dishes because I gotta fit those in tonight too.

It's the most non-sleeping time of the year....

Briefly Stopping By

Hello!  I am briefly visiting blogland before heading back to Starbucks this evening.  Seventh day in a row for me.  Making lots and lots of holiday drinks. Have you seen the fun Starbucks holiday website?  It reminds me of the Google doodles for different holidays.  And those of you with smartphones can download an app and enjoy some techy holiday fun while waiting for your favorite drink.

Not much is going on here.  Thanksgiving day was the usual insanity with people stopping in on the way to dinner, people stopping in on the way home from dinner, people escaping their relatives, and people hanging out until we had to please ask them to leave so we could clean up and go home.

Through the magic of the Internets and Skype, I got to visit with my family for awhile.  Mackenzie was very excited to see her Aunt Gretchen and the new kitty Remy.

Yesterday, I avoided all the Black Friday madness and lounged at home with a book and black and tabby cats.   Then more Starbucks. Today is more of the same.

Tomorrow--finally a day off--and I'm hoping to dust off the Bernina and get some sewing time in.  Can't remember how long it has been; it's been THAT long.  I need to get some CW blocks of the week done and sashed and maybe start on the new Bonnie Hunter.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope everyone has a wonderful time with family and friends.

I have so much to be thankful for this year--mainly just getting through this rough year.

I am so thankful for my family, my cats, my friends, and all my readers in blogland that have been so supportive and wonderful.

I am thankful for having a house and two jobs when many in America have none.

I am thankful that every night in the dark, quiet minutes driving home from Starbucks that I am am sad and shed tears for the loss of my beloved Morpheus cat because we were both so lucky to find each other and have 17 years of unconditional love.

I am thankful that I cried all night last night and am crying now because I miss my grandfather because he was such a great person and loved his family so much.

I am also thankful that my serious health scare biopsy & bloodwork this past week turned out negative and my new (fourth) doctor seems committed to helping resolve my health problems.

Veterans Day 2011

Remembering and thanking all the men and women, past and present, who served our country.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Hope everyone has a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

A Boo-thday Party

Michigan Trip (continued)

My sister-in-law planned the most awesome BOOOOOthday party for me and decorated the house to full effect.

She made the place mats and napkins rings and covered bottles with new labels

And made these really cool pumpkinsAdding balloons, spiderwebs, and creepy crawlies everywhere.

My mom finished her Hocuspocusville quilt and had it on display.  

 Don't forget the eyeball punch!

Sweet and Savory Bakeshop in Oxford MI makes THE BEST CAKES!!!

It was a great booo-thday party.

  

Happy 4th of July!

Holiday Weekend

Everyone here at Stella Bella Quilts is enjoying a long three-day holiday weekend.
 
Happy belated Canada Day to all my Canadian readers!


And I hope everyone in the US is having a great 4th of July weekend.

Morpheus is resting up from taking lots of naps, I think.

 It has been horribly hot and humid here in Georgia so my original plans to scrape and paint porch posts is canceled. 

I have been sewing and watching DVDs.  I caught up on my Henrietta Whiskers blocks.

 And caught up on reading blogs.


And am working on a couple of other projects.

Love lazy holiday weekends :)