Stromboli

 I haven't shared a recipe in a coon's age. I haven't stopped cooking, so I don't know why there's been a dry spell. Sometimes I just forget to take a photo and although I'm not a food photographer, it seems a post ought to be accompanied by a photo.

I've been making this for a long time...probably at least 20 years and I made it over Christmas when everyone was here. It's a family favorite even though I got sidetracked and burned it. 😂

I realized I hadn't shared it here yet, so I made it again yesterday. The day before, we went to town (50 miles one way) for an insurance appt., errands, and a Safari Club board meeting. Neither of us had been to town since the 30th (15 days) so the list was long. I do not like Walmart, but I like their pick-up option. I still go in to choose produce, but the pick-up option works well for me. We didn't get home until just after 10 p.m. and by the time everything gets put away

and showers and closing out the day takes place, it was almost 11:30. That is about 3 1/2 hours past my bedtime so I was dragging the next morning and Stromboli is a fast solution for dinner (our lunch) when you've spent the morning working outside.

Stromboli

1 can Pillsbury Pizza Crust (or use a homemade dough)

Diced Black Forest Ham (from a good deli - we have a local grocery store that has a great deli)

Diced Salami and or Pepperoni

Grated Baby Swiss Cheese (or Mozzarella or Provolone or mix it up)

3 diced green onions

1-2 Tbsp melted butter

Parmesan

Parsley

Granulated Garlic

*Roll out pizza dough. Sprinkle with ham, salami, and pepperoni. I often just used ham because that's all I had at the time. Top with shredded cheese, and green onions. Roll up into a log, sealing edges and ends well. Slice across top of dough a few times to vent and let steam escape. Add some parmesan, dried parsley, and granulated garlic to melted butter. - stir to combine. Brush on top of Stromboli. Bake at 375° until brown on top - approximately 30 minutes. 

I had cauliflower, broccoli and some pepperoni in the fridge and pasta in the pantry so I made Italian Pasta Salad.

to serve with the Stromboli

Brilliant blue skies and 50° in January and this just hit the spot.

Thawing Out and Working Out

 We ended up with 8" of snow last week. DH is very conservative in his snow measurements so it could have been more. 😉 But it certainly transformed our home into a winter wonderland

I told our girl that we had been dropped into a Hallmark movie. LOL. 

                                         

DH and his handy dandy skid steer were called into action

We had some wicked icicles 

that looked funny as things began to thaw and snow began to slide off of the roof

It was 50 degrees on Saturday and the snow was melting fast in places

We spent all day working on the chicken yard. Come to think of it, I've never seen a Hallmark movie where they built a chicken compound. LOL

We worked on digging a 70' trench around it. We used a heavy pry bar to loosen the dirt and the shovel to clean it out. We will bury the wire panels 12" deep to discourage wild critters from digging in for a chicken dinner.

In all honesty, I could barely lift my arms the next day and my hands were useless. but I was quite pleased with my straight trench (DH dug 40' in the time it took me to dig 20') even though it's just going to get covered up.😂

DH is putting SO much work into this. I told him I didn't know he loved my chickens so much. He said, "I don't, but I love you". 🥰 This is his love language. 

Our high was 32 on Sunday and it snowed again, but we bundled up and went back to work.

I just wanted a simple chicken coop, but DH came up with the design and details and simple isn't in his wheel house. 😂 Even Skeet's on board with making sure all the details are correct.

We had a few spoonfuls of ice cream after dinner and DH laughed and asked if I wanted Advil sprinkles on top. 😂 

I wanted to add some binding stitches to my latest quilt that evening, but could barely hold the needle, much less keep my eyes open.

Silly chickens have no idea how lucky they are!

New Year - New Quilt

 Here it is, the New Year and I just posted a list of 24 quilts I want to work on. That's more than I can realistically tackle in a year. So, what do I do? Start a new project. 😁

But, we've been working on building a new chicken yard

DH has been working overtime and doing a lot of welding for it.

So I spend some time in my sewing room until I am called back into action. When I saw Allison of Cluck Cluck Sew release this Hashtag quilt in October, I bought it instantly.

 I cannot resist plaid and right away I envisioned this in flannels, and autumn fabrics, and western prints, and Christmas fabrics...

But hey, a Christmas quilt is on that list so this new project can moonlight as that! Lots of fun stash fabrics to choose from...

And yes, I'm perfectly delighted to be working on a Christmas quilt in January. The scene outside on Wednesday still heralded a holiday feeling. 

These blocks are big, so you don't lose the fun prints along the way. This is a fat quarter quilt, but I just used prints from my Christmas bin so it took longer to figure out how to make the best use out of what I had. I'm using a textured print from my stash for the light squares because that's what I had. One fun block finished

The beginnings of that little winter storm arrived on Tuesday afternoon

so I made Baked Apple Oatmeal that morning for breakfast

And Chicken Gnocchi Stoup for dinner

 They're forecasting about 6" today so I'm going to take advantage of some free time and spend a few hours stitching up more blocks.

As for DH...snow or not; he's not one for being idle...

Quilts on the Horizon for 2025

This looks suspiciously similar to last year's list, but I made 12 quilts last year so  I'm starting off the year with the 12 quilts that get rolled over from that list with more for good measure. I made a pretty good dent in last year's list, but was sidetracked by our move in August and our many outside projects.

This is a list of both UFOs and quilts I hope to work on in the coming year. 

1. Winter Blues - I didn't touch this last year and I've just got 65 of these little scrappy blue blocks made so hopefully I can get back to this one and move it forward. It's been on the list since 2022. I may set this up to be my leader-ender project.

2. Follow Your Heart - Jackie has this one so I'll be binding it soon. This too has been on this list since 2022.

3. Christmas Quilt - No progress on this one in fact, I haven't even chosen a pattern, but I'm using my stash so it will be scrappy.

4. Peppermint Bark Christmas - I need a 2nd Christmas quilt and I actually do have the blocks made, but they haven't made it to top status yet. I made them back in June.

5. Love You S'more - I pieced one camping quilt top for our granddaughter last year that's ready to be dropped off with Jackie. 

6. Love You S'more II - New Project. Another camping quilt for our grandson.

7. Meet Me in Margaritaville - I scrapped my original plan and moved on to plan B, but wasn't liking that much either. So I'm waiting for inspiration to lead me in another direction, but another green-blue quilt is still on my radar

8. Pooh's Corner - Still just a pile of fabric at the moment

9. Meadow Friends - hoping to make a quilt or 2 from these fabrics for the grandchildren

10. S'mores Quilt - I didn't touch this last year and still have blocks to make

11. Farmhouse Chic Quilt - another one that I neglected last year, but I hope to dig into it soon

12. Snuggle Season - still just a fat quarter pack. I need to settle on a pattern yet.

13. Old Dirt Road - I hope to work on this one this year - it's not even cut out yet.

14. Gingham Farmhouse - ready to hand this one off to Jackie for quilting

15. Scrap Baskets - I picked this one up from Jackie last September, but still need to bind it.

16. Red & White Swap Quilt - in line to be bound

17. Peachy Keen Gingham - Also waiting for me to stitch the binding down.

18. Animal Crackers - This one is at Jackie's - that binding pile is growing!

19. Autumn Gatherings - Flannel quilt requested by our girl. It's pieced and ready to be quilted.

20. I Spy - I made an I Spy quilt for our granddaughter's 2nd birthday. Our grandson is turning 2 this year so an I Spy quilt is definitely a priority.

Then there are a handful of quilt tops that have been hanging in the back of the closet for quite a few years. They were rediscovered when we moved. It's time to get them finished.

21. Dinosaur Baby - needs a backing

22. Jungle Baby - awaiting a backing as well 

23. Farmers Market - needs a good pressing before I hand it off to be quilted. I pieced a backing and made binding for it on Wednesday.                                        

24. Sweet Snuggles flannel quilt - in line for quilting

O.K. stopping there. If I stick to this list, I won't be buying much fabric because I have everything for all the quilts with the exception of some backings, but I'm going to try hard to cobble those together from my stash. I bought very little last year. Heaven knows I can sew for years and not run out of fabric, but it would be nice to see a decrease in my stash.

5 of these are waiting for binding, 7 are completed tops and ready to be quilted, 3 are partially pieced, and the other 9 aren't even cut out yet so I ought to to be able to finish a dozen or so and hopefully make progress on others.  It's funny to think that I could go this entire year without sewing a stitch (except for bindings) and still have 12 quilts finished at the end of the year. 

It's hard to sit inside and quilt when we're spending so much time working on our property, turning it into what we've envisioned. (Presently, that's our new chicken coop / yard). Even when the weather chases us inside, I'd rather cozy up by the fire so good thing I've got a lot of quilts to bind!