New Year's Eve!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was a bit of catching up on some house work, running a few errands, and taking a bit of time to sew a bit before dinner and fireworks this evening.

In addition to a project that I will show you tomorrow (I still have to weave the ends in before we head out) I did manage to make another 2 red and white blocks for my 52 Week Block Challenge hosted by A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop.  I am now at 15 of 52 blocks:

Tomorrow of course will start the 2019 edition of this weekly block challenge and OF COURSE I will be participating.  Maybe someday I will get caught up...

Wishing you all the BEST EVER 2019 and 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

"Sew" Much Fun...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I trust you all had the BEST Day EVER Sunday as did I.

I did get up relatively early this morning as a friend and I were headed to the Elkstone Studio Open House today.  It was GREAT.  She had a few things that I HAD to have, and now on second thought a couple more that I will go back for in addition to one VERY special order that she will be doing. ☺

Here is what I HAD to bring home "sew" far:

A Mrs. Bobbins Spray Misting Bottle that I did use this afternoon and this adorable table topper pattern that is 42" in diameter so actually will fit on the table for next Christmas, or winter.....❄⛄.

Then before dinner prep I made another three of my Weekly Block Challenge hosted by A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop: 

Here are weeks 11, 12, and 13....and we are currently week 52 of the calendar year.  Usual sort of timeline for me I think.

Tomorrow will be a few errands and then I will probably be able to get a few more of these blocks done before the year is over.

Wishing you the BEST Day EVER Monday tomorrow and 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

"Sew" Much To Do

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas with family and friends and got to do a bit of crafty stuff too!

No blogging here for the past two weeks as "Sew" Much going on.

We returned home last night after going home to Saskatchewan for a bit.  Of course that was wonderful except for the -30 Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit) the evening before we returned.  I did drive through a snow storm to get there and one on the way back too!

On the way back we stopped in  Saskatoon and went to Sew Charming Crafts.  Now of course I went there to see what was there but I also went there to pick up.........

The entire set of the Kim Diehl Simple Whatnots 8 Block of the Month.  This is apparently the only shop in Western Canada carrying the program.  There was a lot of thought that went into my getting this Block of the Month because unfortunately this quilt shop does not ship so there was no way for me to avoid the Provincial Sales Tax (PST).  YIKES, is all I can say.  I could have ordered it through the US fabric shops but would have had to wait til I head down to get the mail and of course there is cost involved with that....sigh.  

Today I pulled out my scraps and completed the last 6 Star Blocks for the 2016 Star Block Weekly Quilt Block Challenge hosted by A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop:

Maybe I can get these put together in to some form of a quilt before the New Year????

It snowed here most of the day, but the temperature was nice so I took the dog on an extra long walk this morning through one of the local park/recreation areas.  The park looked amazing with the snow falling:

Wishing you all the BEST Day Ever Sunday tomorrow, and 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Peek A Boooo....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Made time today to spend some time in my craft room after walking the dog 2.4 miles, laundry (five loads), house cleaning, and various other things that somehow take up the day.

It was a beautiful day for a walk, the weather was warm, the wind not too chill, and the sun was out.  Still a bit slow moving from my asthma attack earlier this week but all in all a great walk.  🐕

First on my crafting itinerary was:

Picked up this Christmas panel at Sew Divine earlier this fall.  I loved this panel partly because the polar bears on it reminded me of the Coke Bears.  They are not,  but they looked like, so I thought it was CUTE.  

I cut the panel apart and sewed together with a 1/2" seam.  For stuffing I used the Ullkaktus cushions from Ikea.  On their own the $4.99 price tag is a little much (they are really cheap on the stuffing), but once I squished them to fit inside these sewn forms the entire cushion is nice and fluffy 🎄🎄.

This summer while moving I found out that I HAVE the coolest stuff in my craft stash.  One of those things was this Christmas card craft kit:

There are another five cards to make in this set but I think for now I shall start getting the cards I have prepared off to be posted.  In typical Kathy fashion......do nothing early....

Might get into some knitting this evening and tomorrow have plans for some baking.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Move Over....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Well....you know I have the attention span of the speed of light "sew" this evening rather than continue on with my Turtle Collage Quilt I decided to do some more work on my Lush Quilt Block of the Month offered by Sew Devine.

Here is my progress so far this evening:

Really pleased to see my points all perfect on these☺  Small victories.....I know...

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Turtle Time!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

"Sew".....I think I may finally have life under control again and be able to start crafting a bit more regularly again and that will likely be GREAT for my mental health.  

Over the past 8 months I have lived in FAST FORWARD.  I have purged, packed, purged some more, staged my house, sold my house, packed and purged, moved, unpacked, purged and in that time written and passed successfully TWO national re-certification tests for work.  Every ten years both exams fall in the same year ☺

Friday after my exam I was draaaaaaiiiiiiiinnnnnnned.  I may have actually slept more than 6 hours last night for the first time in several months.

Today I had scheduled to attend a Collage Quilt Class at the Fort Saskatchewan Quilt Guild with the purpose of finishing a collage quilt that I started last spring when there was only a little bit of chaos in my life.  Finding the quilt proved harder than it should have been because back in July when I packed my collage stuff I put all my collage stuff with the Christmas decorations because the class was scheduled for the weekend I would decorate my tree.  Except,.....I may have changed up my Christmas Tree and did not take out the decorations.

"Sew" like a typical Kathy thing......I showed up late after finding my collage.

Here is the progress I made today:

Kitty approves "sew" I know it must be a good quilt.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

The Whole Enchilada...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

During our recent move I learned from a very dear friend about the amazing Hello Fresh boxes!  These boxes are fabulous because you pre-order your food choices a week in advance and your food is delivered in cool pack boxes.  All the ingredients are in the box along with recipes.  These were FABULOUS during the move because I did not have to think about what was for dinner and then there were left overs for lunch the next day too ☺

Since the move I still get a box every couple of weeks or so just to break up the dinner routine and just for ease of dinner prep.

The box arrived this afternoon and the first meal that we made was Chicken Cheese Enchilada's.  Delicious.  Another thing I love about these boxes is that the cooking instructions are step by step so I get my son to help with dinner prep as well.  

Served with a garden salad these were very filling on a really cold evening.

After dinner I spent a wee bit of time in my craft room and made block 46 of 52 for the 52 week block challenge (this is the 2016 block - I seem to have mis placed my 2017 blocks):

TAH DAH!!!

I love these blocks.  They always turn out well and just look so pretty.

Keep warm, and 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Snow Much Fun...

Good Evening Internet friends.

Busy day at work which was great, but also a wee bit tiring.  Traffic on the way home was sloooooooooooow, but I made it home safely.

For dinner this evening I made a Kathy version of Chicken Parmesan Spaghetti Squash.  Yet another 100% Costco meal ☺

Spaghetti Squash (3 pack from Costco)

Frozen Chicken Parmesan (Costco)

Spaghetti Sauce (Costco)

Fresh Mozzarella (Costco)

Served with:

Garlic Bread (Costco) 

Garden Salad (all veggies from Costco)

Turned out delicious and of course there are left overs for tomorrow evening!!!  BONUS.

After loading the dishwasher and tidying up the kitchen I took a few minutes to knit on my latest pair of socks.  These are being knit for a very dear friend of mine who has help me IMMENSELY with our move and getting everything in order.  She has a really awesome desk job but for a couple of weeks of the winter she will have to be outside, so I decided that she deserved and needed a pair of my hand knit wool socks ☺.

The colour way is Be Awesome from Sea Turtle Fibre Arts.  I picked this skein up at the Prairie Fibre Festival the day after my house sold.  My friend was a very integral part of helping get the house ready for sale and sold quickly.  

After a bit of knitting I decided to brave the cold.  The temperature right now with a bit of snow fall is - 16 C (3.2 Fahrenheit).  I was dreading going out, but once I got out with dog it was enjoyable.  A 128 lb Labrador/German Shepherd toddler is a lot of fun in the snow.  Plus, the scenery was amazing.  I was able to get this pic that I love as the falling snow is caught in it and the sparkle of the snow under foot.  ❄

 Keep Warm everyone and,

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Fall Back...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Well,.....it's that time of year.....Fall Back an hour in time because someone once thought this was a good idea.  Still not a fan of this day.

Yesterday in preparation for this day I made sure that I did all my errands so that today could be a stay at home kind of day.

Of course no one informed the dog that the time had changed so he still had me up bright and early to go for his walk.

It snowed over night so looked really pretty outside.

The plan was to work on some of my craft and quilting projects today and I was successful with that.

I finished all 22 flying geese blocks for my Flowers for My Wedding Ring Quilt:

Seriously loving making this quilt.

I also decided it was time to graft the toes closed on a pair of socks that I started over a year ago but kind of lost my crafting mojo on:

TAH DAH.  "Sew" I decided to wear them all afternoon around the house.

I am hoping that now that life is a little less chaotic and I am only crafting for myself that I will be able to get back into being creative regularly.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

FAST...Forward...

Good Evening Internet Friends.  

Super Crazy busy but hoping in the next month or so things will start to normalize and settle down.

Today although it was Sunday Funday was also Fast Forward Day.

Very busy week ahead with work and school and extra curricular activities.

Last night I shredded via the Kitchenaid 24 + cups of zucchini that my friend Lynn had given me last weekend.  Some of that was used to make 2 Lemon Zucchini loaves today:

I also made Oatmeal Butterscotch chip cookies:

For lunch and for lunches for part of this week I made Macaroni and Cheese:

Always a favourite of kiddo.

In between house work and laundry I did manage to make another three of my 2016 A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop's 52 Week Block Challenge.  No typo.....just got really far behind with other things:

As of this evening I have now completed 43 of the 52 blocks for this quilt!

Getting excited about that as in the next month I am hoping to tidy up a few more loose ends ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

A FINISH!!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today I actually completed something that I started a year ago!!!

I called these Four Patch Star Blocks my Labour Day Challenge Blocks.  The idea was to make one of these blocks from Labour Day to Victoria Day and see how many I got. 

The original intent of these blocks was to help someone out.....however, the blocks proved too challenging in getting the points to match so I did the blocks on my own:

TAH DAH!

All made from complete scrap fabric so only previously cut fabric was used!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sunday Fun Day...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Made the BEST of the last day before back to a full week of work starting tomorrow.

For breakfast I made Banana Oatmeal Waffles:

Used up a couple of freezer bananas and a bit of the gigantic bag of oatmeal in the cupboard.  ✅

For lunch I heated up a jar of borscht that I have canned previously:

Delicious!  ✅

While lunch was heating up I made a Pumpkin Cranberry Loaf.  Used up a pint of frozen pumpkin, a handful of dried cranberries and a handful of pumpkin seeds that I had in the cupboard along with oatmeal of course.  ✅

Quite proud of the food that I used up and of course there are left overs for lunch tomorrow.

This afternoon kiddo and dog and I headed out to the creek that we found earlier in the week.  The walk there, along and through the creek and back was 10.56 mi (16.99 kilometers).  I think we shall all sleep well tonight.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Simple Saturday...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was a perfectly simple day.  I did run one errand but other than that we just hung out at home. 

I am on a mission right now to "Eat the House".  No, I have not suddenly developed a craving for soft wood, but rather eat up some of what I have stored.  As you may have noticed I have not done any canning this year as we still have several jars of pickles and jams.

For lunch today we had Tuna, Apple and Avocado salad sandwiches with Tzatziki seasoning.  Delicious.  I will try these again:

After inventory of the freezer and pantry dinner was poached salmon with honey mustard and fresh dill sauce, jasmine rice with fresh garden chives, roasted garlic and sage mushrooms and a Caesar salad: 

Delicious as well and there are left overs for tomorrow 🐟.

After dinner kiddo and I headed out to explore a part of the River Valley that we previously have not been to.  It was amazing what we found.  A perfect stream that kiddo and dog had a blast in:

I even allowed for dog to be off leash for a bit because there was no one and no other dogs around. 

Throughout the day I spent some time with my scrap fabrics and made 2 of each of the past three years of weekly challenge blocks that I have gotten VERY far behind on:

LOVE how these look.  Especially the Star Block that I used star fabrics for the whole block.  ⋆😼.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Best Thursday EVER!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I know I say this every day, but in all seriousness today was the BEST Thursday EVER!!!

Late last night early this morning I finished the socks that I will gift to my Grandma:

Just as I was wondering what I should start/finish for a knitting project the mail arrived.  It was Happy Mail Day!!!!

My August box from Sock Crush!

This yarn is one of my local faves☺ and 4 sample packs of my favourite wool wash Soak were included in the box!

Kiddo and I headed out and had lunch at Blaze Pizza.  Then it was off to The Bay for some back to school shopping for both kiddo and I 👚👟.

After dinner I spent a wee bit of time in my craft room and made another 2 flying geese blocks for my Flowers for My Wedding Ring quilt:

Only 4 more of these beauties to go!!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

SOCKS!!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

After dinner I spent almost 2 hours outside doing yard work.  Yard looks amazing now.

Unfortunately it looks like something ominous is going on out there cause the sun seems to be not as bright by 2100 hours.  So......I decided that although it was too dusky to knit on the patio I would knit anyways......just inside.

Almost finished these socks for Grandma.  Tomorrow the toes will be completed and I can get them to her when I go to visit.  I love gifting socks to my family because they all appreciate the gesture and realize that this is a very personal gift of my time and not mass production:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

"Sew" Much Accomplished Today

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Lots of good things done today.

First off I made lunch so that there are left overs for lunches for a few days this week:

Kiddo's favourite lunch; Macaroni and Cheese.

This afternoon I did lots of housework and for can proudly state that as of now ALL housework and laundry is caught up!!!

For dessert I made Banana Zucchini Cake with a boiled brown sugar frosting; seriously delicious:

After dinner I dragged out my sewing machine for a bit and even the iron and made:

A Flock of Geese Block from my scrap stash.  I did drag out the Pfaff 4.2 this evening though as still sore in my core from using the Red Eye Treadle last night.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Use What Ya Got.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

As you likely guessed.....I have been BUSY lately.  "Sew" much "sew" that I did not have time to "sew" or really do anything crafty.

Tonight I decided that I would spend a bit of time in my craft room and do a bit of quilting.  Without dragging out a whole bunch of supplies I decided to use what I had access to; a 1911 Red Eye Singer, 1 spool of Aurafil thread, a rotary cutter, scrap fabrics and a 6x24" ruler.  Here is my newest 52 Week Star Block Challenge....which block.....not sure...

Quite a labour intensive project as all seams were held in place and pressed with my fingers.  Proud of myself though as my seams almost all line up.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

"Sew" It Goes....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was my first day home after a bit of a vacation.  A whole lot of cleaning, sorting, and discarding was done today and that included my craft room.

I did actually get a project done though this evening after dinner:

TAH DAH!!!

I have had the idea to make this now for quite a while.

Fabric was purchased at Quincy's Quilting but I ran out of time to get this done before Canada Day.

This is one of my very own creations.  I used my Go Canada! Cricut cartridge for the maple leaf.  Researched the proportions of the flag and calculated that against the size of the Costco Hypoallergenic Pillow that I inserted into this case.  

The back is a simple fold over so that I can separate the pillow and the pillow case on laundry day.  ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

"Sew" Busy...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It is the start of summer vacation!

Right after work on Friday kiddo and I loaded up the Highlander, and headed out for my friend and colleagues wedding.

Sunday we headed out to Banff stopping in Canmore at the Sugar Pine Company.

I wanted to pick up the 2018 Row by Row, but of course I left there with a LOT more....

One of the items that I got was the Shania Sunga Homecoming Bench Pillow Kit, and it was on sale for Canada Day:

TAH DAH!!!!  I will have to pick up a bit more of the stuffing filling tomorrow, but this is my progress from the weekend.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy 

Almost...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It is almost Canada Day and I cannot help but remember the excitement of this time last year with us preparing to celebrate Canada Day 150 in Ottawa.

This year will be a little more low key.  However, while making sure I used my Bulk Barn coupon this evening I found these fun red and white maple leaf sprinkles.  

So......arriving home I made cookies while I did laundry:

Delicious!!!!

Happy Canada Day/Bonne Fete du Canada 🍁🍁

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy 

Smell the Roses.....Achooo....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Busy day as usual, but another awesome day.

My mantra for this year is to take care of myself.  Yes, I will still cook dinner, and do laundry but I will do everything in a way that makes me happy and gives me satisfaction.

Took a quick walk this morning and one of the things I saw was:

I was perfectly beautiful.  Yes, I smelled it and sneezed and then rubbed my eyes all the way home. It was just so pretty!

This evening I finished the binding on my Plenty of Fish quilt.  This was a mystery quilt top I completed a few years ago.  I made two of these quilt tops entirely from my scrap stash.  

Last year a friend of mine got engaged to a man she met on an online dating website.  I decided that this quilt would be perfect for their wedding.  The entire quilt top is made with scraps from other quilts I have made - "sew" just like their lives they each come with stories.  The only previously not cut into fabric for this quilt is the backing and the binding.  This is to symbolize their fresh start together with all of their stories:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy 

Socks for Grandma...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Finally all better and back to living in fast forward again.  Even pulled another over time shift this weekend 😼

I am really trying to make a conscious effort to do something creative for at least a few minutes every evening.  Something that makes me happy.

I love knitting socks.  From a young age I have loved wool and creating with it.  My family all love and are deserving of my hand knit socks and the most current pair will be headed soon to a well deserving family member:

My Grandma.  

I know that she will love the delicate lace flower pattern to these as well as the gentle pastel colours that appear throughout the knit.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

"Sew" Busy...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I have been "sew" busy over the past few days/weeks that I have not had time to post.

Yesterday I took myself on a bit of a road trip and one of the things I picked up was some fabric for a project I have been thinking about making for at least a couple of years now...

This is part of the project and hopefully I will have "sew" much more to show you tomorrow.

I decided to use this fabric after seeing it at Quincy's Quilting yesterday when I stopped by to pick up their version of the Row by Row 2018.  

Fingers crossed my vision works out...🤞

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy