Crafting Road Trip Stop #2

Yesterday after seeing downtown Calgary and having lunch at Pulcinella  (I love this place), we headed out to Canmore.

 This is a quick picture of the highway coming into Canmore.

Of course while there I had to stop at The Sugar Pine Company, and Knit and Caboodle. I got stuff at both places, but first I will show the yarn:

I love the colors, so fun!
We walked around most of downtown Canmore to see what had happened to this beautiful town, and then went for dinner at The Grizzly Paw.  It was there that we really realized the impact of the flood on the town; no beverages from the tap as there is a boil water advisory, wash your hands with soap and water then use hand sanitizer, and the staff seemed to have even more rules about the handling of food etc with the boil water condition in place. 
Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Crafting Road Trip

Today is the start of my summer vacation!!!  YAY!!!

Today we went into Calgary to see what the city looked liked and then on to Canmore as well to see what had happened.
We parked at SAIT and walked into downtown.

 While walking through down town Calgary I decided that we needed to detour and go to The Loop.

Here is what I managed to "score" there:

On our way back to the car we walked across the pedestrian bridge over 14th Street NW, and had to laugh at what we came across:

I almost thought about adding some of my new finds to this!
Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Knitting by the campfire....

It is now quite late in the evening of a very eventful day, and I am finally relaxing and knitting by the campfire.  Very peaceful.

As you know I have been displaced by a more senior nurse in my job earlier this week.  I could be sad, but I am choosing to look at it positively.

I always joked that if I got a pink slip I wanted it at the start of summer vacation, not the end.

The good news is that I have a lot of very supportive friends, colleagues, and managers from other departments where I have worked as a casual RN.  Within 12 hours of my formal displacement I had already received calls of support from these managers assuring me that I would always have a job in their departments.  In these times of economic uncertainty this was such welcome news.

Well, by noon today I have been placed, and no I did not displace someone else.  I know how that feels personally;  I also know that it is not fair to a department if I were to bump a nurse who has been there for several years as that is a brain drain;  and younger nurses likely have student loans, car payments, and no second source of income i.e. a spouse with a good paying job and benefits.

So, now that that this is over, I get the opportunity to enjoy my summer vacation, and that starts right now!

I just might be able to finish this sock soon!
Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Canada Day Table Runner

I started this project this afternoon, while contemplating what to do as a Displaced Nurse.  

This is a kit that I bought at Christmas time from Sew-Sisters quilt shop.

I think I will machine quilt it ...... tomorrow.

Maybe it will be done for Canada Day? I doubt it!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Raod Trip Block # 10

Meet Block # 10 of the Road Trip Quilt Block set I am currently making.

We leave Edmonton for Halifax in mid August, and I think I  am supposed to have this done and quilted, binding on and custom label made and sewn into place so that come Hell, High Water, or Divorce, my masterpiece will stand the test of time by then as the wedding is sometime then.

Hmmm, will I make it? Likely not at the rate I am going.

Today, I begin the process of figuring out what I want to do when I grow up.  At three years of age, I reportedly told people who asked if I planned to be a teacher like my mom, that I was going to be "Registered Nurse" when I grew up.  

Well, today after 17 years of being a Registered Nurse, I found out that due to budget cuts in other departments, I have been displaced by a more senior nurse.  I am officially a Displaced Nurse (DN?).  So, now I get the tedious task of figuring out what else in life I would like to do.  I know that I would not have been given this "opportunity" if it were not part of the great plan of my life, but right now, I just don't know what to do with this information.  

Oh well, maybe stay up late tonight and make more blocks!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Road Trip Block # 9

I have resumed the making of the Road Trip Blocks!

All of the fat quarters have now been cut into 5" squares, and now the assembly begins.

My husband thinks I should make a quilt for his brother's wedding later this summer (their paternal grandmother used to quilt).  

The good news is as long as I am making a quilt for the brother he will not likely notice all that other stuff in the craft room, and or I can rationalize it as all going to this "project"  : )

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"crap"! It's Monday...

Late this evening (in true red eye fashion), I finished my second set of Block # 7 for my Plenty of Fish Facebook Mystery Quilt and then placed them on the Red Eye!

All of these blocks are again completed from my "stash" (fabric - not cookie, although I did help myself to some of those tonight).  The "stash is getting smaller (cookie quicker then fabric, but....). 

I think some quilters have even finished Step # 8, and Step # 9 is due out any day!!!

Might be a good thing in not being able to go camping because of the floods ; ).

Okay, going to go to sleep now.  Have to work in the morning.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pancake Sunday

Yesterday at the Farmer's Market we got fresh blueberries.

We ate some, and the rest went into pancakes this morning.  While reading the internet news the other day I stumbled across this recipe for Berry Buttermilk Pancakes.

For breakfast this morning I made:

The recipe is large so likely there will be some left overs.  I am now going to line a Snack-stor Container with parchment paper and place in the freezer.  Then later in the week if my son wants pancakes for breakfast these are ready and waiting for a quick trip through the microwave, and breakfast is served!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Farmer's Market Fare

Today my son and I headed out to St. Albert for the St. Albert Farmer's Market.
Now before we got there I stopped at my friend Shelley's house to get some rhubarb and give her my favorite rhubarb cake recipe (will post tomorrow).
Now, one of the things that I love about Edmonton (I know, I am going to have to give back my Calgary card for saying that) is that it is really like a big small town.  You know almost everyone, and everyone treats you like they do in small towns, have a beverage, some home baking etc when you drop by....
Well, at Shelley's today, not only did I get my coveted rhubarb, but also: lettuce, 2 types of fresh mint, and parsley!  Smelled delicious in the car.

Next we went to the Farmer's Market, and while there I got: green onion cakes (yummy), green onions, cucumbers, and some chicken pieces.
I have not eaten chicken in a long time because no matter where I buy it, the meat is always rubbery : (
I decided today that I would try some organic free range and see if that made a difference.
Apparently it does.  We did not have rubber chicken for dinner tonight, instead we had:

The chicken was baked with a bit of Olive Oil and some left over Mushroom Onion Soup Mix, Baked Potatoes, and what I am going to call Shelley's salad.
For Shelley's salad I used the lettuce, two mint leaves chopped up, the green onions and cucumber from the Farmer's Market and some crumbled Feta Cheese.  A little Italian Vinaigrette dressing and dinner was served.
The salad was DELICIOUS!!!
Thanks Shelley : )
Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Quilt Sale!!!!

Every year on the Friday around the 21st of June Lori of Lori's Country Cottage holds her longest day of the year quilt sale.

The sale premise is basically the later you shop the more of a discount you get (40% off), and if you come bright and early in the morning the discount decreases from the 40% off.

Usually I go for 2300 hours, last year I thought I would be smart and go first thing in the morning, but everything was picked over.

This year because my son and I are home alone I went at 2000 hours.  I only got 25% discount, but it helps, and all of the things I wanted were still in stock!

Here is what I got:

The country sheep fabric on the right is going to be backing for one of my Plenty of Fish Facebook Mystery Quilts.

Now, I must focus on the mess on my desk first, before I start diving into these...

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Extracurricular Embroidery

It rained this evening while my son was at horse riding.  Of, course it would, it has rained for I don't know how many days now, and I am beginning to think my Toyota Highlander is some kind of a naval vessel.

Anyways while my son rode I worked on my Lynette Anderson embroidery project.

This is how far I have gotten...

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Jacob's Ladder Block of the Month (May)

Shhhhh.  I am a little behind on my Jacob's Ladder Block of the Month offered by Woodland Quilting in Spruce Grove.

Here are all 104 of these little critters!  Took me forever, and I think I have counted them a million times to make sure I have the count right!  TAH DAH!!!!

And, look!  After 8 1/2 very long months I have access to my 1911 Singer 66 Red Eye.  The house guest has moved along!  : )

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Quinoa Doughnuts

Do you know what I love?  The St. Albert Public Library!

When I was in there yesterday I found a book entitled: 500 Best Quinoa Recipes.

Many of the baked good recipes call for Quinoa Flour.  Never heard of this, but....., while at Provisions by Duchess today I found a bag of such.  So I got it.

 Tonight I made Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts from this cookbook.  They are quite tasty once you get over the fact that there is a Quinoa taste to the dough rather than the taste of wheat. 

My son loved them.

Alright, 499 more recipes to go.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

 

Kathy

Oh S"crap"! It's Monday...

This is step 7 for my Plenty of Fish Facebook Mystery Quilt.  Now, keep in perspective, I decided to make two of these quilts to use up my fabric scraps.  One more of these sets to go before I can move on to step 8!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Waffle Sunday

Since it is Sunday, and Father's Day, I decided to make waffles this morning.  

I used this recipe for Oatmeal Waffles.  Delicious!

Fresh fruit, along with strawberries from the freezer, and a tall glass of milk and breakfast was served : )

I LOVE waffles.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Birthday Party Bag

Today was the Birthday Party of my son's friend.

Since she loves horses, I made the gift bag in horse style.  I used my Country-Born stamp set from Close to My Heart.  I bought this stamp set because of the animals on it, and also because of the caption it has from Born Country on it :)  The coloring was done with my Copic Markers. 

Originally the plan was to give the pillowcase with gift card to the big box store that has everything for bargain prices....., but my son decided even before we went to that place that she also needed a small toy, like for instance a small stuffed rabbit..what?  Oh, well, how likely was it we would find a small stuffed rabbit?

Well what do you know?  We found a small stuffed rabbit (he was so happy), and the horsey Lego, so there is now no gift card, just these items and the Horse Pillowcase.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

 

Kathy

Friday is Fish Day...

Traffic is terrible in Edmonton this spring.  Every road I use to get home is under construction.  Seriously!!!  To top that off, the road that was under construction all of last summer was apparently done wrong, and so it has to be done over!  Are you kidding me (close your eyes for a moment $%^&*(@#%$^&), okay I'm done.

Now, what to make for dinner?

Since it's Friday, it has to be fish......, so I made something I call rice bowls:

In the base of the bowl is about 1/3 cup of cooked rice (still warm), various salad greens from the refrigerator and cut up candied salmon.  Put what ever salad dressing you like over it, and Enjoy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Horse Pillowcase

My son is attending a Birthday Party this weekend for one of his friends from school.  This little girl might love horses, even more than my son if you can imagine!

Last summer in Canmore while at the Sugar Pine Company, I found some horse fabric.  Guess who I thought of??

So, I made her a pillow case with this fabric for her birthday present.  Usually, I put the presents inside the pillowcase to cut down on packaging, but my son also thought she needed a soft bunny, of which I will show you the packaging tomorrow!

 Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Birthday Cake Cards

This is the last set of cards from the Close to My Heart kit that I bought a while ago.

Now, I will have to clean the craft room after this, unless I get distracted by another project which could so totally happen!

Look: Squirrel......

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Birthday Cards

I made these cards this evening using the kit that I bought from Close to My Heart a while ago.

I am still supposed to be cleaning out and up the craft room.  This must count, right???

If I make them, then they are done, which means I cleaned up!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Knitting and a Pity Party...

Today my creativity is not much.  It is the 10th of June and therefore time for my Annual Pity Party!

Each year on this date, I throw myself a Pity Party and do whatever I feel like (for the most part - still have to take my insulin), but I bemoan and lament about what life would look like if on the 10th of June many, many, many.... years ago I had not be diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes.  Now, I know diagnosis is a good thing, but better yet, would have never been getting it!!!!

So, today I started on my April version of Sock of the Month club from Biscotte & Cie.

I did not get far, as I really did not feel like creativity, so I wandered around the house bothering anyone who would listen.

My brother made me dinner and brought me a cake, chocolate of course (yes I ate it) for the occaision.

Now, I think I will intake a Diet Coke, and look: 31 years of drinking this stuff and no brain tumour!

Have a great day.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Thank You Cards

Today my family and I walked in our annual JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes.

The weather was awful, it drizzled on us most of the time, but here is our progress:

 Somewhere after 4 kilometers we started to slow down and literally smell the roses ; )

 

Yay, we made it for another year!  Maybe next year there will be a cure and we won't have to walk!!!!

 

The weather looked even worse on our drive home:

Now, of course there must be a craft associated with today.

To say Thank You to all of my friends who not only support me financially every year on this journey, but also everyday support me with the "fun" of living for decades with Juvenile Diabetes I made Thank You cards.

These cards are made with the For The Birds stamp set from Stampin' Up that I won as the door prize at Karina's on Friday!  They came in perfect this afternoon!

Thank you to all of you who support me with your encouragement, and friendship, you make living with Juvenile Diabetes a lot easier : ), you will never know how much this means to me!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cookies Deleted.....

Seriously, all the cookies seem to have been deleted from my cookie jar!!!!

Time to make more I guess.  Must be a cookie monster in my house.

Which one of these do you think it is?

After art class and the Edmonton Festival of Quilts, I decided to stop at Costco because it was on the way home, and I knew it would have everything I needed.

As I was driving into Costco my low tire pressure light went on.  Well, I supposed I could have tried to fill up my tire, but that seemed to be too much work.  So, I went in to the tire sales part of the store and told them my dilemma.  Apparently, when I bought my Michellin LTX tires at Costco, they come with free repairs!!!! Who knew?

This made my already awesome day even better.

While we got groceries, my son found this bear, and since the price was right, we stuffed it into the Highlander and headed home.  We got some stares on the Yellowhead home.

Now, for the cookie solution:

We, myself and son (minus panda), made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, except we substituted m & m's for the chocolate chips.  Yummy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Coffee Talk Swaps...

These are the swap cards that I made for Coffee Talk at Karina's tonight.  

This is truly a Red Eye craft!

When my husband works away I wear my Continuous Glucose Monitoring Device to alert me of low blood sugars in the night.

Last night I was woken after 0200 hours to blood glucose alarms.  After drinking juice and waiting 15 minutes, and eating candy and waiting, then eating toast and peanut butter, I stayed up to make sure my blood sugar did not drop again.

Since I was up, I made cards for Coffee Talk tonight!

Okay, so these cards are not top drawer, but neither was I at the time......

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Card!

So, I got this genius idea to clean up my craft room the other day, it was beginning to look a little "full".

While I was doing that (I got distracted many times), I found this card kit package from Close to My Heart that I had purchased a while back.

I figured my mess could wait, and so I sat down and made 5 of these cards.

I think I will use them next week, to make other people's days "Happy".

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Birthday Bag

I have quit keeping wrapping paper in the house.  I just never seemed to have the right theme.  So, my solution was to use brown paper gift bags and stamp according to the occasion.

This is the bag my son and I made for the Birthday Party he attended on the weekend.

The stamp set is from Close to my Heart.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Birthday

My son attended on of his classmates birthday party this weekend.

Of course he took a box of Lego themed appropriate to the little dudes interests and likes, along with this card that we made.

The card stock is Real Red from Stampin' Up as is the Designer Series Paper (I think a retired collection).

The stamp  is from Close To My Heart.

We used my Copic markers to color the dog. I added a few of the highlights as my son wanted the dog to have a "shaggy" look to him.

A little bit of Crystal Effects, to the dog's nose and the number 9 (it's a 9th birthday), wait for it to dry and 12 hours later we had a birthday card!

TAH DAH!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"crap"! It's Monday...

Here is Step # 6 of my Plenty of Fish Facebook Mystery Quilt.

In an attempt to minimize or down size my scrap basket I have chosen to make two of these quilts using only my scrap stash!

Still going strong on the scrap stash, no innocent fabric has yet to be harmed or cut into in the process of this quilting project!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

La De Freakin' Dah Wallet!

On one of my many road trips a few weeks ago I had the privilege of stopping in the metropolis of Ponoka at a wonderful quilt shop called Prairie Points Quilt Shop.

While in there I found a bzillion things that I "needed" and of course this was one of them.

It's a wallet/billfold, but what I loved about it was the fabric.  One of the captions on it is "La De Freakin' Dah", which is my sarcastic (who me? - always) response to all things "up town"!

Now, what I am most proud of right now, is that I was able to put the zipper in all by myself!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Stamp of the Month Club

Here are my June cards from Stamp of the Month club offered by my friend Karina.

If you look closely you will no doubt wonder how the cards were made with the Bootiful Occaisions stamp set shown here.  

Well, the cards for this month came from another stamp set, but I really did not want it, so Karina let me switch out the stamp set.

Now, I have some fishy cards to "gift" away : )

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy