Easter Sunday

Good Evening Internet Friends!  

Happy Easter to everyone.  

Quiet day at home of course.  Another Easter at home following local Public Health Guidelines.  Spent some time playing board games, a walk through the community and eating TOO much chocolate.  

Did make kiddo a slow cooker turkey breast dinner, crouton stuffing, parsnip/roasted garlic mashed potatoes,  steamed broccoli, and turkey gravy.  

After dinner started assembly on my version of the 2020 Darlene D'Eon Designs 52 Week Challenge.   All made with scrap left overs from other projects.

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

Kathy 

Easter Sunday...

Good Evening Internet Friends.

I hope that y'all had a blessed Easter Sunday at home on Self Isolation.

Today was a quiet day around our house.  We had toasted Babka with homemade Strawberry Jam from the pantry, poached eggs, milk and fresh fruit for breakfast.

Took doggie out for a walk and while out I slipped hard on the ice.  Whacked my elbow that I had fallen on ice 2 weeks ago with again!!!  The swelling and bruising was just starting to go down.  When I fell today I got ice rash (?) and bled from my elbow all the way home!  Bandaged up the area and took a pain medication so then needed a nap.  Had planned to roast a chicken for dinner but arm hurt too much so we had left overs.

I did check on my lily planters this afternoon in the garage:

They're sprouting!!!  Spring might be on the way!!!🌷

Sewed on the very last row of my 2018 Red and White 52 Week Block Challenge after dinner.  This is now ready to go for long arming:

TAH DAH!!!

Hope this inspired your own creativity and wishing you all the BEST Day EVER Monday tomorrow.  Stay safe out there....

Kathy

Easter Saturday...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Busy and productive day despite being on Self Isolation.  We have not left the house other than to walk doggie since I got home from work on Thursday evening.

Made buttermilk pancakes for breakfast this morning.  We are still eating from the pantry.  I do get fresh fruit, veggies and milk once a week as those are staples in my world.  Whipped cream and Quebec Maple Syrup are staples from the refrigerator:

Took doggie for a walk around the park and lake while a batch of Easter Babka rose:

After lunch I baked it:

Had to sample some fresh out of the oven and it was delicious and really soft.  

On occasion I do cook a bit of meat and although it was Friday this was something kiddo wanted.  So, I made slow cooker short ribs with a mushroom cream sauce, shelled peas and carrots that were part of my fresh fruit and veggies this week, roasted garlic mashed potatoes with green onion topper:

After dinner I checked on my chive planter that has spent the entire winter on the patio against the house and........

SOOOOO excited!!!  This means that spring might actually be on the way!! 🌷

Spent a bit of time in my craft room this evening and put the second last border on my Lush Quilt.  There is another 8 1/2" border to be put on.....but I think I am going to leave it like this:

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the BEST Day EVER Easter tomorrow.  Stay safe out there.  

Kathy

Oh Where oh Where did the Weekend Go....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I cannot believe that the Easter Weekend is over!!  Today I spent trying to keep a head cold and its awful symptoms away.....not sure if I will win or not!!

I did manage somehow over this chaotic weekend to get the last three of my Twisted Star Quilt blocks completed!

This is the quilt that I joined a guild just to get the class at a reduced rate and paid a total of 130$ for.  Class got postponed because the weather, however, I did drive to Calgary that weekend and it was fine.  I bit cold but that was all.  When I asked if I could get the pattern at least to complete the quilt because I would not be able to attend the new class date I was told that I would have to buy the pattern.  "Sew"  I decided to stop wasting money on this project and using the cutting instructions and the picture away I went.  Thankfully I do know how to sew.  😎

Eventually after all the patchwork blocks and 6 of the star blocks were completed the quilt designer did send me the pattern so that I could reference her as the inspiration for this quilt: 

I LOVE the bright colors of this quilt and it will look amazing on my navy leather sofa!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you the 

BEST Day EVER Monday.  🎉

Kathy

Happy Easter!

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

I hope that each of you had a wonderful and blessed Easter Day.

My son, the dogs, and I slept late again.  

Had freshly toasted Babka for breakfast and searched the house for chocolate.  I am positive that I found it all - but at my age - who knows????

Then we went for brunch.  It was a wonderful brunch.  

I did a bit of knitting this afternoon while dinner was cooking, but then a random nap occurred. 

After dinner I decided to go down to my craft room.  Had not been there all weekend.

First off I decided it was time to perform the finishing touches on the yarn I dyed at Vogue Knitting Live Las Vegas:

The colours are now set and I gave it a quick rinse in Soak wash. It is now haning to dry over the laundry tub.  Hopefully I can get started on it later this week ☺

Next up I decided I should tidy up my quilting desk for some serious quilting tomorrow.   There was a lot of scrap fabric from the 2 sheep Knitting Project Bags I have made of recent so rather than putting it away I made:

A lined, zippered pouch!!!!! I happened to have a zipper and some mystery interfacing that made this a Top Drawer Project as my son would say ☺ I did not use a pattern, but think that later this week I might make another one from some scraps and show you how I did it!

It's "SEW" fun!!!

That's all folks.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Good Friday...

Good Late Evening Everyone.

Today was a very relaxing day for my son and I.

First off we slept late.

We had pancakes with berries for breakfast:

Yummy!!!

After lunch and finding out that the microwave exploded - seriously - made a loud spark - some bright flash and now it sits there hanging above the stove looking sad.......I'm sad though too - we headed out in the snow to the Lindt Factory!  I LOVE that place and there always seems to be a really good sale on!

Helping out the Easter Bunny this year as not sure what kind of financial situation he is in with the current economy ☺

This evening I spent time sewing another Knitting Project Bag and writing a pattern for it as well. 

Another day I will post some of the how to's for this project in case there are questions about how I create this bag ☺

"Sew" that was my relaxing Good Friday and I hope everyone had one as well.

Hope this inspires your onw creativity...

Kathy

Trying to Catch Up....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Worked my evening shift for this month today so now I get to start the Easter Weekend.  

My son and I are both off now for the next four days and we really have no plans except to enjoy ourselves.

This evening just so that I could declare I had been creative I spent a wee bit of time in the craft room and made Block 14 of the Flock of Geese Block Challenge from A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop:

I was then planning to do a bit of knitting before going to sleep but apparently the Lab/Lap dog had other plans:

Off to sleep then I guess...

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

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

Road Trip Knitting

On the drive down to Helena the other day I finished the first of my husband's socks.  I did not really want to graft the toe shut at 75 miles an hour (yes, that is the speed limit there) in the mountains in the F-350 (it corners like a tank - I think).

So, I started work on a project that I have been meaning to make for a while and since the yarn and the needles are big, I knew I would be safe with this project:

This is another Fisherman's Wife Cowl that I am making for one of my NP colleagues.

I am knitting this cowl in Thick & Quick Starlight color with gold metallic wrap.  It looks really pretty close up.

I managed to get more this more than half completed on the trip between Great Falls and Helena.

Picked up the buttons for it today while I was out getting groceries.  Somewhere in the past 24 hours I have decided to host the family for Easter Dinner, so a trip to Costco was necessary today.  Tomorrow will be another stay and home day, although I should probably start some of the dinner preparations and do some house cleaning......

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

Ever since my son was born we have chosen to celebrate both the mainstream holidays as well as those of my grandmother as my son loves his Big Grandma (when he was a toddler he started calling her Big Grandma instead of Great Grandmother and the name has stuck).  This has worked out great until today because we have two Christmas' and two Easter's.  On the first Christmas there is regular church, the tree, gifts and Santa, and for Ukrainian Christmas it is about Church and the Dinner.  Same with Easter.  Except for this year when both Easter's fell on the same day!!!  We had to have a chat about the Easter Bunny and Paska ; )

All in all it was a great day, and dinner was lovely, somehow I forgot to take a picture before the table started to be cleared!

Earlier in the week I started (with the intent of being done) a little quilt kit that I got as part of my order from  A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop (it came in a teeny little green pail - it is so cute).  Here is what I have so far:

There is even a little bit of hand stitching on it with the cotton floss that was part of my order!  What a feat for me who really does not do embroidery!!  The rest is machine applique, much more my style!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Doggie Quilt Done!

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

As you likely know I am addicted to fabric, and any time that I am out and about and stumble across dog or dog related fabric I MUST purchase it.  

My son and I both love dogs, so a while back I started to make for him a Dog Quilt out of the dog fabric fat quarters I have bought over the past few years.

I did finish the quilt top and even got it to and back from the long armers (it has been quilted with bones), put on about half of the binding, and then it went into the "TO DO PILE" and has been sitting there for quite some time.

This evening I decided to finish putting on the binding as a surprise gift for my son for Easter tomorrow morning:

 Hello Kitty is already looking to sleep on it!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Good Friday

Today has been a Good Friday (really).

Got to stay home and "play".  Did some quilting and of course my son and I made Babka.  

There are several ways to make this dependent on how you grew up with it, and this is the way I know and love it (yes, it should be in a round pan, but I did not have enough round pans for the amount of dough I made).  

I had to cut into it just to make sure it was delicious, and with a bit of butter it certainly was:

Easter  Babka:

1 1/2 cups water

2 cups milk

1 cup butter 

- heat in microwave until butter has melted into water and milk

- add to mixing bowl with 1 cup of flour and beat until side of bowl is warm to touch (no longer hot)

- add:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp yeast

1 cup flour

- continue to mix and add in:

3 eggs

2 cups raisins

1 tsp tumeric

- continue to mix adding in another 6 + cups flour until dough is not sticking to side of bowl

-turn out on counter and knead until dough "squeaks"

- put to rest for about 45 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.

My son always takes these special holiday doughs to his bed and covers the bowl with quilts and reads to the bread while it rises ; )

Shape into loaves, let rise again, and bake at 350 F for about 35 minutes.

Enjoy...

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Out of respect for today I am attaching a link to one of my favorite singer's tributes to today:

The Old Rugged Cross

Pysanka, Kathy Style

I had the privilege of making my very first Pysanka this weekend when my son and I attended the St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Sobor Parish's Paska and Pysanka workshop.

These are not as easy to make as one would think, and next year I will be there again, with an idea already to go to make a really AWESOME Pysanka!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Easter Paska

Yesterday my son and I participated in the St. Andrews Ukrainian Orthodox Sobor Parish's Paska and Pysanka Workshop.

It was a lot of fun, and we both enjoyed it.

This is the small Paska that we made.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

 

Kathy

Happy Easter

I made this little quilted calendar as part of the Monthly Minis Block of the Month that was offered by Sew Divine last year.

I did actually finish it last year, but not until after Easter!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Easter Card

I made this happy little Easter card today, and it just makes me happy because it is so fun (I think).

I am also very proud of myself because I managed to only use only Stampin' Up product on the entire card!

I used Pacific Point, Very Vanilla card stock.  The Designer Series Paper is called Sunshine and Sprinkles, and is really pretty!

The stamped images are from the Everybunny stamp set.

To color the images I used my blender pen, and simply took the ink off of the thick end of my markers, that way I was able to blend the colors and not get such bold/harsh colors on the graphics.  The grass was simply sponged on after and the oval cut out was made with the new Oval Framelits.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Easter Basket Bowl

A few weeks ago my son and I went to Crock a Doodle in Spruce Grove.

This is what I made.  A quick trip to Bulk Barn for Easter Jelly Beans, and we have an awesome bowl full of candy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Easter Egg Cookies

Last night my son and I made these cookies.  The recipe was found on the Kraft Canada website.

On the weekend, I was at Bulk Barn, and found the mini eggs (I had to get them), and so this recipe was the perfect validation/rationalization as to the purchase of the mini eggs!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Oh S"Crap"! It's Monday

I am seriously running low on good paper of which to do anything with in the scrap box.  Might mean I have to make some more cards...

For today's project I have a random piece of green card stock (? Certainly Celery color maybe) that I was able to get a 3 x 3 size out of, the random piece of very vanilla and a sticker package left over from Easter with 4 stickers still on it (still have one sticker from it to use).

The bunny was stamped and colored with my AWESOME Copic markers, and the stickers put on, and some grass colored with Copic Markers.

TAH DAH!!!  Kind of reminds me of Peter Rabbit or Benjamin Bunny.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy