Fresh Off the Needles...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was a very productive day around my house with regards to house work, laundry and baking, cooking and preserving.

My greatest accomplishment today though is that I finished my latest pair of socks!  I had hoped to finish these while on vacation but the pattern is a little too intricate to complete while road tripping.

These are socks I chose to knit with one of my Yarn Crush monthly shipments.

I used the Cherry Lane sock pattern and although it is not easy while a passenger in a vehicle this might be my new favorite sock pattern!  I think these turned out FABULOUS and they are super cozy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

On The GO Again...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

As you know it was back to work this week for me on Wednesday after getting home from vacation on Tuesday evening.  Not sure why I did not take the rest of the week off after all it was hubby who had to fly back to camp to work....not me.

In typical Kathy fashion I have managed to over plan this weekend.  There is yard work to do, laundry to catch up, house work to be done, garden vegetables to be preserved and trips to the hospital to visit my friend who has had to return there. 

Although sometimes I have to choose between sleep and a blog post I am always up to something!!!

Late last night after getting back from the hospital I decided to make bread dough so that kiddo and I could have cinnamon/toffee bread this morning for brunch:

After that it was off to the St. Albert Farmer's Market and library.  Then on to Costco for groceries and home for dinner.

For dinner I made a garden salad with veggies from my garden and from the Farmer's Market today along with chopped up chicken that I cooked in the slow cooker on Thursday.  We enjoyed our salad with a toasted green onion cake that we picked up at Farmer's Market today:

After dinner we made a quick trip over to the hospital to visit my friend.

Arriving home I decided to treat myself to some time in my craft room.  I was able to finish my second Row by Row:

Now, it's off to sleep as I have TONS planned for tomorrow.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

HOME!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I am back from a 12 day road trip adventure with the family.  It was a wonderful vacation and for the first time we just went where we wanted.  The first three nights were spent at the Nipawin Regional Park as we did have that planned for camping, fishing and visiting my Grammy.

After that we headed south with the intention of Montana for some cross border shopping but how we got there was no real plan.  

We spent some time in Regina and then on to Moose Jaw for another two nights.  While there we went to see the Tunnels of Moose Jaw as kiddo and I had been there a couple of times but hubby had not.  

Then it was on to Quilters Haven and The Quilt Patch for their Row by Row blocks.  The theme for this year is "HOME" which although we travel with our 5th wheel travel trailer it is nice to be back home.

Passing through Swift Current I realized that Sowen Quilt Shop is just off of the highway, so hubby stopped and I got another Row by Row.

We stopped in Eastend Saskatchewan to see Scotty the T-Rex dinosaur.  

Once in Montana we stopped at Ben Franklin Crafts and Bearly Square Quilting in Havre for their Row by Row.

Passing through Shelby en route to pick up some stuff my husband had shipped to the border I picked up another row at Quilt With Class.

Arriving in Great Falls Saturday afternoon I was able to pick up the row at The Quilt Away.

Returning home through Lethbridge Village Quilts was only a left turn and three blocks out of the way so I got their row too!

As of this evening I have made two of the tree blocks that go with the log cabin blocks that I posted while on vacation:

Tomorrow I hope to make the large trees and then I will have a second row completed.

I likely could have got them done this evening had I not decided to make Chocolate Zucchini Banana Muffins using the Zucchini from my garden.  Last look yesterday as I was leaving the farm was that there are 2 more on their way..

YUMMY!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

The Wind

Good Evening Internet Friends.

I am currently in the middle of Montana and the wind is amazing.  

I am still on vacation as we have no real plans other than I have to be back at work Wednesday and hubby flies back to camp Wednesday evening.  As such we have made no real plans and just get as far as we want on a daily basis.

I have stopped for a few quilt rows as part of the Row by Row 2016 experience.  "Sew" far on this part of vacation I have picked up 2 rows in Moose Jaw, 1 in Swift Current, 2 in Havre and 1 in Shelby.  This evening while hubby and kiddo went fishing I worked on one part of these rows:

This afternoon was super windy and across from us were some people in a tent.  Their tent blew away!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cooking in the Camper

Good Evening Internet Friends.

We are currently at the first campground of our vacation.  My son woke up telling me there were Saskatoon berries outside his window.  Behold!   There was.  Over the past 2 days I have picked 2 ice cream pails of Saskatoon berries!  As of this evening they are all washed and packed 1 cup portions in the freezer.

We have also had Saskatoon berry pancakes for the past 2 mornings:

Before we left the farm with the trailer I raided the garden:

Zucchini, purple mustard, lettuce, beet leaves and green onions.   I have been on a purple mustard kick thus summer and so for dinner tonight we had a salad with all these leaves and some tomato and cucumber :

Yummy.

Finally.....this afternoon I decided to use up the last if the beet leaves by making beet leaf buns.  It took some adjustments to figure out how the oven in the trailer works but as of this evening I have managed to bake beet leaf buns in trailer!

Tomorrow morning we will be packing up and heading off to other fun.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Road Trip Day 2....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today is Day 2 of Road Trip Vacation!

We have arrived at almost our first destination and are camping away.

I forgot to attach the second Thank You card that I made the other day, so that is my post for today:

TAH DAH!

Happy trails everyone and hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

On the Road Again...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

We have headed out on the annual family vacation.  Destination; somewhere in Montana via Saskatchewan to visit my Grammy.

My dear friend is house sitting Hello Kitty (the cat) and she also deserves a Thank You card for celebrating my son's birthday with us so very early this morning I was making Thank You cards!

TAH DAH!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Almost there...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Half way through my work week today!!!  YAY me ☺

Today is garbage and recycling day and since we were gone last week that meant I had to get the rubbish out to the curb and in my world that means clean everything at the same time!

Well 2 hours of thorough cleaning later I was done!  Kiddo headed to bed and I decided to go to my craft room for a bit.

Here is block 3 of the Strawberry Shortcake (strawberry scented fabric) table runner that I am making:   

TAH DAH!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Squirrel!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

"Sew" I am supposed to be finishing the Strawberry Blocks, but I decided to modify that pattern and that requires an additional 4" of fabric.  Since there was another rain storm this evening I did not venture out (chicken)...

Instead I decided to start on my first of the Row By Row kits.  Living in the Edmonton area we have a LOT of quilt shops.  This year however, I am choosing to only get the blocks I like and from places that I travel over the course of the summer with the intent that this quilt will be a fabric scrapbook of my summer vacation.

The very first shop that I stopped at was Quilter's Dream.  The block I got there looks kind of like this (I made a modification because I am not sure I want to cut the block down yet....it will depend on what other blocks I obtain this summer:

TAH DAH!!!!

Okay, that's done.  Tomorrow I should finish the Strawberry Shortcake and some other stuff...

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Strawberry Shortcake????

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was a whole lot of nothing.  Somehow after all the partying yesterday both kiddo and I were too tired to do much of anything!

After lunch we did return the library books (only because they were due).

An afternoon nap was also part of the schedule.

This evening after dinner and before bedtime preparations I did go to my craft room for a bit and made two what I am referring to as Strawberry Shortcake blocks for a table runner kit that I got recently:   

This fabric is not only very pretty it is also very lightly scented; it reminds me of my Strawberry Shortcake Doll.  I don't recommend keeping it in a plastic bag tightly closed for a few days as the smell was a little fragrant today when I took it out, but once it was out it was just pleasant and made me feel like a kid again!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Birthday!

Good Very Late Evening Internet Friends!

Today was my son's twelfth Birthday!  I cannot believe it!!!!!

Summer birthday's are always hard (I know it personally) so usually I try to have his party the weekend before school is out so that he can have some of his friends attend.  This year however the weekend before school was out was my weekend to work nights.  DRAT.

Not really having any plans for this week also added to the dilemma of what to do.  On Monday I got the bright idea that if we sent out a mass email and some text messages we could see how many of his friends could come and see The Secret Life of Pets movie with him today.

Two of his friends one from his previous school and one from his current school were able to attend which was a nice change from the usual plethora kids I am used to in years past.

Since this was a "Pet" themed birthday my son decided that he wanted a cake that looked like the pink stray cat from the movie.  Well, this is my rendition of it: 

My son thought it was awesome!

For his treat bags he wanted things that looked like they were for pets and he wanted to put them in the bags used for the doggie when we take a walk.  While walking the dog in the River Valley the other evening we stumbled across the perfect bags:

The bags contain dog tennis balls, macaroons (cause they kind of look like you know), blue whales because we could not find fish.  We put the candy into tiny containers that kind of look like mini pet bows, two bone shaped cookies and whistle blower things!

A jumbo bag of cookies!!!

It was a wonderful day and on the way home my son told me it was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Treat Bags...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today has been a very busy day, but somehow it's just before midnight and I have managed to be ready for my son's Birthday Party tomorrow.

Earlier this week I decided that since we will be home for his actual birthday that we should have some kind of a party.  It's always hard with summer birthday's but we were able to get two of his friends to join him tomorrow to see The Secret Life of Pets and then have a Birthday Cake picnic afterwards.  

This evening I baked cookies for the loot bags as my son requested:

We also took the puppy in for a "little" procedure today:

Here he is arriving home, has not slowed down at all and by this evening in typical Lab Dog fashion he has eaten the cone!!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

I'm Turning into My Grandmother!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Okay, so everyone worries about turning into their mother.  I don't have a lot of those moments, but I am becoming like my Grandmother.

This morning kiddo and I slept in until 1000 hours (something my Grammy would do).  After a breakfast of pancakes we headed in to Ponoka to attend the Farmer's Market.

I was able to pick up from my friend Lynn a set of lawn dice her husband made:

After a visit kiddo and I went for lunch and since it was still early in the day I decided that we would road trip to Country Quilting and More as I wanted their quilt block for the 2016 Row by Row Experience.  I am one of those people that does not swap blocks for places I have not traveled to and or have not traveled to this year as I make these blocks as a souvenir of my summer travels ☺

Heading back to the farm there was a storm starting so we quickly packed up and headed home.  I was about 4 miles away from the farm when the rain started which was a good thing because I was driving the Focus and although I joke about off roading with it.....I'm not sure how well it would make out. 

Now here is where being like my Grammy really kicks in....at 2230 hours this evening I decided to make Saskatoon berry scones and that is just what I did.  If Grammy did bake it was usually after evening shift...

TAH DAH.....and yes I ate half of one just to make sure it was tasty.....I assure you it was and the other half has since been eaten as well.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

The Do Nothing Day

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Yesterday afternoon I loaded up the car of kid and dogs and headed out to the farm for a few sleeps away from the city.

Arriving here I discovered the big propane tank was empty.  Since hubby is away at work that meant I had to figure out how to switch over from the large tank to the normal sized tanks.   Thankfully my years of PICU nursing came in handy with figuring out flow valves.   No explosions.  No leaks.  We're cooking and showering with warm water now thanks to gas.  YAY.

Today our plan was to go no where and do nothing if we did not want to.

The garden was not too full of  weeds on arrival last night so I spent a couple of hours this afternoon and thoroughly weeded it including figuring out how to use the gas mower to trim the grass around the garden.

Then my son and I decided to go Saskatoon berry picking.  We got about 6 cups of berries bur there are lots more yet to ripen so we will be raiding the bushes again:

After dinner I finished my June subscription of Yarn Crush.   I have not been keen on the past three months of this subscription but this month's one was at least quick to do and I knew I would feel better if I simply finished it.  So:

It's a knitted fruit bag.  I will take it to the Ponoka Farmer's Market tomorrow and see how many strange looks I can get!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

No Plan Sunday

Good Very Late Evening Internet Friends!

When I awoke at 0722 hours this morning I was ready to get out of bed and get the day started and get through all the things racing around in my head that needed to be done.  Then, I paused for a minute and realized I am on VACATION and I do not have to get up early and run around accomplishing a whole list of things today, so I went back to sleep til almost 1000 hours ☺

After breakfast I did a bit of tidying and dusting.  Watched a little tele with my son and knit some on my current project from my June box of Yarn Crush.  This month's project is not quite as bizarre as last month's, but almost.  There is serious planning at this time to not renew the subscription next time it comes due.  We will see about the sock club that has been released through Yarn Crush....

After lunch we went to the library to get books for the road trip out to the farm.  The fountain was operational today so we stood and watched for a while:

Leaving the library I decided to take the Henday home.  Part way home I realized that if I made a left merge rather than a right merge we could go see:

The Fort Saskatchewan Sheep!  They were so cute, we did not stay long partly because this was an unplanned trip and I had no apples or carrots, and I had ice cream in the car ☺

Arriving home it was dinner time and after dinner we took puppy for a walk.

Once kid was tucked into bed I went to my craft room for a bit and made another pillow case :

I truly do LOVE this flannel.  It is so soft and wonderful to work with.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy 

BEST Day Ever and a Road Trip!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was another fabulous day!  I always try to see life in a positive way but today was just perfect all on it's own.

I had a great sleep and had no alarm clock to wake up.  I am currently on a ten day summer vacation.  I did however wake up at 0800 hours somehow.

My son and I were invited by my dear friend and neighbor to have dinner with her and her husband and I had promised to bring cheese cake.  So, at 0800 hours I started the process of baking a cheesecake:

Fresh from the oven....too hot to eat but smells so yummy! ☺

All dressed for the party with the last can of Cherry Pie Filling with Splenda I have in my cupboards.  Thankfully less than two weeks til I go cross border shopping ☺

It was DELICIOUS of course and went well with the awesome dinner. The roast beef was AMAZING (as I was promised it would be).

My son slept til almost 1100 hours (I think the fireworks and bike ride yesterday wore him out).  

Once kid was ambulatory we headed over and picked up my neighbor friend.  We went to two local quilt shops to pick up their Row by Row kits.  We were able to get one kit but the second store had run out of kits (seriously) and were not going to cut any more... oh well (the animal/species on their row was very abstract and did not make sense anyways).  

Then we decided since the afternoon was young to head out to The Quilt Rack for their sale (it is always a really good sale).  I picked up a few neat things that I plan to work on out at the camper trailer for the next few days!

After the wonderful dinner and visit we came home and I made a pillow case out of the newest fabric I purchased:  

TAH DAH!!!

Now it's off to bed and sleep in tomorrow morning.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day Internet Friends!

Today my son and I made cookies:

Then we packaged some up and delivered them to my friend and neighbor:

Afterwards we took a bike ride along the river valley:

Later this evening we will head out to the fireworks!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Canada Day!

Kathy