The Road Home..

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Our four day road trip brought us back home this evening.  We did some shopping in Great Falls before heading off to Helena.

The trip down was beautiful and it was amazing how in just a few short hours the weather/climate can be so different.

This is a picture leaving central Alberta:

Notice the white stuff in the ditch on the left side of the picture?  That is still snow, not a lot, but it is snow.

Crossing the mountains between Great Falls and Helena there is green grass in the ditch, no snow, temperature is 20 degrees Celsius and bugs are being splatted on the windshield:

Spent some time wandering around downtown historic Helena yesterday part of which included a stop at Prickly Pear Quilts:

Here is what I picked up while there!

Heading home today:

Gates of the Mountains, the lake river looked beautiful today.

North of Cutbank today we had three range horses gallop right up to the side of the highway to greet us, this one stayed the longest and probably would have stayed longer had another car not come along:

A little farther down the road we came across cattle grazing:

And I love the wide open space so I took this picture:

We arrived home a little late this evening and by the time we finished unpacking the F-350 it was bedtime for kiddo and hubby who has a couple more days of work here before heading off on his new adventure.

Tomorrow the plan is a DO NOTHING Spring Break Day!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cross Stitch Stitch Along

Hello Internet Friends!☺

Today is check in day for the Cross Stitch Collection Stitch Along.

Here is my sloooooooow progress so far:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Spring Break!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

YAY!!  Spring Break and possibly spring has arrived here:

Today we departed on our Spring Break trip to Montana!  A little bit of skiing is planned and just some family time before my husband goes back to working in camp.  With all the job cuts in the oil patch these days we are the "fortunate" I guess in that as things cut down and or closed up he was able to just go back to working from camp instead of home.  At least no pay interruptions like so many that we know : (

On the way down I knit on his latest pair of wool socks as both my husband and brother who work in and out of camp (separate jobs and companies) both report that these socks are quite the "thing":

Hope this inspires your own creativity. ..

Kathy

A Brown Bag...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I needed a gift bag for the scarf that I made for my manager earlier this week and somehow I am all out of fabric gifty bags as well as pillow cases, so I made:

This bag is made from one of the Paper Pumpkin kits that I have occupying real-estate in my craft room!  

It turned out pretty good, and was the perfect size for the scarf and card! ☺

The intent is to complete some of these kits over Spring Break when we return from our road trip!  I have been singing Dancin' Across the USA all evening so I have attached the link so that you too can get this song stuck in your head!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Farewell Card

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Yesterday evening after finishing the scarf I went looking for a card to go along with it.  Somehow, in all those cards in the craft room I had NOTHING appropriate!

So, I made one:

Turned out pretty good for a quick impromptu card I think! ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Two Evening Scarf

Good Evening Internet Friends!

No, I do not have some special pattern or anything, I simply have a two evening scarf!

On Monday it was announced that our manager would be vacating her position this Friday.  She is always a big fan of my knit scarves and she herself is always wearing a scarf.  Since I have random balls of yarn in my "stash" (yarn not chocolate) I knit up the quickest scarf I could think of:

TA DAH! ☺

Eight simple stitches cast on and the knit stitch til the yarn was done!

As my son would say, " Easy, peasy"... hope she likes it.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

The Day After.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Well, the Tree Bird Blog Hop wrapped up yesterday, and I still had some fabric left over.  What to do with it?  I had a pile of flour sack towels sitting in close proximity to the fabric and "sew" this is what I came up with:

I likely have enough bird house fabric to make another of these, but that is for another day!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Tree Bird blog Hop Day 7

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Hope you all had a terrific Monday.

Today is Day 7 of the Tree Bird Blog Hop hosted by Lana from It Seams to be Sew.

Check out these blogs today:

Debbie Kratovil Quilts

how arT you?

Hill Valley Quilting

 Pink Doxies. Blogspot.com

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Fabric Bias

Lovelli Quilts

In The Boon Docks

Bacon Then Eggs

Sew We Quilt

As for my own crafting tonight I accomplished another two log cabin blocks for my block of the month project:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

The Weekend!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It's Sunday and what else does one do on a Sunday besides sleep late, eat pancakes, play in the freshly fallen snow outside, chase the cat, build marble runs, read comics upside down on the couch, ramp race cars off the couch and draw?????  Bake cookies with mom!

That is what my son and I did this afternoon after all these other activities.  I wrote this recipe down a really long time ago (yes, it is written and on a recipe card - how old school is that), but did not have any Strawberry Cake mix in the house and could not find any at the grocery stores.  No problem; a little cross border shopping fixed that and today we made:

Strawberry Chocolate Chip cookies!

They are delicious!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Worldwide Quilting Day

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today is Worldwide Quilting Day!

I had originally planned to take part in some of the quilt shop hop events in my area but when I awoke this morning to more snow, I decided to just stay closer to home and get some things done in preparation for the week ahead (too practical).

Went to Costco for groceries the to Fill Your Cup for hot chocolate and peppermint teas.

This evening along with some knitting and watching a movie with my son I made another two of the log cabin blocks I am currently working on:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Spring is Sprung????

Good Evening Internet Friends!

So apparently today marks the official start of spring I am told.  Hmmmm, I think the Alberta forecast was not informed of this.  This is my street this morning:

Honest, there was hardly any snow out there yesterday morning.  Thankfully my neighbor came by with the quad runner while I was at work and plowed it out for me so I did not have to! ☺

No birds out there today!

Today is Day 6 of the Tree Bird Blog Hop hosted by Lana at It Seams to be Sew.

The participants for today are:

Super Mom - No Cape

Freemotion By The River

Sew Incredibly Crazy

Tea Time Creations

Baa's Amazing Adventures

Selina Quilts

Ramblings of a Quilter

Busy Bee Quilts

Quilted Delights

Grandmamas Stories

Check out their awesome projects!

This evening I sewed together the first row of my latest Mystery Quilt that used up a lot of my "stash" bird fabrics:

 The entire row.

 Left side of the row.

Right side of the row.

Hello Kitty attacking the entire row!  Silly cat ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Knitting Along....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

This evening I did a bit of knitting and that is all for my crafting.  It has been a long work week and I cannot wait for the weekend!

Here is what I have so far of the Vancouver inspired socks for my husband:

Apparently these socks are quite the talk and envy in the oil field camps.  Who would have guessed.

Today is day 5 of the Tree Bird Blog Hop hosted by Lana from It Seams to be Sew

Here are the list of participants for today to check out some fabulous projects:

The Raspberry Rabbits

More Stars In Comanche

Sew Many Yarns

Super Mom - No Cape!

Stitchin By The Lake

Jane's Quilting

Quilting Through Rose Colored-Trifocals

Quiltscapes

This evening my son and I watched Songbird Documentary and learned that cats are a real threat to song birds.  Hmmmm, something to think about:

My son's cat during the documentary!!!!  (excuse the box of goodwill donations in front of the cabinet...)

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Hello Tree Bird Bloggers

Good Early Morning to all of you participating in the Tree Bird Blog Hop hosted by Lana from It Seams to be Sew.

I of course had great aspirations for my project today and was working on something, but as usual work and life got in the way.  On top of that I happened to be at one of my local quilt stores last week and find none other than the Beautiful Birds fabric.  Well, I could not leave that behind.

So, here is what I came up with quickly to show case this awesome fabric:

 I made four of these, but my dining room table is huge and I can't seem to get a decent picture of all four on the table!

Here is a close up of one place-mat.  I chose to quilt these in a simple diagonal pattern so as to look like the wire at the zoo! ☺

The ceramic birds were painted by my son and I a couple years back and I thought they looked appropriate on the table with the other birds!

Please check out the other participants in today's adventure at:

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Ridge Top Quilts

Stitching By The Beach

Seams To Be Sew

Living My Dream

With Work In Hand

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What's For Lunch?

Good Evening Internet Friends!

The age old question of what to make for lunch today????  By this time of year I am really getting bored of packing lunches and seem to have run out of ideas for fun lunches.  Today we had jam and homemade bread sandwiches!

On Sunday I baked four loaves of bread:

YUMMY!

This evening after school my son and I walked down to the closed Groat Road to see what we could see of the Groat Road Bridge situation.  We were not able to see much of anything except:

At least this one isn't bent! ☺

Today is Day Three of the Tree Bird Blog Hop hosted by Lana over at It Seams to be Sew

The participants for today are:

Tomorrow's Treasures Today

Childlike Facination

Pig Tales and Quilts

Quiltsmiles

Ella and Nesta's Little Room

Thimblemouse and Spouse

Gracie Oliver Arts

Check out their awesome creations!  I get to post mine tomorrow☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Monday.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It's Monday and almost over. Today was somehow a very loooooooong day.

Yesterday I decided to make bread.  After I made a batch and kneaded it I was not sure it was going to "live", so I decided to make a second batch.

Well, the first batch did "live" and so I made it into a cinnamon loaf which was the perfect way to make toast this cold morning:

Super yummy!

Today is the second day of the Tree Bird Blog Hop hosted by Lana of It Seams to be Sew at Sew We Quilt.

The list of participants for today are:

Sew Peace To Peace

Moose Stash Quilting

Buzzing and Bumbling

I Piece 2 Mary

Quilt Doodles

Just Let Me Quilt

Les Quilts

A Stitch In Time

Check out everyone's cool projects using the Beautiful Birds fabric collection!

Even I was able to get my hands on some of this fabric!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pancake Sunday

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Yes, it is late Sunday evening and I am finally posting.  Today was supposed to be a quiet day at home however my brother brought in a load from the oil patch and has to go right back.  I picked him up at the trucking yard and took him to run errands.

Thankfully, I started the day with a nutritious and delicious breakfast of Strawberry Banana Pancakes:

Lots of baking was done today to get ready for the busy week ahead, but right now I have to finish laundry!

Good Night....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Road Trippin'

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I woke up this morning to a bright sunshiny day and a temperature of  14 Celsius (57 Fahrenheit).  The snow was melting and the puddles were forming!

I decided that it was the perfect day to take a Road Trip out of the city.  Since the highways were clear and no forecast for snow or the likes I even decided to take the Focus.  The road was awesome and we saw lots of water running and big puddles. 

I decided on Road Trippin to Ponoka with the destination being Prairie Points Quilt Shop to pick up some things that I "needed".  Here is my haul for the day:

The Bird Fabric made me feel like spring, a kit for some cute place-mats and some fat quarters including one with curling graphics!

My son and I stopped for ice cream afterwards.  Heading home the sky had started to cloud over, but it was still pretty to see the countryside not completely covered in snow:

Stopped for petroleum upon returning to city and re-filled the car for a whopping $7.   Our ice-cream cost more!

It was a great day.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's Friday!

Good Evening Internet Friends!  I cannot believe it is finally Friday.

I have not had a lot of crafting time this week, however, I did make these:

I was the Charge RN last weekend of a very busy department. The snow had just started to melt outside so every second patient coming in had some sort of broken bone!

I was so proud of how the staff cooperated and worked together.  With two more nights to go I made these on Saturday morning when I got home and wrote a personal message to each inside thanking them for the great job they do. 

The effect was a very happy group of people that kept up the momentum for another two long grueling nights.   

Now, since it is Friday it is the official start of the Tree Bird Blog Hop hosted by Lana over at Sew We Quilt

Check out the participants projects for today at:

Friday, March 13

It Seams To Be Sew

Life in the Scrapatch

Amy Stitches

Lakeshore Stitches

Needled Mom

Quilt in a not - Shell

Suebee's World

I am currently still working on mine (no surprise there....), but will have it ready (fingers crossed for March 18th - my day).  ☺

On a fun note; this evening after dinner we all piled into the Go Go Go Toyota and headed off to the Lindt Midnight Madness sale.  The Easter Bunny did some shopping while we were there and of course I HAD to bring home this:

No, sadly it is not a Lindt truffle as big as a placemat, but it is filled with 44 of them! ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Ready?.....Set?.......

Good Evening Internet Friends! This evening my mom and sister stopped by for an unexpected visit which was the perfect time to gift my sister a scarf that I had knit with intent of giving to her: It's a moss seed stitch scarf using Thick & Quick Celebration Metallics yarn.   This yarn was great to work with,  worked up quickly, and the metallic thread in it gives a really nice shimmer in proper lighting.  ☺ Tomorrow is the start of the Tree bird Blog Hop hosted by Lana of  It Seams to be Sew and Sew We Quilt. The theme of the Blog Hop is based on Tracy Lizotte's Beautiful Birds fabric collection of which I was even fortunate enough to find some last week at Lori's Country Cottage.  Wow!   Did I ever have to get sewing to have something to showcase on my blog for next week! Here's the list of fellow bloggers who are participating in this event.  Please check out all their fabulous creations over the next week starting tomorrow with: Friday, March 13 It Seams To Be Sew Life in the Scrapatch Amy Stitches Lakeshore Stitches Needled Mom Quilt in a not - Shell Suebee's World

For some reason participating in this blog hop had me thinking about spring, and amazingly spring seemed to arrive this week!  Most of the snow along the fence has melted, there are puddles to jump in (my son and I do this every evening when we get home and don't have to worry about having muddy clothes for the day), and today the temperature reached 14 Celsius (57 Fahrenheit)!  It felt like spring, plus my allergies are acting up.... Hope this inspires your own creativity... Kathy