Time Out...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Late last week I received a package in the mail from Stampin' Up.  I assumed it was some back ordered item that I had forgotten about.

Instead what I got was:

A one inch pin for my five years being a hobby demonstrator.  It actually was five years ago in November 2015 but apparently they are a little slow.

I chuckled when I got this as I had already made the decision to drop my demo status last month.  I simply do not need (okay no one ever needs) any more of the merchandise in the current catalogue.  I suppose I could order paper but the amount of paper I would have to order would deforest some community over night.  

As my close friends know last September I was hit with three very traumatic life events in a space of ten days.  Seriously.  I have carried on as best as I can but I have fallen behind on many things that I used to do and or should be doing including my crafting.  

So, I am taking a Time Out from Stampin' Up right now.  Not only do I not need any of their product, but I should either use or relocate what I am not currently using or going to use.  

I have seen the Summer 2016 catalogue and there are several items in there that I will probably sign up for later this summer when there is some amazing promotion.  But for now I am going to start using what I have.

Over the next few months expect to see all kinds of things getting used up as part of my self proposed Time Out. 

 This evening I made 4 cards from the Tin of Cards kit that I ordered last summer!  

TAH DAH!  

Now it's time to take a jet tub bubble bath and relax as I am going back to working evenings this weekend and for some reason I am still deemed intelligent enough to be in charge!!! 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Tuffet!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I spent this morning sewing hard in my craft room to get all the strips sewn for my Tuffet class tonight at Woodland Quilting.

I did manage to get all the sewing and only arrived a few minutes late for class due to running errands.

Putting the Tuffet together was a lot of fun actually and I love how it turned out so I picked up the refill kit to make another !

TAH DAH!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

The Race is On......?

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Kiddo was feeling back to normal this morning so off we headed to school and work.

Today was my last workday of the week as I will now be on for the weekend and in charge none the less.  Better get my running shoes on for that!

After dinner I headed out to Costco for a few things while my son helped hubby mow the lawn.  I avoid mowing the lawn as it usually gives me some sort of respiratory/asthma disturbance...

One of my finds at Costco was a new bike helmet!!!!  I have been banned by my family and friends from riding my bike with the dog, but......I have a new helmet .......

Now, here is where the Race is On comes in.  In less than 24 hours I am supposed to have a completed Tuffet in my living room.  Here is what I have so far:

WAH HOOO!  Only six more of these to go.... so The Race Is On. Not my favorite version of this song but since yesterday was three years since George Jones passed away I thought it was most appropriate.  

My hope is to get these done by 0300 and then I can check my blood sugar and go to sleep ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Can I Do it????

Good Evening Internet Friends!

This is my short week of work...sort of.....I work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then the dreaded weekend!!!!

Was puttering along alright through today until I got the dreaded phone call at 1227 from school that my son was in sick bay...he was vomiting and complaining of chills.  So, I had not yet eaten my own lunch, got the unit clerks to start cancelling appointments and went to pick up kiddo.

This afternoon was Ginger Ale, Tylenol, puke and sleeping.  I think he is feeling better this evening at least the temperature is back to normal.

For dinner we went looking in the freezer to see what would be palatable to a sick tummy and found a humongous bag of Tasti Taters.  I must have bought them because they are in a Costco sized bag.  No idea why I would have bought them and or when but along with ground chicken (also in the freezer) we made a Shepherd's Pie kind of thingy:

Seems to have fed him as it has not come back up and he has been asleep now for almost 3 hours!!!!

A few weeks back I signed up to take a Tuffet at Woodland Quilting.   Thanks though to hubby's schedule and kiddo's schedule I was unable to attend last week.  That means that for class on Thursday I have to have the entire tuffet top pieced and sewn together!!!

"SEW" I started this evening...."sew" far I have completed:

Hmmmm...might be a long night sewing tomorrow! ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Bag On!!!!

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!!!

Today has been a long day for me and I think I will actually be puttering off to bed shortly.

If you read my blog at all you will likely know that I never (seriously) am in bed and asleep before mid night.  Then by 0300 hours I am up to check my blood sugar as I have done since childhood (nearly 4 decades of that now - but I'm not complaining).  This morning I simply could not fall back to sleep even for a couple of hours.  I did some reading, knitting and even tried meditation.  Nothing worked.  At 0630 I decided to get up and make my son pancakes on a school morning!!!

Yummy Oatmeal Multi Grain pancakes with strawberries to start the day! ☺

Then it was off to work and school both of which were busy days.

Home for dinner then get to Boy Scouts.

After getting back home and getting kiddo tucked in I finished working on the latest Grocery Tote bag that my neighbor dumped off for me to sew for her....might have to teach her to sew one of these days.

Yes, cover your eyes the fabric really is that bright!!!

Now off to bed to see if I can get some sleep as quite tired at present.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sunday Funday!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Today was another DO NOTHING DAY!

I slept late so decided to make oatmeal pancakes for breakfast:

Then with a full tummy I decided to go back to bed because I still felt tired and it was a cold dreary day outside.  Kiddo was still in his pajamas and even he took an hour and a half nap!

This afternoon I puttered around the house and managed to get another set of blocks for my current Rag Quilt done:

I LOVE this flannel.  It is so soft to work with and it looks really pretty.  I hope to have it done before my son's next Boy Scouts camping trip ☺

The hubby suggested we go out for dinner (I think he was tired of left overs) so we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory.  Now I have left overs for lunch tomorrow!

Did some knitting when we got home but now I should probably go to sleep because I work tomorrow morning!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

I'm Just Bagged...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I thought the title for my post today was really rather clever, but I wanted to make sure that my readers would understand the context.  Well, I learned something and apparently it's a good thing I looked into this because apparently only here in Canada do we use the term bagged to mean exhausted.  Must have something to do with us sleeping in sleeping bags in our Igloos!  Bad joke, we don't really sleep in sleeping bags in igloos in case this blog ends up as a reference source somewhere some day ☺

Today I spent doing a whole lot of nothings.  Some dusting, vacuuming and general house cleaning.  Lunch and dinner were refrigerator left overs.

The only one thing that I completed was:

Another tote bag for Sharon's craft fair next weekend!

Now off to get into some random messes I have created before bed ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's Friday!!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!!!

I got up extra early this morning as I was scheduled to work a vacation relief shift in another clinic.  That meant an 0800 hours start time which is a half hour earlier than I usually start work.  It also meant that I needed to drop my son off at school as his bus does not arrive until after 0800 hours.  

I was super proud of myself.  Got my son to school and got to work on time, only to find out the manager had somehow got the schedule confused (she's known to do that) and booked another casual for the shift (who really wanted the shift), so I decided that I could leave and have a bonus day.

Seemed weird coming home when my mindset was to go to work however, I made the best of it.

I did a bit of knitting on one of my socks.

I made another tote bag for the craft sale my friend is participating in next weekend:

Top Stitching not done yet as I put my pediatric nursing text in it to weigh down the corners first.  Will top stitch the lining to outer fabric tomorrow!

Picked up a few groceries and ran errands this afternoon so that tomorrow and Sunday I can just stay around home ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Almost....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It's ALMOST the weekend!!!   YAY.  

I did agree to pick up a casual shift in a clinic I used to work at tomorrow so although it would normally be my day off I am going to work ☺

Today is the first time in several days that I did anything even remotely creative as with my shoulder skin being ripped last weekend in the "incident" I have not been able to move too much.  Apparently one cannot even knit when the shoulder is hurt.

Thankfully one of my NP colleagues took a look at it on Tuesday and started applying daily dresssings for me and as of this evening it is closed over with VERY delicate skin, but it is closed over and NO infection despite the amount of debris she removed Tuesday and Wednesday.  Almost healed.

This evening since I have to pack lunches tomorrow yet I made banana cake for morning snack:

YUMMY!!!

Now off to bed as I have to be at work much earlier than I am used to tomorrow morning ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's a Kathy kind of day..

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today I had great plans for the day.

I slept in this morning til 0845!  Yes, kid and dog let that happen.

We had English Muffins with poached eggs and Turkey Farmer Sausage (on sale last week at Costco) with strawberries and black berries (also from Costco), actually everything was purchased there! 

After breakfast I thought about cleaning out my craft room.  I started but found too many cool things and eventually gave up.

This afternoon I decided that kid and I would take puppy out for his first bike ride; we will ride our bikes and he will run along side.

Well, let's just say that I have road rash down my entire left side, a broken pair of spectacles, a totaled helmet (yes, I actually wore it), pain everywhere (no broken bones - thank you milk), bandages everywhere and have donated blood to a local sidewalk.  Thankfully my neighbor and friend is a Paramedic so kid, dog and I limped over to her house for her to assess me and check on the damage.  By now I am starting to feel the pain everywhere.  Work should be fun tomorrow.

Prior to this eventful and painful excursion, while I was in my craft room I did make:

Twenty more Rag Quilt blocks.  These "plain" non graphic blocks are the ones on which I will put my son's Boy Scout camp out patches.

Now I will take another dose of Tylenol and be off to bed knowing that when I wake I will hurt worse than I do right now!  Goodie Goodie....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

TOTEally Awesome Day

Good Very Late Evening Internet Friends!

Today I am calling my TOTEally awesome day because it just was!

I was up early to have my son out to the Save On Foods to sell popcorn with this Boy Scout patrol.  He loves doing that.

Then it was off to pick up my friend Sharon and head to the Drayton Valley Quilt Show.

Of course we did some shopping and got a few really awesome items that you will likely see referenced here at some point.

After getting home this evening I went to my craft room and sewed a Tote Bag.  Sharon is doing a craft sale in the next few weeks and would like a few of these grocery/whatever totes for her sale.  Here is the one I made this evening:

Now it's time to do a bit of knitting and then I should probably head off to bed cause it has been a long day, but TOTEally awesome.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Now What am I up Too?????

Good Evening Internet Friends!

So, today was errand day.  Had my son at his pediatrician appointment at 0900 hours this morning and then off to school.  I then embarked on a day of errands so that the weekend can be MINE.  Well, almost cause I do have to take my son to an event tomorrow morning, but then the rest of the day will not be spent on errands!

This evening between loads of laundry I spent a bit of time in my craft room and made 20 Rag Quilt Blocks for another Rag Quilt that I started last summer ☺

I seriously have about 17 quilts on the go in my craft room (not kidding) and this is one of them.  I have three sets of blocks done now, so halfway through!

Now it is off to bed as tomorrow proves to be an exciting day.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's My Friday!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!!!

Okay, not to brag, but, today is my Friday!!!  I am finally finished work for this week.  I am very fortunate to have a job that I love, but sometimes I just need to be done!  That was today!

When I got home I found my April box of Paper Pumpkin.  I had cancelled out of this subscription back in February but there was great promise that the April box would be AMAZING.  Well, not sure about that.  I did however decided to do the 3 month prepay option as that is cheaper ☺

Here is what was in this month's box:

Yup...that's it...., not sure really sure what one is supposed to do with this item....going to be one of those things that sits and stares at me in my craft room I think (hopefully it does not start to talk to me like some of the other set aside kits do).  

I did like the stamp sets that came with it though...

Both of these will likely be used.

My friend and neighbor has been going through a bit of a rough time lately so I made her a card with this new stamp set:

TAH DAH!!!

I think that they turned out rather pretty!

I also put a metre cut of a really pretty fabric in a gift bag for her and left it in her mailbox this evening as a surprise:

Hope this makes her feel better ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's Rag Time!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Seriously, it's Rag Time, well Rag Quilt Time anyways ☺

After making and eating dinner, going to Costco for groceries, walking the dog and getting kiddo off to bed, I had just enough time to go down to my craft room and make:

Twenty flannel 6" squares with the wonderful flannel that I picked up. 

Now I'm off to get things organized for tomorrow; last day of work for this week for me!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

What's For Lunch????

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It is that time of year when I start to dread lunches, and my son starts to open the lunch containers and look into them with trepidation.  On Friday I got the stink eye look at the sandwich in the container.

Time to take it up a notch then I guess.  Yesterday evening I decided that I would make macaroni and cheese for him for lunch today.  Now of course before there are any gasps about me losing my senses, no I am not referring to the kind from a box.  I am talking about:

So YUMMY!!!

How did I make this you ask????   Well, let me tell you:

1 lb of dried macaroni cooked until Al dente 

While cooking the pasta get a second sauce pan out and cook together:

1/4 cup non hydrogenated margarine and 

1/4 cup flour

Once a paste has formed carefully add:

1 can evaporated milk

1 cup milk

1 can cheddar cheese soup

3 - 4 cups of grated cheddar cheeses (I used what was in the bottom of my refrigerator)

1 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp garlic powder

Mix until all smooth over low heat then stir in Al dente pasta.

Pour into a lightly buttered baking dish and top with 1'4 bag of crushed cheese crackers.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Awful Waffle Sunday!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

The weekend is over and it's back to work and school tomorrow.  Seriously, where does the time go.

Since it was Sunday morning I made the usual Awful Waffles for Sunday Breakfast.  Today I made Oatmeal Waffles:

YUM!!!  Good new too, there are left overs for breakfast til at least Wednesday at this point ☺

After lunch we took the dog out for a walk in the River Valley.  We only did about 5 miles round trip because of my asthma and how dry it was down there:

Puppy is getting better all the time and kiddo was even able to walk him for a bit.

After dinner this evening I spent a bit of time in my craft room and started to cut up some of the wonderful soft flannel that I got recently.  I am going to make a Rag Quilt with it:

TAH DAH!!!

Now off to bed cause I have to work this week.  Might be wearing a respirator tomorrow if there is still moving of furniture and painting going on.....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Ready.....Set.....Go....Weekend!!

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

So, today is the start of that mystical thing we wait for on Monday....the weekend.  I am sure that I do more on the weekend than I probably do all week!!!

Today I had plans to sleep in.  Well, I did not go to bed early, so when the alarm clock went off to remind me to get up and get kiddo to the Home Depot to build a Butterfly House it was a little bit of a shock!

Then it was over to Sew Divine to pre-order a Block of the Month I am going to participate in.  I cannot place a link here as this quilt does not seem to exist yet except in a couple of pictures.  It is kind of cool though. ☺

After lunch we headed out on a quest for running shoes for kiddo.  Went to Nike and got two pairs of runners for the summer.  

Since we were on that side of town already we headed over to Real Deal Meats to pick up some beef, some jerky and of course femurs for puppy and my friend Sharon's three doggies.  

Getting home mid afternoon I decided that I wanted poppy seed buns.  Since I simply cannot find anywhere local that makes ones as tasty as the ones back home I decided to make them myself:

Wait to rise.....  then bake:

YUMMY!!!!

This evening I did a bit of knitting and even went down to the craft room for a bit, but none of these projects are a huge accomplishment.  Maybe tomorrow...

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Give A Dog a Bone...

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Yes, somehow I am still up.  Have been in my jammies pretty much since I got home from work but still have not made it to bed.  

My friend Sharon's doggie Finnegan recently had a Birthday and then a couple of days after his birthday he got bit at Doggie Day Care and had to have three staples put in.  : (

So, I made him some doggie biscuits to hopefully make him feel better.

Since of course this is me a plain old bag would not do for a birthday present, so I made:

It looks great I think!  Now of course this is a retired Stampin' Up stamp, but of course I have kept it because who doesn't need a dog stamp with paws???

Here is the first batch of biscuits out of the oven:

These are biscuits that my ancestors would be proud of me for.  The biscuits I originally planned on making had corn meal in the recipe and somehow I have no cornmeal in my house.  So I chose another recipe and made do with what I had in the house.  These dog biscuits contain:

1 big scoop of peanut butter

1 egg

2 bananas

1 (sort of ) tablespoon of honey

1 scoop of wheat germ 

1 handful of flax seed

Whole wheat flour mixed in and the biscuits kneaded with whole wheat flour until the dough stuck together to be shaped.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes!

All dogs seem to give them 2 paws up so far!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Knitting the Day Away...

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Yes, I am still up at this late hour.  Long story no point as one of my friends would say.

Yesterday I ended up enduring yet another and much worse asthma attack that sent me to the Emergency Department again.  This time I was fortunate enough to have a physician who took it seriously.  After a whack load of Bronchodilators a shot of Benadryl, an Epi-pen, and steroids I got to go home five hours later!  Breathing I might add!!!!  ♫

I had my loading dose of steroid in hospital, but had to go out today to get my prescription filled.  I went to get that filled and since we were all out of milk and I was going to be on a steroid I picked up a couple of jugs of milk.  That was an exhausting adventure.  

Got home took a nap, had some soup for lunch and crawled back into bed.  Steroids make me hungry so I have spent the day eating anything I can find.  Bolusing with insulin pump for the extra food I am eating and also for the steroid effect on my blood sugar.  Plus the steroids make you feel kind of twitchy inside so it is difficult to fall asleep.  I even tried listening to the meditation app that always makes me fall asleep and for the first time EVER was still awake when it was done.

So, since my craft room is all the way in the basement and that is a really far distance right now I did the only other thing that I can do while not moving; KNITTING!

This is the second of the socks that I am knitting for hubby:

This is the first of the socks that I am knitting with my March box of Yarn Crush:

 The skein of Tink Yarn is just too pretty for me to leave alone.  This afternoon I cast on for a pair of Cherry Lane Socks:

 I know this color is not cherry, but I love this pattern when I knit with solid colors ☺ It is a great pattern to work and always turns out well.  The patterns included with this kit were nice, but the cowl was just something I would never use....

Now off to find some more to munch on and then maybe I can get some sleep.  Since it is Wednesday as well I think I will link up with  Work In Progress Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network since I have not in a long time.  Check out some of the fun projects these crafty people are up to ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

I LOVE Yarn.

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I LOVE yarn.  If you read my blog you will likely already know that, but I just had to say it again.

Busy day with getting back to work after 10 days off and getting kiddo ready for school and all the extra curricular activities lined up for the week.  

After kiddo went to bed I did another row of knitting on my Oroya Shawl from my August box of Yarn Crush:

This is the entire Shawl.

Now the "fun" part has come in the past few days where I am on the last 48 rows of this shawl and begin the addition of seed beads:

Beads are really pretty but also very hard to put on!!!!

Last week the March box of Yarn Crush arrived in the mail:

I LOVE this yarn; it is blue and has sparkles!!!!  What could be better?  There was also a hand lotion sample which seems to have a nice feel to the hands for about  the 15 seconds it was on me before I had to wash it off to prevent an asthma attack.  The lotion scent I got was way too strong for me.  

Now off to bed as one day down, four more to go....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Farewell Spring Break 2016

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Well, Spring Break is officially over and now it is back to work for the next 3 months until I start Summer Vacation....seems so ominous ☺

Since it was Sunday kiddo and I decided that it should be Awful Waffle Sunday today so I made multi grain waffles with strawberries and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Seriously.  DELICIOUS:

Plus, there were left overs so now we have breakfast for all of this week!!!

This afternoon I decided that I really should use up the turkey in the refrigerator, so I packaged up into 1 cup portions the left over turkey and with the rest I made a Turkey Casserole for dinner:

YAY!!!  Dinner this week as kiddo is back to school and extra curricular activities and somehow I am working 5 days straight this week!

After walking the dog and getting kiddo off to bed, I finished the latest sock that I am working on for hubby.  Used a different brand of yarn than I had for his socks previously, so when I verified this sock against his foot I had to take down several rows.  Here is one sock done:

It's a PERFECT fit.  Go figure..  The yarn is from Biscotte Yarns.  I do not know the color as I think I got it a while ago, but I still think it is awesome!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

GASP!!! It's Saturday Already.

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Gasp, I cannot believe that Spring Break is really over and that all I have left of it is tomorrow and that is the day to get ready for the upcoming week!

Woke in the wee hours of this morning to that tightness in the chest that only an asthmatic will understand.  I was exposed to WAY too much cologne on someone in a public place yesterday.  On top of that spring has been flitting around in the background so it was the perfect storm of ingredients for an asthma attack.  

Realizing it would likely only get worse I woke up kiddo and we headed off to my favorite Emergency Department.  Fortunately, when your oxygen is low you get seen right away and about two hours later after some nebulizers were headed home.  Took a while to go back to sleep but eventually I did and slept til noon! ☺

Went out for a bit of a walk with kiddo and puppy this afternoon, but did not have the strength that I usually do, so it was a short walk.  On the way home there is one hill I was struggling with so I had kiddo run ahead so that puppy would pull me up the hill!!!

After dinner I did a bit of knitting and then felt energized enough to make the journey to my craft room.

I managed to put the outer border on my Churn Dash Challenge Quilt:

TAH DAH!!!  Finished.  Only three months late....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

My Sore ASSets...

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Today marks the last day of Spring Break.  Now the weekend and back to reality next week.

As you have likely surmised by now my crafting this week has not been much.

So far this week I have put on almost 3200 kilometers (1988 miles).  I have traveled through Alberta with kiddo and my friend Sharon last weekend and then took at 2 day road trip with myself and kiddo to visit my 90 year old Grammy in Saskatchewan.  I do love the drive, although it is just under 1500 kilometers round trip.  We took the Focus just for fuel mileage.  Filled up leaving Edmonton and upon return and total cost of fuel for the entire trip......$97!!!! Yes, my "assets" are sore, but for that price it was worth it!

Love the wide open plains!  I feel so at home with this skyline.  ☺

This evening I spent a bit of time in my craft room and managed to get the inner border put on my Churn Dash Challenge Quilt:

I am really hoping to be able to spend tomorrow in my craft room and just have some "me" time and do a few things I want to.  ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy