Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Last evening I put my son to be at 8:30 p.m. and in his back pack were two packages of chocolate Halloween balls from the Lindt outlet here in Edmonton.

Should be good for tomorrow, right??

At about 9:00 p.m. my son emerged from his room and asked why I had not make fun treat bags for the class like usual?  (Bad mom).

I explained to him that because he is now 9 I thought he did not need to have cute treat bags any more, and was informed that apparently I was wrong, one can never have enough cute treat bags.

So, at about 9:30 here is what I set about making:

The bags I had purchased previously from Close To My Heart, as was the stamp set I believe it was a Stamp of the Month collection from last fall.  The paper is from Stampin' Up a couple of Halloween's back as is the ribbon (laugh loudly as I am using up old stuff again!!!!!).  

To make the ribbon look the way it does, I cut of the edge on one side and then pull the ribbon fibers to the cut edge and then twisted with the other color and got this hairy scarey look!

Apparently the children thought that these were great, so all is good.  Saved another memory!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cinnamon Bun Progress

I discovered this evening that out there in cyber land is someone who cannot make cinnamon buns.

I felt bad for this carbohydrate deprived soul, and so set about with a set of instructions that she could follow and make amazing cinnamon buns!  No, I am not a 100 years old, in fact this person and I are the same age give or take a couple of months, but I have the privilege of growing up in a bread making family.  Over time I have modernized some of the techniques to make the process easier but the end result is still delicious bread.  I do still knead by hand my large batches of cracked wheat bread (yesterday's post), but for simple things like Cinnamon Buns, I use my trusty dough hook:

If you have read my blog before you know that I managed to burn the original motor out on this 15+ year old machine making too many batches of heavy grain breads, but hubbie replaced the motor with a little more powerful one and I am ready to go again.  Now, the bowl just seems too small....., but I digress.

A recipe that was posted on the facebook page for another reason looked simple and promising so this is what I did with it:

I heated in the microwave in a glass measuring bowl:

1 cup milk

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons butter

Once the butter was melted I poured it into the stainless steel mixing bowl.

Added:

1/2 cup of sugar

1cup flour

and mixed on setting 2 until I could comfortably keep my hand on the side of the bowl and not feel too hot:

Once my hand could rest comfortably on the side of the bowl, I added:

1 heaping tablespoon yeast

2 cups of flour 

1 beaten egg

and turned the mixer up to speed 3.

As the dough hook turns in time you will see a dough ball start to form and pull away from the sides.

At this time stand by with the occasional pinch of flour to keep the dough from sticking to the sides.

Once  a nice ball of dough has formed, leave the dough alone in the bowl and let the dough hook beat it about for about 8 minutes.  If at the 8 minute mark it still looks sticky, let it beat a couple of more minutes.

Using a buttered hand remove dough hook:

 Smile at ball of dough, and place in a pre-warmed 170F oven with the door ajar:

Allow to rise until double in size:

I started this process at 7:10 this evening, and now will be rolling out the dough to make the buns at 8:14:

 Sprinkle a bit of flour on the counter to make sure dough does not stick to your counter.  A little extra kneading to make sure the dough "squeaks" is also good.  If your dough does not "squeak" when kneaded across the counter add a little more flour and keep kneading.

Roll dough out scant 1/4" thin (joke for Sharon), spread with butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and I used some maple sugar as well.  Roll into a log sealing all seams.

I use a piece of unflavored dental floss to cut my cinnamon buns.  Run the dental floss perpendicular to your dough, ends on either side of the dough, cross the ends and Voila!  Perfect cut, and no cuts in the counter!!!

Back into the 170F oven for 15 - 20 minutes.  

Turn heat up to 350F and bake for about 25 minutes!

Fresh, Delicious Cinnamon Buns for breakfast tomorrow all in under 2 1/2 hours!  : )

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Let there be bread!

I LOVE bread.  It is seriously one of my favorite foods, it is always a comfort food, and I cannot think of a single bread that I do not like.

Home made bread is especially the best, the taste and the smell.... delicious.

Today after picking my son up from school and running errands all day, I decided my son needed fresh bread for his lunch tomorrow, partly because I'm a nice mom, also because we used up the last loaf of home made bread from the freezer last week : (

Now, I suppose I could go buy bread, but this is where the Saskatchewan Ukrainian cheap comes in.  Have you seen the price of bread?  Are you sure what's in that loaf of bread?  How long will it last on the cupboard, and lastly where is the taste????  At the price a farmer gets for a bushel of wheat bread should not cost the price it does!  So, I make my own!

Here is the dough rising with my son's finger poked in to see how long it would take to rise out:

 Looks like a belly button!  : )

After a punch down it was into the pans, apparently when you make this amount of dough you should likely get more loaf pans ready...

Not sure where all my loaf pans are (camper trailer maybe)....

Out of the oven and brushed with better.

And couldn't wait much longer, had to have a slice!

LOVE it!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Snow and Sock Day!

I hoped against hope that it would not snow today.  I guess technically it wasn't that much snow, but enough that the car was covered with snow and the back yard looked like:

Sigh.....

So, I did the next best thing!  I finished knitting my current sock project (Snapdragon colorway from SweetGeorgia) so that I could start the other sock, and maybe even start on my October Yarn from SweetGeorgia Yarns.

I really encourage everyone to wear hand knit wool socks.  They are just so warm and cozy and fit your feet perfectly.  After wearing just one pair you are going to be hooked on them.  I am looking forward to a day when my drawer is full of these wonderful warm socks!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's Laundry Day Tomorrow!!!!

That's right!  It's Laundry Day tomorrow.  A whole weeks worth of towels, bedding, clothes, school and nursing uniforms and some of my husband's work clothes!  

Now, before you think that I have completely lost my mind or senses, or gone off of or started some new medication, let me explain.

Recently I was on-line ordering one of my favorite yarns when I found out that in the metropolis of Stony Plain, there is a yarn shop called Pam's Woolly Shop (it even has little sheepy {not a typo - a real word in the Kathy dictionary} painted on the front of the store)!

Today my son and I took a drive over there after art class.  We walked in to find the store packed with beautiful yarns (and not old out of date ones), and a SALE on yarn on top of that.

We a few dollars later we emerged with a giant bag of yarn (who saw that coming?), and these:

I am so excited about these.  If you know me, you know that I am allergic to almost everything and that include fabric cling sheets for your dryer.  I have tried various not scented options over the past, and some I just don't like because of their chemical nature, but these are WOOL!  Could I go wrong?

I will find out tomorrow when I do laundry, but oh.... the wait, although you will likely notice I am not in a rush to start laundry : )

Kathy

Christmas Card # 1

Every year a couple of my dearest friends and myself make Christmas cards together.  

This is the first card that I have decided we should make this year, and it's also my Friday Feature Card!

Cover your retina's it's a bright one:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

September Stamp of the Month Club

Yes, you read correctly.  I am finally posting my ever so cool Stamp of the Month Cards from September.  This is a Club that my friend Karina organizes. 

Each month you get a stamp set and three coordinating cards.

You will likely notice that my cards to do not match the stamp and that is because I already had the stamp set offered, so I got to choose another instead.  YAY!

My favorite is the cupcake one!  Surprised?  Of course not, everyone knows I LOVE cupcake things!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

While I Wait...

As you likely already know; while I wait for my son at piano, and violin lessons, swimming, and skiing lessons, and art class, I KNIT!  

I learned to knit when I was eight years old from my grandmother's sister-in-law (there is a long story behind this), and I think it may possibly be one of the best skills I have learned in my life, besides how to put an IV into most anything : )

Earlier in the summer I came across this wonderful skein of yarn called Snapdragon from Sweetgeorgia Yarns.  I HAD to have it in my stash.  

Well, this last weekend, I started to delve into the stash of yarn from this summer and this is how far I have come this week while waiting at piano and art:

With any luck by the time my son finishes swimming, violin and another art class this week I should be able to start the second sock, however, there is another ball of yarn calling me....might have two socks on the go at once!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

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

If you follow my blog ramblings you will know that I am what my husband refers to as Saskatchewan Ukrainian cheap!  I prefer to think of it as being resourceful, and more of a waste not want not philosophy.

After making pyrohy yesterday there was some left over potato and cheese mixture.  What to do with it?

Make Perogy Casserole!

 I omitted the bacon, and the cottage cheese as the mashed potato was already full of cheddar cheese:

This is how it turned out.

It was quite delicious!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pyrohy Sunday

Today my son decided that we should have pyrohy for dinner.  So, that is what we spent the remainder of this afternoon making:

For making the dough I used my grandmother's recipe:

5 cups flour

1/2 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cups warm water 

2 eggs slightly beaten

1 tsp salt

Mix ingredients together and let dough sit for about an hour in a warm place.

Roll out thin and cut into small squares, should be about 2.5", but some of mine were bigger

.  Fill with your filling of choice (some of these have sauerkraut, and others have potato/cheese).  Ours have a unique shape that you can only achieve when a nine year old helps assemble : )  These did however hold their filling in the boiling water so all is good!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pumpkin Cake

I recently came across a deal on pumpkins just too good for me to pass up, so I bought two of them.  What was I thinking?  Not sure.

Today I cut both of them in half, scooped out the seeds, baked for 30 minutes in a 350F oven and then scooped out the pumpkin.  Packaged it into 2 cup sizes and put in the freezer for future baking.  Thought that maybe I should start the baking process of some pumpkin now.  Fortunately Facebook  feeds provided me with one way to start:

It's called Pumpkin Butter Cake and it really is good enough straight out of the pan!  : )  Yes I tried it!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Mystery Quilt Progress.....

For some reason I think I just might be addicted to fabric.  Seriously!  I love to cut it up into all sorts of shapes and sizes, and I also love the intrigue of a project that one does not know how it will end!

I decided in September that I would sign up for the PQM "Cracked Pots" Mystery Quilt.

Well, after a late start getting other projects done, getting ill, and then working almost a full time equivalent of over time in one week, I am officially two steps behind consistently for this project.  

The 4th step was posted the other day, I managed to finish the 2nd last night:

Yay ME!!!  Go Kathy GO!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cranberry Muffins

After getting home fairly late last night I realized I needed to have stuff for lunches today since I had not gone for groceries before we left, and or stopped on the way home.

A quick look in the refrigerator and there was the huge bag of cranberries I had picked up earlier in the week at Costco and not taken with me.

So, the first thing I decided to make was Banana Cranberry Muffins!

I used 3/4 cup whole what flour with the all purpose and a couple tbsp of flax seeds:

Yummy and somewhat nutritious!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.  I hope this day is a happy day for everyone.

Last week at Save-On-Foods (not my default grocery store) I found these:

I thought this would be the perfect thing for my son to make dessert for today's feast.

Well, we followed the directions and sure enough we have the best smelling and tasting (we sampled one of the tarts) pie and 24 tarts. Served with vanilla bean ice cream this will be top drawer as my son would say!

Happy Thanksgiving and 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Thanksgiving Road Trip

Yesterday after art class my son and I headed out on the road to Grandma's for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Along the way we had no real plans, other than to stop here and there to see things of local interest and of course hit up a quilt shop if there was one.

One of the stops of course was Prairie Points Quilt Shop.  Of course I wanted to shop, but I also had a mission to deliver Lynn with her Summer Savory Seasoning.  

While in Nova Scotia this summer I chanced upon a package of this seasoning and since it looked interesting, I got some.  That same evening I found out that Lynn LOVES this stuff, so I brought her back 4 packages of it.

As a quilter I could not just give it to her in a shopping bag.  So, I sewed this quick little bag and along with a jar of my Strawberry Marmalade that I made after strawberry picking by Lacombe we set off on our special delivery trip.

I will post tomorrow my treasures that I picked up as well.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Friday Feature Card

This evening after dinner I actually had some time to go and sit in my craft room, and play!  It was awesome!  Between being ill and working overtime this last week, I am exhausted, so it felt good to just sit and relax!

Since I was not overly creative, I decided that for my Friday Feature card for Karina's Krafting Crew weekly post I would simply use the template from Mojo Monday again.  This is design # 314:

Yes I used retired stamps!!!  But I think they're fun!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sprinkle Cookies

After dinner this evening my son and I made Sprinkle Cookies.

We found several recipes all over for these, but in the end, I just used a drop sugar cookie, and mixed in the sprinkles.  

I found these sprinkles in the cupboard so we used them as there appeared to be enough and the season was semi appropriate:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Rainbow Socks DONE!!!

By the time you are reading this my April version of Sock of the month from Biscotte & Cie, will be en route to my grandmother.

For some reason these socks and I did not get along.  My goal was to have these done a week ago, so that I could send them off to grandma and get them out of my house!!  The pattern for some reason did not get along with me, and in the end I had to modify it in order to complete!

The plan to get these socks finished was thwarted when I got ill with a respiratory bug that knocked my out for close to a week.  Maybe the socks did it????

Anyways, here they are completed:

Grandma will love them.  I know that because she always thinks everything I make is GREAT.  She really is an awesome grandma.  : )

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

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

As I sat staring at the mess that is my craft room last night, I decided I should do up some of the Paper Pumpkin kits that I have sitting around.

For the past few months, I have been receiving these monthly mailings.  The first one was alright, but since then I have not really been overly impressed with these kits.  I think this just might be my last month of these.

This is from the most recent kit I got.  Of course I changed it because I thought the design that was sent was odd, so here is my take on this:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pancake Sunday

For the first time in about a week I was actually hungry this morning, felt well enough to cook, and was home.

After being "down" with this respiratory bug that has been going around and working double shifts in Emerg I have not had much time to craft or blog this week.

Since it is Sunday, my son wanted pancakes or waffles.

In the most recent What's Cooking there is a recipe for pb & banana pancakes.

This is what we made for breakfast this morning:

Have a great Sunday.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Newsflash!

Here is a little newsflash for all of you:  I HATE ATTIC WINDOW QUILT BLOCKS, (and they hate me)!!!

Every time I try to make one of these quilts it just turns into a big disaster.

I ended up staying up later than I should have last night in order to get the blocks put together for tonight's class at Sew Divine.

Hopefully the applique will cover all the sins!

I have learned that these blocks are out to get me, and I am going to keep a safe distance from them in the future : )

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cracked Pots Step #1 DONE!!!!

A while back I decided that I did not have enough quilting projects on the go (pause for extreme laughter here, and maybe a bathroom break after this), so I decided to join in on the Cracked Pots Mystery Quilt.  I mean, what's another quilt to get done?

So, little secret here; last night Step # 3 was released.  I have tonight managed to finish Step # 1!!!

Who would guess from this so far that I HATE green?

Okay, by the end it will probably make sense why I went with this color way.  It's actually because I could not leave the border fabric behind!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy