Fresh Floral Birthday Party

This past weekend we celebrated my Grandma's 80th birthday.  She is an amazing lady.  I've posted about her here and here and here.  As far as being 80 goes, I think she has more energy than me :)  She is very special to all of us, so we wanted to really show her how much we appreciate her.  The party was a surprise and we told everyone to bring a plant for her flower garden instead of a present. It was a huge success!  We had a great turnout and lots and lots of plants.  Here are the details, with a few tutorials coming up later in the week.

Cake Table

These fake flowers were from the Dollar Tree.

 

Decor

My Aunt made bright, colorful table runners for all of the tables.

On the table runners, we put potted plants and lanterns.

For the cake table area, I made this 80 decoration.

 

Streamers.  

Get the How To Here.

Food

The Gifts

We laid out plastic plant stakes for everyone to write their good wishes on.

 

Then when we helped her plant her garden, we put the stakes all throughout the garden.

Favors

My Cousin made these wonderful bird seed favors.
We hung them from mountain laurel branches we had gathered earlier that day.

 
Get the how to here.

After everything was ready, it was time to party!

Surprise!

I made this party skirt for Charlotte using Simple Simon and Co's tutorial here.

Four Generations!

 Grandma and her three children - my momma on the far right.

Charlotte and my dad - her Poppa J

Happy 80th Birthday Grandma!

xo
jessica

p.s. How do you feel about the extra large pictures in this post? 
Is it better than the regular size or is it too in your face? 
I  might switch to using extra large all the time so be honest :)

Restoring a 90 year old Quilt

For a few days this week, Charlotte and I flew down to FL to see my parents.  My Grandma and her sister are here - super cool ladies - and they always have some project going.  I mean always.  So my Grandma found this family quilt out in a barn - it was made by my great-great grandmother in the late 1920's or early 30's.

Why it was in a barn I do not know. In case you were wondering - don't put heirloom quilts in a barn. 
I know you are all super smart about that stuff anyway :)
SO needless to say, it needed some repair.  She has been patching some of the pieces, and she put a new binding on it. 
Here's how she's been doing it - in case you are wandering through an old barn and happen upon a 90 year old quilt ;)

*Find some fabric that matches the color scheme of the quilt (the point is you are restoring - try to honor the original artist).

My great-great grandmother used a lot of feedsack fabric for the pieces.  Apparantly they used to sell feed in pretty flowered sacks.  Why did they do that?  I don't know.  But my grandma said she and her sister would go to the feed store to pick out fabric for their dresses.  One of their sisters was voted best dressed in her class - and her dresses were made from feedsacks!  Impressive.  (and I am thankful we don't have to dig through piles of feedsacks to find just the right fabric...)

*Handstitch the fabric on - right sides together - along one edge of the damaged piece.

*Fold it over the damaged piece allowing an extra 1/4" to be turned under. 

Finger press.  Cut along the fold that you made.

*Turn the raw edges under and pin well.

*Start stitching at a corner. 

Secure it well and then continue with a small blind stitch all the way around the piece. 

Pretty soon (...um, I mean days later...) your heirloom family quilt will be good as new!

So sit on the couch in your p.j.s and shop for fabric today - and be grateful you don't have to find a feedsack for your baby daughter's next dress - and wait for the fabric store to mail it to you and have it dropped right on your doorstep - so you really don't even have to get dressed or fix your hair to be surrounded by gorgeous fabric. 

happily spoiled by modern America,

jessica 

Grandma's Buttermilk Biscuits

Now, there is nothing too stellar about the recipe itself - it's all in the technique.

Ingredients:

5 cups sifted White Lily Flour(this flour is lighter than others and produces fluffier biscuits - you can also use cake flour)
1 T. plus 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 T. salt
1/2 cup, plus 2T of cold butter
2 cups of chilled buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Using a pastry blender, blend the cold butter with the dry ingredients - do not over mix. Pour in the buttermilk, and stir it with a fork, just until it is all wet. Again - DO not over mix - it will make your biscuits tough. The next part may take some practice, but you will get it. Dip your hands in the flour, and grab a piece of dough - roll it for a second in your hand and drop it onto the cookie sheet. Once again - you want to handle the dough as little as possible, just enough to give it some shape and get it from the bowl to the cookie sheet. Once you have placed all the biscuits on the sheet bake for 12-15 minutes.


Bonus Breakfast Tip:

When feeding a crowd, poach eggs in a muffin tin. Grease the muffin tin with butter, then crack one egg into each section. Bake at 350 for 5-10 minutes.

Grandma's Southern Zucchini Squash

If you have never cared for Zucchini, here is a recipe that will change your mind. At least it changed my husband's:) You will need: 3 or 4 zucchini squash, butter, milk, sugar, salt, and pepper.
Step 1: Slice the zucchini and place in a pot of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes or until fork tender.
Step 2: Drain the water out of the pot. Add 2T of butter to the hot squash.
Step 3: Add a splash of milk, 1/2 t of sugar(it cuts the bitterness), and salt and pepper to taste.
Step 4: Get out a potato masher and mash all of the ingredients together. Use a slotted spoon to serve. Yummy!

(you can also use yellow summer squash)
Great way to get those veggies in there!
jessica