Labour Day...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I hope that y'all had a restful Labour Day and are ready for whatever tomorrow brings.  I really tried hard not to do any kind of labour today at all!

I took doggie out for a really looooooooong walk this morning.  Quite chill out there and no doubt that Winter is on its way😰❄

I took several pictures of the Autumn Blaze Maple in my front yard.  It is SOOOOOO beautiful right now.  I was supposed to get a different type of red maple, but the supplier was all out so I got this type (this is the one I really wanted).  🍁

Late this afternoon I baked a Rhubarb Cake with the Rhubarb I got at the St Albert Farmers' Market on Saturday.  I froze 8 bags with 2 cups in each bag and kept the last 2 cups for use in cake today:

For dinner I made kiddo Spinach/Mushroom/Green Onion/Zucchini/Red Pepper/Boursin stuffed chicken.  Served with baby potatoes and fresh green beans it was a HIT with him.

This evening I spent a bit of time with my knitting and even watched a little tele (not something I do regularly).  

Hope this inspires your own creativity and wishing you all the BEST Day EVER Tuesday tomorrow.  Stay Safe out there.  😷

 Kathy

BEST Day EVER Sunday!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!!

I hope y'all had a BEST Day EVER Sunday!

Up early with doggie of course.  Checked on my deck full of plants (still waiting on the sod and landscaping) and found the first fresh strawberry!!!  I ate it and it was DELICIOUS!!!

Bake a Rhubarb Cake this afternoon with rhubarb my colleague brought for me from her mother's garden.  

While the cake was baking I knit on the deck with doggie keeping me company.  Mostly I think he just likes to smell the air. 🤣

After dinner I put the borders on my 2017 Flock of Geese 52 Week Block Challenge hosted by Darlene D'Eon Designs:

TAH DAH!!!

My 2015 version of the 52 Week Challenge is quilted with binding on.  Doggie sleeps in front of the fireplace on it daily.

2016 has borders on and ready for long arming.

2017 needs a backing piece and then ready for long arming.

2018 Red and White is currently being quilted.  

2019 & 2020 are a work in progress.  

Each of these quilts is made with scrap fabric left over from other quilts.  I would like to say that my scrap pile is diminishing......but....alas.....it is NOT!!!!!  

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

Kathy

Let's Purge...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Got up to a nice rainy day with great plans to purge as much of my house as possible.

But.....first I stopped in my craft room.  I have some really cool in there.  "Sew" I got distracted and cut the rest of my 2.5" squares and finished this table topper:

While I was there I found a banana bread recipe that I thought I should try...so I did:

So then it was snack time....

A friend of my posted last night about rhubarb rolls and since I have not had those in years I decided to use up the last of my fresh rhubarb and make these:

Snack time AGAIN!!!  No wonder I don't lose weight or get anything done....

However, by this evening I had managed to clean and purge the bathroom downstairs; half a garbage bag, full blue bag and a partial box to be donated.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Keepin' it Between the Rhubarb...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Stopped by my amazing friend Lynn's on Saturday evening and was gifted a huge bag of fresh rhubarb!  This evening was the first time though that I have been able to get to it.

I asked my son what he wanted first and the response was "CAKE", so I made our favourite Rhubarb Cake:

Quite proud of myself with this one as well.  Dinner required oven time so I mixed up the cake and put in the oven alongside dinner.  While everything was cooking dog and I headed out for our evening walk.  Leaving home there was a very light mist to the air but by the time we made 7.06 mi home we were both DRENCHED!!☔🐕  

Warm cake fresh from the oven helped with that.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...🙨

Kathy

Cake.....Walk.....

Good Evening Internet Friends😎

Today was my last day to get things done before we leave for Ottawa for Canada 150 as I work the next two days and then we leave.

This afternoon I chopped up the rhubarb that I got on the weekend.  I froze some and used the rest to make Rhubarb Cake:

This is probably one of my favourite treats of summer!

This evening when we took the dog (horse) out for a walk the River Valley looked very pretty:

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

But I need MORE time.....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I am NOT ready for tomorrow to be Monday.  

Friday evening was spent getting everything ready to head out to the farm on Saturday to plant the garden.  We left Saturday afternoon as my son had a school performance to do Saturday afternoon and I agreed to be a parent volunteer for the morning.

After his performance we loaded up the car with that all the stuff for the 5th wheel, the garden,and the dogs and headed out.  

Saturday evening was a bit of organizing and cleaning up the 5th wheel and transplanting the tomatoes, pumpkins and zucchini.

Today the garden got planted with assistance of some helpers....

Puppy decided to take the potatoes out of the holes I put them in and put them in the holes he wanted to...might have some cross breeding or genetic modification potatoes happening....

Three hours later the garden was planted.  We have, onions, garlic, dill, lettuce, purple mustard greens, carrots, purple carrots, beets, green beans, yellow beans, purple beans, peas, purple potatoes, red potatoes, corn, zucchini, spaghetti squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, purple tomatoes, and lemon tomatoes:

TAH DAH!  Garden planted!

Just before we left I picked some rhubarb.  I just love that stuff and am so happy that the plant has really taken off:

There is enough here that I am able to give two friends each 4 thick stalks of rhubarb and have 4 left for myself as well.

Arriving home we mowed the lawn, I planted more grass seed where the lawn is looking thin, weeded the flower beds and pulled off the dead stems from my flowers, made dinner, started laundry and took a bike ride.  

Still have to make some muffins for lunches tomorrow so it will be a late night and I work 4 days this week!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

DOH!!!! Long Weekend Over Already

Good Evening Internet Friends!

So, the Victoria Day Long Weekend is over.  As my son put it though it is still a bonus, because not only did we get a long weekend, but now we have a short week!.  Alright, try to look at this positively...

The weather forecast for the farm last night was - 4 degrees Celsius (25 F)!  Most of my plants had not yet surfaced so I figured that they would be okay in their dirt bed, but what about the strawberries, rhubarb and lavender.  I spent most of yesterday afternoon fretting about this until I was cutting off the edges of my quilt to put on the binding.  As I pulled off those long rows of bamboo batting I realized that since it makes quilts nice and warm that I could probably make a quilt for my plants. ☺

A quick trip to town to the Peavy Mart for some tarps and I made the best sleeping bag ever for my garden:

Today when I unwrapped everything I found:

The neighbor lost 23 of his tomato plants : (, wasn't using bamboo quilt batting is my guess.

Last evening I finished my Sylvia Olsen toque:

It kept my head warm last night while I brought all the flower pots in to the 5th wheel for the night!

Still need to block it, but it is very cozy and I will be knitting a few more of these in my future I think...

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.

We decided to head out to the acreage today.  For the past couple of years we have been using the big Honda generator out there but this year we have sprung for the electrical to be run into the yard.  YAY Power!

While my husband worked on that my son and I did some gardening.  It is not a big garden by any means, but enough for a kid to dig holes in and see some vegetables grow.  We planted Lavender, Rhubarb, Strawberries, Garlic, Onions, Lettuce, Carrots, Peas, Beans (green and yellow), Beets, Purple Potatoes, Red Potatoes, Corn, Zucchini, Squash and Pumpkins!

We picked everything up at Peavy Mart (inlcuding the pinwheel flower) because they are 100% Western Canadian, but more importantly the staff are friendly and helpful! ☺

Of ocurse we wandered around some this afternoon checking out the rabbits, birds, birds in the pond/slough:

We ate dinner before heading back to the city.  The pond looked very pretty as we were eating dinner:

While laundry was being done this evening I worked on another one of my Churn Dash Blocks that I am participating in with A Needle Pulling Thread Quilt Shop:

A very lovely and peaceful day.  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Rhubarb Cake

When we moved into our house 12 years ago, there was no rhubarb in the backyard!  OMG!  I had to take care of that.  Ever since then my husband has decided to move it at least twice while landscaping the back yard (his sneaky plan is to get rid of it) and so far it has managed to defeat his attempts on it.

Today, I decided it was time to bake with it, so I made my favorite  rhubarb cake.  It's yummy, maybe it's the sugar on top.....

Rhubarb Cake:

1/2 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 egg

1tsp vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups rhubarb

3 tbsp ground flax seed

Mix as listed and pour into 9 x 13 cake pan.  Top with 3/4 cup brown sugar and 3 teaspoons cinnamon.

Bake for 40 minutes in 350 degree F oven.

Enjoy.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy