Happy Halloween

Good Very Late Evening Internet Friends!

I hope that everyone had a Happy Halloween.  

This year my son decided for Halloween that he wanted to be a Duct Tape Mummy.  His own idea.  I came up with the elaborate idea of reverse taping him in Duct Tape while wearing his largest clothes (so a coat could fit under if necessary) and then taping over to form the Mummy form.  After the body was completed Rubber Duckies were added.  It turned out quite well and was quite the marvel of the trick or treat posse tonight:

My son was going Trick or Treating with 5 friends of his from the private school he used to attend (I refer to them as the "Gang") and made treat bags for each of the boys so that their bags were not empty from the start.  I used last year's September 2014 Paper Pumpkin kit and made:

Finally, one could not go Trick or Treating with yet one more thing your mom had to make (he's only going to be little for so long....).  Earlier in the year I got a Happy Haunting fabric panel at Prairie Points Quilt Shop.  The instructions for this panel were terrible and the video of it did not help either as I thought the bag still looked poorly sewn.  "Sew"  I did my own thing and this is what I came up with:

It's not my finest work, but this was not an easy pattern to try and do something with.  My son loved it though, and had a blast filling it with his goodies.

Happy Halloween, 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Friday Crafting

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I had today off from work and what with finishing the Halloween costume after midnight last night I needed a day to myself.

Got my son off to school I went and ran a few errands.  After returning home, and having lunch I had a nap, did a bit of knitting and then went with the puppy to the bus stop to meet my son.

After dinner we watched some television, and I did a little more knitting, nothing momentous to feature here though for today.  Earlier in the week I made Oatmeal Cookies and since we were on our way out for a walk over to my friends house, I even made a gift bag to put them in:

For the gift bag I used some left over Stampin' Up paper, and gift tag kit that I had, and my brand new (because it has never been used) Gift Bag Punch Board ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Trick or Treat????

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Okay, here is my rant for the day/week/month... not sure how big this is going to get (plus I am a wee bit tired).

Tomorrow is my son's Halloween Party at school.  Firstly, this is the first time since he entered Junior Kindergarten at age three that the Halloween Party has been held during school hours (I am used to those hours being used for learning.......hmmmmm).

Secondly,  I get a memo from the teacher today letting me know that only one parent has been nice enough to offer to supply a "healthy" snack for the party.  

My son loves to bake and cook in the kitchen with mommy and as such we have supplied his classmates over the years with muffins, and bars, and cookies and all kinds of treats.  I did have to learn about the gelatin issue, but other than that his offerings were always appreciated by his classmates and teachers and gave him a sense of pride in his culinary skills.

Fast forward to this year where the teacher informed us that no food can be brought into the class that contains (are you ready for this????)

*nuts

*tree nuts

*wheat

*eggs

*gluten

*milk

*gelatin

*soy

Now, I am supposed to send a healthy snack with my child on the bus in the morning five hours before the party and what am I to send????  An apple and a celery stick for each child????

Seriously, Halloween, while not being a holiday but more of an occasion/event just got a whole lot harder to plan for.  

My intent was to supply nothing since I have no ideas what to send, but my son was quite upset that his classmates would not get something from his awesome kitchen.  So this is what I came up with:

It's popcorn, candy corn, Halloween sprinkles, and Bernard Callebaut chocolate (yes, it is milk chocolate).  The best  I can come up with for now.  Hopefully no one has to use their EpiPen cause of this ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Knitten' A Mitten...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

This morning while waiting for the school bus with my son I realized that fall has actually arrived here in Alberta.  The temperature was -5 Celsius (23 Fahrenheit) but felt like -8 Celsius (18 Fahrenheit).  Of course since I am getting old all of my bones felt like they were frozen to the core and it took me most of the morning (despite wool socks) to warm up!  ☺

This evening I decided to spend some time working on my Thrumb Mittens because I am going to NEED these very soon:

TAH DAH!!!!

Now off to make a warm cup of tea and do a little more knitting before bedtime.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What's For Dinner????

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Today of course was back to work for me.  As of this evening my Grammy remains "stable" in her unstable condition.  I did get a chance to talk to her for a bit, and it always makes me feel better to hear her voice and that she knows who is calling and she always tells me she loves me.  

Fortunately yesterday when I was on a roll of doing stuff around the house I made two Sweet Potato Shepard's Pies:

It sure was nice to have a hearty warm dinner when the temperature outside is cold and wet and a possibility of $#@* over night..........NOOOOOOOO.  Thankfully the Michelin X-ice were put on last week ☺

Now to do a bit of knitting before bed.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Life......

Good Evening Internet Friends.

I had a very productive day today.  Got lots of house cleaning done, laundry, bedding including quilts washed, cooking and baking done so ready for a great week.  I was thinking that this seemed a little over the top for just a Sunday but oh well.

One of the things I baked today was Cranberry Banana Muffins:

This afternoon we took puppy out for a walk:

Had plans on going to bed right after I tucked my son into bed, however, the hospital called to let me know that my Grammy is not doing well.  She has had two infections since she left hospital here in Alberta that they have not been able to resolve.  She has also been letting the staff know with conviction that she does not want to live anymore. : (

She is a "tough old bird", yet I know that she always said that if she ended up like her mother who also had a stroke in her 90's that she did not want to live like that.  I know I am being selfish but I still need my Grammy so I have given the permission to do everything at this time.  Now of course I cannot sleep because I know that 0200 hours is coming and as a Registered Nurse I know what that can mean : (

My Grammy comes from a very long line of very devout spiritual people and so I sit here right now listening to a couple of her favorite hymns:

Railway to Heaven
I'll Fly Away

It seems so fitting for her at this time, yet I do not want her to go yet.  

Good night....

Kathy

Crazy Cat Lady????

Good Evening Internet Friends!

On Saturday mornings my son skates with a bunch of his groupies at Millennium Place and after we stop for hot chocolate at Second Cup.  

It was a beautiful day and since we did not really have a whole lot planned other than a trip to Costco for Cat Food and Puppy Food I decided that since the weather was lovely that warranted a road trip!!!!

The reason behind the road trip idea was that a few weeks ago I ordered the flannel Scrappy Cat Quilt kit from Peaceful Patch Quilt Shop!  I just thought that this quilt kit was "sew" cute and so I had to have it.  In my world I consider myself one cat short of the crazy cat lady (I own 1 cat....).

Off we trekked and of course I left there with another awesome quilt kit (it's red and white ☺).  I will post pictures of my treasures later.  The drive was a perfect fall day in Central Alberta:

After dinner this evening I spent some time making another Churn Dash Block for the Churn Dash Challenge.  Meet Block 29: 

 I am to make a total of 42 of these blocks.

As for the recipient of the puppy food; this is the little monster this evening:

All snuggled up beside kiddo and ready for bed ☺  They both seem so happy ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

My EYES!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

This evening I decided that I would spend a bit of time in my craft room and actually do some stamping.  Since the Stampin' Up On Stage Event is coming up in the next three weeks and I will likely be attending I decided I should start to play with some of my stamps and possibly make some swaps for this event.

I did make 2 cards and was quite proud of myself using only Stampin' Up product, until I found my gold stars ☺.  I had to use them.  Here is what I came up with (caution your eyes though because there is silver ink and gold stars):

TAH DAH!!

Of course the camera flash makes it even brighter than it actually is ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Block 28

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Today is Thursday and that means music lessons!  I knit some on the pair of socks I showed you all yesterday while my son was doing his lessons. 

Afterwards we stopped at River City Yarns to get a new 30" pink plastic cable for my Denise needles as the puppy chewed it up the other day!!!!!  I had a coupon to use there as well so this seemed like a great time to get the needles.

After dinner, walk, bath and kiddo to bed I went to my craft room and assembled Block 28 of the Churn Dash Challenge:

I am not actually sure how many of these I am supposed to make...had to send a message tonight to find that out.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sock It Up!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I cannot believe it is already Wednesday!  What with all the chaos in my world right now the days just seem to pass so quickly.

Took my son to the St. Albert Library this evening for some new books.  While there I saw the knitting group that meets there every Wednesday evening and realized that I was not hauling my knitting with me!!!  In fact, I have been so busy since the start of school that most days at extracurricular activities (skating, swimming, violin, piano, horse riding and art) I seem to have forgotten my knitting.  Hence, none of my projects are progressing very quickly.

Upon getting home this evening and getting the puppy walked and kiddo to bed I did knit on a pair of socks that I started quite some while back:

This is sock #1!  

I am really going to have to make an effort to make sure that when I leave the house tomorrow morning that this is in my bag ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Canadian Eh???

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Today is the day we as Canadians got to vote in the Federal Election.  After my son got home from school we went to the polling station.  This has been a great lesson for him as he is learning about government this year in school! ☺

Earlier in the day my October 2015 shipment of Yarn Crush arrived:

One of the things that I am really loving about this subscription is that all three shipments that I have received have been from Indie Canadian dyers.  This month is no exception with Raventwist being the feature yarn.  So excited to get started on this months project...

After dinner we were off to swimming lessons, walk the puppy and then bedtime.

Since I had a bit of free time to myself I decided that I would cut up another piece of Mountain Lodge flannel that I am making into a rag quilt:

Now  I have 70 of these 6" squares ready and waiting to be added to the other prints! ☺ When I saw this fabric I felt that it would be perfect for the camper trailer as it looks so perfectly Canadian.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Awful Waffle Sunday ☺

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Everyday I feel a little better and talking daily with my Grandma and hearing her progress makes me feel better today.

Today I even felt bright enough about the world to get up early and make Cranberry Waffles (I still have lots of fresh cranberries left from the big bag I bought at Costco just before Thanksgiving):

YUMMY!

This afternoon the whole family went for a bike ride through the River Valley Trails:

My son's riding has improved as he is now able to get up some of the hills that earlier in the spring he could not! ☺

When we got home I baked one of the pumpkins from my garden and then made pumpkin pie:

I love the taste of homemade pumpkin pie!

After dinner it was dog walk time and then I got the bright idea that I should give the puppy a bath. OMG I think I need my head examined....

Here is puppy earlier in the day.  He literally grows overnight!

Now off to do a little knitting before bed.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

I Love Yarn Day!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It has been almost two weeks since my last blog post!  I don't think that I have ever gone that long with out a blog post!!!!  However, the past two weeks have thrown a lot of stuff at me that has kept me otherwise busy emotionally, physically and mentally.  I have been told that one does not get more than they can handle, but these past two weeks have been extremely hard on me.  I am fortunate (?) enough to have two very supportive managers who encouraged me to take some time off of work to just focus on myself and return to work when I am ready to be me again.  I am planning to return on Tuesday.

The final straw for me was finding out late last week that my Grandmother had a stroke 22 days prior and my mom had not informed anyone of this.  I got the responsibility of calling my brother with this news.  A few phone calls to the Charge RN on the Stroke Unit had my Grandmother on a Medevac back to Saskatchewan and her home town and the hospital in which she spent most of her nursing career.  I loaded my son, and two dogs in the car and embarked on an 8 hour road trip (remember one of the dogs is a 9 week old puppy...).  My brother left at the same time although he was faced with a 14 hour journey.

As of today I can let you know that her speech is improving, she can answer the phone and almost speak clearly.  She has regained movement of her pinky and ring fingers of her left hand, and can feel her left ear and side of face, can smile almost symmetrically, and she is started to feel her left foot!!  ☺

Today happens to be I Love Yarn Day and for the first time in nearly two weeks I felt like I wanted to be creative again!  ☺  Not everything in my world is better, far from it, but if my Grandma is there for me I can deal with it.  This afternoon I picked up my Oroya Shawl which is from my August subscription to Yarn Crush and knit a few rows.  Here is my progress:

And lastly, just because I quite proudly tell people about my home town, I did manage to still find a sign for it, although I had to look:

I love the look on people's faces when I tell them this slogan as most people have no idea what Rape stands for.  Word on the street though is that the town is thinking of changing this slogan.....(sad face).

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

And the weekend is ....... Over

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Not sure where this weekend went, but it is gone.

Yesterday my son went to the Kids Building Workshop and the Home Depot:

Then it was off to skating.

After skating we decided to have lunch at Sky High Burgers.  It was alright, but probably not to be a repeat any time soon for us.

We spent the rest of the afternoon doing nothing really around the house, I did take a nap though.

After dinner we took Maverick for a walk over to my friend Sharon's house and of course Maverick got lots of hugs and kisses from both her and her husband and a bone to take home ☺

Today I was super busy.  Laundry is all caught up and I made:

Strawberry Jam from the bazillion green tomatoes I have lurking under the spare bed still.

We also made Chocolate Crinkle Cookies this afternoon:

After dinner we took Maverick for another long walk and now we have a very sleepy puppy.  Hopefully he will sleep through the night again!  ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Night 2 of Puppy....

Good Late Evening Internet Friends.

Well we are into our second night of a puppy in the house!  We survived last night with only one wake up call at 0320 for water and a trip outside to pee.

Today we practiced spending time in the kennel.  My friend Sharon who helps out with rescue dogs borrowed us one of her kennels.  It is big enough that my son can crawl into it and think it's a great hideout.  When I put puppy in today it looked so big and lonely that I popped in the Shih Tzu with him.  The Shih Tzu did not think this was fun, especially when puppy would while.  Eventually the Shih Tzu could not deal with it any more and would bark at puppy and then puppy would lay down and look sad like he got scolded for a while.  We will practice a little tomorrow and Sunday as Monday I go back to work.

I had lunch with my dear friend Brandy today at you guessed it; Duchess Bake Shop.  Fantastic food and visit as usual.

After my son and puppy went to bed I went down to my craft room that I have not been in now for a while.  I decided I would take out my August Paper Pumpkin kit.  

Here is what I made:

Three cute little Birthday Cards!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What was I thinking.....

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

I just realized that it has indeed been a very long time since I blog posted.

Last Friday I worked a double shift and then somehow managed to lose my crafting mojo over the weekend.  We did go out to the farm Sunday and dug out the potatoes, and beets, picked the corn, squash and tomatoes.  OMG the tomatoes.....I have about a bazillion too many tomatoes.  Today I was supposed to work on those but instead I decided to take on an at least 4 year project:

Meet Maverick, a Black Lab/German Shepherd cross 8 week old puppy!

Who could resist this face????

Since my son has turned 11 years old, and he is riding the bus and going to a big school now and doing all kinds of "Big Boy" things he decided that he should have a real puppy.  I sort of had to agree with him as he can officially run much faster than the Shih Tzu that we got him at 4 years old, and the Shih Tzu cannot go biking with us (unless I put him in a basket).

This evening we went for a walk and my son and Maverick had so much fun pouncing in the leaves ☺

After they went to sleep, I spent a wee bit of time in my craft room.  I made Blocks 26 & 27 in my Churn Dash Challenge (keep in mind this week is week 38):

TAH DAH!

"Sew" proud of myself as I am still using scraps to make these blocks ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy