Ain't That Sweet

Have you seen my moose?

2009-07-15T18:39:00Z

Without the picture, this would be hard to believe.
Read under the picture...

Pogo Moose Incident - Fairbanks , Alaska

"They were laying new power cables which were strung on the ground for miles. The moose are rutting right now and very agitated. He was thrashing around and got his antlers stuck in the cables. When the men (miles away) began pulling the lines up with their big equipment, the moose went up with them. They noticed excess tension in the lines and went searching for the problem. He was still alive when they lowered him to the ground. He was a huge 60 inch bull and slightly peeved!"

I even checked this on Snopes - Poor Moose - and it's TRUE! It happened on October 5, 2004 about 80 miles southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. CRAZY, eh!?

The Sugar Pine Quilt Co.

2009-07-03T21:29:00Z

About a month ago the girls in our family took a little trip, and had ourselves a little adventure. I mentioned before that my mom-in-law, my daughter, and myself were going to be driving 4+ hours to visit some new friends and a fantastic quilt store we had been told about. We were excited for some girl time away from the normal routine!

What fun it was to meet my Facebook friend (from BC) and her Facebook friend (from Wales) who were travelling together across Canada! We had a lot of fun with them for the few hours we had together. We enjoyed a lovely lunch together at the Ptarmigan Inn in downtown Banff, and then headed back east to Canmore for the headline event - visiting The Sugar Pine Co. Quilt store!

WOW! This quilt store was SO awesome! The setting was lovely, nestled in downtown Canmore with gorgeous views all the way around, and the store itself was fantastic. 2 stories of fabric and quilting notions and patterns and everything a quilter ever needs.

There are over 300 finished quilts on display in the store, with patterns available for most of them and MANY MANY more. The store was VERY well laid out and organized so that we could easily find what we were looking for. The trick, of course, was deciding what we were looking for! It was almost overwhelming!

There were easily hundreds of bolts of fabric, and thousands of fat quarters. They had baskets and buckets and shelves with fat quarters all around, including a section with $0.99 Fat Eights and $1.99 Fat Quarters (what a deal!). What I liked best about their fat quarter selection was that many of them were actually in little cubbies between the top & bottom shelves of fabric on bolts. That means that there were many many many fat quarters that were esentially arranged by the color wheel, so I could go to where the purple fabric bolts were and pick out a purple fat quarter in the cubby underneath the shelf.

The layout of the upstairs where all the fabric was kind of resembled a lowercase letter "h", and even with so much stuff in there it was easy to get around and explore! One side was seasonal fabrics, one side was basically a color wheel with the fabrics arranged by color, one side was all bright novelty fabrics, and there were patterns and notions of all sorts in the center and one corner.

They had many applique patterns for beautiful landscapes and other fun stuff! There were many patterns of the gorgeous Rocky Mountain vistas so popular in the Banff and Canmore area. Racks and racks of patterns - I could have gotten into a LOT of trouble in this store! But instead, I focused on helping my daughter find a couple of little projects.

We didn't have much time to explore the downstairs, but what we did see was so much fun. Ribbons, piping, tulle, buttons and other embellishments were everywhere. There were also gifts for quilters, thread of all sorts, including embroidery thread in every shade of the rainbow, and fun local fare like the maple leaf pins we found by the register.

Because we had found their bargain corner and bought much of our fabric on this occasion from that section, we got out of the store for under $100. I found their fabric of good quality and very reasonably priced, even for those not on special. They have so many one-of-a-kind original patterns there, too, that are of good value. We also discovered that many of their fabrics and patterns can be purchased through the Sugar Pine online store, and they ship all over the place, so we'll likely order some of their patterns that way in the future.

It was well worth our time, driving 8+ hours round trip, to go to this store, and to meet some new friends. I know that the next time I go through Canmore I will stop at The Sugar Pine again. It was just too much fun to pass up! I highly recommend this quilt store to any who are in the area, or who happen to be passing through on a Canadian Rocky Mountain adventure! It's worth a look for sure!

Shake a Cupcake

2009-06-08T10:31:00Z

I saw a commercial for a new product on TV on Friday night that caught my eye.

The folks over at Dr. Oetker have come up with a fun and easy new way to make muffins, cupcakes and pancakes. Oetker Shaker Mixes!

Have you seen these? The Shaker Mix comes in a plastic bottle that you purchase in the muffin/cupcake section of your local grocery. All you need to add is milk (or water), SHAKE, pour into your prepared muffin tins, and bake! No measuring, no extra bowls and spoons, not much to clean up! What could be easier?

I know that we'll be giving these a try. We have always enjoyed Dr. Oetker's muffin mixes, especially Blueberry Muffins. The Shaker makes it even easier and faster to make those yummy muffins.

As much fun as I think it will be to use the new Dr. Oetker Shaker Mixes, I know my kiddos are going to love using them, too. They love to bake anyway, and this Shaker will make it fast, easy, and FUN for them to help. That makes them happy, and EASY always makes me happy!

Baking is more fun when you shake, with Dr. Oetker.

I haven't picked up a Oetker Shaker Mix yet, but looking online I did find out that, not only are they fun and easy, but they're also pretty good for you, too. Every Shaker has 0 trans fat, is a source of fibre, and contains Prebiotics. More good news!

I found out that they have a great promotion going on with the launch of these new Shakers. Enter at the special Dr. Oetker website every day for your chance to WIN a $1200 Visa Card for your next family fun weekend or 1 of 10 Dr. Oetker Shaker fun packs!

We'll be trying these new Shakers out soon. With several varieties of muffins, cupcakes, and pancakes to choose from, I'm sure that we'll be enjoying some yummy baked treats, and having FUN while we do it!

Quilt Show

2009-06-02T19:04:00Z

Join us for a fantastic quilt show this weekend!

My daughter will have her quilt in the show and I will have 2 of mine on display as well. We're looking forward to this so much!

We drop off the quilts tomorrow and then we'll go probably Friday afternoon to see the rest of the quilts in the show.

If you live in Southern Alberta, Northern Montana, or just happen to be passing through the area, stop by and see this show. You won't be disappointed!