in the meantime...

i had hoped to have pictures of our bees posted by now... but they are all on my husband's iphone which he rarely leaves laying around for me to swipe them off of, so, i will try to get those on here soon.  they are busy finding the first blooms of the season though!  i am anxiously awaiting our honey this fall. 

and... in the meantime...

front of the newest handstitched quilt.  so bright and cheery!

here is my newest quilt just finished and put into my etsy shop.  i am telling you, i am soooo in love with these kantha style quilts.  i have 2 more that i am working on now, along with another quilt i started back in september (the move in the fall threw me off on completing this one).  hoping to have it done by the weekend for a friend who is getting married saturday!  wish me luck!

anyway, lots of hand quilting with lovely perle cotton and fabric from MoMo ("oh, deer" collection).

aren't these deer fun? 

spent the morning out mowing the back on our 'new' riding lawn mower.  it is fun to ride around mowing... i am sure that will wear off by the end of the summer though. *smile*

my sweet son is behind there... on my newly mowed grass.

happy monday!

~ julie

garden planning

one reason for moving out to the country and getting a larger piece of property was to have a bigger garden.  we have (over) planned our garden this year with lots of lovely vegetables and fruits!  all winter we talked about what we wanted to plant & grow in our new space. 

beans, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, brussel sprouts, blueberries, raspberries, beets, and so on and so on...

things are finally falling into place now that it has been sunny and warm for 2 whole days.  our yard and field is starting to dry out allowing us to begin the transferring and planting process.  thank goodness! (who else is sick of the rain??)

we began by starting seedlings indoors in order to bring them out once the weather was warmer.  here is a small tutorial on how i made some 'green' starter containers that can move right into the garden.

first, tear some newspaper into pieces about 10 inches x 15 inches.

now fold the in half along the long side so it is about 5 inches wide.

use a glass (or other container) to use as your form.
lay the container sideways on your paper strip
with with the paper about 1 inch
off the bottom of the container. 
then roll it up on the outside of the container.

once it is rolled up hold the end tight & put a small piece of tape to hold it.

now it should look like this...

turn the container upside down so that the extra paper is up.

fold the extra paper over in sections (whatever works for you).

then use another small piece of tape to secure the bottom.

now just pull the newpaper off the container and, voila, ready to go
seed starters.

 this worked great and i really enjoy making them.  however, i found these seed starter (below) which were just too great to pass up.  plus, i am hoping they can be re-used. 

this last week, a friend of ours who lives down the road brought his farm equipment vehicle thingy... maybe i should learn the names of these pieces of farm equipment.  anyway... he drove up and did us a huge favor by plowing our new garden!  

the beginnings of the new veggie growing garden!

almost complete.  the dirt is looking good.

AND today, we went out and bought more for the 'farm.'   we now have an apple tree, a plum tree, a cherry tree, 2 pear trees, 13 blueberry bushes, 5 raspberry bushes, 12 strawberry plants!  plus the snap peas, lettuce, and basil we started indoors.  this makes me happy in my heart.

now to just get it all in the ground!  this farming is a lot of work.  the kind of work that makes you feel really satisfied at the end of each day.

happy thursday!

~ julie