Not By Owl Post and Halloween Cat Toys

Don't you just squeal and hug these boxes when you see them on the porch?

I was so excited to receive the "Fall into Fall" giveaway I won courtesy of the Most Fabulous Fat Quarter Shop.




The package did not arrive by Owl Post although I did hear our resident barred owl again the other night.  Spooooooky.

Quilt possibilities wrapped up and ready to be released!

 
My prize was this simply fabulous bundle of Pure fabric by Sweetwater for Moda. 

Stuffed full!

 Going out (not via owl post) was my b-day giveaway won by Tiffany of This Crafty Fox.  Hope you enjoy the goodies, Tiffany!!!

Counting down the days until Halloween here at Stella Bella-ville.  E. dug through the cat toy basket to unearth purple bat and black cat head toys for the season. 

I hope I'm not the only one with Halloween cat toys....

Halloween Quilt 2010

Finally (!!!) the top is finished for my 2010 Halloween quilt.  I ADORE this fabric line called "A Halloween Night" by Minick & Simpson for Moda. Is there anything better than purple and lime green and vintage-y Halloween images with black cats???  Not in my universe that's for sure!!!!!

The pattern is called "Lilypads" from the book Time Out Quilts by Atkinson Designs. A great pattern for fabrics you don't want to cut into bitty pieces.  It's a bed-size quilt and I still need to get the backing pieced and it quilted so I guess I'll be using next year for the month of October. 

A favorite block

Does anyone else need to re-buy Halloween candy already?

Another favorite block

Fun Weekend

Halloween b-day cake!

It's my b-day weekend! And I'm having lots of fun watching movies, hanging out with friends, and of course, fabric, food, and cake are all in there somewheres too.

Sarah (no blog), Karin and Becky

Melisa at Sweet Home Quilt Co. was having a big sale on her porch.  Lots of quilters and Silver Thimble members showed up to stock up on patterns, books, and fabric. I bought some yardage for backings and a kit on sale.


S., E. and I went to Fox Bros. BBQ last night to celebrate my birthday.  I love barbecue and have several favorite BBQ joints around the metro area.  Fox Bros. is Texas-style BBQ and is always packed (you have to get there early or wait and wait and wait). 

A pint of local brew and fried dill pickles with ranch sauce--YUM!

E. had beef short ribs (looks more like something from the Flintstones!!), fried okra and Frito pie (Frito chips, chili, and cheese served in the little bag).

I think I'll eat salad all next week!

 S. had chopped pork and I had chopped beef brisket.  Their mac n' cheese is wonderful, the jalapeno cornbread with honey butter is to die for, and so is their banana pudding (made with real custard instead of box pudding). We left stuffed and with lunch for later. I had my banana pudding for breakfast :)


Last night we watched the movie Zombieland. It's a very funny movie (if you like zombie movies) and was filmed in Georgia so it was fun identifying all the locations.

Hope everyone is having a great October weekend!!!!

And the Random Number Generator Goes to....

We have a winner!  Congratulations to Tiffany at This Crafty Fox!!!  Tiffany, please email me your mailing address and I'll send out your package. 


Thanks everyone for entering.  This was so much fun that I'll be holding another giveaway for my blog-iversary coming up in December.

Full Moon Friday

How perfectly Halloween-y a full moon tonight!  Even more Halloween-y was last night's visit to the oak tree outside of my bedroom window. I had just dozed off and S. woke me up saying "listen... an owl."  And sure enough, we heard "hooo hooo hoo hooo" about a dozen times.  Not having an iPhone with a bird app (whoooo wants an iPhone? me!), I looked up owls and figured out we were visited by a barred owl. 

Photo courtesy of http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/owlp/

Living in town, it's rare to have owls visit.  One year at dusk, I did see two Eastern screech owls in the oak tree, which was amazingly cool.

I didn't see this owl but am overjoyed that we were honored with his/her vocal visit. I love owls!


Well I am taking a vacation day today and am off to sew. Don't forget to go to this post and enter my b-day giveaway before noon tomorrow (owls not included).

A Wednesday in October

Anyone else watching the "Ghost Hunters" marathon on SyFy channel?  I love watching this show and "Haunted History" shows just to see the great historic places and hear ghost stories. I'm not so sure about the evidence though their little meters, etc. All in fun.

I started working on the Le Petite project but haven't gotten very far.  I better get a move on before Nov. 1st.  For my Paganin schnibblei, I am using one charm pack of "Looking Back" and one of "Renewal" both my Brannock & Patek.

Paganini step one

Don't forget to enter my giveaway on this post. I've had so much fun reading the comments and visiting new blogs!!  A few entries were no-reply. Karen at Sew Many Ways is hosting a wonderful tutorial series and tips for using Blogger.  Check her post on how to change your blog from a no-reply to a reply! (note to Karin:  you can do this!!!!! You've already conquered applique!)

Hope everyone is having a great week! Let me know what kind of fun seasonal and/or Halloween activities everyone is doing.  I'm taking Friday off of work and plan on having a mega-fun weekend.

October Silver Thimbles Meeting

Thimbles was tons of fun yesterday and I got in some much needed time with my quilting buddies.

This isn't really us Silver Thimbles, it's from the Vanishing Georgia collection. It's close though....

Kristie brought in some new children's books (she is a elementary school media specialist and has a great personal library of books, cataloged of course).  One book she brought had my name all over it (I have added it to my ever-lengthening Amazon wish list).  It is called Sipping Spiders Through a Straw and  a collection of all your favorite sing-a-long songs rewritten with silly monster lyrics.  Here is Pat, Queen Silver Thimble, reading it to us.

 


Sheila does absolutely amazing quilting, embroidery work, sewing, and she now has her own long-arm machine and she does that amazingly too.  Babette, her poodle, is an official Thimblette.  Babette is a sweetie who is in her elder years and blind and has her own little Babette stroller so she can visit and sleep during the meetings. Babette also has a stylin' Halloween costume.



Karin brought her scrappy Scrappy-Nines all quilted 
 and with a brilliant backing too. 



I think everyone would fight over this quilt should she let it out of her sight.





Sarah (no blog) always has at least two projects for Show n Tell and usually more (maybe because she spends her free time sewing instead of blogging....hmmmm...I may be on to something here)
This vision in red and tan is the same pattern as Stella's quilt (in Stella colors). It's called "Honeyberries" and is from the 40 Fabulous Quick Cut Quilts book.  This is one of those great quilt patterns that just looks spectacular in any color combination and in scrappy.


Another of Sarah's projects was this batik quilt made from the "Twister" ruler. Wow!  See the quilt behind Sarah; that's our project for next month from the book Scrap Basket Surprises. Kits are by Little Quilts in the new Little Quilts fabric line called "Whittier Crossing."  If you want to make one too, I am sure they could rustle up a kit for you.

It was great fun to see some of the Friday Thimbles group including Suzanne with this lovely quilt. Suzanne has a great eye for fabrics and decorating and is one of the nicest people ever.  

I worked on a Scnibble but didn't get much done.  For once, I was visiting more than sewing.  Sometimes that exactly what you need and exactly what makes Thimbles such a great club.