Le Petite Project: Butternchurn

Here's my Le Petite project for this month.  The pattern is Butterchurn by This n That patterns and the charm squares are Moda "Rites of Spring" by Brannock & Patek from a couple of years ago I think.


I love this fabric line with my favorite colors of purple & green. The designers have a new purple & green line coming out in the spring called "Lilac Hill."  You know I'll be getting a little bit of that :) 

And because no post (or quilt project) is complete without a cat.
Guess who had to get into the photos this time?
Here's Morpheus who missed me terribly because I was gone overnight last night for work.  Poor Morph had no blogging time.


And just so you don't think she is neglecting her photo ops....is of course....
Stella!

November Coffee Musings

I love Starbucks Thanksgiving Blend!  Starbucks introduced this coffee a couple of years ago and it really is a perfect accompaniment to all kinds of foods, sweet and savory, and great for after dinner.  Being home for four days (not to mention how damp and cold it was), I went through A LOT of coffee (one of these pounds is gone).  The Thanksgiving Blend is sold out at my SBux so I'm moving on to the new Christmas Espresso Blend.  I'll give a review soon.


I can't believe it's been 7 months since I left SBux. Doesn't seem that long.  I still remember it all to vividly. It's very strange not working Holiday at SBux.

All those red cups. The instant change from making frappuchinos to caramel apple spice and hot chocolates. 

Do you have a favorite SBux holiday drink? (check out the owl on the grande size cup)


One thing I do not miss is eggnog lattes.  Bleh! I know a lot of our customers love them but I am not an eggnog fan and really do not like making them.  Eggnog is loud (!), I mean really really loud and high-pitched, when you steam it and has a tendency to spray all over you.  We had a set of "Eggnoggles"  (goggles) in our store as an inside joke. Little Sbux secret for you there.

This red cup was a quad grande nonfat latte.  

"Block" Friday and Small Business Saturday

The only "black Friday" shopping I did was at Sweet Home Quilt Co.  Melisa opened the store at 7AM and had some great deals (and yes I was there at 7).  I *may* have bought some thread, a ruler, a book, and some various fabric goodies. My co-conspirator Kristie and I will never tell. It was a bunch of fun getting to the store nearly before the sun and shopping and chatting with Kristie.

That was about the extent of the excitement to my day yesterday.  I did finish catching up on my jelly roll BOM--it was BLOCK Friday after all.

Only 3 more blocks to go.

I bought Mackenzie's presents online and had them shipped to Michigan.  No waiting in line or traffic there.  Hope the economy is not relying on me lol!

Today is the first "Small Business Saturday" (started as a Facebook campaign I think) so make sure you visit your favorite small business in person or on-line (preferably your favorite quilt store) and shop local.  As Martha would say "It's a good thing!"

Edited to add: Oh I forgot to give my Thanksgiving report.  Wednesday I made 2 pecan pies with homemade crust.  I was in the kitchen from about 7AM til noon and made roast turkey, homemade rolls, cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy and gingerbread cookies. I made green bean casserole for S. (I don't like the traditional dump-out-of-cans green bean casserole so I improvised and made steamed fresh green beans, a sauce with organic mushroom soup and fresh onions.)  I had eleventy hundred dirty dishes and used all my dish towels (all this for just S. and I!). S. helped by opening the can of organic cranberries lol! The cats had bites of turkey and they napped all afternoon. S. and I took a huge plate of food and a whole pie and the cookies up to Starbucks for my former co-workers.  They loved it!! And by 4PM were ready for some breaks and food. The best thing about the day was sharing dinner with friends and I didn't have to clean house.  A fun, laid-back day.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone out in Blogland!  You know I am thankful for every one of you that reads this little blog about my cats and quilting and ramblings about whatever!! 

I am ever so thankful to have an adorable, happy, & healthy niece Mackenzie

 As well as being thankful for my cats and S. & E. and family & friends & my house & having a job, etc. etc., I am also thankful that I don't have to work a second job right now and I can enjoy the holiday and cook to my heart's content so I'll be taking platefuls and a pecan pie to my friends at Starbucks working today.  Please remember to smile and thank those hard-working retail and service people out there this holiday season.  It is a hard job for little pay and lots of stress. A little kindness goes a long way. Believe me.  

Choose Your Own Caption

I am brain dead from working on two big projects at work trying to get them finished before tomorrow. 

Stella thought you would enjoy coming up with a caption for this photo.

One Day Done; Two More to Go

I am so excited about having a short work week this week.  I am really enjoying not being crazy working two jobs and dealing with Thanksgiving madness. I actually get to enjoy the holiday!  I have all the grocery shopping done and even though it's just me and S. (and the 4 cats who meow for whatever we are eating), I am cooking the turkey, dressing (in the South it is cornbread dressing never stuffing), mashed potatoes, yada yada all that, the whole nine yards, and pecan pie. I'm sure we will be eating leftovers for eons....

Oh I forgot to post my goodies from Saturday's trip to Little Quilts.  We had a great trip to Marietta with lunch at Williamson Bros.and walk around the square antiquing and a stop by the quilt shop.

Oh look there's Stella again....

A few new Jo Morton fat quarters and a free yard of fabric (earned by collecting receipts). I did look at every-single-last-thing in the store (just ask S. who was beyond patient).  


Yesterday, I watched four (count them--four hours) of the new AMC show "The Walking Dead" (Zombies!  In Atlanta!  Love it! and a friend of mine was a zombie in the first episode) and cut eleventy hundred 2" strips from stash for Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt. 


Here's Step one finished.  I changed the colors to purple and green instead of pink (not a fan!) and green.

I also started getting caught up on the U.K. jelly roll BOM (I'm a few months behind).  So that is the latest here. Two more days of work and then four days off. Yea! 

November Thimbles Meeting

This month I decided to go to the Friday night Silver Thimbles club instead of my usual Saturday. S. needs to go to Marietta today and I said I would go with him provided that we go to Little Quilts (a fair deal I think) and we eat at one of my favorite BBQ places, Williamson Bros.  [With Atlanta traffic, even on the weekends, it's nice to have someone to sit in traffic with you.]    I am trying to be patient while S. stalls finishes grading papers.

Although I missed seeing some of the Saturday people (namely Karin, my-partner-in-crime for lots of quilty fun), I did get to see Karmen and Brenda and also Saturday regulars Kristie and Becky.

I did buy the kit for this month's project (although I didn't start it). This great quilt is from the fabulous book Scrap Basket Surprises and the fabric line is by Little Quilts called  "Whittier Hill"

We could choose different border fabric so I chose the darker purplish-brown paisley. Here's my fabrics.


Just to show you that it's nearly impossible to take photos around here without a cat or two wanting in on the action.... Here's Stella with Whittier Hill fabric.

Improve every photo by adding a little Stella

Although it was a small group, we had lots of show n' tell from Sarah (no blog).  Sarah is very productive and a fabulous quilter.   Here are four of her quilts (four!)


 


For the December meeting, we are to bring a "thing in a dish but don't stress yourself out" which roughly translates to:  a potluck dish.  [Our fearless leader Pat just finished writing her quilt book and mailing it out and then realizing the holidays are hererightnow. Go visit her blog and give her a little hello, happy to see you back from book-writing-craziness].

For January, we have the choice to do this quilt (or as always work on our own projects).  Although it is a very striking quilt, I think I'll pass and just enjoy the photo.  It's not like a have 900 gazillion projects to work on...

 Alright, time to light a fire under Mr. S. and tell him to hurry up.  There is fabric waiting you know!!