Pinterest Challenge: Grilled Cheese Pull-Apart Rolls

There is nothing remotely healthy to be found here today. You might not believe it, judging by the kind of recipe adventures I share here, but this one called for me buying two things I try never to buy: canned biscuits (the part you might not believe) and Velveeta cheese (which is probably more believable).

But seriously, when you see a picture of something as yummy looking as Oh Bite It!'s Grilled Cheese Pull-Apart Rolls, you might be more than a little tempted to go pick up both. Obviously I was.

This seems easy enough: wrap Velveeta in biscuits...

Pour some melted butter over the top...

And bake.

Only in our case, that turned into: and bake, and bake, and bake.

After more than twice the suggested cooking time, we pulled them out anyway. There were still some raw looking bits - especially on the center ones, so we ate around the edges and put the center ones back in for longer.

I only managed to eat three. Two of them were amazing, one was a little under cooked. But ultimately, it was more Velveeta than I can handle (this being only the second time in nearly three years of marriage I've willingly eaten Velveeta).

So, here's my thought for next time (because the husband was a huge fan): less cheese, more edges to the pan, and maybe add a little something to go with the cheese. I'm thinking a pickle slice (or perhaps relish style cut would work better?). My husband wants hamburger. So, even though things didn't work out quite as quickly as planned (and mine don't look nearly as delicious as the original inspiration), I think we'll be trying something similar again soon - though maybe with the idea of hamburger pull-apart rolls instead of grilled cheese... And certainly when there are more people around to eat it than just the two of us!

Spring-y Mini...

Alright, after all this snow - broken porch lights, icy steps, digging through over a foot of snow to take off a flat tire - and now a lovely mud patch (one of the joys of dirt roads), I am ready for something pretty and springy. The baby blooms of tulips, daffodils, and other early spring flowers that had started being seen a couple weeks ago are long frozen and smashed by this snow. I've been promised they'll be all the stronger for it, but it's still a little depressing to see mounds of snow and ice where there were yellow and red blooms just a few days earlier. Sure, we've had two days now of leaving the windows open - and nearly 80 degree temps - but I've been promised there's a good chance of more snow yet this week! Outside may not be done snowing yet, but inside, it's going to be spring if I have any say in the matter!

Several months ago Pinterest brought my attention to the Tulip Tutorial over at A Bee in my Bonnet (it's part of the Bee in my Bonnet row along).

Now, I'm not yet the kind of quilter who sits down and makes several copies of the same block - and on the two occasions where I have, they've been incredibly simple blocks. So making a whole row of tulips is still a long ways off - as is making a whole quilt of such rows. Someday, just maybe not this year.

But - when I wanted just a little something springy to bring a smile to my kitchen, I came back to the tutorial.

I didn't get any 'in progress' photos of my single tulip, but I will say that the tutorial was completely clear, easy to follow, and I never felt overwhelmed or lost. I'd like to say some of that is due to me getting a little better, but I really think it was the great mix of clear instructions and pictures. It also helped that the font was large enough I could read it without leaving my sewing machine.

It wasn't a fast block for me. Those triangles still give me trouble - though today was a lot smoother triangle-ing than in the past. And I'm still not convinced I could stand to make several of them...

On the other hand... it is super adorable.

I did a little more time consuming quilting that I would have for a larger project - but it was fairly mindless, fun work and I love the way it looks all finished.

It was also a great way to use up some scraps. The pink butterfly fabric is just about the end of one of my very first fabric purchases (when I was picking up a few remnants for learning on, prior to my first quilt). This very mini quilt is only the second thing I've made with this fabric that had a finish to show for my efforts instead of a failure (the first is is another mini quilt). And by failure, I mean cut it apart to save the tiny scraps and throw the rest away... So it's nice to get something worth keeping out of that remnant!

It's even nicer to smile every time I walk into the kitchen.

Progress

Quilt A and Quilt B

A: piece top, piece back, baste, quilt, bind Wash
B: piece top, piece back, baste, quilt, bind Wash

Monkey Blocks

No recent progress
Yet to Do: make a back, baste, quilt, wash

Semi-Sampler (small) Quilt-to-be?

Progress: I'm up to 14 blocks - and I'm out of all the fabrics I've used thus far (except scraps). 

Oddblocks: Floral + Stripes 

Recent Progress: still slowly making blocks with these fat quarters. I'm not sure what the plan is yet.

Denim Quilt: 

Recent Progress: Fabric for back purchased - should get some attention over the weekend
Yet to Do: back, quilt, wash

Doodles

No Recent Progress - also hoping to work on this over the weekend if I've got the living room cleared out anyway...
Yet to Do: baste, quilt, bind, wash

Pansy Patch Project

No recent progress.
Yet to Do: finish piecing tops together, make back, baste, quilt, bind

Welcome Baby S II Quilt

Ready to give away - This is still just a sneak peek until sometime in June...


Waiting to Start:

• Teddy Bear Blanket II
• Welcome Baby SII Package (and Quilt) - just waiting on two more things to come together! 
• Welcome Baby Twins Package (quilts have been started, that's it)

Twin Quilt: Binding On!

I know I said I was going to spend some time thinking about adding quilting to the twin quilts - or at least doing a little cleaning up to the wrinkles in the back... But it probably comes as no surprise that I didn't add quilting or do any unpicking. I did put some thought in to it. But ultimately, I decided that the photographs made the wrinkles look much worse than reality.

Quilt A

Quilt B

Which means I want to grab a couple more photos before I throw them in the washing machine. But for the moment, as far as I can tell, both of these quilts are about an hour from being ready to ship out. Of course we're all hoping I have months before it's time to send them off - but it's nice to be 99% ready to go, just in case. 

Quilt A and Quilt B - ready to wash

Cute!

I try to avoid the precut area. But I don't always succeed. And why they have the cutest fabrics there - and nowhere else in the store - I just don't understand. 

But how could I say 'no' to this set?

I have no idea what it is, or where to find more of it, but I'm in love. I'm thinking about making another bag - not that I need another! What I'd really love to see happen is a messenger style bag... That might require buying a pattern though. Hmm...

Twin Quilts quilted - I think...

I have finished my horizontal lines, but I'm still in debates as to whether vertical lines would add to the overall look or just be more work.

Sadly, my only opportunity to get some photos with natural light proved worse than taking the photos inside with the flash on - so I'm not sure anyone else can tell what's happened enough to venture an opinion!

Quilt B (above) turned out pretty well over all, but looks like Quilt A (below) has some serious wrinkles in the back.

I don't think it's bad enough to need unpicking to fix it... Though maybe if I decide to add the vertical lines of quilting as well. Maybe not, but it seems like if I don't, I'll end up fighting it the whole time...

And I may not have as much time as I'd hoped to make the decision. The twins and their mom are having a very rough, frightening time. Instead of sitting and worrying, I'm trying to focus my energy into something I can do - which is to have these done and ready to go, with the hopes both that I'll get to send the quilts and that I'll get to send them in a month or two.

Pinterest Challenge: Quinoa Veg. Salad

I am so ready for it to just be spring already! Seems like every time I'm beginning to think it's finally spring, we get another dump of snow or freezing weather. I try not to complain - anyone in Colorado knows we desperately need the moisture - but I am so ready for spring.

Strawberries with pancake  was a baby step toward spring, but what I really wanted was something like The Garden Grazer's Quinoa Vegetable Salad with Lemon-Basil Dressing. Doesn't that just sound (and look) like the perfect spring taste? I think so.

I didn't quite have the ingredients to follow the recipe (what's new) but I used it as inspiration and started down as close a path as I could take. I wound up with lime juice instead of lemon, and sadly, I only had dried basil (fresh would have made a big difference). Instead of corn, I went with avocado, and eventually I threw in a few leftover black beans too. So, I didn't wind up with the same recipe at all - but at least I was inspired to do something with quinoa aside from using it as a rice substitute!

Before black beans 

Alright, so my photo doesn't do it justice at all. But...

My husband - the meatatarian - not only said it was good, he asked if we could make some kind of quinoa salad again. That's a huge victory - even if it wasn't quite the recipe I was going for! So, we'll be playing with quinoa again soon - probably with some fresh herbs and a little more courage. It might not be a copy of the recipe I set out to make, but both of us being interested in trying something new and fun again makes it a victory in my book!

Tracking

At least all the snow has given me some clues as to where little tailed creatures are attempting to gain access to my house... 

These tracks lead directly to my house - though it looks like the snow might have kept the would-be-intruder out. For now.

The cold also had us wanting hot drinks with dinner. Which gave me the opportunity to test a theory about our coffee maker. Namely, that when there's a K-cup in it, we get way less liquid than when there isn't.

On the left is the largest option with a K-cup, on the right is the largest option without anything (except leftover coffee bits that were still in the k-cup area, our water doesn't normally look that color). I've really loved the ease of using our coffee maker, but the last 6 months or so have seen a major decline in what a 'large' really looks like. I'll have to see if anyone else is having this problem, maybe there's some advice on the internet somewhere!

Twin Quilts Update

It's probably difficult to tell, but I've started quilting on the Twin Quilts. My three plans as to what I thought I was going to do didn't work out, so I'm going with simple more or less straight lines. For the moment, I'm doing sets of three lines together every few inches on the horizontal. I'm still debating whether to come back and add vertical sets as well, or if that'll be too much.

Weighed Down

And it's still snowing...

A Little Update to a Little Quilt

Remember my Semi-sampler blocks?

They haven't gotten much attention recently - partly because I honestly had no idea where the fabric was!

A little spring cleaning and they were back at the top of the pile - for now... Which means I made a couple new blocks including this super cute one:

Despite the flash back, this has the right color/focus... 

Since there was a lot of variety in the sizes of the blocks, I spent about an hour adding a little to the smaller blocks until they were closer to a uniform size. They still need to be trimmed down some to be nearer to uniform but now at least there's something to cut down without losing part of the most important bits!

Fabric was running low before I was done, so I had to be a bit creative (a couple of them are 'outlined' in the colors instead of the multi-dots or white I was hoping to use) - but before I completely ran out of fabric, I did end up with 14 blocks. And I guess that's as far as we're going to go unless I can bring myself to make one or two more incredibly scrappy blocks from what's left. Which is incredibly unlikely... but I won't say never. After all, 14 isn't an easy number to work with. 16 would be much better, but I'm not sure I can hit it with the bitty scraps I've got left...

Basting Day!

I finally got enough of a day off over the weekend to clear out the living room and get to basting!

I'd really hoped to get the Doodle Whack quilt basted too, but real life started calling before I got it laid out. At least both Twin Quilts are basted and ready for quilting. Here's hoping I'm able to get to that this week.

Also, I know I'm not supposed to complain about any kind of moisture, since Colorado has been a desert the last few years, but I am getting very tired of this white spring. It certainly makes going to work a more dangerous adventure. I know it'll pay off in the end - just yesterday I was hearing talk that the cities near us might actually get to water their yards twice a week this summer - but I'm so done with winter!

Progress (or...not)

Quilt A and Quilt B

A: piece top, piece back, baste, quilt, bind
B: piece top, piece back, baste, quilt, bind

Monkey Blocks

Yet to Do: back, baste, quilt, wash

Semi-Sampler (small) Quilt-to-be?

Progress: I'm up to 14 blocks - and I'm out of all the fabrics I've used thus far (except scraps). 

Oddblocks: Floral + Stripes 

Recent Progress: still slowly making blocks with these fat quarters. I'm not sure what the plan is yet.

Denim Quilt: 

Recent Progress: none
Yet to Do: back, quilt, wash
Times two actually. More on that later... 

Doodles

No Recent Progress
Yet to Do: baste, quilt, bind, wash

Pansy Patch Project

No recent progress.
Yet to Do: finish piecing tops together, make back, baste, quilt, bind

Welcome Baby S II Quilt

Yet to do: Wash
This is just a sneak peek - and it's all I'm willing to share for a while.

In Progress at Last:

• Welcome Baby SII Package 
• Welcome Baby Twins Package 

Waiting to Start:

• Teddy Bear Blanket II
• 
  

Twin Quilts: Progress on Quilt B

It took almost all of March for me to get back to this quilt top - but I finally took the forty minutes to unpick my mistake and get back on track.

And - thanks for a 7 hour job that turned out to be only about 4 hours - I had the energy to do more than just pull a line of thread. I actually cleared the sewing desk and turned the machine on for several hours of sewing. Seems like it's been forever since I've had the time or energy to sit down and work.

So - - -

Quilt B top - finished 

I don't know how, except to say obviously user error, but despite supposedly having the same number of stripes for each quilt, I really had to work to include pieces of both the first and last strip. This time I really could have just subtracted one and been fine - and honestly, I think I should have pulled one orange to ensure the green (at the top) was more prominent.

You can see that at least one of the stripes has no green at the very top - that strip got completely cut off when I pieced the top. Not the plan, but we're going to roll with it anyway!

Each piece in the bottom has just a little of the last orange piece, but as much orange/yellow as there was in the top... I really should have cut one of the oranges (or yellows).

Quilt B Back

I also managed to finish the back. It's a similar look as the back of Quilt A, but not the same measurements on where each piece went. That was intentional, and I think I like this one a little better. Hopefully in a couple days I'll be able to take some side-by-side comparisons of the two quilts.

But for the moment:

My two backs and my two tops are finished and waiting only for me to find the time and space to baste! I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to get enough space to do that - or enough time - but if I can manage both, these two baby quilts and one more are ready for some attention. Looking at the calendar... I'm not optimistic that'll happen in the next week or two, but sometimes I work better under pressure - as noted by how much I accomplished in the last two days vs. the rest of the month!

A Little Reader Update

Since hearing Google Reader is retiring, I ran out and signed up for some replacements and never looked back.

I tried The Old Reader - which looked promising, but ultimately I got too tired of waiting for my subscriptions to import and I gave up on it. Not only was the import queue taking weeks, but my position in the line didn't remain constant - after waiting 24 hours from beginning my import, I actually had more people in line before my turn than I did the day before when I started. That might just have been a little blip, but after waiting for two weeks and still not having my subscriptions in, I gave up on the import. And by then, I had enough confidence in my other alternatives that I canceled my account as well. If I end up reader shopping again, I'd love to come back to it and see how it really functions, but I didn't have the time to wait around for it right now.

I started off with Bloglovin. Converting everything over wasn't terribly painful once I found the option for importing my subscriptions, but things were less simple once I started getting organized. Anything not immediately identifiable by the first three words Bloglovin brought up or that hadn't updated in a week got deleted because I had no way of finding out what it was. Which overall, probably wasn't bad for me, but I would have felt better if I'd been able to double check those sites (I'm sure there's a way to go to the site if it hasn't updated in a week, but I couldn't find it at the time). Ultimately, I liked the overall look, and things mostly ran as I expected, but my biggest problem was having to visit the sites in their own windows if I wanted to read the entire thing. If I only followed a few blogs, or things that updated less often, this wouldn't be a problem for me - and it would really encourage me to comment more - but when I've often got 500 things to look at a night, and I'm sharing internet with 5-8 users, that's not a reasonable solution.

Which led me to try Feedly - and despite it being slightly less familiar to drive, I stayed. The import was painless, the sorting was fairly easy (though not ideal), and best of all - I can usually read the entire post without opening a new window (depending on the post's settings). It's not perfect - sometimes it refreshes in the middle of something and I lose the article I was actively reading. And sure, I'm aware that Feedly uses Google Reader right now, and I'm a little worried how that'll play out in the upcoming months, but I'm very hopeful that this will continue to work out for me. I did cut out a few blogs from my master list over at Google Reader, and between that, my new organizations, and the controls at Feedly, I've really cut down the amount of time I'm spending reading online.

So the real question is, if Google Reader were going to live, would I go back? Honestly... no. I do miss many of the articles and things I had saved there, but I've spent a few hours going through my archives there, pinning things worth saving, and I've moved on now.

Pancake

Although our evenings are less regular now that one of the guys has moved to a new job and a new city, we still have the crew over a couple times a month for movies and food. I usually choose to make something for dinner that night, which can sometimes be a challenge. Since I didn't feel like being too challenged by eating restrictions, I went with something easy: breakfast for dinner.

I really wanted to make pancakes - but we've yet to be successful making good tasting pancakes on our gas stove. So, I got a little creative - though as usual, I have to give credit to an idea I saw on Pinterest, namely Pancake Squares from Big Red Kitchen. Since I know the guys don't care for my wheat flour, I didn't want to follow the recipe and make it from scratch (yet). However, sitting next to my wheat flour is a massive bin of waffle/pancake mix.

Just 4 cups of pancake mix, 3 cups of water, and a lightly greased 9x13. Oh, and 20 minutes at 350.

It looks a little like very pale corn bread - and I thought it could have used a little more sugar added to the dry mix - but it tasted just like pancakes. And the guys must have agreed. Not only did we eat it all - but everyone said it was good. Trust me, when my brother says 'good' instead of shaking his hand back and forth in a so-so motion, it's a winner.

I suspect with the addition of that little bit of sugar, I might have a new favorite plan for my birthday.

For a house that's gone without pancakes for almost three years after our very first pancake making disaster - this pancake cake is a very welcome addition to the rotating recipes.

Pinterest Challenge: Balsamic Roast Beef

I still don't use my crock pot as much as I ought to, but since discovering crock pot buffalo chicken we've been using it a couple times a month.

While I'm a massive fan of buffalo chicken, my husband is more of a beef guy - so when I saw a pin for Crock Pot Balsamic Roast Beef Dip Sandwiches from Crock-Pot Ladies I immediately started plotting to make it for the husband.

The recipe called for a lot of things I don't usually keep in the house - including balsamic vinegar and Worchestershire Sauce. So it did require a trip to the store, but after being gone for nearly a week for the wedding, I needed groceries anyway.

As predicted, the husband was absolutely thrilled to see some beef on the menu plan. Even if I was a little nervous about adding honey to the mix, we threw it all together as soon as we got home.

That evening:

This absolutely does need a little bit of the leftover broth mixture either poured over the top of the sandwiches or used as a dipping sauce. Not only does it add a little more moisture, but it helps add a little more flavor.

No surprise - I thought the honey was a little too strong. I was sorely tempted to skip it completely, but I tried my best to follow the recipe. I still wonder if I would have liked it better with less or no honey. On the other hand, the husband loved it.

And, as I'd hoped, it made enough for several meals. After a couple sandwiches, we got a little more experimental and made both pizza and tacos. Both of which were way better than the sandwiches.

The pizza is a simple crust, a sauce made of horseradish mixed with balsamic vinegar (which sounds a little weird, but was completely delicious), and some extra sharp cheddar. This is what happens when I turn the husband loose in the kitchen - and yes, it needs to happen a lot more.

I didn't get any pictures of the tacos, but my husband's response was that they were better than the brisket tacos he gets when we go out. Without the horseradish, the tacos were a little sweet for me again.

If I make this recipe again, I'll skip most (or all) of the honey, and we'll turn it all into pizza or tacos. I'm not totally convinced we'll do it again, but I might use it as a jumping off point to do some different flavors with the roast.

Bag Addict!

Three of the four March bags

Any surprise I hadn't made much quilt progress in most of March?

I very much like my two (three) gray bags with the bright blue thread work, but I wanted something a little more spring-y to take with me to band at the end of March. So, I took some of my absolute favorite scraps and tried my hand at making a scrappy quilt as you go method. I need some more practice at that, but I'm going to try to work on other things for a while first.

There are a couple interior pockets, just enough to hold my two phones, my keys, and a couple cards. On top of that, the bag is the perfect size to hold a small paperback novel. Another thing I really wanted to bring with me to the band practices because I am - and have always been - the kind of person who would rather pull out a book than run around for the 10 minute break.

Between dragging my feet on unpicking the error in the top of Quilt B and finding a new and addicting project, I'm really going to be hard pressed to push myself back to quilting -- which is what I need to be doing!

Another March Success

My husband is Creative. He's also not afraid to put himself forward for a new opportunity.

So when we passed a sign-up to participate in a community art project, he was the first person to sign up. Fitting one more thing into our March wasn't easy - between work, weather, and other commitments - but he was able to put in several hours worth of work.

My favorite part? The clouds. I think they're his favorite part too.

It'll be interesting to see what the piece looks like when it's completely finished (there are several other artists painting different parts as well). Hopefully I remember to take the camera up next time we go by - I'd love to get some better pictures of it.

April Goals

Read 5+ books
Finish "A Storm of Swords" book
Progress on Welcome Baby Packages (3). Hopefully:

• Baste both quilts
• Begin quilting
• Prep shopping (for all three)
• Set aside some funds for said shopping (for all three)
• Begin pulling together Baby S II - needs to be ready to ship by end of May

Make progress on long term 'no progress' items. Specifically: 

• Pansy Patch
• Work on the backs of the denim quilts
• Baste Doodle Whack

Sell other car

Pinterest Challenge (food-related)
Find the Sampler-ish blocks (I've misplaced them!)

I've also got some things to accomplish for work - which might take up quite a bit of time in the next couple weeks. Thanks to last night's energy surge, I think I've got enough posts ready to go that I'll be able to keep some content on this old blog for a week or so without being actively working on it. Judging from this week's work schedule, that's probably for the best.

Whoops - speaking of work... Gotta run. Happy April though!