Palm Sunday...

 Good Evening Internet Friends!

Somehow it seems shocking to realize that today is already Palm Sunday!  It feels like I have done nothing this year and yet it's a 1/4 finished!!

Started the day out with oven baked fresh strawberry, blueberry French Toast, topped with Vanilla Sugar, whipped cream and Quebec Maple Syrup.  Sooo YUM!

After breakfast took doggie out for his mid morning stroll through the neighborhood.  Bruce the Goose and all his kin folk seem to be moving in and Goose Steppin' around:

Baked 2 loaves of Lemon, Poppy Seed Thyme Bread this afternoon.  It smelled and tasted awesome!!

 Still on my clean everything mission so did 7 loads of laundry today.  As of now everything is washed, folded and put away!!  House smells super clean and awesome!

In between loads of laundry I knitted on my Finish Line Socks.  These are from the Jan/Feb Biscotte Yarns Mystery Sock Box. 

For dinner I made kiddo a mushroom, dill bison roast in the slow cooker.  Served with roasted garlic, parsnip, mashed potatoes, dill salad and a home made dill pickle:

Kiddo enjoyed.  

This evening after floors were vacuumed and mopped I spent a bit of time in my craft room and made another 2020 Darlene D'Eon Designs 52 Week Challenge Block.  "Sew" close to being done this one and getting it out to be long armed:

TAH DAH!!

Spring Break all of this week so will see what I can get in to.  Staying home and staying safe.

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you a BEST Day EVER Monday tomorrow.  Stay Safe.😷

Kathy

Look Closely.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Okay, seriously.....you do have to look closely....the largest piece of fabric in here is 2.5" square!!!

I LOVE the colors and how this block went together.  Since I am pretty frugal with my cutting I am going to see if I can make another three of these and turn them in to place mats for the dinner table!!

This is one of the blocks from the Simple Whatnots Club 8.  I believe this block was a bonus block. 

This is about the extent of my day. 

Kiddo and I did take doggie out to the hay field close to our house and we launched balls for close to an hour.  Kiddo and dog were both tired after that!

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the
BEST Sunday EVER!!!

Kathy

Stars In My Eyes....

Good Evening Internet Friends!!

Okay, seriously though.....I DO have stars in my eyes right now.  I (yes me) managed to somehow slip on the smallest wet patch on the trail this evening while out for a run with the DOG!!!

Feeling a little better now (albeit sore already) "sew" I decided to put together another of the Twisted Star Blocks:

TAH DAH!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the 

BEST Tuesday EVER!!!

Kathy

BEST Day EVER Sunday!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Doggie woke me up at regular time to go for a walk....apparently he did not receive the memo that it was THE weekend.

After returning home I decided that I would make French Toast for breakfast and use the fresh raspberries I had in the fridge from earlier this week:

Delicious of course, but this innocent breakfast is responsible for almost everything that happened after.

I used the last pieces of bread to make the French Toast and that meant I needed to make bread:

Dough rising in the sun beam looked so awesome.

Additionally, while I had been getting the raspberries out of the fridge I also remembered the 5 lb bag of beets that I had purchased at the same time as the raspberries because the beets were TOO good a deal.  So.....out came the food processor portion of the Kitchenaid and 5 lbs of beets and 2 lbs of carrots became:

Added some freezer peas,onions, some of the dill I dried last summer and Borscht soup for lunch was a GO!

Bread was baked and turned out FABULOUS.  Doggie was sitting in front of the oven door as usual waiting for it to be done so he could get the heels.  He did of course and was super happy:

Nothing tastes better than fresh bread in my opinion.

The Resident Cookie Monster had also mentioned as I was getting underway with all my baking/cooking projects today that the cookie jar was nearing empty!!!   Horror.  Well.....crisis was averted as I made Sea Salt Caramel Chip Cookies from a package of chips I had in the pantry:

These are pretty tasty!!!  You can try to eat just one......But......

Back to the refrigerator where I took out a zucchini, a red, yellow, and green pepper along with some spinach that was all going to need to be used up this week.  I decided that lasagna for dinner would take care of all of these vegetables and so that is what I made:

This should get us through dinners at least part of the week as it is a five day work week for me and a five day school week for kiddo.  On top of that all extracurricular activities will be resumed this week.  

While all of this baking and cooking was going on I also did an amazing amount of house cleaning!  Everything is washed, vacuumed, polished, scrubbed, and cleaned in some form.  The house looks and smells like HOME which is great because it was three months ago today that we spent our first night in our new home.  🏡

So.........a GREAT day thanks to doggie not getting the weekend notice memo.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the

BEST Day EVER Monday tomorrow.

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

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

Saturday Fun

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Sometime late last evening the snow finally stopped falling.  I actually had a FUN day in the snow.  First of all it was kind of fun to drive to work fresh snow on the roads.  At one point the Focus felt like it was off roading in the snow. ☺

This afternoon kiddo and I headed out to the River Valley with the dog.  We spent 2.5 hours out in the snow.  Part of that was that it took longer to get any where!  There were drifts in the Valley that were 2+ feet deep and so hard that I could stand on top.

Kiddo and Dog had a great time:

Back at home we made hot chocolate and for dinner we had Turkey chili with all the trimmings; corn chips, avocado, green onions, salsa, sour cream, and sharp cheddar:

So yummy and filling.

After dinner I spent a bit of time in my craft room and assembled another A and B arc set for my Flowers for My Wedding Ring quilt.  I think I only have two more sets of these to make before next weekend!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

It's Over......

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Well, it's official I guess.....the weekend is over! 😢

Today was boring ole things like house work and laundry, but I did make Butterfinger cookies for my son (I used the recipe straight off the package) and they turned out DELICIOUS:

Between loads of laundry I assembled my weekly Star Block the 4 Patch Star Block:

Any guesses as to what my favourite colours just might be????  

Yesterday while my son and I were out we went to a couple of the local market gardens and among other things picked up 2 cabbages!!  This afternoon I made cabbage rolls and while they were slowly baking my son and I went for a walk in the River Valley.  Specifically back to the area where I fell off my bike three weeks ago because I did not get to explore there properly last time.  

It was a beautiful day and I probably should have taken along all of my puffers because a lot of leaves have fallen.....😷🍁🍂🍁

Cabbage Rolls for dinner with poached salmon and a green salad was perfect:

The other casserole dish has already ventured to the freezer.

Now to figure out what to do with the other cabbage this week....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

I'm Beet!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

My expression for today was indeed that I am "beet".  My son did not find this particularly funny, but I thought it was hilarious.

Tomorrow is back to work so there was all the tasks to do to get ready for that like laundry, lunch and dinner prep, household chores and since it is Sunday take the dog for an extra long walk.

I made bun dough early this morning so that just before lunch my son and I were able to assemble and bake Beet Leaf Buns.  We ate them for lunch fresh from the oven!

TAH DAH!

One of my favourite summer treats.  

The River Valley was lovely today but the wind was a little chill, and there were yellow leaves not only on the trees but on the ground already as well......it's coming.....☃❄❅❆🌨⛄

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Dog Days...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Not a whole lot of anything exciting today.  

My son and I took the dog out for a walk in the River Valley today.

Prior to going out though I baked Dog Biscuits and delivered some to our doggie friends and neighbours.  They seemed to really enjoy the treats:

Hope everyone had a wonderful day.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Mother's Day

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.

My day started out with my son and I making Cinnamon French Toast for breakfast:

Yummy.

After breakfast we baked some sugar cookies and packaged what we did not consume (trust me it was hard to stop) for some friends for Mother's Day.   

In the afternoon we took the dog out for an almost 6 mile walk in the River Valley: 

After dinner I took a wee bit of time to myself and made another Flock of Geese Block:

Now to retire with my knitting and maybe get to bed on time tonight ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Howling Good Times...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Back to work and school today.  Thankfully it is only three days for me as I work the weekend and four for my son who has a PD Day on Friday.  I think we can make it although by today we are both feeling ill with head colds.  YUCK!

This evening my neighbor and I attended a Paint Nite where the proceeds were to benefit an animal rescue agency (I forget which one......).

We had a lot of laughs and an awesome evening.  This is my painting and yes my Artist son told me where all my shadows are incorrect and where my dimensions are off.......I thought painting was supposed to be fun ☺

Might have to do some more of these as I may need remedial help with painting but I like it and that is what I think is supposed to count ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

A Big Day of Not Really Anything

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I would like to tell you I accomplished something absolutely AMAZING and over the top today, but alas, I did not.

I slept late.  I played around on the computer for a bit after breakfast.

After lunch I knit a bit but nothing worthwhile to show you.

Then I got the brilliant idea I should cut the Shih tzu's hair.  So, I did and it took almost three hours.  Is it done well???  Easy answer: NO.  I figure since everyone today is an expert in something due to You Tube that I can be an expert at trimming the dog.  My son did point out though that I did not watch a You Tube video on cutting a dog's hair I just do it.  That being said, I think I did better this time compared to last year ☺  

Dog does not like this - I think he knows the other dogs will taunt him ☺

Then I did decide that I should bake some Ukrainian Babka since both Easter celebrations coincide this year. It will be a little odd seeing Babka and the Lindt Gold Bunny on the same table.  Of course there were no raisins in the hous because I personally hate the little things with the exception of in Babka.  I found a bag of trail mix and had my son raid that for 1 cup of raisins.  

I added extra Turmeric so that it would be a really pretty yellow!  So Yummy!

This evening I spent some time working on a Ukrainian Cross Stitch Towel:

It's coming along nicely and I hope to be able to start on another of these projects I have been contemplating now for awhile.

I hope you as well had a wonderful day and as always

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Another Doggie Bag???

Good Evening Internet Friends!

A very busy day today of errands and such so I only have only completed a quick project today, and no it does not have to do with dinner!!!!

The neighbor has once again dropped off fabric and requested that I make her two of the doggie fabric tote bags:

TAH DAH!!!

Second bag completed.  One of these days I am going to have to draw the line at this sewing on whim....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Made It!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I made it!  To the weekend and also to my crafting accomplishment of the evening (fell asleep watching the news while the chicken and potatoes were baking for dinner this evening ☺

More fabric dropped off for me to sew a sample in a hurry:

TAH DAH!!!

Feeling somewhat accomplished that I made all three pillow case kits I think I shall retire for the night with my knitting ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Dog Days of Sunday....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I am sure that I read or heard somewhere that today is supposed to be a day of rest.!!!  Okay, I have finished laughing now!  That hardly ever happens to me.

After breakfast this morning I decided to bake dog biscuits.  My son and I were in the pet store yesterday and as usual I am appalled at the price of bakery style dog biscuits. So.......I make my own:

The dogs seemed to like them ☺

After putting a chicken in the slow cooker, my son and I along with the dog went for a walk in the River Valley:

After 9.8 miles we were ready to come home ☺

Now I still have a few chores to do before heading off to bed as I work tomorrow and actually all of this week....what was I thinking????

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

One Day At a Time....

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Today was the first day since Christmas Vacation started that my son and I were up at a civilized hour.  We even went to bed on time last night.

The reason; we were making a road trip to my friend Julie's farm for the day and staying for dinner.  Julie lives on a farm about an hour away from us.  There are two quilt stores, a craft store, a bakery and a kitchen store that I stop by when travelling to her farm so we needed to leave in early enough time to get to these places as well.

I will show you some of these treasures in the next few days but alas, have not yet taken pictures.  

Julie lives on a mixed farm with the more of the emphasis being on cattle.  Of course this means butchering the cattle for meat.  I always pet the cattle when I'm out there which of course they (cattle included) look at me like I'm nuts.  I thankfully grew up with dairy cows so petting and hugging them is totally regular.   

The last butchering that they did they remembered that I have a giant dog.  So they saved four Maverick sized dog bones:

Maverick is so EXCITED!!!!  He has four cow legs to chew on and no other pet can take these away from him!!  ☺

Since I was still wide awake when we got home I decided to make Block 17 of my Scandi 3 quilt.  Still trying to see if I can get this done before I go back to work....

Now it's off to bed for a long sleep hopefully as I did not have a nap today....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pillowcase

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Last night although I did do some knitting it was nothing worthy of showcasing.  This evening was not much more productive on the crafting front.  I keep promising myself to remember to take a few minutes for me to do something I enjoy, but sometimes that just feels like too much work. ☺

Made this pillow case from some fabric I found in my stash:

If you follow my blog you will know that I love pillow cases.  First off these are "sew" easy to make.  Secondly, they make excellent gift bags!  

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 CAN do Anything.....Possibly...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I cannot believe the weekend is over already.  It rained most of the weekend so I did not get a lot accomplished.

I found these in my garden pots this morning and my son ate them with his morning oatmeal:

The sun came out for about an hour this afternoon so we went out and cleaned and vacuumed  the Highlander and the Focus.  Then it started to rain again.

Arriving back in the house I decided that the dog needed a hair cut.  My son decided to call me Hairy Potter and we set about trimming the dogs hair.  The electric shears got caught several times in the curls so I gave up and got out a pair of scissors from the junk drawer...seriously.  Well, one hour and one grocery store shopping bag full of dog hair we have:

Now, I know what you are thinking; that's terrible!  It looks like the person who cut this dogs hair has no training in dog grooming, has not read a book or watched a video or anything!!!  To that I will say, " you are correct".  I have no qualifications to cut dog hair at all, but have appointed myself as my own go to expert!  So far dog seems okay with it.....and he can see better now ☺

After dinner and getting kiddo to bed I went to my craft room and made block # 4 of my Star Block Challenge hosted by A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop:

Now to get myself off to bed too!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy