Guild Treats!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Crazy, super busy with all of my commitments and adult responsibilities right now but it was Quilt Guild Meeting tonight.  That meant I had to go since I volunteered to be on the Membership Committee and have been occupied at other events and not in attendance for the two meetings now.  It also meant that since I have set the precedent of always having some kind of hand/home made treat I needed an idea.

Here is what I came up with since Mother's Day is just around the corner:

Thankfully another Quilt Guild member recognized the amount of things I have to do right now and over the next few weeks and volunteered to help with stamping, punching and assembly of these.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Getting Ready....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Well, it's true.....the count down is on for Canada Day 150.  It has always been a dream of mine to attend Canada Day in Ottawa and on Parliament Hill and this year my son and I will be doing just that!  I am starting to get excited!  It has been almost a year in the planning ☺

Today I picked up and subsequently planted my Canadian Shield Rose:

This evening after all the household tasks were done I finished the first of the lattice socks that I made with the 7 stitch diamond shape on them.  Unfortunately, the pattern does not show up well under the photo flash, but trust me it is there!

This yarn colourway is named Alpine Meadow from Ancient Arts Yarn:

Now, I am going to try valiantly to complete the second one of these.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Taco Saturday???

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It is Saturday of the May long weekend and I am at home!  Usually we would be in the mountains camping and getting snowed on, or at least trying to put in the garden out at the farm.

This weekend however is cold and rainy and I don't think that there is a single person in Alberta upset about that after the fires we have either lived through, seen, or been mobilized to respond to.

My son and I did make a trip out to Kuhlmann's Greenhouse to pick up a couple of West Coast Seed  packages that I wanted that I cannot get anywhere else.

For dinner we made Taco's using the ground beef that I picked up at Local Meats in Leduc.  This is locally sourced lean ground beef that was on sale for $3.99/lb!  Better yet, it tastes that the farm beef I grew up eating which I had all but given up eating because I did not like the taste of beef since I left home.

Since it is all wet and raining outside nobody including puppy wanted to go for a walk, so hubby rough housed with him on the floor for a while to wear him out (I think they will both sleep well tonight):

Lastly before I head out to bring in my plants for the night I will post a pic of the plant that a patient of mine who will be re-locating gave me this week:

It is so bright and cheery that it just makes me happy, but I will miss my patient.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Mother's Day!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Yesterday was my day at home alone with no interruptions! I had BIG plans for the day.  Hmmm, nothing was accomplished.

First off I woke up at the ridiculous hour of 0630.  Seriously.  Could not go back to sleep.  Eventually I got up and had some cereal with milk from a box (yup) and watched the news channel.  Realizing it was now 1030 I decided to head out into the world.

I had plans to go to the mall and do some shopping for just me.  Arriving at the mall it was packed, not just Saturday packed but a lot of out of town vehicles...go figure.  The mall was crowded, the stuff I wanted picked over and the general mood of the mall was tense.

I left and came home for some lunch.  Watched some more of the news channel before deciding I would head out to the Sherwood Park Mall.  That mall was also busier than usual and no one seemed in particularly good moods there either.  On the way home two pick ups collided in front of me, both were at fault as they both tried to merge into the center lane at the same time.  Lots of yelling swearing and even a few fists raised.  I decided to stay at home after that!

I planted my flower beds around the house as the plants had been waiting for a week:

Once that was done I starred in my refrigerator as to what to have for dinner....it was no cooperative but my dear friend and neighbor invited me over for pizza at their place!  YAY.

I visited with them for the evening....they were such lovely hosts, I think they knew I was lonely at home all by myself.

Eventually I decided to go home and see what I could accomplish late at night.

Shortly after arriving home I got a call from one of the camp leaders that my son was complaining of  a headache and vomiting.  So at 2300 hours I packed up the GO GO GO Toyota with Powerade, Ginger Ale and headed out on a rescue mission.

Took over an hour to get there as lots of wildlife on the back roads.  Packed up kid who drank his Ginger Ale and fell asleep in 10 minutes!!!!  He slept the entire way home and I had to carry him in to the house he was so tired.  It was almost 0200 by the time I went to bed.  At 0730 he woke me up ready to get the day started.

After a pancake breakfast I made a couple of Mother's Day cards for two friends I would be seeing today:

After lunch we headed out to my friend's ranch.  My son got to see the calves, pet the steers, pet the dog, shovel grain for the cattle, get hay for the horses, pet the horses, ride the horse and ride along in the backhoe loader to get hay, play with the dog and the cat!

My son's friend is almost exactly 9 years younger than my son but they have the exact same Costco jackets from last spring:

They both adore each other so this was so cool to see!

Then it was time to head home for Trunk Chicken - a story I will share later as I do not have pictures of it, but it was delicious!

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day and hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Nothing to See....

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Well the weekend is over and I survived my first weekend back and being in charge!  Had been on a "leave" for the past six months from this part of my rotation as I am very fortunate to have managers that understand that sometimes life throws curve balls at you that are unexpected.  I survived as did all of the patients ☺  Today of course I was very tired.

I also had my Diabetes Eye Exam scheduled for today.  This year I was smart enough not to plan it first thing in the morning and have my eyes blurry all day and accomplish nothing.

I got kiddo ready for school.  Took the dog out for a quick walk and then went to Costco to pick up flowers for my baskets and flower beds:

TAH DAH!!!

Then since hubby was home he took me to my appointment.  That was awesome.  Usually I arrange for a friend to meet me for lunch at the hospital cafeteria to waste time after the appointment isnce I cannot see clearly, take a nap in one of the patient/family visiting rooms, walk over to the mall and then late in the afternoon when the vision returns proceed home before rush hour traffic.

After my appointment we went for lunch at the Cheesecake Cafe.  YUMMY.

Arriving home I thought maybe I could do some knitting.....NOPE.  Will be fixing a mess tomorrow.  

For dinner I made honey mustard blueberry chicken, steamed carrots and roasted garlic parsnip mashed potatoes:

I thought it was delicious as did the family.

I marinated the chicken breasts in honey mustard.  Baked until the internal temp was 74 Celsius and then covered with a blue berry sauce.  The blueberry sauce is 1/2 cup Dried Blueberries and about 2 T of water mixed together and brought to a boil before spooning over the chicken and put back in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Later this evening the vision cleared enough for me to do a bit of quilting.  I worked on sewing the rows together for my latest rag quilt:

TAH DAH!

Now I should probably go to sleep as tomorrow is errand day as I am back to day shifts for the rest of the week.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Best Day Ever Saturday!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today has been another great day!  I got up early, the sun was shining, had breakfast, loaded the dishwasher and the washing machine, and then my son and I headed off to meet my friend Karen at Wallish Greenhouse.

Now, if you read my blog you will know that I went there last year and still ended up going to my favorite greenhouse because I was disappointed with the place.

My friend Karen informed me today though that Wallish Greenhouse actually grows their own plants in their own greenhouses, not shipped in like other places.

So, I went again today.  Now that I understand that the selection is based on what they can grow, not mass import I am a little more open to the place, although the check out staff are still as grouchy as last year : (

Of course I got a bunch of things, including yellow tomatoes that I am going to try growing in organic top soil in a large ceramic pot, strawberries for my planters, and lots of flowers for the flower pots, and flower beds.

Since, it was relatively nice this evening, and my asthma seems to be under control I cleaned out the flower beds and pots this evening, and even let my son put a couple of plants into the soil!

It was too dark for pictures, so I will post those tomorrow.

In addition to all the outdoor stuff I did manage to complete another Road Trip Block:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Flower Box

Last night my son and I planted the flower box beside the doorstep.

There is the rest of the Pelargonium's, the left over Alyssum's, a couple of Cape Daisy, and the fun yellow flower at the end, that I have no idea what it is called, but I thought it was pretty.

My little Travelocity Gnome stands guard of all of this.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Doorstep Flower Pots

Last night after dinner, my son and I planted these Pelargoniums (Regal Geraniums).

I love these flowers.  Since they are not true geraniums, they do not have that awful smell ; ).

I think that they look pretty.

Welcome Spring!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

Yesterday my son and I went to Wallish Greenhouse.  

While there we came across this Princess Lily, and we thought it would look perfect in the planer in front of our house.

Today we planted it, along with a couple of leftover Alyssum's.  I think it will look really pretty this summer.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Stamp of The Month Club

These are my cards from Stamp of the Month Club offered by my friend Karina.

The stamp set is called Secret Garden and you can also get matching die cuts for the stamp set!  Pretty cool! Now off to play with this....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Stamp a Stack # 1

I went to Karina's Stamp a Stack on January 25, 2013.

This is one of the cards we made.

I LOVE this card, and can you guess why?

It's actually the flower, especially when stamped on the envelope it looks to me, just like the Alberta  Wild Rose, seen on our license plates and our Welcome to Alberta signs!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

February Stamp of the Month Club

Here is my latest set of the Stamp of the Month Club offered by Karina.

This stamp set is called Decorate a Daisy.

I believe that secretly Karina is trying to turn me into a flower person (I'm not really one, and they all die on me - could be that they need water and food?).

I do like this set, and I think I will try to use it in the next few days just to try it out!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

April Calendar Page

Here's the April Page!

Again, the base is Sahara Sand, Pacific Point, and Whisper White from Stampin Up.

The image is from the Stamp of the Month for December from Close to My Heart.  The ink colors are Raspberry Ripple, and Pacific Point.  The Designer Series Paper is Dotty for You from Close to My Heart.

The flower is a plain white flower that I got at that awful box store that starts with an "M" a while back.  They were on clearance, a box of a million (?) for $0.99.  I used my Summer Summer Starfruit marker to color it.  The brad is from Sale-a-bration 2012. 

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Poinsettia Thank You Cards

Every year my son's school does an annual fund raiser selling poinsettia plants from a green house in Chilliwack, British Columbia.  These poinsettia plants leave the greenhouse very early in the morning arriving very late afternoon/evening in Edmonton, Alberta.  These plants are always beautiful and no one is ever disappointed with them.  Each year the number of them that I have to distribute grows (what a pun).

Of course, to say thank you to my friends and co-workers who go along with this annual tradition I make Thank You cards to show our appreciation for their contribution to the school.

This year I actually used all Stampin Up product on these cards.

The base is gum ball green card stock, with a layer of Be of Good Cheer Designer Series Paper.  A layer of Primrose Petals, and Very Vanilla run through the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.

The "Poinsettias" are made cut from Raspberry Ripple card stock using the Fun Flowers Bigz Die.

The button centers are leftovers (OMG - yes I used old product again....), and of course the Raspberry Ripple Stitched Satin Ribbon.

I think that they are beautiful!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Blush Table Runner

I finally finished my Blush Table Runner last night.  I got this kit last spring from The Quilt Patch, and after numerous "starts" I finally got it done.

The top piecing came along easily enough, it was the quilting that got me stuck.

Last week I finally just decided that I would free motion quilt it myself, and I did.  By the time I was done, I was quite proud of myself because I did an all over stitch between the flowers, and then outlined, and highlighted all of the flower parts.  It turned out to be quite fun, and when we were in Canmore last week, I spied the new toy that I want:  HQ Sweet Sixteen!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Happy Thanksgiving

Last evening I went to Greenland Garden Center and made this fabulous centerpiece!

If you look closely you will see the bright orange "bowl" under the arrangement.  It's a PUMPKIN!

It's so brightly fall colored and festive for this holiday weekend.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Coffee Talk Swaps

These were my swaps for Coffee Talk at Karina's last night.

The card base is Whisper White run through the Framed Tulips Embossing Folder.  The leaves are cut out of another piece of Whisper White using the Little Leaves Sizzlits die.  A piece of random green Designer Series paper is placed on the backside .

The greeting is from the You are Loved Stamp set.  I stamped the image in Lucky Limeaid and then used clear embossing powder and heat set it to raise the text.

The flowers are made from the 13/4 scallop circle.  I will try to post instructions on this one of these days, as usually I would use my Cricut, but of course that would not be Stampin Up approved ; ).

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Pretty Flowers

I'm not really a fan of flowers.  Honest.

Yet, I LOVE this card!

The card base is Pacific Point, a layer of Whisper White on which I Versa-mark stamped with my Flower Fest stamp set (retired Stampin Up product - shhhh), then used clear embossing powder and heat set it.  

The colors are sponged in and I love these colors.  They are from the Ranger Summer Inks collection.  The leaves were just stamped on with the mowed lawn color and then I used my blender pen to color in the leaves. The flower centers are some left over pearls I found in the drawer.  I have another way that I am going to play with this card hopefully this weekend, and possibly make it even better!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Flower Garden Card

Last week I attended a class offered by Wadean at Scrapbook Memories & More in Sherwood Park.  The class was using new Penny Black stamps, and this is one of the ones I loved enough to purchase.

I used basic black card stock along with First Edition Designer Series Paper, stamped the image and then used my Stampin' Write markers to color the image.  I thought it still looked like it could use a little more for the handmade look, so I used a button that was sitting on my sewing table.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy