New week, new look, NEW HOUSE!!

I've been terribly busy over the past three days moving my stuff to my new house.  I brought my camera with me to take pictures so I have a "before and after", but I forgot to take it out.  My days were filled with unpacking my mug collection (I am not kidding when I tell you I can use a different mug each day for over a month and not use the same mug twice -- and no two mugs in my collection are the same.), cleaning the bathroom, and cleaning the hardwood floors in the living room and dining room.  My mom came and helped me with the kitchen and started washing the windows (which were apparently pretty gross).  Thanks, mom!!  I promise when I'm there at the end of this week I'll take pictures of all the rooms so you can see how I change them :-)

My crazy cat is a little out of sorts, since she can't quite figure out what all the boxes are for, or where I keep taking them, but that doesn't stop her from stalking the birds and squirrels outside our back door.  She's quite the huntress.  I doubt I'll have any problems with mice once I move, because if there are any, she'll find them, and they'll wish they never stepped foot into my house.  Ha!

It's a beautiful sunny day out today, albiet a smidge chilly, so I opened the sliding door so she could look out, and so we could get a bit of fresh air in the apartment.  There's a bird feeder out in the lawn behind my apartment, so there are always birds for her to watch.  I'm sure she'll miss this ground-level view of outside, but she'll have countless windows and more vantage points to choose from once we move! 

Since I'll have so many rooms to decorate, I've been searching through my stash to find patterns which will have a perfect home.  I, of course, have to find a perfect place for "Sabrina", my favorite Miribilia design.  She reminds me of Grace Kelly, who is one of my favorite icons of the golden age of Hollywood.  I'll post a picture of her once I find her a home in my new house.  I have several Christmas patterns that I haven't framed, along with my Cricket seasons and so many others that are patiently waiting to be framed and hung in all their glory.  I can't wait to find them all a home!

One of the other awesome things I'll have to find a home for is this rug hanging that my grandmother did about 10-15 years ago.  She was quite the artist, designing many rug hookings of her own, as well as completing patterns.  My aunt Carol told me that she would take patterns and change the colors around (so she must be where I got that talent from) to really make the pattern something she could call her own.  She also painted and did ceramics.  My parents have a beautiful set of goblets she made, painted, and fired back in the late 60's early 70's.

As you can see, she was quite the cat person!  How cool is this!  This used to hang in on the wall as you came up the steps of her house in Chambersburg.  This is currently hanging in the living room of my apartment, and is about 4 feet long. 

She used to show Siamese, so she was really able to capture the look of Siamese in this hooking.  I love the black cat sniffing the night air -- she looks so much like the crazy animal that lives in my house -- and the little grey one sleeping on the moon! :-) 

I also decided around midnight last night (when most of my fantastic ideas come to me, which is not always the best time since I work full-time and have to get up at 5:45a each day...but I digress...) to change the look of my blog.  I decided that even though it's named "a whole lotta latte", I didn't necessarily have to make my theme match the name.  Coffee keeps me going when I'm spending countless hours stitching, which is why I chose that name.  It's something about the hot, rich goodness of coffee that just makes doing needlework such a cozy thing to do :-)

Anyway, I went searching for some blog backgrounds and fun things to add, and came up with the final product you see today.  I'm sure I'll change it around again in the future, but for now, this fits who I am at the moment!

Enjoy the wonderful weather we're having as spring rapidly approaches, and do something creative today!