Chocolate!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

As you likely know I am a HUGE fan of Milk Chocolate!

Every month as part of the Membership Committee of the Sherwood Park Quilt Guild in addition to Birthday Cards I always try to have some home made tasty treat.  This month since Valentine's Day is almost upon us I made Chocolate Hearts.  I used my stash of Lindt Couverture Chocolate and made 98 chocolates:

TAH DAH!!!!

Yes there are more than I require right now but I still need another 120 for my son for school next week💗

Then in typical Kathy fashion I needed some way to gift these to everyone so I wrapped them.  I was very fortunate that another lady from Quilt Guild came over for a soup lunch and help me package and wrap all 70 for Guild:

It was not a quick project but MUCH quicker with her help of which I am most grateful.  😼

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

More Birthday ☺

Good Evening Internet Friends!

As you know I often have BIG ideas and then I get distracted.

My neighbor is always demanding that I knit something for her.  Not sure she realizes how much time goes in to knitting and that this s not something I do for just anyone.  I did however succumb to knitting a shawl that seems to be a quick popular knit right now.  There are a couple of mistakes in it that I did not fix.  Hopefully this will stop her from demanding me to knit....

I used one of the colour ways from my Sweet Georgia Yarns Sock Yarn Club.

I actually started this shawl in December hoping that I would finish it in time.......but, alas, I finished this week.

Today I used one of my Paper Pumpkin kits to make the gift bag:

TAH DAHHHHHH!!!

Inside the bag I folded up the shawl: 

Here's hoping that she likes her one month late Birthday Present ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Merry Christmas Eve!!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Well it's HERE!!!!!  I LOVE Christmas.  I wait for it all year and it's arrived.  I LOVE everything about Christmas and I feel incredibly blessed to live in Western Canada where Christmas usually contains the picture perfect snow.  That was actually today!!!  We slept late but awoke to snow that had started yesterday evening.  My brother stopped by on his way home to Saskatchewan and informed me had been driving most of the way from Fort St John in snow.  Although I felt bad for his road trip I have to admit I was excited for a Christmas snow storm ☺

This is my front yard this afternoon:

The streaks in the picture are snow flakes falling!!!  It's so beautiful outside.

I have been busy finishing a couple of last minute gifts the last two evenings but I finished everything today in time to go out for a late lunch early dinner with my son.

 A Fisherman's Wife Cowl for my colleague and friend.  We will be attending church with her and her family this evening.

A grocery tote bag for my neighbors sister.  She seems to think that if she drops off fabric I will just sew it up for her.....it was Christmas "sew" I did.  

Home made (of course) Chocolate Toffee for friends and neighbors all packaged up. ☺

Lastly, the very last of the baking; Cookies for Santa:

Classic Shortbread cookies for Santa.  So YUMMY!!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas!

Kathy

Grateful

Good Evening Internet Friends!

It is officially the start of the Christmas Season in Kathy's world.  I LOVE Christmas.  It is my absolute favorite holiday.  

Yesterday while kiddo and I were out we discovered what I think are the MOST beautiful poinsettia plants.  You may remember that my son used to sell poinsettia's as a school fundraiser.  Each year our close friends would always receive one of these as their Christmas present from our family.  My son no longer attends that school, but every year I still keep the tradition of the poinsettia gift going.

This year I decided that I would not only gift these to the usual poinsettia gift friends, but also my friends who have been there for me over a very difficult time in my life.  Not only did these friends all receive a poinsettia, they all received a poinsettia in a Kathy color and with GLITTER!!!!!

This is my poinsettia on the dining table!  I LOVE the color!

Now for gifting it to the friends I wanted them to know that not only was this a gift like previous years.  It was also a Thank You for how truly grateful I am to all of them for the support they have been over the last year.  That meant I needed to make a card.  Don't get me wrong....I have made a few cards over the last year just because I had to, but today was different.  I wanted to make these cards.

Here is the card I made:

I had so much fun making this card and even remembered why I used to like making cards ☺ Plus I got to use glitter .....

The last card and poinsettia was delivered this afternoon to a friend and colleague of mine who has been encouraging me to join a women's group that she belongs to.  For that I am truly grateful.  I met a fabulous group of women, who truly care for, love and support each other.  Today was their last get together of the year due to Christmas activities and as such their Christmas Party.  Guess what we participated in at the Christmas party.........Card Making!!!!

I did have to fix a couple of these when I got home as some ink ran, but otherwise I LOVE these cards.  They made me happy not only making them but also being with other people who are so super supportive of each other.

For my family, my friends, and for all the support I have received this past year and the ability to really and truly look forward to Christmas this year (not just going through the motion like last year) I am so very truly Grateful.

I hope this inspires your own creativity.......I know mine has been sparked again ☺

Kathy

Sunday Funday...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Earlier today I packed up kiddo and the dogs and piled into the F 350 Super Duty crew cab with the 8' box!  Over the past week this has been my daily vehicle...I jokingly call it the Sunday goin' to meetin' truck in reference to a lady back home who used to haul her children everywhere and to everything in a similar mode of transportation.  I love having to park this "bus" as my brother refers to it in downtown traffic!!!!

Before we left I made a quick card and prepared a little surprise pack for a friend of mine who is feeling rather low. I have not stamped or made cards in a while so I did not over think this one, and I like the results.  One of the things that turned me off of stamping including being told that Stampin' Up is not in the business of creating loyal customers, they are in the business of "making business" was how competitive and elaborate cards seemed to have to be.

This card has none of that; it was just fun to make:

I found this little lunch box thingy in my stash of gifting treasures:

Inside I put:

Monkey fabric and:

Some Christmas fat quarters that she had been looking at similar ones the other day. ☺

Hope it makes her feel better at least a little when she finds this in the worm hole (her mail box). 

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

It's My Friday!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!!!

Okay, not to brag, but, today is my Friday!!!  I am finally finished work for this week.  I am very fortunate to have a job that I love, but sometimes I just need to be done!  That was today!

When I got home I found my April box of Paper Pumpkin.  I had cancelled out of this subscription back in February but there was great promise that the April box would be AMAZING.  Well, not sure about that.  I did however decided to do the 3 month prepay option as that is cheaper ☺

Here is what was in this month's box:

Yup...that's it...., not sure really sure what one is supposed to do with this item....going to be one of those things that sits and stares at me in my craft room I think (hopefully it does not start to talk to me like some of the other set aside kits do).  

I did like the stamp sets that came with it though...

Both of these will likely be used.

My friend and neighbor has been going through a bit of a rough time lately so I made her a card with this new stamp set:

TAH DAH!!!

I think that they turned out rather pretty!

I also put a metre cut of a really pretty fabric in a gift bag for her and left it in her mailbox this evening as a surprise:

Hope this makes her feel better ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Spring Forward Weekend

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Yesterday was a crazy busy day but a really good one!

After getting up early we were off to swimming lessons.  Last one of the semester!

On the way home we stopped for lunch at McDonald's with the coupon book.

Back to the house to get the marshmallows ready for my son's play date.  All the children were bringing a treat and he decided that he should bring marshmallows.

Marshmallows setting in the pan.

Marshmallows getting icing sugar dusted on.

Bag of marshmallows packaged up for my friend Sharon! ☺  (She LOVED them).

Then we picked up my friend Sharon and headed off to Woodland Quilting to sign up for the Tuffet Class that is being offered.

Getting back to the house I finished packing up the marshmallows for the play date.

Dropping kiddo off it was then time to pick up a few groceries at Costco and gasoline for the car as well since Costco now has Top Tier gasoline and it is still almost 20 cents a litre cheaper than the other gasoline stations.  ☺

After picking up kiddo we came home and had a very relaxing evening.  Today was spring the clocks forward so technically we slept in.

Sharon came over to make green marshmallows for her colleagues for later this week.

After dinner we took the dog for a walk and now it is time to relax with my knitting and get ready for work tomorrow.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sunday Funday...

Good Late Evening Internet Friends.

Today my son and I are referring to as Sunday Funday.  We accomplished almost nothing except for some laundry being washed.

I did a bit of knitting, still not anything that I can really showcase.  

After lunch we headed out with the dog for a walk to my friend Sharon's just to see how my quilt is coming along.  I will say it looks AMAZING!!!  Probably the nicest quilted quilt that I have ☺

Since it was Sharon's birthday recently I finished up the last pair of my fingerless mittens from Yarn Crush and along with blog friend Jane's idea of putting the cheapy dollar store gloves under these I gifted these to Sharon for her birthday because they are pretty and RED.

Of course I made a gift box:

Used one sheet of my brand new It's My Party Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up and I even made the box using my Gift Box Punch Board!  OMG.  Only the ribbon is contraband ☺

Inside the box went these beauties:

I have been loving these monthly yarn and pattern and small gifty packages from Yarn Crush but unfortunately although they are a Canadian company the kits are priced in US dollars meaning that the next time I go to pre-purchase my subscription the cost will be significantly more and not sure that it is worth it (sad face).

The walk was great although cold it was - 26 degress Celsius (-15 Fahrenheit).  We all including puppy walked quickly:

Arriving home we made hot chocolate and then watched some tele under quilts ☺

Back to work tomorrow, so off to bed I go.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Doggie Bag

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today's blog post is literally...a doggie bag!  I picked up a few quilt and soap treats for my friend and neighbor Sharon who does my long arm quilting at Four Paws Quilting.  These are all treats unique to Canmore so kind of a big deal. 

Looking in the closet today I realized that I was completely out of pre-purchased Christmas gift bags, my supply of basic bags on which I could paper craft was also depleted, so I decided that maybe I should dip into some of the fabric that is currently insulating a room in the north east corner of my house (I think the temperature is actually warmer in that room).  The fire hydrant/paw fabric is actually something that came from Sharon's house originally, but I was able to add a fat quarter for trim and VOILA:

Gift Bag/Doggie Bag!  ☺

Sharon loved it of course, and the puppy loved the walk and all the treats that Auntie Sharon always feeds him.  ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Friday Crafting.......

Good Morning Internet Friends!

Yes, I am fully aware of the time.... but this is how I roll.

Just finished these 31 treat bags for my son's class today....

Now off to get a couple of winks of sleep before my very long day tomorrow! ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Speed Crafting!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Seriously, that is my mode right now...fast, faster, FASTEST!

Today was Secret Santa Gift Exchange day at work.

For my Secret Santa I made a Fisherman's Wife Cowl in Poinsettia Thick & Quick:

I added a box of Strawberry Bath Gel and Lotion from The Body Shop and packaged up in the Batik fabric Gift Bag I sewed:

Finally, all wrapped up:

Hoping she likes it!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Another Knitting Finish....

Good Late Evening Internet Friends.

I always mean to be better prepared for Christmas every year.  Yet, this year thanks to all the stuff that has gone on in my world this fall, I am very far behind.  I am still trying to get a scarf knitted for my son's teacher and this should be done at latest tomorrow so that I have time to block it for wrapping on Friday.....might not make it.

As you know I attended a class last spring on Cowichan Knitting as part of Sylvia Olsen's Great Canadian Knitting Tour.  The original toque I knit I gave to hubby to wear under his hard hat the oil fields camp.  Then I made one for myself in a red.  My brother then saw this and wanted one of his own, so I got knitting again.  By mid summer I realized that these would make most awesome Christmas Gifts for almost everyone.  

As of this evening here is my latest Cowachin Toque freshly blocked and dried and ready to be wrapped up:

TAH DAH!!!!

Now off to finish a few last touches on my Secret Santa Gift for tomorrow. ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Tick Tock, Tick Tock.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

For those of you that have been following my blog for a while now you will know that my dear friend Brandy is getting married this summer.  Over a year ago I started a quilt for the occaision.  In typical Kathy fashion though I sewed all the blocks, but seemed to have no motivation to sew the blocks together until tonight.  

Here is the center part of the quilt.  This quilt is one of the two that I did for the Mi Vida Loca mystery quilt.  The side borders and pieced units are still to be put on, but at least the center is complete:

I have to admit that although I get "SEW" frustrated with the instructions for these quilts, I do always enjoy the end product.  Now, here's hoping that I can get it quilted before mid July ♫

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Another Gift Bag

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Earlier in the week I made yet another gift bag in which to hold a small gift.  Once again I used my Paper Pumpkin kit.  Not sure what I will do when I fun out of these bags from that kit ☺

So quick and easy to make, but as always, loved by the receiver!  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Good Friday

Good Evening Internet Friends.

I hope that everyone had a Good Friday.  Today of course was a stay at home day since it is a holiday.  

Yesterday my son and I went to Crock a Doodle and while en route there we went through a blowing snow across the highway kind of storm and then had hail on the way home!  I went to yoga yesterday evening and when I was leaving this was the parking lot:

More SNOW!!!!

My craft for today is actually a card that I made for my student RN.  Last Friday was her last day with me as she moves on to her final practicum.  It was a pleasure to have her and so along with a scarf I knit for her as well I made a quick card from one of the Paper Pumpkin kits that I have sitting in my craft room:

Part of my plan over Spring Break was to get caught up on some of these kits.  However, I found out yesterday that I am all out of glue runner!!!!

  Not sure how that happened, but since I recently had to place my end of quarter Stampin' Up order which included lots of glue runner to keep my hobby demo status current, I will have to wait on completing these projects because I refuse to buy glue!

After lunch my son and I went to the local park to play.  We did not stay as long as planned as it was  still cold out there.

When we got back home we baked a batch of Cheddar biscuits to go along with dinner which of course is fish on Friday:

I poached the salmon and then topped it with my all new favorite product; Pineapple & Habanero Sauce.

I seriously LOVE this stuff and have been putting it on, and in everything this week.

Since it is Good Friday I will close this post with my all time favorite version of  the Old Rugged Cross.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

  

A Brown Bag...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I needed a gift bag for the scarf that I made for my manager earlier this week and somehow I am all out of fabric gifty bags as well as pillow cases, so I made:

This bag is made from one of the Paper Pumpkin kits that I have occupying real-estate in my craft room!  

It turned out pretty good, and was the perfect size for the scarf and card! ☺

The intent is to complete some of these kits over Spring Break when we return from our road trip!  I have been singing Dancin' Across the USA all evening so I have attached the link so that you too can get this song stuck in your head!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy