Rocky Mountain High Up

Ham, cheese and fig sandwich at The Quarry in Canmore, Alberta.



We drove as far as Revelstoke yesterday. The mountains are beautiful but much more tense driving for me.

Travels

We are on our way to Kelowna, BC, for an art show. Yesterday we traveled across part of Manitoba an all of Saskatchewan and spent the night in Medicine Hat, Alberta. Saskatchewan was straight and flat with ginormous skies. Some people might call that boring but I think it is subtly beautiful and relaxing to drive through. Today we tackle the Rocky Mountains. Could there be a greater contrast???

Borders...

I felt that this quilt needed some kind of border to pull it all together. This is what I am thinking of using.

Cats

I have been spending very little time in the studio lately. Lack of quilting time seems to be a summer thing. Not to worry. There are lots of fun things to do in summer. I'll be back at the quilting full speed once the snow flies again.
I did sew the cat houses together but now am a bit stumped as to how to finish it. I am out of the green fabric with flowers so I need to use something else around A Home and Cats. I have debated about blue at the top and more of the green at the bottom. I could also incorporate a couple more cats from the fabric...or flowers or birds or stars...

Tibetan Robe Finished

I finally finished the Tibetan Robe. There were a lot of facings to be hand sewn down and that was what was taking me so long to get going on. I am not a big fan of handwork. I am pretty happy with how it turned out but it was much too hot out there to spend time taking a better photo.

Party Time

We went to a party in North Dakota at our friends Brenda and Du's place. They made a special BBQ for kabobs. It was very successful. I made the chocolate truffles in the first picture. Tanis brought salad on skewers, another inspired idea. It's funny that they live less than ten miles away from us but in a different country.

A Good Thrifting Day

These two costumes will fit a little girl of about 10 or so. At $3 each I couldn't resist them even though there is nobody here of that size. I particularly like the one with the green skirt. The bead ornament at the neckline is beautiful.



I always check the cookbook section and this time I found this vegetarian cookbook in mint condition. It's not like I need any more cookbooks but with the garden starting to produce, I'm sure I'll find a few good recipes in this one.

Pressure Cooker

I got a pressure cooker a couple of weeks ago and am learning how to use it. The picture above is a beef short rib stew. Normally, that would have to simmer for two or three hours but it was done from freezer to table in about an hour using the pressure cooker. It would have been done faster if I had closed the lid properly at first.
I am thinning out the beets in my garden. I dearly love beet greens lightly steamed.


This is my new pressure cooker. It is an 8 quart Fagor . I got it at Amazon .

Trans Canada Trail

This morning we took a walk on the Trans Canada Trail. It was incredibly beautiful. We saw a large buck, ate saskatoons and wild raspberries and took a lot of pictures.
I got two wet feet and a lot of woodticks.
It was a fine morning.

Basket/Bag

Today I made a liner for another basket. This one is for my friend, Brenda, and is much larger than the one I did for myself.

Back at Last

I don't think I've ever gone this long without posting since I started this blog. It's been a busy time with the last event being our yearly July 7 party . This is a picture of the potluck table. What is better than a potluck? I just typed potlick , which is also appropriate! After the food we had a big bonfire and some fireworks. I forgot to bring my camera though, so no pictures of that part of the party.
Hopefully, today will be a back to the studio day.

Quilting Again!

I did a bit more work on my latest cat quilt today. I finished the letters for the quote. In the last word I've worked in some cats. Now I have to decide what fabric to use to join all the pieces together.

Canda Day

For Canada Day I made Chinese food using the Sun Lee Cookbook. I now have a new respect for Chinese restaurant cooks! Timing is everything. I had to make lists and notes. Lots of chopping ahead of time and lots of last minute stir-frying. Good thing I had a some help. My favorite was probably the lemon chicken or maybe the Peking Duck.

In the picture above, Peking Duck with scallion pancakes
Lemon Chicken, Spicy Bean Curd, Cold Sesame Noodles, Bean Curd Salad, Ribs Wuxi Style, Orange Beef, Broccoli with Garlic Sauce and Rice. Oops, the rice wasn't on the table yet.

Our eldest granddaughter (far left) just got home from Halifax and was able to be here for July 1st. These are four sisters. Aren't they fabulous!