Greetings & Salutations

What movie?  Who knows?  It was one of my favorite books to read to my children!  The movie was a favorite too!
I have been busy!  I am getting my energy back more and more every day.  Feels good to be productive again. 
I think I will start with cooking.  I cooked a turkey breast one day last week, and we had two nights of delicious hot turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy.  A few sandwiches for lunch.  And then with what was left, I made a turkey pot pie.  So easy....I just use the ready made dough, and a frozen bag (or 2 in my case) of veggies, 1-2 baked potatoes, and either a couple of packets of gravy mix, or box gravy.  (Trader Joes makes a really good boxed gravy)  I usually make this using a deep dish pie plate, but I couldn't find the one I wanted to use to save my life, so I used a 9x13, which I wound up liking so much better for this.  Cuts out much easier!!  So line the bottom of dish with one of the packets of dough.  Let it get to room temp before rolling to size.

 I put the turkey, mixed veggies, cut up potato ( I will usually cook two russets in the microwave, but since I had left over mashed potatoes still, I only cooked one, and then used the rest of the mashed), one finely diced onion, salt and pepper to taste.

I cooked the gravy on stove top, and then added to the bowl.

 Mix well, and pour into your dish.  Roll out second dough to top dish. 

It is much harder to flute the edges when using an oblong dish, but flute a little bit, and cut some steam vents into dough. I like to brush the top of mine with egg white to give the crust a nice sheen.  I cracked an egg into a dish, then took an empty water bottle, squeezed to depress air out of bottle, then hold directly over egg yolk.

Then release bottle to suck up just the yolk.  Works like a charm every time.  No broken yolks either.

I bake it at about 425 for 45 minutes, or until top crust is golden brown.

Let it sit for a few minutes while the pie settles a little bit.  Delicious and so easy!
I took the remaining carcass of the turkey and made 4 quarts of broth. 

I left an inch or so at the top, and screwed lids on lightly, then put into freezer.  Once set up, I tightened the lids. This can be used in any recipe calling for chicken broth.  Oh, be sure to strain it into your jars, to remove any small bits. 
So about 3 dinners, a few cold sandwiches, and all of that broth, yielded from one 5 pound turkey breast.  By the way, I like the Jennie O frozen turkey breast in a bag.  So easy to cook, no mess, and a winner every time!  I buy mine at Walmart.
I also made a big batch of granola.  Greg eats this nearly every day.  I love mine on yogurt.

This big jar was a thrift store find.  I love that is has a rubber seal for freshness.  And the size is perfect for granola.  The jar is sitting atop a 12 inch quilt block from Farm Girl Vintage that I wasn't going to use, so instead of tossing it, I used it as a machine quilting opportunity to practice.  I quilted the heck out of it, and did some practice with writing words as well.
Now let's sew.  I had purchased this set of patterns for 12 months of seasonal wall hanging quilts, probably 10 years ago.  I made the first three for the season we were in, and then never made another one.  Every year I say I am going to finish them, and never have.  This is the year.  So with only a few days left in January, I made this wall hanging.
In my haste to finish it and get it hung, I inadvertently left off the snowflakes that go above and below the word January.  Oopsie.  I did an all over loops and swirls to machine quilt it using my Singer One.  Since I was in a big hurry, I did not do any button hole stitching on the applique pieces, like I had done on all of the others.  It looks just fine to me with out, considering this only hangs for a few weeks a year, I just didn't do it. 
I also cheated on the tabs with which the wall hanging is hung  to the foundation quilt. On the foundation quilt, there are three large buttons.  Each wall hanging has fabric tabs sewn to the quilt to attach it to the buttons.  Hence the name of the pattern, "Button Ups"  However, I had an idea that would work and allow for a quicker finish.  I sewed three black elastic hair ties to the back of the quilt where the tabs would go, and this worked perfectly.

This is the foundation quilt that each one of the monthly wall hangings get buttoned up to.

The center panel I did in a cream flannel.  The outer borders are a simple series of rectangles.  I have mine hung from a quilt rack/shelf in the family room.  However when I moved my furniture recently, the new configuration partially blocks the view of the quilts. 

Moving this shelf will probably be in my future since we love the sofa being on that wall. 
In this room, I also have a large quilt on the wall that I did several years ago.  It is a Cheri Payne (Saffiote) pattern.  I cut this quilt out 12 years ago, just before my Dad got sick.  During this time, I lost my Dad.  I also lost my  quilting mojo for a couple of years, and couldn't even touch it.  Then, one day, I just decided it had to be finished.  I am so glad I did.

I love the sunflower border with it's meandering vines all the way around the quilt. 
The other day I set out to give my sewing room a good cleaning, and put away the fabrics I had been using during my Christmas sewing.  This led to a complete overhaul of everything!  I wound up doing a reorganization of my fabric using the KonMari method.  Everything is folded and stood up so that each piece can be easily identified without pulling anything out of the pile!

Every single bin is folded the same way.  A big job, but so much easier to see what you have at a glance.  In the wicker chest, it is all sorted by color too.

In my fabric sorting, I discovered this Valentine Panel that I had purchased a few years ago.  I can't even remember the designer.  I decided to back it and go ahead and machine quilt this too.  If you follow me on Insta Gram, you know I had nothing but trouble with the machine quilting of this for some reason.  My thread kept breaking, over and over.  SO many stops and starts on this.  It is hurky jerky, and I hated it.  I wasn't even sure if I would bind it.  But I am not one to leave things unfinished, so I put a solid red binding on it to frame it, and then hung it on the my green door in the kitchen.

I don't usually label a small wall hanging or table topper.  So on those, I will stitch my name and date.  This is in the bottom right on this one.  It too looks awful.  So when my kids toss all of my things at the Goodwill one day, someone will know that Kris made this in 2016!
I have the February Button Up all cut out, and partially appliqued.  Hopefully I will get to display that one for the whole LEAP month!
Over the weekend we did a lot of picking in the grove.

It is so nice to be drinking fresh squeezed orange juice again.  Nothing like it!  Hopefully those avocados will be ripe to make a large batch of guacamole for Super Bowl.
I was at Target the other day and found this darling little red cake plate for 5 dollars.  I looked at the price, and said this can't be?  But it was!

 I collect mice.  The little mouse is an Annalee doll.  Mommy, it is yours!!!  I found it when I made a new lid for the crochet Christmas house.  It was inside!!!   Can I have it?  The picture is a wee bit blurry, but the doll is holding a heart and on her little gingham apron it says Be Mine.  I have our butter bell jar on the plate, along with a small aqua dish.  The red cow creamer is a Pioneer Woman piece.  The little quilted mat is a Lori Holt block from Farm Girl Vintage that I made.  I have an aqua ceramic egg dish there on the counter as well.  I love red and aqua together! 
Well, that's about it from here in my neck of the woods.  I am going to go have lunch with my Mommy today.  A little shopping afterwards maybe. 
I leave you with this sentiment.  It is on a cotton flour sack tea towel that I bought at Walmart.

Until next time,
XO Kris