Christmas Vacation Day 12!

Happy New Year`s Eve Internet Friends!

Today we somehow managed to do a lot of physical activity while supposedly trying to just relax!  We went skating on the Canmore Skating Pond, then climbed the old ski hill trail behind the resort:

 Banff Gate Mountain Resort

 View of the Trans Canada Highway in the background.

Almost at the top...managed to get to tree line and back without the assistance of a puffer!  One for the asthma team!  ☺

Looking at these views from way up there I really realized how fortunate I am.  These views that people from all over the world come to appreciate are in my own backyard!  

When we got back from our hike I managed to finish Step 8 of the Prairie Quilt Militia mystery quilt that I am working on. 

We went for dinner in Banff then back to the Canmore Skating Pond for the fireworks at 2030 for the children.

Now to watch the midnight fireworks and then off to bed as last day skiing tomorrow..

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Vacation Day 11!

Today was another do nothing kind of day.  

We did go into Banff today for a bit and do some shopping.  I went to my favorite ski store; Abominable Sports and as usual there were a few things I picked up, new ski helmet, hiking socks with arch supports and a pair of lovely new mittens!

After dinner I worked on one of the applique quilt projects I brought with me.  My mystery quilt has me frustrated since there are errors in three steps as to the total number of pieces to make that have now at Step 9 been caught!  Seriously.... 

Here is how my applique pieces look now:

This is from my Plum Pudding block of the month from Woodland Quilting last year ☺

Now I just have to blanket stitch the pieces and put on the outer two borders and I will be done!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Vacation Day 10!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

The weather today was COLD!  Now, not unusually cold, except that the temperature has been above average warm for this time of year, so I have not acclimatized to the cold.  Did a little bit of back yard hiking today and then after dinner went for a swim.

Other than that stay in the chalet, my son took out snacks to Bun Bun, and I worked on various sewing, quilting and knitting projects.

I did complete my latest version of the Professional Tote:

I think it looks pretty good, and it`s even ready before our family vacation to San Diego!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Vacation Day 9!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I am proud to say that my son is a very sweet and gentle child.  Everywhere he goes he attracts animals to him.  My mom will laugh about this as the number of stray pets that I dragged home as a child is quite lengthy. That being said, there is a little bunny that lives under the steps here at the resort that my son has befriended over the past few days.  I am assuming that he is one of the infamous Canmore Bunnies as he is not a wild bunny.  My grandmother used to feed my bunny bananas, so we decided to try giving Bun Bun as we have dubbed him a banana.  He LOVED it.

This  afternoon I also baked some bread as we were almost out:

We gave a warm slice to Bun Bun and he thought it was yummy too!

Hope  you all had a wonderful day, and 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Vacation Day 8

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was another FUN and relaxing day.  I LOVE vacation, no real responsibility, just able to do what I want to, when I want to!

After lunch we went into the back country and did some hiking around and about Mount Lougheed.  It was a beautiful afternoon, and thankfully (?) we did not see any wildlife; I was worried that we would run into a cougar or a wolf pack!  We saw nothing, not even a bunny!

 Leading the pack; leaving the asthmatic behind????

 ?  Flood from last summer

Running water!

It was a beautiful hike and very peaceful, and yes I made it back, without having to use my puffer, although towards the end I was thinking that I might have to use it....

This evening I worked at finishing Step 7 of my Prairie Quilt Militia mystery quilt:

All twenty five little squares done!

Now off to watch a movie with the family ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Vacation Day 7!

Happy Boxing Day Everyone!  I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Today I finished Step 6 of my Prairie Quilt Militia mystery quilt:

All 24 blocks!  "Sew" pretty!  Now to try and get caught up on the other steps....

This afternoon my son and I went skating on the Canmore Skating Pond.  Now to watch a movie and eat popcorn!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Merry Christmas Vacation Day 6!

Merry Christmas Internet Friends.  I hope that everyone had a wonderful day.

My son had us up by 0730 this morning to open stockings and presents.  I think he was a little worried that Santa would not find us since we were away from home.  

The view outside was beautiful this morning:

Looking back somehow a lot of time today was spent either cooking or baking.  We had pancakes for breakfast:

With Maple Syrup and canned sliced peaches these were FABULOUS!

After lunch I made two pumpkin pies using pumpkin I had frozen in the fall:

After the pies were out of the oven my son and I went ice skating while my husband stayed to cook the turkey.  When we got back I made cranberry sauce to go along with the turkey and all the fixings.  The cranberry sauce was delicious as usual but I forgot to take a picture of it before it became leftovers.

Here is how I make my cranberry sauce:

1 bag of fresh cranberries rinsed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup water

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and cook until boiling and the cranberries burst and the sauce is the thickness that you desire it to be,

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and hope your day was full of wonderful memories and food.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Vacation Day 5

Merry Christmas Eve!

Today was another fun filled day in the mountains.  The mountains looked very pretty today so I took lots of pictures:

 After lunch I went in to Canmore and of course I stopped at The Sugar Pine Company .  I got a few treasures for future projects and some Christmas fabric to make a table runner for the table as I did not pack any Christmas table linens.  Here is what I made:

 I think it looks quite lovely and festive on the table.  Mid afternoon one of the resort staff came around and handed out these little chocolate/candy decoration so now the table actually does look 

ready for Christmas.  

After dinner we are going to go skating and then hang our stockings for Santa's arrival

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas!

Kathy

Christmas Vacation Day 4

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Did I tell you I LOVE Christmas?  Well, I really do.   Today my son and I made some Christmas cookies; some for us and some for Santa if there are any left.  I have always wanted to make Candy Cane Cookies and so that is what we did:

They turned out pretty tasty, although they look a little amateur in their presentation, but I think Santa will understand ☺

The we went for a walk to see the creek that was flooded here last year and as far as the lookout point of Mount Lougheed. 

It was a beautiful day ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Vacation Day 3

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Another great day of Christmas Vacation and of course I'm still singing Christmas Vacation!  Guess which movie we watched this evening???

Earlier today we went into Banff to finish some Christmas shopping and general shopping.  Yes, general shopping.  I wanted to go to The Bay.  I love that store and as usual it did not disappoint.  If you are a close friend or follow my blog you will know that when they were handing out auto-immune disorders I stood in line three times!  The past two nights have been super hard to sleep due to my asthma and the resort seems to have a premium on "crappy", sagged out pillows that you can have per chalet (who knew).  So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and go get a pillow so that I can prop myself up and sleep without coughing all night.  Not only did I find a pillow, but I found an Asthma Pillow!!!  In addition to the pillow I also got pajamas on an awesome sale and of course a pair of HBC socks!

Now I had an awesome pillow, but no pillowcase for it.  Well fortunately for me when I stopped at Prairie Points Quilt Shop on Saturday I had purchased some fabric with the intent of making a pillowcase some day.  Well, looks like that day was today:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Christmas Vacation Day 2!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

After a good 10+ hours sleep last night I was ready to take on the world today!  

We went for lunch in Canmore at the Grizzly Paw and of course I had my favorite lunch; a Diet Coke and :

POUTINE!!!  I always love the looks from the servers that I get when I order this combo.  You can just see how they want to tell me how going lite on the beverage is not going to cut the calories....if only they knew the real reason ; )

Then we did some shopping in town.  Got a few stocking stuffer things, think I will go back in to town tomorrow by myself for the rest of the items.

After dinner I did a bit of knitting and quilting before watching a Christmas movie.

This is Step 6 of my Prairie Quilt Militia mystery quilt.  

Surprisingly these come together quite quickly when one is not working 60+ hours a week and being a full time mom!

Might just get caught up to the rest of the gang by Christmas!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy 

Christmas Vacation Day 1

Good Evening Internet Friends!!

Today officially in my world anyways starts Christmas vacation.  I have just finished 12 straight days of work and now time to play!

Today we departed for Canmore.  Loaded up the Christmas Toyota as my brother calls it because we somehow stuff a ton of stuff in it, seriously.

We stopped at Prairie Points Quilt Shop and The Peaceful Patch Quilt Shop and then continued on our way.  Had to pick up some extra quilting stuff for vacation ☺

Worked this evening on getting Step 5 of my Prairie Quilt Militia quilt done and was successful at that:

Did some knitting as well that hopefully I will be able to finish tomorrow!

My brother is headed home for the holidays, having left the northern British Columbia oil patch and although every year I tease him about being Santa in a semi, this year he really IS!!!  After Christmas he will be hauling back oil field "stuff" from the southern Saskatchewan oil patch so going home in the Peterbilt!  Santa's Got a Semi.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Elfing Again....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Yesterday evening I managed to get another of the billfold wallets done.

This one is for "C":

Again, there is a Tim Horton's gift card inside!

Each of these are made using 5" fabric squares for both the inside and outside.  The wrist strap is 4.75" wide and 10" long (the width of the fabric is 4x the opening of the ring at the end.

Hope he likes it....

Kathy

Elfing....

That is what I have decided to call what I have been up of late.

Earlier this year I made a little billfold/wallet thing for my ten year old son to carry around important things in a ten year old boys world; library card, loose change, rocks.....  Apparently several of his classmates decided that these wallet/billfolds were "Top Drawer".

For Christmas gifts this year I am making four of these little wallets:

This first one is for "R".  Inside is a five dollar gift card for Tim Horton's because of course I cannot give away a money holder/device without something in it!  ☺

Hope he likes it....

Kathy

Secret Santa Day 3

Good Evening Internet Friends.

In continuing with the Secret Santa Theme of: Things that make you feel better, I compiled a "prescription bottle" of items that could be used to make one feel better:

-chicken soup

- facial tissue

- lozenges

- hand sanitizer

- Gingerale

Here is how it looked:

The "pharmaceutical" label I attached with glue dots to the jar/bottle!

Everyone thought it was quite fun, so that made me happy!  ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Secret Santa Day 2!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today I decided to bake gingerbread cookies for the Secret Santa gift exchange at work. 

Apparently I do not own, or simply cannot locate my gingerbread man cookie cutter, so I had to make STARS!!!

They turned out well, and very tasty of course:

TAH DAH!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Secret Santa

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I finally have a few minutes to sit down and post what I have been up to. Okay, today, nothing that spectacular, but special never the less!

It is Secret Santa week at work ☺  I love Secret Santa week.  This year I got the name of the guy who makes sure that we are stocked with all the things that a clinic needs to function (crutches, gauze, IV cannula's, etc.  - the important things).  I think that I got his name as I was one of the last to pick names and while most people tolerate him, lots of people just ignore him because he is a little kooky or off center.  Our theme for this year is :things to make you feel better during flu season.  So, one of the presents I got for him is a box of Tim Horton's Keurig Cups.

I stamped a brown gift bag for gifting:

Hope it makes him feel better!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Treat Bags

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It has been a long week and for me it is still not over as I have another 8 straight days of work (schedule somehow got messed up at work).  Earlier in the week I did make some cookies of which I took three to work to share with colleagues that either had done something extra nice, or just needed encouragement, and one had a birthday!

Of course the cookies had to look presentable, so here is what I came up with:

They were enjoyed and appreciated!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Twas the Week Before Christmas....

When Kathy decided to get serious about making Christmas cards!

Seriously, I work all of this week and next and night shifts this weekend, so I finally realized this evening that I am still about 50 Christmas cards short!  I suppose I could start handing out purchased ones, but that would take away from the thoughtfulness of the season ☺

So, this evening I made another six:

TAH DAH!

Maybe not the most elaborate card, but a handmade thought in what I sometimes believe has become a very commercial season.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Gift Packaging

Good Late Evening Internet Friends.

Today was my son's teachers last day of classes before the Christmas break.  I still have not actually finished her Christmas present, so I stopped at Rocky Mountain Soap Factory and picked up a Vanilla Candy Cane Cake Box.

It looked sort of plain and I did not have any gift bags at home, so I used my Envelope Punch Board to make a gift box:

TAH DAH!

I used the Under the Tree Designer Series Paper and Ribbon that I had picked up somewhere a while ago.  Used my Merry Everything stamp set and punch for the label and a little bakers twine and I think the packaging looks pretty FANTASTIC!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Two At at Time...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Ran errands most of today, but after dinner had some time to myself.  Made two more of these log cabin blocks this evening for my Raise the Roof quilt:

So far not a very productive weekend.  My son and I went out Christmas shopping last night.  Got a few items, but were tired and the mall was crowded so came home early.

Now, off to bed, and maybe I can get something done tomorrow!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Poinsettia Thank You Cards

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Every year my son's school does a fundraiser selling poinsettia's.  These poinsettia's are just beautiful, and everyone loves them.  Of course it is mostly my colleagues that purchase these poinsettia's and as such I feel that they deserve a thank you card for purchasing these plants in support of the school.

Here are the cards that I was up until 0200 hours making earlier this week:

I love how these look and turned out, but they were super time consuming, so not likely to make it onto my Christmas distribution this year ☺

I have had a few questions about how these were made so here goes:

Joyful Christmas poinsettia and leaf stamp

Stamp with Versa Mark

Emboss with Gold Embossing Powder and heat set

Color with Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities Markers

Cut out with scissors and adhere.

Glue Dot in Center and add beads!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Step 4 of Mystery Quilt

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

I can't believe it is already Wednesday.  I feel like The Days are Just Packed (I love that book).  Actually, my crafting is sort of like these two characters, always up to something!

So far this week I have managed to make 98, 3.5" half square triangles for a mystery quilt I am participating in.   Everyone else is on Step 7 and I still bringing up the back...

Maybe one of these days I will get caught up...

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Four done, twenty-eight to go......

Good Evening Internet Friends.

The weekend is over already and time to head off to sleep in preparation for the week ahead!

Today was laundry, housework, got a few Christmas decorations out, some baking and a wee bit of quilting this evening after my son went to bed.

I am still working on trying to get my Raise the Roof quilt done.  So far I have four of the thirty two blocks done, but I think that they are really pretty:

Quite pleased with how well these are progressing so far.  Fingers crossed this keeps up ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

COOKIES!!!

A few weeks ago my dear friend Brandy hurried off to Duchess Provisions to get for her any myself the Duchess Cookbook.  We were seriously worried that we might not get a copy !

Well, not only did we get copies, but we even got signed ones!

Today I took the book very carefully off the self and made:

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies!

Of course they were delicious.  So, this afternoon, I will be headed off to Duchess Provisions for a few other items I "need" to make some other wonderful things from this cook book.  Plus it is Small Business Saturday so a good reason to shop there and other places along 124 Street ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Snow Day!

Good cold evening Internet Friends!

Yesterday the what seems to be annual Snowmageddon rolled through Alberta.  It started snowing sometime during the night and just kept coming!

The drive home was slow and there were cars stuck at almost every intersection.  My front yard cedar looked like:

Yes, that is snow coming down in the picture.  The snow continued over night and this morning there were 6" drifts on my car!  Seriously!

Since travel was not being recommended I decided that I would take a snow day with my son.

After lunch when it was likely it's warmest today we set off the 1 block walk to Highlands Park with sled since there is a hill there.  Well, after a very long walk (the snow was to my knees), and although I am only about 5' 2" in shoes, this is still really deep ☺ only to find the snow too powdery!  The sled simply sank in the snow!

We sat in the snow pile for a few minutes contemplating this and then decided to trudge home via another street for hot chocolate ☺

This evening after my son went to bed I finished the 32 star blocks for my Raise the Roof quilt:

Now off to bed, to see what I can get into tomorrow!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Work In Progress Wednesday

Good Evening Internet Friends!

My Work in Progress for participating in The Needle and Thread Network Work In Progress Wednesday is a toque that I started in the middle of September!

Progress has been slow on this pattern as it has multiple colors on it and I am frequently getting the yarns knotted around each other:

I ordered this kit from Knit Picks this summer in the hopes that if I knit the hat myself I would be able to wear a toque.  It gets really cold here in Western Canada come winter and I have a really big head (seriously, not just ego) that makes wearing most head gear very difficult.  

This is as far as I have gotten.  Hope to be able to get it finished soon as the temperature is dropping quickly ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Whole Wheat Waffles

Good Evening Internet Friends.

I have been fighting a head cold for close to a month now!  Occupational hazard I guess, all the sick people come to see me at work ☺

Felt very tired when I got home this evening and really did not know what to make for dinner.  So, I decided since I was not feeling well, comfort food was the order of the day.  So, my son and I made waffles:

Yummy warm waffles.  Made me feel a bit better for a little while.  

Waffles:

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- mix ingredients together and add:

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

- mix until all ingredients combined and pour into waffle maker as you usually would ☺

Good night!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Another day, Another set of blocks...

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Worked a little later into the evening last night than I should have on my quilting, but with a little time after dinner this evening I managed to get the 36 quarter square triangle center pieces ready for my Raise the Roof quilt:

TAH DAH!

Now it's time for some lemon tea and I am going to crawl into my cozy bed and maybe do some knitting before I fall asleep thanks to some cold medications.  Still fighting a head cold!  Achoooo...

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Still Quilting

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I tried valiantly to get caught up on my Raise the Roof quilt for the final session of class today (I attended the orientation session - did not pick out fabrics til 55 hours, ago, started cutting about 50 hours ago), missed last weeks class due to work, and showed up today with what I had so far:

96, 2.5" half square triangles.  

Did some work on the center part of these blocks in class which hopefully I can finish this evening!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Quilting Up a Storm!

Well, not exactly, but yesterday the temperature was + 4 C and the snow was almost all melted and you could see the grass and this is what I woke up to this morning:

I think winter is here : (  However the temperature today was only about - 4 C, so if Western Canada winter was only this bad it would not be too bad.  The dilemma is I know what is coming!

I am still madly trying to get my Raise the Roof quilt done.

So far today I have manage to get the light flying geese done:

This is probably not a Quilt In a Weekend type of thing, plus I do not have the ability to just sit down and quilt for hours on end with interruptions and things to do.

"Sew" shall see how far I get before class.....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Shhhhh, Don't Let the Cat out of the Bag!

Good Evening Internet Friends.

It's finally Friday!  I thought today would never come.  After working the weekend, being in Charge one night, and then Triage the next night, followed by one day off I am super tired.

I did however have to sit down and actually do some quilting as I am enrolled in a class of which I have so far only attended 1 class (have missed 2) due to work.

So, first of all don't let the cat out of the bag, but this is as far as I have gotten on my Raise the Roof quilt!  There was a lot of cutting though...

My son's cat Hello Kitty sitting in the bag that I had used to sort out all of the colors I would use for this quilt after doing some closet shopping.

Now, for a progress update:

Here are 64 Flying Geese Blocks!

If you are visiting from the Sew Sisters Blog Hop, WELCOME!!  ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy