Happy Easter

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter and ate way toooo much!

Yesterday kiddo and I had an awesome day travelling Alberta!  We stopped at a couple of quilt shops and picked up a few treasures including some awesome plush minky for a couple of my quilts.

We had lunch at Perkins because I wanted coconut cream pie!  It was fabulous as usual!

This afternoon I started Easter Dinner and took a nap while the turkey roasted.

After dinner I did a bit of knitting and finished my September 2015 box from Yarn Crush:

I think I just might make another pair of these toe up socks.  Never thought I would say that, but I LOVED this pattern and how once I finally got it how quickly these came together.  ☺

Now, since I am still tired from my 21 hour day I am going to hop off to bed!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

A Good Friday

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was literally A Good Friday.

After breakfast kiddo and I made doggie biscuits.  I used the recipe from my new cookbook Butter Celebrates.  I LOVE these books as you may already know.  Here are the doggie biscuits that we made today, 66 in all:

Both dogs seemed to enjoy them ☺

Then I set my son up to paint Easter Eggs.  On one of our cross border shopping trips I stumbled upon these craft eggs that can be used to decorate for Easter.  I was so excited because I hate wasting eggs and I refuse to eat colored eggs.   

  

Here are kid and Hello Kitty supervising this process I guess...

 They had fun!

After lunch we headed out to the River Valley to take the Lab puppy for a walk.  Once across the bridge and down by the river we discovered pussy willow!!!  I was excited to see, but then realized I had left my puffers at home!!!  Fingers crossed I would make back.  

We continued on.  Hubby with puppy as puppy is FAR too strong for kiddo to walk, sometimes on the way.  Puppy almost outweighs me at this time.  I am fortunate however that I walk him so frequently that although he is kiddo's dog he does not pull too much and I can still keep him under control.  With hubby being away at work so much he does not walk puppy that often and there were times today where puppy was definitely in control:

 Here he was behaving himself! ☺  For a bit ; )

This morning hubby reminded me that today would have been his mom's 83 birthday.  He has been struggling with the loss of her the past 9 months, so I decided we should celebrate her birthday for her.  I made a chocolate cake (her favorite) and in honor of her I decorated a cake the way she would have; with icing and sprinkles (although I did have home made buttercream icing in the basement refrigerator - she would have used a can)!

Happy Birthday Winnie.  Your cake was delicious.  Catch you on the flip side.  Hugs.

Tomorrow my friend Sharon and I are off at the crack of dawn on a quilting expedition quite unlike any other!  Off to bed now.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh Where Oh Where has my Week Gone???

Good Evening Internet Friends!!!

So, seriously, I have NO idea where my week went.

Sunday...spent 2 hours cleaning the house again.  Have decided that if I clean one room entirely every Sunday eventually I will be caught up and just have to do maintenance house keeping.

Then kiddo and I made:

Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I used the entire bag of Callebaut Milk Chocolate Chips that I had purchased at Duchess on Friday.  These cookies were DELICIOUS!

We took dog for a walk in the River Valley:

Since it was a little on the cold side down by the river and kiddo had been complaining of not feeling well I made Chicken, Lentil, Sauerkraut soup for dinner:

What's that you may ask????  Well, its almost everything I could find in the refrigerator; water in the Dutch Oven, frozen turkey broth from the freezer (the Christmas turkey broth that I saved - when frozen the fat rises to the top and is really easy to separate off when ready to use), onion, celery, and carrot that were the last of their kind in the crisper (should go get groceries), 2 handfuls of dried lentils, 1/2 quart jar of sauerkraut, 2 frozen tomatoes defrosted and pureed, and chicken sausage.  When cooked through I topped the soup with the last of the multi grain taco chips I had a bag on the cupboard and some grated sharp cheddar!  Yummy and warm and hopefully will keep the cold virus away.

Monday was you may have guessed it - Stay Home with Sick Kid Day.  Woke up twice at night to kiddo vomiting.  By noon he was no longer vomiting but he wanted to sleep on my lap so that is how I spent the afternoon.  I love that he still wants to sleep on mommy when he is sick!

Tuesday was back to school and work.  Maverick the puppy chewed through his pillow for the absolute last time.  There was nothing left to sew together to try and hold it together anymore, "sew" I sewed him a new one and filled it with left over fabric remnants:

It's a HUGE pillow.  Here's hoping he leaves this one alone for a while

Wednesday evening, was a bit of knitting, I did 2 rows on my Oroya Shawl so not enough progress to show yet.  I am currently 41 rows from being done but the pattern in so intricate that to keep from making mistakes I only do the pattern row and then the purl row and give up for the day ☺

This evening after work I headed out and ran a few errands including groceries at Costco so that I do not have to shop this weekend and am ready for Easter Dinner with the family!

Planning to head down to my craft room now for a bit before sleep creeps in and see what I can get into!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's Worldwide Quilt Day

Good Very Late Evening Internet Friends.

"Sew" today is Worldwide Quilting Day and although I was busy with the Boy Scouts Vehicle Rally today I did manage to get a bit of quilting in this evening!

Here is what I decided that I would work on:

These are all my Churn Dash Blocks from the Churn Dash Challenge.

After taking this picture I rearranged a few of the blocks to balance the colors.  I love this quilt because it was simple to make with great results and it is ALL left over pieces of fabric from other projects!  I love when I get to use up all of a piece of fabric.

I hope to be able to get all the blocks at least sewn into rows this evening and then hopefully put the borders on tomorrow.

Hope you had a wonderful day of quilting, and 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy 

Dietitian's Day Card

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Earlier this week in case you missed it (probably most people did), was Dietitian's Day! 

I posted about the potluck at work earlier this week, but in honor of this day I made the Dietitian that I work with a card to celebrate because I don't think even Hallmark has a card for this day ☺

This is a very retired stamp set from Stampin' Up.  Somehow all of the product used on this card is Stampin' Up!  

Cleaned my craft room a bit this evening, so I might actually be able to do some quilting tomorrow for Worldwide Quilting Day after the Boy Scout Truck Rally!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

The Weekend Is Here!!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

The weekend is finally here for me!  YAY.  I do love my job and feel that I am fortunate to be one of those people who genuinely loves my job but along with doing all the other things I LOVE to do as well, it can make for a very chaotic life at times.  Hence, why I do not work full time ☺

After school there was piano lessons to go to.  Then because we were on the west end of the city close to Spruce Grove home of Woodland Quilting that just happens to be having a 20% off sale this weekend and happens to be the only place I have seen the Flower Patch Flannel Quilt Kit we headed out there.  I did get the last kit and am super excited to start it......along with the other too many projects I have ☺

After kiddo went to bed I went down to my craft room.  With all the stuff going on in my world right now that room is a disaster and sometimes the back pain is bad I can barely get downstairs.  It took me close to an hour just to clean stuff off of my sewing desk and put away properly.  By no means is the room clean, but at least I could work on one of my latest undertakings:

Meet Block # 1 of the Star Block Challenge being hosted by A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop.  As usual I am very far behind (it is actually week 10 at present), and no I have not got my last years Churn Dash Challenge Quilt done, but I thought no time like the present to continue using up those scraps of fabric on my desk that I refuse to throw out!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Bean Day!

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Today is Dietitians of Canada Day and as such the Registered Dietitian that I work with decided that we needed to celebrate with a potluck and the theme would reference the 2016 International Year of the Pulses.  Everything had to Pulse or as she put it "Bean" related.

My RN colleague Judy brought "Bean Surprise"; Jelly Beans in a casserole dish.  I thought it was hilarious!!!

For me growing up in Saskatchewan we grow and eat a LOT of Lentils.

For the Potluck today I took Baked Lentils:

Yummy as always.

Baked Lentils
2 cups dried lentils
5 cups water
- boil for about 30 minutes until soft but not mushy

- drain the water from the lentils and add:
1/2 cup molasses
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup ketchup

Pour into casserole dish and back at 350F for 60 minutes.

I also took Lentil Brownies:

These were FABULOUS!

Lentil Brownie
1/2 cup non hydrogenated margarine
1/2 cup chocolate

- melt together over a double boiler stirring constantly until smooth then set aside

In a blender or food processor add:
3/4 cup cooked lentils
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

- blend until smooth then add:

1/3 cup oatmeal
1/4 cup cocoa (I use Bernard Callebaut)

- blend until smooth again

- fold in:
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Pour into a greased 8 x 8 cake pan and bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

I made the Baked Lentils and put in the oven and then made the brownies and placed to bake at the same time so that both dishes were ready at the same time ☺

Both were a hit at the potluck!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Center Block 4!!!

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

I have officially made it to the half way point of the Kathy work week.  All down hill from here ☺

This evening has been a chaotic whirl wind.  First off through a series of what some might find comedic errors my son missed his school bus.  Great.  Thankfully I work close to his school and my managers are really understanding.  I drove to the school as fast as I could loaded him up in the car and went back to work.  One of my physician colleagues agreed to see one of the patient's in my absence.  I don't think my son was too impressed with having to sit in the waiting room as there was someone there vomiting.  Might re-enforce the importance of catching the bus???

Getting home there was homework to do as he could not spread out in the waiting room to do this, walk the dog, feed and water the dog, eat dinner, and depart for skating.

Made it in time for skating! While I was waiting for him at skating I sorted through lentils from the farm removing seeds, and such in order to cook them when I got home.  The Dietitian at work decided last week that we should have a Pulse Potluck to celebrate Dietitians Day tomorrow!  (Seriously).

After getting the lentils and the brownie into the oven I went to my craft room and worked on Center Block 4 of my Churn Dash Challenge Quilt:

TAH DAH!

Now off to check on the baked lentils and the brownie and maybe even get to bed before midnight!!!!  ROFL.  Who am I kidding???

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pie Day!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Happy Pie Day everyone.  I hope you all got to enjoy a pie or two of pie today!

In honor of pie day I made pie to take to take to work.  My son's school was doing a pie fundraiser so he got to have pie at school.

I made 2 pies yesterday; apple and strawberry.  My son and I made both of the fillings!

Here are our pies:

For the crust I used the Butter Pastry recipe from my Butter Baked Goods cook book.  The pastry is DELICIOUS!  OMG.  Seriously.  I did also purchase their newest cook book a few weeks back but have not had time to make anything from it.  Maybe this weekend???

Wishing you the best Pie Day Ever, and 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Spring Forward Weekend

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Yesterday was a crazy busy day but a really good one!

After getting up early we were off to swimming lessons.  Last one of the semester!

On the way home we stopped for lunch at McDonald's with the coupon book.

Back to the house to get the marshmallows ready for my son's play date.  All the children were bringing a treat and he decided that he should bring marshmallows.

Marshmallows setting in the pan.

Marshmallows getting icing sugar dusted on.

Bag of marshmallows packaged up for my friend Sharon! ☺  (She LOVED them).

Then we picked up my friend Sharon and headed off to Woodland Quilting to sign up for the Tuffet Class that is being offered.

Getting back to the house I finished packing up the marshmallows for the play date.

Dropping kiddo off it was then time to pick up a few groceries at Costco and gasoline for the car as well since Costco now has Top Tier gasoline and it is still almost 20 cents a litre cheaper than the other gasoline stations.  ☺

After picking up kiddo we came home and had a very relaxing evening.  Today was spring the clocks forward so technically we slept in.

Sharon came over to make green marshmallows for her colleagues for later this week.

After dinner we took the dog for a walk and now it is time to relax with my knitting and get ready for work tomorrow.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Marching Along

Good Evening Internet Friends.

 This week has only been saved thanks to a co -worker and her stash of Robax Heat Wraps.  After physio the other day I thought I was going to have to roll home.  Seriously, it hurt that BAD. 

 However, the heated lumbar support in the Focus on the way home seemed to help.  I mentioned this as I hunched in to work yesterday morning and she offered me one of these from her stash.  I managed to get through the day.  Yes, I walked a little less than usual, and people did help me out some, but I got through the day and on top of that got kiddo to piano, the library and got both the Focus and the GO GO GO Toyota filled up before the fuel price jump.  Hence why we are driving the Focus again! 

This evening I limped to the cinema with kiddo and we watched Zootopia.  I loved it! 

So, it's Friday already and time for Friday share with the Krafting Crew and I have nothing to show!  Except for the March calendar that I made from my December Paper Pumpkin kit:

TAH DAH!  This is seriously about as creative as I can get this evening.  The heating pad has about worn out and after the movie I spent time in the kitchen making marshmallows for my son's play date tomorrow afternoon as that is what he volunteered to bring!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sock It Up...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

When I fell a few weeks back I hurt myself quite badly.  I did not break or fracture any bones but did twist several muscles and tendons in my lower back.  Unfortunately, this area has known trauma previously.  I have been going to physio for the past few weeks, but at times the back spasms  are unbearable (I used to get albeit painful spasms but not as painful as the ones right now).  I have spent most of today curled up with my heating pad in a half sitting/laying position.  Since I cannot quilt I have been knitting all the while telling myself I can Sock It Up (the pain). ☺

I have finally been successful in finishing one sock from my September subscription of Yarn Crush!

These socks have taunted me for quite a while.  I had to restart and take apart several times and then finally got the promo code to get the update pattern.  Once I got the updated pattern and got my head wrapped around knitting toe up socks (previously not a fan - might become one) it was no difficulty getting this sock finished.  I did not do the intricate lace stitch on the back as although I have farm girl sized calves my ankles are quite small and I find that knitted lace socks do not stay in place so I knitted the back plain!

I am quite excited to start on the next one tomorrow.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Center Block 3

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Today was back to work for one day, then tomorrow off before I finish 3 in a row straight this week.

Managed to get a few minutes in the craft room this evening before I decided that I would just snuggle up on the couch with my knitting.  I manufactured Block 3 of the 4 center blocks for my Churn Dash Challenge:

Hoping that I can get at it tomorrow and get the last center block done and start assembling the entire quilt!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Ready or Not Here Comes Monday

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Last night kiddo and I decided to stay up late and watch movies.  Somewhere in the wee hours of the morning we fell asleep on the couches (don't worry we were prepped for that).

We slept late this morning and so far have accomplished a whole lot of NOTHING.

Brunch, laundry, reading, nap, walk the dog, dinner, shovel the snow, and get ready for back to work and school tomorrow.

After kiddo was off to sleep I went to my craft room and assembled another of these 12" finished Churn Dash blocks for the Churn Dash Challenge:

TAH DAH!

Hoping to finish these this week so that I can start assembling this quilt ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Super Duper Saturday

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I am not sure what is going on lately but I keep losing time.  Seriously I start out the week, the day, the morning and before I know it I have LOST the time.  

This morning my son and I were out of the house by 0910 for swimming lessons.  

After swimming we picked up dog food and treats.  Used a McDonald's coupon for lunch.  Washed the Go Go Go Toyota, returned library books, picked up another Scout Truck Kit since kiddo and hubby lost the small parts for it.  Went to La-Z-Boy and sat in a hundred different recliners to see which one we should add to the living room as kiddo is convinced that he needs his own recliner chair ☺.

Stopped at River City Yarns and picked up...you guessed it... YARN.

After dinner, a movie and a hot bubble bath I decided to spend some time in my craft room.

I made a 12" Churn Dash Block for the Churn Dash Challenge that I am participating in from A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop:

Three More of these to go!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

I Made It!!!

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

I made it is literally a pun for me today.  First off I have made it to my version of the weekend!  I am done work for the week including making it through double shifts this week.

This evening my friend Sharon, a colleague of hers and myself attended Paint Nite.  It was a lot of fun and the Halibut and Chips and Deep Fried Pickles were fantastic!

Here is my painting:

The blob in the corner is my signature covered over but even that turned out awesome on here!

So very proud of myself.  I Made It!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy