BEST Day EVER Saturday...

Good Evening Internet Friends!  Super busy of late I guess so no blogging time...🤔

It's been over a year since I went on my only shop local small businesses and Costco (because they are a good employer) mission.  To be honest I don't miss anything that the malls or box stores offer, only shopped the "A" online place once years ago (huge disappointment), and this feels good socially. 😊

On Wednesday got pet supplies from Homes Alive Pets.  Alberta owned and operated with lots of Canadian products, fabulous customer service and a delivery option!  Doggie was sure all of this was for him. 😆🐕

Today I had my hair done with the amazing Michelle at Jolie Hair & Beauty.  She can cut hair that keeps natural curls from going frizzy!!! 🤯🥳

Got a bottle of the most amazing (lightly scented so no asthma attack) hand lotion that is super soft on my hand sanitizer exacerbated eczema there too!

A not so quick trip in to Sew Divine for some border fabric yielded these finds!!! Cat fabric among other things and my Kona Club for April!😄

Put my hand splints on this evening and finished the binding on this table runner.  Picked it up at Sew Divine ...a year...or two ago.

Hope this inspires your own creativity and Stay Safe Out there.  😷😷

Wishing you all a BEST Day EVER Sunday tomorrow.  

Kathy

The Stockings Were Hung....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

The weekend is over!!  It was a very productive weekend and I feel a bit accomplished on top of that!!!  

Friday was my day off so I got EVERYTHING that needed to be done then so that I could stay home this weekend.

Yesterday was a bit of knitting, and the rest was housework.  Every surface in this house has been washed, vacuumed, dusted, oiled and in some cases more than one of these may have been done!  

There is a possibility that I may be ready for Christmas with the exception of baking that will take place on my week off before Christmas.  

I started the day by baking a loaf of Banana Gingerbread.  Used up cupboard bananas so a WIN!!  

 

Finished the hand binding on a table runner I made for my brother for Christmas.  I did attempt a machine binding but still not a fan of this type of binding.  Back to hand sewing.....

I picked up a Stocking Quilt Panel at Sew Divine recently with the intent of making the dog and cat their own Christmas Stocking.  The doggie stocking is really cute, but alas my dog is way TOOOOO big for his treats to fit in there.  I decided to use the other stocking panel with a dog on it for him and the smaller stocking will go to our family friend's new doggie who is that size:

Now it is off to walk the Montyster doggie for the evening and then get to bed as tomorrow will be a long day.

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

Kathy

Boot Scootin' Christmas...

 Good Evening Internet Friends!!! 

Busy day at work today.  Made a quick dinner out of gnocchi, steamed broccoli, red onion, mushrooms and a cream sauce topped with Better Than Bacon Topper.  Turned out yummy and left overs for kiddo's lunch tomorrow. 

After dinner I decided that I should get going on the Christmas table runner I am making for my brother.  Bought this kit several years ago and decided to assemble this year.  The news at dinner also reminded me of the dates to mail things for Christmas delivery so maybe I should get going...

Super excited about this as I used what might be my new FAVOURITE product:  fusible batting.  Sooooo, much easier than quilt batting!!!  Picked this up with help from Pat and staff at Sew Divine.   Stitched around the borders and a few of the boots in the center this evening.  If I do a couple each night I just might be able to get the binding on it this weekend and post before the Christmas deadline for postal services.

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

Kathy

Lazy Sunday...

 Good Evening Internet Friends.

Had a good Ole Lazy Sunday today.

Took doggie out for his walk at 0500 and then just puttered around for a bit.  Doggie went to sleep in front of the fireplace.  

Breakfast was toasted Blueberry bagels from Costco with homemade jelly, a poached egg, and a tall glass of milk; comfort food:

After breakfast I mixed up a batch of sour cream, and green onion bread.  While the bread rose I took doggie out for a stroll in the daylight and through some of the bush trails that are not yet developed here.  Found out that the lakes are starting to freeze over.  The ducks looked cold: 🦆

Back home I put the bread in to bake and made a batch of "Dishwater Soup" as we call it.  Basically it is all the veggies one has in the fridge along with the left over turkey and broth from Thanksgiving:

 

Nutritious and Delicious!!!

After lunch I spent a bit of time in my craft room and assembled this table runner kit that I bought for my brother about 8 years ago and just stare at.  Today I actually put it together.  Will stop at Sew Divine next weekend and see if I can get some kind of fusible batting so that I don't have to do too much quilting on this:

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

Kathy

Let's GO!!!

 Good Evening Internet Friends! 

Still NO SNOW here!!!❅❆❄

Super Busy Day today, but very productive.  One of the goals I have been working on is making sure that I support local and especially small local businesses as much as possible.  I started to focus on this a few years back but since the pandemic started I have made a concentrated effort to do this.  Groceries are purchased weekly at Costco due to their rewards system as well as them being an active supporter of charity in the community and treating their staff from what I have heard.  The things that I cannot get there I purchase on Saturday at local small businesses.

First stop today was at Donut Party.  They make amazing donuts that my son just loves.  Their customer service though is kind of lacking as when I asked about delivery during the pandemic the owner refused to deliver to our neighbourhood despite several other small bakeries delivering here twice a week.

There are 2 coconut cream, 2 Pumpkin Cream Cheese, a Birthday Cake and a Snickers donut.  They really are delicious.

Then it was off to Sherwood Park Shoe Repair to pick up my Brooks Tall winter boots that I dropped off for heel repair last week.  These are the most AMAZING boots ever.  With leather outer and shearling lining these boots are always warm!  Unfortunately, they are no longer manufactured and the classic boot is no where near as warm or comfortable.  Looks like I will be repairing these for a while:

At the local tailor I dropped off 2 pairs of scrub pants for hemming and my down fill ski jacket for a new zipper.  Repairing everything for winter!  🧥

A stop at the Post Office and at the Bottle Depot with recyclables rounded out the day.

On top of this I managed to get 9 loads of laundry done.  As of writing this all linen in this house has been washed!!  

Dinner was Lentil Taco's (kiddo hates Salsa and tomatoes):

That's okay....I get more to myself!!!

After dinner I spent some time in my craft room before taking doggie out for his walk.  I decided to finish up the "Sew" Fast Runner that I purchased 2 years ago from The Fabric Addict.  The top was pieced soon after I got it.....but I'm not a fan of the "quilting" process (shhhhh.....don't tell any quilter I said that) and not a fan of the binding process either.  This table runner needed BOTH of these tasks.  "SEW"  I set about doing both of these dreaded tasks this evening:

And DONE!!!  This little cutie is put away for Thanksgiving 2021!

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

Clucking Along...

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Not a lot of quilting over the last few days as super busy with life; work, kiddo to school, homework, piano lessons, house work, laundry, garbage and recycling take out, walking the dog....you know....

Today was my one day a week off and it was PACKED.  I stopped at Cobs bakery after dropping my son off at school to pick up some cinnamon bread, scones, sour dough flax bread and of course Cranberry Orange Hot Cross Buns.  

Then it was off to Duchesss Bakery to pick up a Banana Cream Pie for Pi Day:

If you are wondering.....Yes, it was DELICIOUS ☺

Then it was off to GO Group.  The Quilt Guild I belong to has a group of quilters all who own GO! Cutters.  They meet to share dies and ideas.  

I purchased one of these for myself as a Christmas present and today I was finally able to attend GO Group.  I learned several new things from the ladies who have owned these for a while and am glad I went because this evening I did this:

TAH DAH!!!

I will be adding a border and it will become a table runner.

I am so excited that I finally used my GO! Cutter.  It was FUN.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Table Runner!!!

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

This evening I worked on piecing a Table Runner that I just HAD to make because I LOVE the colours.  I saw these colours at a quilt shop and knew what I
had to make:
 

TAH DAH!!!

The finished size will be 16 x 55" and I love that I stretches across most of my table.  😺

Hope this insprires your own creativity...

Kathy

Re - Starting......

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Well, as my son would say "Re-Starting".  The weekend is over and it's back to work and school for one final week before Christmas Holiday's begin for both of us.

Yesterday was ridiculously cold.  Somewhere in the -35 C (-31 Fahrenheit) and the wind was strong.  We did not leave the house yesterday.  It was a pajama day.  We watched movies, made popcorn and had hot chocolate a few times.  In between fun I organized my quilting patterns and knitting patterns into their proper folders, organized some of my craft projects, sewed on a couple of projects and made Sticky Pecan Buns:

Finished wrapping the Christmas presents for under the tree.  Put the extra leaf into the dining table and started to put out the Christmas runners and placemats.

And yes, we are currently using up a stash of party napkins that I found from various birthday parties over the years ☺

Today we ran a few errands and got parcels in the mail (late.....I know).  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Finally Friday!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!!!

WOW!  It is finally Friday.....I was seriously doubting that this day would finally arrive.  So far this week I have had one day off.

One of my goals this year is to try and remember to take time for myself.  I do a really awesome job of taking excellent care of others, my family, my friends, my patients but at the end of the day I just do not set aside time for me.  

Unfortunately that has been most of this week.  This evening I decided that I would take some time to enjoy the wonderful fabrics in my sewing room.  I got  a couple of kits recently with the Scandi 3 fabric.

One of the prints looks like this:

Originally I was not sure what to do with it but over the next few days you will see some of the ways I have decided to use this row of fabric.

This evening I chose to do the easiest idea I hatched:

I made a table runner that measures 33 x 15".

If you look closely I even put in a piping border with the red!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy