Hello Out There.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Had a super and productive day today.  After lunch my son and I headed out for groceries, but before we went grocery shopping we stopped for candy (yes, ironically I LOVE a good candy) at Be-a-Bella.  It is this really cute little shop that we drive by every day and the big jars of candy from the street look so lovely!  We got several small bags of various wonderful candies and yes there are still some left, and no my insulin pump did not run dry.

After grocery shopping and making dinner and getting a few loads of laundry done I decided to wind my latest skein of yarn:

As you may remember, earlier this year I knitted a pair of socks for my brother in Edmonton Oiler inspired yarn.  These socks have apparently been the hit of the Oil Patch this winter and my brother reports he holds on to them tightly as he is afraid that they will go "missing".  

Meanwhile, my husband wanted to know where his socks were.  Hmmmmmm.  Well, at that time there was no other colorway, but recently other colors arrived including Vancouver Canucks yarn.  

Tonight seemed to be the perfect time to wind this skein while I watched Hockey Night in Canada and as usual the Oiler's lost !

Ready to be knit into socks!

Of course you can't watch hockey without singing The Hockey Song ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Finally Friday!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I cannot believe it is finally FRIDAY!  After having the migraine earlier in the week I just have not got my energy level back up yet.  This week has dragged on and what with extra curricular activities I have not been able to go to bed earlier either.

This evening after dinner, loading the dishwasher, vacuuming and mopping the floor I spent some time with my Prairie Quilt Militia mystery quilt.

These are the 24 blocks that I made, not sure exactly how they are to look because of "pattern difficulties" that have been present with the pattern:

I love the fussy cut inspirational messages in the block centers.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Carrying On....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

The migraine has passed, now just dealing with the residual slow moving feeling left behind.  Went to bed early last night although still did not sleep well.  Hopefully tonight will be better.

As far as my quilting I only managed to get two more log cabin blocks done this evening:

Only 16 more to go before Sunday.  Will have to pick up the pace a little I think ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What a Headache....

No, not just figuratively, literally!

Woke up this morning not feeling great, something was amiss, but not sure what.  

Nibbled on crackers and sipped Ginger-ale most of the morning, but still could not shake the nausea.  Hmmmmm, stomach bug maybe, lots of those going around, but I hardly ever get one of these. 

 By noon I knew what was wrong.  MIGRAINE!!!  Had to leave work and thankfully I live only about 5 minutes away.  By the time I got home every symptom was present (one of my frustrations in the ER is when people come in complaining of a migraine and can talk full sentences and drive themselves there, it's probably just a bad headache).  Spent the rest of the afternoon in bed with the pail, no lights, it's amazing how noisy the house is, and pain medications til I finally fell asleep. 

Woke up well after dinner.  Thankfully hubby was home to pick up child and get dinner ready.  I still could not eat, but had a piece of toast with some more Ginger-ale.

For today's craft (I completed this late yesterday) I have block 4 of my Churn Dash Block Challenge organized by A Needle Pulling Thread: 

Block 4.

All four together.  I am actually supposed to have 8 of these completed so far for the challenge, but clearly that is not going to happen tonight!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sunday Quilting

Good Morning Internet Friends!

Despite having gone to bed at 0230 this morning after working yesterday evening shift the family had me up early this morning.  So after breakfast waffles I started on my log cabin blocks for the Moonshine Quilt:

Now I have to get dinner started, laundry done, grocery shopping for the week and take my son to the park to play in the snow!

Last week at this time we were at the San Diego Zoo!  This is a really cool zoo, and I love how they mark very well on the trails and maps where the "things" that I hate would be so that there was no accidental "sightings" of such.

Going for an ocean view.

A Polar Bear!  Yes, I had to go all the way to San Diego to actually see a Polar Bear.  They DO NOT live in my back yard ☺

An elephant!  I just thought he looked cute ☺

A Capybara because who doesn't love a giant gopher????

This little koala was so cute.  Although he is asleep he looks like he is in perfect "zen".  Namaste.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Quick! Get Something done....

Good Afternoon Internet Friends!

On my way to work an evening shift soon.  Not enough time for a nap, so I decided to work on my Moonshine Quilt.  

Now, remember I rant when the instructions are incorrect?  Well, today I just decided on my own whim to not follow the pattern exactly!

Here are my log cabin centers:

I have decided to make 2.5" half square triangle centers rather than the standard 2.5" cheddar squares that the pattern calls for! ☺

Now to go pack a dinner and snacks for myself and head off to work.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Moonshine; Sip One.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It is hard to believe that last week at this time I was finishing a day at Knott's Berry Farm and the temperature was +31 degrees C (88 F).   ☺  So far today we have had rain, snow and then some sunshine late afternoon.  

 A duck picture because he looked so pretty.

 The log raft ride that even I was brave enough to go on.

The roller coaster I was NOT brave enough to go on.

This evening I finished sewing the last part of Step One of a quilt called Moonshine that I am working on with the Prairie Quilt Militia group I belong to.  I often get frustrated with these patterns as they have all required correction steps late in the completion process.  As someone who lives and works for exactness, precision and perfection I nearly lose it!!!!  I am going to hopefully complete this one without having to take a time out as the picture for this one has been released.

Here is Part Three of what I will call "sips" instead of "steps" for this project:

Here are all the parts of Sip One:

Now that's done, so time to start Sip Two and finish a sock, and get my Churn Dash Blocks caught up this weekend, oh, and work an evening shift to help out a colleague tomorrow....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Home At Last.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

We finally got home very early yesterday morning.  It was a very long day for us yesterday.

Our flight itinerary was to leave LAX late Tuesday afternoon for a direct flight home.  Our original flight itinerary was changed by American Airlines just hours before we left home, and so with a new return travel itinerary we planned to arrive early for our flight just to make sure that we were there in plenty of time and have a nice leisurely lunch at the airport .

It's a good thing we did because when our original flight was changed, our return flight was cancelled!!!  Five and a half hours of traversing with a ten year old, and our luggage between Terminals 6, then Terminal 4, back to Terminal 6, then to 5, back to 6, one more trip to 4, and finally at Terminal 5 we were given a flight home!  I would like to say that we were the only people in this situation but the long, miserable line ups we were in had many people with similar stories.  It made for a very long day and a very late, or early, dependent on how you look at it, arrival home.  We are home though ☺ 

Apparently Hello Kitty missed us:

He has not left my side now in several hours and is NON STOP purring (it's getting annoying)...

The trip was fantastic otherwise and I will blog about some of what we did later.

This evening I took a bit of time and worked on these pinwheel blocks.  I think they look rather cute:

Now to finish up some laundry and wait for my granola bars to come out of the oven and off to sleep!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Made It.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!  

Have been so busy playing tourist the past three days have not had time to blog post!

Today we finally got to just relax and do the one other thing I wanted to on this whirlwind vacation.......go to the beach!!!!  I LOVE the Pacific Ocean.   Not sure why, but I always feel so happy and peaceful when I see it.  

 Long beach. 

A pretty tree that had some kind of pretty parrot birds in it but by the time I got this photo I think that they had moved on.

Tomorrow we head back to the Frozen He!! as my husband calls it.  I have text messages and Facebook notifications that there was snow while we're gone!!!!!!!  Yuck.

On a crafty note though,  I did manage to locate the elusive canvas letter "E" that I have been looking for.  I bought 3 of the 4 letters needed for my son's name at the "M" big box craft store I usually avoid a couple of months ago.  I hoped I could find the "E" at another store but alas after going to every store in the Edmonton area as a phone call could not get a store clerk to go look for it, I came up empty handed.   Was about to return all the stuff for the project when hubby suggested I look down here first.  Today I found:

Now to get home and get working on this project!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Is this the same planet?

Good morning internet friends!

That is the question my husband asked yesterday afternoon as we sat by the pool here in Southern Califirnia.  We left cold and snow for this:

Landing in Phoenix.   Then on to Los Angeles.  When we arrived in California this is what we see:

So much different than home!

On the flight I worked on my latest sock:

Hope this inspires your own creativity. ..

Kathy

And We're Off....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

The temperature outside is -11 C (12 Fahrenheit) and lightly snowing.  This time tomorrow I will be in much nicer temperatures in San Diego!  Measles here we come! No, not seriously, we are all vaccinated.  

While I waited for the last load of laundry to dry I worked on my Prairie Quilt Militia mystery quilt.  This quilt has reached a point where I think everyone is just about doing their own thing.  As I mentioned before the instructions were missing several pieces that culminated in Step 9!  After a lengthy time out, I think I just might be able to get myself through this, and looking at some of the adaptations some fellow quilters have made I am pressing forward:

I put the inspirational bird at the top of the pile in an effort to keep me "Inspired".  ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Hokey Pokey Day

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I literally feel like I'm doing the Hokey Pokey today!  It's my turn around day to be back on day shift tomorrow.  Not the wisest decisions are made on days like today and doing anything seems to take forever.  Still have not napped, so hopefully will be off to slumber land shortly.

Managed to pick up a few groceries today for lunches for the next couple of days til we leave, did laundry that had to be done, took the car for a wash (it looked terrible) so now I can see my Roughrider plate surround and my Anne of Green Gables vanity plate up front!

Before I picked my son up from school I did manage to work on and finish 8 pinwheel blocks for a project I am currently working on:

TAH DAH!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sew What? It's a Snow Day!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Woke up to more snow this morning.  The remote start on my Highlander somehow got scrambled and so the alarms and auto start functions refused to work properly.  Had to sweep the mountain (literally) of snow off the Focus as it seemed like a better idea than trying to get the Super Duty started in the cold.  Plus, I did not want to get my hands cold locking the hubs.  Got my son to school only 15 minutes late.

 Thankfully my neighbor got his quad runner with snow plow out this morning and cleaned my side walk by the time I got back home ☺  Tried hopelessly for the next hour to reprogram my car starter with no luck (sad face).

Off to lunch at Duchess Bakery with my friend.  Lovely lunch and visit as usual.  Then I decided I should see if I could get a hair cut with Mallory at Crazy beautiful Hair and of course they were awesome as usual and fitted me in ☺

Stopped at Chapters on the way to pick up my son and was able to finally get my copy of Primitive Quilts, but still cannot locate the Cross Stitch Collection February 2015 issue which I MUST have (it has a black lab puppy on the front).  

While dinner was cooking I managed to do a bit of quilting:

 I made Block 3 of my Churndash Challenge that I am participating in with A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop (I am actually supposed to have 5 of these blocks made...maybe tonight).

Here are all three that I have made so far.  I am using up scrap yardage for these.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Snow Day

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Woke up this morning to nothing spectacular outside.  So much for the weather advisory of "Snow Fall Warning".  Got my son ready for school, it was early dismissal today.  By the time I dropped him off at school it was starting to snow.

Picked him up just after 1200 hours and the wind was really picking up.  We went to The Dish Bistro for lunch then over to Cookie Love.  A quick stop at the book store for a magazine I am still looking for (no luck) and then a quick stop at the fabric store (last resort- not a fan of this store as it does not offer any incentive to shop local) to see if they had a couple fat quarters I was looking for.  They did, now I can start my quilt.

By the time we left St. Albert the snow and wind had really picked up.  My son was taking pictures of traffic on St. Albert Trail:

By the time we got home this was the view of the neighborhood:

And of course my Juniper shrub:

Worked on one of my quilting projects this evening and got some of the pinwheel building blocks done:

TAH DAH!

Have to get my grove on tomorrow as did not get half of what I wanted to do done today....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Work In Progress Wednesday!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Shhhhhh, now, don't let the cat out of the bag (especially the staffing office) but I have TWO consecutive days off now without work!  I don't even plan to work any overtime!   

The city of Edmonton is currently under a snow fall warning and since I am off for two whole days and have lots of housework and quilting planned I decided to stop and pick up a few groceries on the way home this evening.  Was super proud of myself because I went to Superstore and even remembered to take my re-usable shopping bags.  As I finished emptying the bag, this is what I discovered.  Fresh cat?

This evening I decided to do a little more quilting and link up with Work In Progress Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network since I have not done that in a while.  Check out the link as there are some really talented people over there.

I am still working away on my Raise the Roof quilt and managed to get another three of these blocks completed this evening:

TAH DAH!

No idea how many more I have to make, will just keep making them until I run out of half square center pieces ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Elegant Dinner?

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Worked today and of course battled especially bad traffic on the way home tonight.  Only kid and I home for dinner so we had our favorite meal on these nights; scrambled eggs, whole grain toast with marmalade and a glass of milk!  Quite "Elegant" as my son comments.

The marmalade is of course form my fall preserves and the whole grain bread from my baking on the weekend.  I LOVE making whole grain bread, it smells so yummy fresh out of the oven, and even the next couple of days smells so wonderful when I slice into it.

 Almost ready to shape into loaves.

Two of the four loaves I made.  Gave two away, froze one and left one out for toast and sandwiches this week.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cross Stitch Collection Stitch Along

Good Early Morning Internet Friends!  

It is just after midnight here in Western Canada, and I am going to bed soon, have to work tomorrow.....but I am also participating in the Cross Stitch Collection Stitch Along with a +8 hour time difference.  If I post now, then all of my new Internet Friends across the pond won't miss anything.  ☺

Okay, not that it's that spectacular, but the fact that I have managed to do as much as I have on this Stitch Along is pretty amazing even for me!

I started this project on January 01, 2014, then realized a couple of days later I had counted wrong (don't cross stitch late at night), and had to take all the stitches out and re-start.  As of check in date here is what I have completed:

Not sure how "far behind" I am, but will keep at this.  Might take me longer than a year to do...., but I'm having fun doing it! ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's Super Sunday!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was a Super Great Day!

After flax seed whole wheat pancakes and poached eggs for breakfast my son and I headed off to Rundle Park to go ice skating.  However, the warm weather seems to have played havoc with the river/ponds over there and outdoor skating was closed.  So, we walked around the park.  The temperature was -13 Celsius (9 Fahrenheit) so not too cold for us.

The park was very pretty with the newly fallen snow and not too busy today so we took our time:

Breakfast

Where we would have skated.

Marching into the Ranger Station

Some bird brain was out making tracks in the snow...

Another bird brain making tracks!  I wore my Sorel Campus Tall Boots because we were going skating.  I take these boots with me when I know I am going to have to be out of my boots because if these get stolen I know that who ever stole them must need them more than I do, unlike my Brooks Tall UGG Boots.  Notice the polar bear in the tread shows up kinda cute in the snow. ☺

Checking out the park through the lens...

Trying to climb the rock structure, not too easy with winter boots and woolen mittens ☺

That was our outing to the park.  Came home and made bread,  and then pizza for dinner, since it is Super Bowl Sunday:

Hope you all had a Super Sunday and,

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy