Day Four.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today is Day 4 of my crazy 11 day work week!  Now, I know this sounds ridiculous, and although I feel quite overwhelmed by the thought that I still have 7 days to go (and three are evening shifts) I did agree to this craziness due to a little thing called OVERTIME ☺

After dinner I had a nap and then I spent some time in my craft room doing some quilting.  Lately I have been doing a lot of de-cluttering of my craft room.  I got rid of a bunch of scrap book supplies that I no longer needed or wanted in Operation Stamp Find a New Home.  I also cleaned out some of my fabric stash in the Fabric Relocation Project.  These  tasks not only physically cleaned out space, but also gave me the freedom to feel comfortable with my decision to withdraw membership from one of the Quilting Groups I belong to.  I struggled with being part of this group as the patterns always frustrated me with their mistakes, not knowing what the quilts would like, and I always ended up being stressed about these quilts and never was really proud of how they turned out with the exception of the one I made for Brandy's wedding.  That one turned out because I only used 4 fabrics.  ☺

As you know I went to visit my neighbor (who I met through this group - one good thing) and found out that she had been bullied by members of this group over her quilting (seriously) {plus I've seen it - there is nothing wrong with it}.  Since I am always the champion of the needy my decision was finalized.  Tonight I printed out the patterns from my membership and have closed this chapter.  By doing so I am now free to quilt on my own schedule, what I want and what makes me happy. ♫

That was the case tonight.  I am making blocks with my default pattern; Hopscotch.  I love this pattern because it makes wonderful use of Fat Quarters, makes up quickly with wonderful results, hardly any waste of fabric and the bonus part is the authors are from Saskatchewan.  This evening I made 18 of these blocks:

It was fun to just cut fabric and sew with no deadline to keep up to.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sockin' Along

Good Evening Internet Friends!

"Sew" as you know I finished Brandy's quilt in the F-350 en route to the wedding.  By the time I finished the binding it was dark out so I could not do any more crafting anyways.

I had not packed any additional crafting so was a little worried because although I have my sewing/quilting nook (it's one of the 5th wheel slide outs) I had nothing to do on the road home.  : (

Thankfully, the trailer is full of treasures, such as this wonderful ball of sock yarn.  It was wound even!  I have no idea where and or when I got it, but the colors are pretty and so Saturday evening I cast on.

Monday on the road home I finished:

TAH DAH!

Am currently working on Sock # 2 while I bake sugar cookies this evening.

I am baking cookies to take to my new friend (I met her through one of the online quilting groups I belong to).  The best part is she lives like 7 blocks from my house!!!

I have invited myself over tomorrow on my way home from work, so I decided to bring cookies.  I think I will package them up all kind of pretty and I shall show y'all that on Friday ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

And We're Back....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Well, this has been a whirlwind of a weekend for certain.  

Saturday was spent bike riding, hiking and swimming in Waskesiu and of course a stop at the ice cream shop for a deliberation over which ice cream to get before heading back to the trailer for dinner and campfire.

By the time dinner was over a massive Saskatchewan storm rolled in; the kind with the black clouds, the wind stops and the air gets heavy and then the rain comes down hard enough to remove paint and hail is the size of tennis balls!  That kind of storm.  For just about two hours it rained super hard, so we spent the evening in the trailer thankful not to be in a tent ☺

Sunday the weather was back to normal so we spent the day at the beach, swimming, laying in the sand and doing some more biking on the trails.

Monday we were up with the crack of dawn to return home.  After a very long drive and lots of mud on the farm (we did not get stuck) we arrived home in time for bed as today was back to work and Summer Camps.

I have done lots of knitting over the past few days, but this evening I spent a bit of time in my sewing room and completed one of my Row by Row blocks.  I picked this one up at Johnson's Sewing Centre.  I have never done a curved pieced block, but I loved this one and found it super easy to do; might just have another new favorite hobby:

I showed it to hubby and asked what he thought of when he saw it and he replied with "waves"! 

Now off to get some laundry done, and lunches prepped for tomorrow.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Long Gone to Saskatchewan

Good Morning Internet Friends.

Thursday morning bright and early we embarked on our road trip to Elk Ridge for my friends wedding.  

When we got to the farm to pick up the trailer we found found mud and lots of it!!!!!  Several hours later we were on the road thanks to low 4x4.   As we were leaving the farm it started to rain again, and heavy and did so for the next 8 hours straight!!!

We finally pulled into Prince Albert at 0228 hours.  We parked the trailer at the W@/#@^! and called it a night.

Friday morning we were up bright and early to get to the campground, drop off the 5th wheel and get dressed for the wedding.  Upon arrival we found the access roads blocked by fallen trees from the storm so poor hubby had to get the axe out to clear a path for the truck!

The wedding was beautiful and I am so happy that we made the effort to come!

Of course if you follow my blog you will know I was making a quilt for the wedding gift.  Here is the quilt all finished and sunning itself:

The card I made in the 5th wheel while we were getting ready:

This morning my son and I biked through the park for 25 km.

Hope this inspires your own creativity. ...

Kathy

Random Vacation

Good Evening Internet Friends.

I took this week off since tomorrow morning we are leaving for my friend's wedding.  My son has been calling it "Random Vacation" because we are just doing "Random" things.

Today included getting packed and getting groceries.  It also included some more clean up in the craft room and de-stashing some more fabric.  Thanks to all the people who have "Adopted" this fabric and given it new homes.

It has also been about finishing up projects started and never quite finished.  That includes these:

Tomorrow en route (after I get the quilt binding on) I will tie up all the loose ends on these and have a great pair of hiking socks!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Best Day Ever Tuesday!

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Today my son and I attended K-Days.  This is annual summer fair in the city of Edmonton.  This is the second year I believe of which the fair has gone back to it's original name, but for children like my son who only ever knew it as Capital Ex the name change is confusing for him, as it was for most of us when they changed it in the first place.

Through work I was able to purchase advance all day ride passes as my son loves the rides.  This is the first year of course that hubby has been away and not able to take him which meant I who HATE rides got to go with him.  I managed to do 5 rides including the Ferris Wheel:

Earlier today before my son got up I went down to my newly cleaned (almost) craft room and worked on my Row by Row block from Johnson's Sewing Center:

It was "sew" fun to sew this and the blocks all worked out wonderfully.  It was very peaceful to work on and it really did seem like water.

Now off to finish the binding on the quilt for the wedding on Friday ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

The Strawberry Theme Persists....

Good Evening Internet Friends.

I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Sunday.  

After breakfast my son and I packed a picnic lunch and headed out to the River Valley Trails.  I do have to say the trail system here is very well developed and used.  Our total trip was 32 kilometers up some pretty impressive grades.  We did not successfully pedal up all of the grades, but we did what we could and for an 11 year old and an asthmatic I think that's pretty good! ☺

After returning home we spent the afternoon on the deck eating ice cream in lawn chairs.  

Poached fish for dinner and then this evening I made 8 jars of Strawberry Marmalade.  Here are the first ones:

I really want to start eating these....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's Strawberry Time!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today is the official start of another of my vacation breaks this summer.  Thanks to being a Registered Nurse for a few days short of 20 years, one has lots of vacation.  This summer I am taking 5 weeks in total off over summer ☺

I am still working at purging my craft room and Phase 2 of the Fabric Relocation Project was initiated this morning.

After a morning of more sorting and deciding more ad posts were made and parcels migrated on to new homes.  YAY.

One of the fabrics that I found, I was not ready to part with yet, and so after some more thorough digging in my stash to find something to coordinate with it I made:

A Farmer's Market/Grocery Tote.

I used the Wilmington Prints tote bag pattern that of late has become my default tote pattern.  I did choose after the tote was all sewn together to reinforce the handles a little more since it will be used for groceries and so there are handle seams inside the bag, but....oh well.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's Finally Friday!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I just realized as I am getting ready to post my Friday Share for Karina's Krafting Crew that somehow I have not blogged all week!!  

Not sure how exactly that happened, I have done some knitting and a bit of quilting and sewing, but come to think of it nothing significant!

Thankfully the forecast is for more rain this weekend so my plan is that tomorrow will be Pajama Day!

Since it is Friday and I do not feel especially creative tonight I decided that I would make a couple of quick Birthday Cards that I could take to work and leave in my desk for such occasions.

Here is what I made:

TAH DAH!!!!

Pretty quick and easy, but kinda pretty (okay, I just like the glitter paper).

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What's For Breakfast???

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I awoke this morning feeling quite exhausted.  There is a slight possibility that I may have over done it yesterday.  Yes, the breathing is better and even though the Air Quality Rating is still sitting around a 9 and my coughing has decreased I just felt tired.

Plus, I started on my Fabric Relocation/Migration, basically de-stash of my fabric closets last night.  As of this evening several pieces have been relocated to new and hopefully loving appreciative families! ☺

Anyways, breakfast seemed like a really big task this morning and of course with 2 pails of strawberries sitting in the refrigerator it was a no-brainer that breakfast had to include these.

A quick search on the computer and this is what I found:

Strawberry-Swirl Cheesecake Smoothie!

They were delicious, and quite quick and easy!

This afternoon my son and I went to see the Minions.  We both had such high expectations for this movie.  I just LOVE the Despicable Me movies, but sadly, this one I did not find as good.  I am glad I went to see it, but now I understand the ratings for it.

This evening of course was get ready for back to work tomorrow and of course look at the time!

Good Night and 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Strawberries a la Prednisone!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I awoke this morning after a good three hour sleep last night in which I did not cough!  YAY.

There was and still is an Air Quality Advisory here in Edmonton but since I was feeling so much better than I have been in a week I decided that my son and I would road trip south today.  There were actually three reasons for this:  the smoke is not as bad as you travel south, there is an AMAZING strawberry farm south of here, and lastly and tied with second for most important; I wanted to pick up some of my fabric stash for me at Prairie Points Quilt Shop.  In other words it was going to be a Mental Health Day for me (I never get tired of that bad joke...).

I am not sure that the air south of here was that much better, but I do know that the Prednisone was working because my coughing was minimal and I was actually able to talk in full sentences without having to struggle for air.

A canola field near Wetaskiwin, the sky is more grey at home.

Second reason for the road trip was the Steven's Strawberry Farm.  OMG these are the best strawberries since the ones my grandparents used to take meticulous care of.  In just under an hour with minimal help and numerous distractions from an 11 year old boy I had:

Two amazing pails of strawberries!

My son had a blast petting the cows, and there was lots of old farm machinery that he got to look at and I explained to him how it worked.  He could not get over the fact that the farmer would have to check the seed drill every so often to see if he had run out of seed as there was no on board monitoring system for this.

Then we headed off to Ponoka.  We stopped for a Minion Dinner with the intent of getting the movie pass to go see the movie, however it is for a promo coupon for something and I can't get to see the movie until later next week | : {

Last reason for the road trip; the quilt store.  I had ordered a few things from Lynn at Prairie Points Quilt Shop and of course while there I found some Fat Quarters that were stray that needed a new home and some backing and some buttons.......

Ironically, at this moment I am supposed to be de-stashing my craft room.  Not going "sew" well, but these were all "sew" fabulous I had to bring them home.

Now maybe I should go make something as tomorrow will be spent with my strawberries and getting ready for returning to work for one week,

Hope this inspires your own road trip and creativity...

Kathy

Thanks Jane!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

As you may know I am not the biggest technology guru or fan in the world.  I am often heard stating "Give me a pencil, and let's get this done".

Earlier today I finally decided to take myself to the doctor to get medical attention for the all day cough I have been experiencing for the last week.

A new puffer and some high doses of steroids had me sitting on the couch this evening.  Hello Kitty was happy probably because my coughing has been keeping him up:

Of late I have kind of lost my mojo to do any quilting or sewing.  While sitting on the couch though this evening I was able to do some instant messaging with my blog friend Jane.  It was awesome and very therapeutic.  "Sew" while I may mock technology after our "chat" I went down to my craft room and finished a project that has been sitting on my desk for about 2 months:

It's a grocery tote panel that I picked up at Sew Divine about 6 months ago!!!

If the smoke clears (literally, Western Canada is still on fire) I will take it to the Farmer's Market tomorrow.  

Then because I was on a roll I opened last month's package of Paper Pumpkin and made:

I think I will take these to work with me on Monday and keep in my desk for random Birthday's that come up.   I am sure that a few of my patients have never had a Birthday card and would appreciate a card.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Wakey Wakey Chocolate Cake!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Well, I woke up this morning with a low blood sugar which required a juice box ASAP.  While I waited to get out of bed I thought about the fact that today was starting out similar to this exact same day 11 years ago (except that EMS did not have to respond today).

Eleven years ago today I was almost 34 weeks pregnant with my son.  During my pregnancy I developed the inability to recognize hypoglycemic episodes and also became a very "brittle"( for lack of a better word) diabetic.  I would take 1 unit of Humalog with a meal and 2 hours later find myself waking up in the Emergency with several intravenous lines hooked up to me.  Eleven years ago today my grandmother called me in the morning as she usually did to check on me and when I did not answer the phone she called EMS for me (my grandmother lives 8 hours away).  After being "revived" I spent most of the morning on the couch and eventually got ready to attend my weekly perinatal appointment at the High Risk Pregnancy clinic.

It was a very hot day, kind of like today except that there were ominous black clouds in the sky.  I left my black lab at home watching some nature show on television (she liked that) and went to my appointment.  It was a Friday and everything and everyone seemed slow.  I almost left the appointment because it was just about 1600 hours and I wanted to go home and put my feet up as the clinic chairs were most uncomfortable.  

I was seen before I could leave and as the perinatologist read my emergency report of that morning he decided that an emergency C-section needed to be done for my and baby's sake.  My husband was out of town in a remote work camp.  Thankfully, my NICU friend and neighbor was off that day and she came to the hospital to get my stuff, went home to let the dog out and returned to the hospital to be with me for what ever support I needed.  

Since I was going to be alone for this C-section it was decided that I would get an epidural so that I could be conscious for baby's arrival.  However, the years of being an RN had apparently played havoc with my back and the anesthesiologist with his student entourage watching was unable to advance the catheter.  I was given general anesthetic  which several years later my NICU friend told me of all the awful things I said and did to the nurses that day, some funny, others not so much ☺ 

I remember waking up in ICU with several IV's hooked up and the pediatrician that was covering for the pediatrician I had chosen for my son telling me and the team around me that my son would be discharged as soon as I was ready to go because she knew me from PICU and that I knew what to do with a premature baby!!!!!   

What????!!!!

How does one deal with a 34 week babe at home without a ton of very expensive medical devices and round the clock staffing?  

Well,  11 years later we have proof that it can be done.  It was a LOT of work, but worth it ☺

If you read my blog you will know that my son is a fan of Phineas and Ferb and recently on an episode the robot was waking up a character with "Wakey, Wakey, Chocolate Cakey".

My son thought that was a brilliant idea for his birthday and so last night I made Chocolate Zucchini cake for him for breakfast:

I added whole wheat flour and some flax seed to it, so along with the zucchini in it and a glass of milk I am going to say it was a "balanced" breakfast for today!

This evening we went to Taste of Ukraine, his favorite restaurant for dinner.  

As far as crafting, I have accomplished none of that today.

Happy Birthday "Bug".

Kathy

Where has this week GONE????

Good Very Late Evening Internet Friends!

Seriously, not sure where this week has gone other than that my day starts before 0900 hours as my son is in a skateboarding camp this week:

Then it's run a couple of errands, pick him up, take him home for lunch and pack up for swimming.  Whew,,,,

Bike riding in the evening after dinner and reading of course since my son is participating in the St. Albert Public Library Summer Reading Program.  Afterwards it's time to pack up gear and snacks for the next day! ☺

This evening I did sit down at my sewing machine while laundry was being done and made another 2 Log Cabin Blocks for my Raise the Roof quilt:

Now off for a little shut eye before the BIG DAY tomorrow.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

And the weekend is over.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

The weekend is over and we are back at home.  Kiddo has skateboard and swimming lessons this week.  Hubby heads back to work this week and I next week.  Seems like summer is just TOOOOOOOO short.

This weekend I spent most of my time at the farm getting my garden cleaned out.  I had not tended to it in a month (okay, 27 days).  The weeds were quite heavy, but seems like they held up the plants! ☺

Today we even put up a lattice for the peas, and now as long as I tend to it maybe a little more carefully, it will all turn out okay:

Yesterday evening I cut up my Pam Kitty Garden fat quarter bundle that I had picked up at Sew Divine last week:

Today I sewed all the strips together and the plan is to assemble the blocks next weekend out at the farm because of course the garden will not take me as long ☺  ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Knitting in the 5th Wheel in the Thunder....

Good Evening Internet Friends!!!!

This afternoon we packed up and headed out to the farm.  On the way of course I knit!!  Last Sunday while my son was at a birthday party I started to knit a pair of socks for him.  This is my first trial with children's socks:

Tah Dah!!

Since I had not been to the farm in almost a month I had basically written my garden off as with no watering or weeding, I assumed it was a loss.

Well, I am quite happy to say it has somehow survived and not only that;  here is what we had for dinner tonight:

Right now there is a beautiful thunder storm going on outside so I am watching it from inside the 5th wheel and knitting sock 2!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day Everyone!

I LOVE Canada Day!  It's one of my favorite celebrations.  This is the first year in a long time that we have been at home for Canada Day, but we still had fun.

We had flax seed, blueberry pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast:

Then I gave my son his bag of Canada Day Fun:

Used a store bought brown bag and decorated it with some paper dies from Stampin' Up.  The bag is filled with fun things like a jump rope, a Jumbo Glow Stick, chocolate, assorted candy and a jar of bubbles!

Then we made and decorated Canada Day Cupcakes:

After lunch we biked 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) through the river valley:

Then we went out for dinner, and to a movie, before watching the Sherwood Park Fireworks!

Happy Canada Day everyone!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy