Signing off...

We've been literally sucker punched with the most devastating diagnosis that I could have imagined.

It is not about me or my husband, or my boy...but a man that we all love more than words can express.   A man who has a heart of gold and the soul to go with it.

The next few days are going to bring a lot of answers (none of them good) and the next few months are going to be a trial of family and love and heart unlike anything that I have ever experienced.

Being a nurse is sometimes a curse... I have seen too much.

While I realize that focusing on the positives right now is optimal and I would love to share those times with you here.

I find that I am numb.

I just can't do it. 


I can not find it in me to write about dolls and flowers and biscuits while tears stream down my face.

I can't.

And so, I am signing off.

I may be back here and there to share some of the good.  But this space is a happy one, and I recognize in myself that I am not going to be much company in the foreseeable future.

Lots of love and wishes for health to you and your families.

XO, Julia

Scenes of a weekend...

Do you see those flowers?

They are just a few of the ones that we have cut from the garden to bring the outdoors into our house.

And what better place to enjoy them, but in the space that I have been spending a majority of my free time lately. 

It's funny, because I had 10 months or so of free time galore in which I could spend a full 6 hours in this space uninterrupted if I wished.....but I didn't.

And NOW...with my boy a graduate of Kindergarten, I am yearning to create.

WEIRD.

And confusing.

But, I will say that it has been nice to spend time with my boy.  Entire days of getting back in the swing of perpetual togetherness.

We have spent a lot of time outside now that the sun has graced us with it's presence.

(My newest gardening uniform, sorry for the blur...Eben took this one)

The gardens are thriving and the seedlings of all of the plants that I planted are well on their way to growing into full fledged vegetables.
 

I can hardly wait.

A wonderful cause and summer fun...

I was so happy to be able to contribute to Tonya and Nicole's wonderful tribute to Kelly and her family.

You can read more about my square and the wonderful cause that it is going towards over at the Wellness Tree.

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It is finally looking more like summer here and my boy and his cousin are enjoying the life of living on the mountain that I grew up on...I keep threatening to trade houses with my sister!

She lives right down the road from where we were raised.

 LUCKY girl.

I hope that you are all having a splendid weekend.

This Moment...

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Soule Mama

Dolls number one and two... I am on another kick.

Have a great weekend!

My first quilt...

Being an Associate editor for Rhythm of the Home has it's perks.  Aside from growing even closer to my sweet friends,  I had the distinct pleasure of getting a sneak peek at the projects that fill the pages of the magazine.

When I first opened the password protected page of Stephinie's patchwork quilt... I KNEW that it was going to be the first thing that I tackled in this edition.

And so I followed her directions and made myself a quilt.  Although mine was smaller than her's (I only cut my squares to 10inX10in) because I wanted to be able to pack it in my backpack for going to the beach with the boys this summer.

It turned out perfectly and I can't believe how quick it stitched up!

Laying the squares out was a exercise in patience for me...I COULD not get the rows to have no repeated prints.  It drove me nuts.

In the end I just grabbed stacks of five squares and stitched them together into strips and set them aside to figure out later.

Then I stitched the strips of five together into a big rectangle.

This project was perfect because it allowed me to use some of my most favorite fabric from my stash that is too small to do much else with. 

I used a large piece of flannel for the liner and that blue and white sheet (that I STILL have left from other projects) for the backing.

I stitched them together just as Stephinie instructed....and Voila!

I brought it outside for the photo shoot once it was all stitched up and ironed.

Where it was oogled at by my son who was basking on a neighboring rock.

The son who happens to LOVE laying on blankets in the sun.

He promptly hopped off of his hard stone in favor of his Mama's newly created quilt covered boulder. 


I must say, he has good taste.

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My boy is better, thank you all for your words.

Laying low and some projects inspired...

 
It feels like we just went through this.

Didn't we?

Oh well...strep it is and strep we will overcome.  My boy...he is a trooper when he is sick.  You wouldn't even know it by how he acts.  He is such a happy kid.

But we've been laying low.  It's been raining and inside the house on the couch is THE place to be.

Forced to mellow out, we've both gotten some things that we have been meaning to do...done.

Like riffle through a stack of books that we got at the thrift store this past weekend.

Which led me to create my own variation of something that I have been meaning to make for quite some time now.

And they were delicious.

It also has given me some time to do some sewing with a stack of thrifted fabric!  LOTS and LOTS of fun sewing that I will be showing over the next week or so.

 It includes my first large quilt which I am tickled over.


TICKLED!!!

Now, I am off to visit my friends and ACTUALLY leave a comment or two (since I have the time!)


I know...wonders never cease.

XOXO, Jules

Butter & milk biscuits....

Yesterday was a chilly one.  My boy sick, Fran playing golf in the rain... and I was chilled to the bone with this unseasonal June that we've been gifted with.

I knew that we would all benefit from a hot and steamy dinner.

Into the crock went beef, potatoes, carrots, broth, and herbs.

Into my bowl went the ingredients for my first attempt at biscuits.

I had wanted to make buttermilk biscuits, but I only had whole milk...Heather talked me through making my own buttermilk (Thanks by the way!) but alas....All that I had was apple cider vinegar and I didn't want to try using it on my first go at biscuits so I decided to just go with the regular milk.

So, I pulled out my trusty Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and got to work.

Now, I will be honest here...there is like NINE ga-zillion calories in this recipe.  Maybe even a ga-trillion calories.

1 and a half sticks of butter! 

It only yields 12-16 biscuits!

HOLY MOLY!!!

And so was born my BUTTER AND MILK biscuits.

RECIPE

3 cups of flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup cold milk
1 1/2 sticks of butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together with a whisk.

Cut in the butter until pea sized.

Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the butter, mix until combined and then pour it all onto a floured surface where you should knead it until fully combined.  But DON'T handle it too much or else the dough gets tough.

Roll it out until 1/2 inch high and then cut out the biscuits using a cutter, or a glass as I did.  Place them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet 1 inch apart.

It was fun to watch them rise almost on their own due to all of that baking powder.  

Bake them until the tops are golden brown and eat warm with even MORE butter, dipped in a big bowl of goodness from the crock.

In the end, I ate two of them and I realized something fabulous.

What else are rainy days for, if not to treat myself and my boys.

These also would be AMAZING with strawberries and cream, since there is sugar in them already.  But I would go all out and probably DOUBLE the sugar in the recipe if that were the case.

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Side note...

  

I wanted to poke you all in the direction of Heather, Bernadette, and my invitation over at ROTH.  I know that this is a busy time of year for us all, but we really would LOVE to see you join us by submitting work to the Autumn edition of Rhythm of the Home. 

You know what they say....The more the merrier!

XO, Jules

This Moment...

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Soule Mama

I'll be back on Sunday...have a wonderful weekend.

XO, Jules

Organized....now that feels better.

Do you ever comment on someone's blog....

"Oh my GOD!!! I can't wait to try that!"

or


" I am totally going to make that! Great job!"

or


"Thank you, Thank you Heather!

I spent 2 hours the other day cleaning out my car, vacuuming, shampooing, garbage throwing....And now, I will be making this to keep me and my sweet car as beautiful as it is now.

Thanks Again!" 

If you are like me, you say it a BUNCH...because lets face it, there is a TON of great ideas out there to try.  But how many times do you actually follow through with TRYING it?

I call it INSPIRATION OVERLOAD and if you are like me, you probably don't follow through with your words as much as you would like.


Well, that all changed after I saw Heather's car organizer.  I saw it and I just knew that if I made nothing else from inspiration for the whole year, this one I was GOING to try.


And so I did...it only took me nearly two months after I saw her original post on it, but I did it.

WAY back in April.

See, I am really behind in my blogging.

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I happen to love my car...like really adore it.  It's 3 years old and cute as a button, but I just am a slob when it comes to keeping it organized.

Like-my-twin-called-me-a-PIGLET-it-is-such-a-mess-type-of-slob.

You see, that same twin had been sweet enough to sew me up some kick mats for the boys and their messy-boy-feet a year ago... Doing her own little part in an effort to help in the keeping clean-ness of my car.  

She sewed them up out of my most favorite heavy cotton (the same fabric that we she had also sewed me up a bag in.)

She's pretty darn fantastic, wouldn't you agree?


So, anyway, enough about me being a piglet....let's get on with it.  I had a half yard of that ridiculously pretty fabric left in my stash, I found some small cuts of some complementary prints and I got to work.

I followed Heather's directions to a T.....minus the interfacing.

BIG MISTAKE!  


BIG!


HUGE.  ( I'm channeling Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman here, can you tell?)

Now, mind you...I do not own interfacing... I have never used interfacing... and in truth, I wouldn't know the first thing in how to use it.  This project made me wish that I had some experience in using it.  It really did...because I think that it was an instrumental piece in the construction of Heather's pattern.


C'est la vie.  I'll know better next time.

Other than the interfacing, I think that I followed her instructions as written.  It was a great tutorial and I was glad to be able to use up some of my bias tape from the apron kick that I was on for the ties instead of ribbon.

I made the small front pockets to fit my all of my the road necessities....One for my sunglasses, one for my notebook and pen and one for my phone.  They all fit in so nicely!

And then I grabbed some magazines from my stash in my guest room and put then into the larger pocket.  Because I NEED to have reading material with me at all times.

Now......do you see that awesome rolling effect on the sides there?

(It's ok....you can tell me)

THAT is where the interfacing would have come in handy....I bet Heather's doesn't roll in on the sides.

Anyway, I am in absolute love with it...rolling sides and all.  It is handiness in it's most handy form.

A place for everything and everything in it's place.


AWESOME!

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So NOW I encourage you to go dust off your own sewing machine and go MAKE something that you have been inspired to try here on the internet.

Because, I better not be the only one out here in inspiration overload.

This Moment...

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Soule Mama

She's just a lady...

I did get upset with my girl over her using my seedlings as an all day and night buffet.

She really trashed them.

But today as I watched her nibble off the last remaining stalk of beans I realized something.

It's not her fault that she loves plants.

She's just a lady....and lady's love plants.   

Flowers in particular.

 And so, I went out to the garden.

 Where her boyfriend helped me pick out a beautiful bouquet for the lovely Miss Gracie.  I brought them inside and rinsed them and began placing them in my paper pieced vase.

All the while, I was under the watchful eye of my girl.

And then she used the rest of her senses to enjoy her gift from her Mama and boyfriend.

She sniffed...

She nibbled...

And she touched...

I give it 2 hours before there is a puddle on the floor.

But hey, us ladies have to stick together, right?

RIGHT.

Now, a little side note.   I am so thankful for the support that I have received from not only Heather and Bernadette (which is immense) but from all of you in regards to my part in Rhythm of the Home. 

I am lucky to have such wonderful human ladies as friends.

So, thanks.

Rhythm of the Home Summer....

I had so much fun creating my projects to share with Rhythm of the Home.  I mean, how could I not when paint, oranges, birdseed, and glue were involved?

I am excited to say that the new edition for summer has gone live.  And I was so fortunate to be a part of it's creation.

So, here I leave you with little glimpses into my projects.

Tissue Paper butterflies

A wrapping paper vase

And a biodegradable birdfeeder

So, now....I am going to direct you over to the Rhythm of the Home Blog where there is the giveaway of all giveaways going on in celebration of the publishing of the summer edition.

Quick, go sign up!  And I'll see you over at the magazine. 

XOXO, Julia