A Finish for March

Finally finished the top for the French General quilt I worked on last month.
I just love this quilt and I'm waiting for some backing fabric to arrive to finish it up.  It's always windy in Santa Fe so it's difficult to get a good photo (if you look close Mr. SBQ's toes are peeking out but don't tell him. Also it was warm enough for bare feet here yesterday and I am sorry if it is cold where you are still).

With the arrival of spring, my quilting mojo is back and I am ready to work on a zillion projects at one time! I should be able to catch up with the Stars in a Time Warp blocks by tomorrow and will post those soon.

 We went for a walk yesterday and saw these blooming trees peeking out over a fence. 

 I opened a couple of windows to air out the house and the cats all crowded in to see what was going on outside.  (Rather unflattering view of Edgar and Stella looks like they need some running around the house time).

If Spring hasn't found you yet, I hope it does soon!

Post Edit:  I just discovered that I haven't been receiving all your comments via my email.  Deepest apologies if I haven't responded to your comments!!!!!!  I appreciate each and every comment. Thank you!!!! I hope I fixed the problem and will keep an eye out.  

Tap, Tap, Tap...Is this thing on....

Why, hello there Blogland.  Is anyone still out there?

Hellloooooooooo from Remy

You may have thought I was abducted by aliens.

Which is perhaps more likely than previously as Roswell is only 190 miles (as the alien flies) from here (yes, this X-Files mega-fan will be making a road trip there once the weather is nicer. You can bet your replica Scully FBI badge on that).

In (boring) actuality, I just got busy with the holidays and work and then recovering from working during the holidays. And I spent some time trying to figure out what I was going to do with myself in 2015 as the past two years were such a crazy whirlwind.

And well here I am.

Everyone is fine here at Stella Bella Quilts.  The cats are as spoiled and happy and cute as always.

I finished a couple of little wool appliqué projects

A Primitive Gathering pincushion from 2011

and a green (alien??) owl pincushion from Guildcrafters quilt shop in Michigan.  Also an older-ish project I found while packing-unpacking.













I've been working away on the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt and need to finishing sewing blocks and rows together.  Photo hopefully soon :)

I decided to break down and cut into a bundle of French General fabric that I have been hoarding for awhile and start a new project. It's mostly the Rouenneries Deux line and I just adore this line.  Why is it so difficult to actually use the fabric you love the most??!?!?!?

Woke up to a beautiful snowy morning today (my day off YAY!) so I'm spending the day working on my new project and planning which of the new sew-alongs I want to jump into.  And hoping my blogging mojo is back.

Back patio with 3-4" of snow this morning

Winter is Here and Getting Ready for the Mystery Quilt

Winter has arrived in Santa Fe, which had me scrambling for hats, gloves, socks, and 57 layers of clothes.

We had snow that stayed for a few days, then slightly less cold weather, and then graupel on Sunday, and then cold windy weather today.











Gomez and Stella are taking advantage of the pile of quilts on the couch and spend their days curled up.

I have most everything ready for our Thanksgiving dinner this week (which we are having on Friday since I'm working on Thursday).  I know there may be one quick trip to the grocery store for a couple things but not much.  

I am really looking forward to starting Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt on Friday.  Even though I don't *entirely* have past years' mysteries done (ah hum), I'm going to join in on this one.  

I'm using Bonnie's color choices this year but a bit more toned down. Here are the slightly different paint chips that I am using as a rough guide to my color choices.

















Yellow is not one of the colors I use very much so I did purchase yardage but the rest I mostly pulled from stash. 

Blacks and neutrals are pulled and waiting to go also.  

Can't wait to see everyone's fabric choices this year.

The More You Know: Weather Edition

Spring in the high desert is interesting to say the least.  It may change quicker than Michigan weather.

On Tuesday (May 13th) we had snow flurries all day.  Yep. After weather in the 60s and 70s then it snowed all day.  The snow didn't stick to the ground and it really wasn't that cold, but is sure was entertaining.  The snow then changed to this weird bean-bag-fill shaped frozen precipitation.  It has done this before while I've lived here but I didn't know what it was.  Like a small hail but not icy.  After some research on the Internets, I found out it is called graupel.  From Wikipedia:  Graupel (also called soft hail) is formed in high altitude climates and forms when supercooled water droplets collect and freeze on snowflakes.   The more you know.

Graupel on my Adirondack chair

After working all morning, I watched the grauple from  my sewing room and happily sewed away.

In case you are wondering the current temperature is 68F and is headed up to the 80sF this weekend.  YAY! Crazy weather.

My sewing mojo is running at a high level this week.  I have a million projects I want to work on.   Right now.

I started out with this month's Another Year of Schnibbles project.  The quilt is from Carrie's book Schnibbles Times Two and the quilt is called X Rated.  I picked out some French General charm packs that I had and Moda Bella Solid in Stone.

(I write my own selvedges on solids so I don't forget what color I bought...)












As you can see, Stella decided to "help" with the layout of the rows.  Such a big help.  Remy ran away with a couple of the little pieces and Edgar Poe came in and rolled all over the squares getting cat hair on the light pieces.   We had BIG FUN sewing this quilt together.

 I had the day off yesterday and whipped up this oh-so-cutemous bag.  I was (unsuccessfully) looking for some  French General fabric to use as borders for the Schibbles project and found a small fat quarter pack of the Outfoxed line by Lizzie House.  I have no idea what I had planned for this fabric.  It may have been a have-to-have-because-purple-hedgehogs-y'all purchase.

I found purples for the straps and the lining in my stash.  The pattern is Winslow Market Tote by Pink Chalk Studio (I've had it printed out for ages so I don't know where I originally got it.) and was fun and easy to make. It's the perfect size for a farmer's market bag.  I will definitely make more.

Lastly--a Remy photo for all his fans.  Remy was doing some major lounging on the bed yesterday.

Snowmaggedon 2014: Day 2

This great photo making its way around social media says it all:

Top photo is January 28, 2014 / Bottom photo: AMC's "The Walking Dead"

 I stayed snug inside my house with copious amounts of coffee.

I decided to take advantage of a snow day, my front parlor with no furniture, and no kitty helpers to baste Mr. SBQ's modernist quilt.

I spent the day happily quilting away, while chaos reigned in metro Atlanta.  Some poor souls were stuck in their cars for 21+ hours.  Unbelievable!

Snowmaggedon 2014

It's another BIG WINTER EVENT in metro-Atlanta.  I know everyone in the rest of the country (and Canada) is sick and tired of hearing about winter weather, snow, sub-zero temps, too-cold-for-polar-bears wind chills, and every other sort of winteriness possible.  Metro-Atlanta is once again in the throes of winter superlatives that haven't been used since the Great Snow-pocalypse of 2011.

You will have to forgive my excitement at the novelty of 2 inches of snow at my house.  We have had very cold weather (for Atlanta) but no snow until now.  Luckily, I am off work today and tomorrow.  I spent the day finishing up cleaning out the attic and packing the decorative items left out to show the house.  And checking the snow every five minutes so often.

view from my front street-level steps 

View from my porch

Now that it's evening, the snow is still falling, the grass is covered, and the roads are freezing over. It's going to be a bone-chilling (for Atlanta) 17 I am snug in my little house with the tea kettle on and (shhhh don't tell) the sewing machine set up for a wee bit of fun.

The latest request to Mr. SBQ for cat photos brought this one, which he titled:  STAMPEDE!

Must be dinner time.  

Hello North American Polar Vortex

You know it's cold when it's warmer in Anchorage, Alaska than it is in Atlanta, Georgia.  What?!?!?!?
This satellite photo from NASA is mesmerizing. You can barely see the Great Lakes under that big mass of cold air barreling down from the North Pole.

Image credit: NOAA/NASA GOES Project

It was all of 6°F this morning on my way to work with a windchill of -12°F.  Brrrrrrrrrrrr! I know the rest of the country and Canada is dealing with much, much worse, but the South is ill-prepared for such craziness.  I was relieved that the black ice/snow/wintery mix missed the Atlanta metro area and I didn't have to deal with slippery roads during my 4AM commute to Starbucks.  

In quilting news for 2014: I've been working on the second Silver Thimbles Quilt Club mystery quilt and am on the final steps of putting blocks together.  Wish I could show you this fabulous pattern but it's top-secret mystery so I'll just show my fabric choices for this two-color quilt.  Since the vast majority of my stash (stress that word VAST) is in Santa Fe, it was a challenge to find enough of two fabrics here to make the quilt.  I had some stacks of yardage left to pack in an armoire so I started packing that up and picking out fabric for the quilt.

I have been hoarding yardage of an old Kansas Troubles fabric line called Prairie Moon and had enough (about 4 1/2 yards) of the black moon print for the dark print.  Finding the light fabric was more challenging as I didn't have 5 yards of a good contrasting neutral. But I did have 2 1/2 yards of the green moon fabric and 2 1/2 yards of yellow moon fabric from the Christmas Past line by Minick & Simpson.  Bingo! Now I have really cool moon-themed mystery quilt blocks that I can't show you... 

What I can show you is this great special issue of Victoria magazine that I won in a giveaway from quilter/editor/writer/black cat owning/old house loving/all around fabulous Kimber from Heirlooms at Ashton House.  Thank you so much, Kimber!!!  During this freezing cold weather, I curled up in several quilts with a pot of tea and savored this issue.  The beautiful photos of spring gardens will have you planning tea parties in no time.  Also, there is a recipe for Honey Scones that I can't wait to make.

Gomez wanted to let you know that the Polar Vortex bypassed New Mexico and he was snug on his rug in the kitchen.  

Stay warm everyone and rejoice in all those piles of quilts that us quilters have to snuggle under. I know I am :)

It Snowed in Santa Fe without Me

I think we're going to need a snow shovel.

Yesterday, Mr. Stella Bella Quilts texted me this photo of the overnight snowfall in Santa Fe!  They received 6-8" of snow. WOW!

I was so envious because that looks like so much fun....
....for about a day.

Mr. SBQ and the cats were snug as Southwestern bugs in the house. I think Remy stayed curled up in bed all day and just ventured out to the kitchen for food.



Not only do I not have clothes for this kind of weather anymore, my friend Pat reminded me that I'm going to need some BOOTS!

On this side of the south, I finished "Second Hand Clothes."  This was a quick, easy, and big quilt to finish up.  I am enjoying all the floor space in my cleaned-out, minimal-furniture living room.  I did lay out all the blocks and rows so the colors and patterns were evenly distributed throughout the quilt.  There are some less-than-lovely fabrics in this kit in my opinion but I think it all plays well together.  I sewed up the solid red binding and will get the backed pieced this week.

On to the next UFO!

Blustery Day

photo from Winniepedia (who knew there was a Pooh Wiki?!?!?)

The past two days have been very blustery in Atlanta.  We don't have many really windy days but whenever we do, I think about the Disney film "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day."

The wind howled last night and all the cats were snuggled deep in the quilts (I was too.)









The March Blogger Girls Block of the Month was a fun one to make.  Here is version one.

And version two.






 

OK Now It's the Heat

Most of the country is broiling this week under a record-breaking heat wave.  According to the LA Times, nearly 35,000 record high temps have been recorded in the past year.

Yesterday in Atlanta it was 104F, breaking a record for the day.

The record-high heat in Atlanta is 105F and it is forecast to reach 106F today.

We also have had code-red smog alerts the past few days, which means terribly unhealthy air quality.

Guess where I'll be?

Inside sewing in the air-conditioning.  Hope y'all are too.

I had a busy week this past week, which is also a trend for the past several months.  Here's a rundown of what was going on at Stella Bella's house.

 I received this package of lovely patterns from Sherri at This & That.  I won her giveaway for the awesome "Farmer's Market" tote pattern and she added some extras.  Thank you so much Sherri!!  I just love them!!

In the evenings, I alternated between sewing binding on my Eventide quilt and basting hexies.  Sewing binding is much more fun in the wintertime but I am persevering.

I have a lot more hexies to baste but am anxiously awaiting the next step in Hexy Quilt Along.   I am glue-basting these using a Sewline glue pen.  Super easy.

Both of these are perfect projects to work on while partaking in the latest obsession at Stella Bella Quilts--watching "Game of Thrones."

S. and I missed this show the first time around, but since there is a lull right now in TV land (my favorite shows: Mad Men, The Walking Dead, Hell on Wheels, Luther, and The Hour are all on hiatus) we are catching up.

Remy is demonstrating what the cats have been up to this week.

Oh the life of cats at Stella Bella house.

Remy is such a goof.  This is how he sleeps most of the time--very uncatlike.

Stay cool everyone!

Edited to add:  It's official 106F the hottest ever recorded temperature in Atlanta.  And it's only June....

Hurricane Irene with 100% Chance of Flurry

image of Hurricane Irene from space courtesy of www.nasa.gov

 Hope all East Coast residents (two- and four-legged) stay safe and dry in this monster of a hurricane.  Sounds like extreme rain and flooding is headed your way.

I hope everyone has their disaster preparedness kits ready and stocked up on water, food, manual can-opener, Starbucks Via, pet food, and if you have cats, cat litter. 

 I am sad that Irene bypassed Georgia without sending some rain bands our way.  We really need some rain.  



I am a big weather nerd and have been listening/watching the coverage all day.  (S. is not a weather nerd and has no interest in watching windbreakered reporters standing in wind & rain shouting into the camera for hours on end.)

Since there was no weather event here in the ATL (still hot low to mid-90F and sunny), I worked on the le petite project for this month and finished it up.  The pattern is a Schnibble called Honeycomb by Miss Rosie and the fabric is Flurry by Kate Spain for Moda.

I love working with these cool, icy, wintery fabrics while the A/C is running, running, running. 

This Schnibble was fun to make and the hexagons were easier to make than I thought they would be. 

Another Stormy Night in the ATL

Hi everyone!  I'm back from Michigan with lots of catching up to do!!  I am WAY behind in reading blogs and getting posts together and getting photos ready to post and everything else. 


I had a fabulous time with my family.  Little niece Mackenzie is 13 months old and went from crawling to running.  She is always on the go and moving fast.  Faster than the speed of light (and camera-toting aunties). Full of giggles and smiles and babbling.  Love it!!!  Love her so much! 

Here's a quick post because of storms coming (this spring sure is bringing crazy weather!!!).  More Michigan posts coming including completed projects, fabric acquisitions,  maybe a couple more photos of Mackenzie, an Easter cake, and dinosaurs!

Here is one of two bibs that I made Mackenzie while I was up there.  Made from leftover Bliss charm squares and based on pattern in the Summer issue of Quilts & More magazine.  I made the bibs a little longer and wider to keep more of her clothes covered.    



I hope everyone is safe in the Southeast (especially my blog friends in Alabama!) & Midwest tonight.  Big storms coming. Be safe, be prepared, and make sure you have leashes/carriers/food/water/medicine for your pets! 

I am getting a disaster preparedness kit complied since this spring has been a wild one.  I have solar/hand-cranked flashlights & lantern and am working on a design for a bag.  Time to charge up the iPhone and flip to the Weather Channel.

Snow-pocalypse Days 3-5

Greetings from Hoth-lanta!  Yes this is Day 5 of most of the metro area being under ice.  You need a Tauntaun to get around this city.

I don't have a Tauntaun so I've been at home all week.






Why can't people in Atlanta get out of their house when it snows? 

This photo says it all!

Not to mention we had freezing rain on top of the 4-6" inches of snow around the city.

The ice is the worst because we don't have enough sand, salt, or gravel to spread on all interstates let alone the major streets and secondary roads.  Small streets, subdivisions, and everyone else are on their own. Seriously, I saw a postal worker sprinkling salt from her truck yesterday.  It appeared to be coarse salt that one would use for cooking.  Poor Atlanta....

"creme brulee snow" an icy crust on top of snow

In case we needed to get out sometime. I went out yesterday to shovel the driveway....







with my garden shovel

For future reference, garden shovels are not every snow-efficient. 

The sun shining on the ice

 What else was going on these past few days?  Very little.  I read a Stephen King book, Full Dark No Stars (a really great book to read on cold winter nights and one of his better books of late in my opinion.)

We watched a lot of local news, always entertaining to see 15 mile backups on closed interstates, cars sliding around on ice, and reports of empty grocery store shelves.

I worked on work stuff from home.



I worked on the endless Roll Roll Cotton Boll quilt.

The cats stayed warm by sleeping on heat vents. 


 





I wished I had some sled dogs.

I just have erstwhile sled cats....

Instead of sleeping curled up in the snow like sled dogs, "sled cats" sleep curled up in quilts. Go figure...