A Look At the Garden

 "Are you expanding the garden? " asked Mr. Pinker as he studied the moved creek rocks in the front yard. 

This past week I began adding mulch to some of the garden. 

"Aaah, you noticed," I replied with a twinkle in my eyes. 

Some of you may remember that a couple of weeks ago I told you that I decided to expand the long wild and Woolly garden along the edge of the driveway , but had not broke the news to Mr. Pinker yet.😀😁 

The garden is beginning to fill in. Weeds need to be pulled though. 

"Doesn't it look good? " I sais as Mr. Pinker moved closer to see more of what was going on. 

"I just moved it a couple of feet out,  " I chimed. 

Lilies and purple Majesty is in bloom. I have been removing the hostas. 

Mr. Pinker nodded. " It always looks good," he replied "as long as I can get by to mow. 

" I am hoping to fill it with all kinds of flowers like marigolds, cosmos, zinnias ..." I looked over but I could see Mr. Pinker's eyes were glazing over. "Hon? Are you listening? " I asked. 

"Sure, Sure" he  replied as he snapped out of the "I don't care about the flower garden state of mind". 

"What are these ?" he asked . 

" Oh well, these are snapdragons,"  I said with a smile .  " This is my 1st year growing them so I am seeing how they like this area. " 

"And my coreopsis is in bloom. See" I said as I pointed to the bright yellow flowers which are about to spill over into the driveway. 

" This looks like a good place for snakes," he said. 

Oh bother, I am losing him again. I thought. Hee! Hee!  

"No snakes here, Silly, " I replied "...Just lots of wild and Woolly plants.  Besides, I am going to thin some of it out ( maybe Hee! Hee! )" . I studied the ground as I imagined a scaly snake slithering out from beneath the lirope. Eeek! 🐍😨 Hmmm, I think he is right. 

But to not be deterred I continued on. " Now come see my Stella  De Oro Daylilies in bloom. " Mr. Pinker promptly walked down the driveway to gaze at the flowers. 

"Is that another redbud growing? " he asked as he  peered down at the ground. 

"Yep" I will be moving it some time or another. 

 "Well it's looking mighty fine," said Mr. Pinker as he turned away to head to the garage. 

Here and there metal garden art is tucked away like the metal butterfly. 

"Hey,  wait a minute , Buster, " I exclaimed.  "I need you to help me in my ' Amy's Garden' ." And with that I gave him some clippers and we began the task at hand - cleaning it up for the season. 

Amy's Garden is on a steep chert hill that we are trying to beautify which is a hard task . 

That is the state of the Wild and Woolly garden at the beginning of May. I will share more photos in the coming weeks and months as things develop. Meanwhile , I best get back to work. There are more teeny marigolds to transplant somewhere. I mean I have 100's of them which to my delight seeded from last year. Yee ! Haw! 

And I better watch out for any snakes that might be lurking. Mr. Pinker has me on my toes now. 😂

Lots of volunteer marigolds waiting to be transplanted. 

Thank you for the sweet Wednesday visit. 

Happy Gardening, y'all

Oreo says "Howdy and y'all come back now! " 

As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa 

"In nature, nothing exists alone.  "- Rachel Carson

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy who was just beginning to explore her gardening skills. 

 I love and miss you so much.. Love you , Amo. 

🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷

 Other Posts That Might Strike Your Fancy!

🌞Parade of Homes 2026- Early 2026 parade of home freebies.

🌞2026 Love Parade- A Parade of Previous Valentine Freebies- Valentine themed stitches up to Feb. 4, 2026.  

🌞 Root A Toot Toot Patriotic Parade Early 2024 patriotic freebies. 

🌞A Berry Nice Parade- A Look at Past Berry Freebies 2025- Early 2025 berry Freebies. 

🌞A Buzzy Bee Parade An early 2025 bee freebie parade.

🌞A Sunny Sunflower Parade for 2025 A parade of sunflower freebies up to July 24, 2025

🌞Pumpkin, Leaves and Autumn Please- A Fall Parade 2025 A parade of Fall themed stitches and doodles up to September 8, 2025.

🌞 A Parade of Stamps 2025  A parade of stamp cross stitch design freebies up to August 14, 2025

🌞Time to Dye-  2024 post on how I tea/ Coffee Dye my fabric. 

🌞Pin Pillow Tutorial - 2023 post on how I finish my pin pillows with chenille trim. 

🌞A Spooky Parade - Halloween freebies up to October  4, 2025. More Halloween pieces followed this date.

🌞Turkey Struttin' Thanksgiving Parade 2025- Thanksgiving freebies up to the date of November 3, 2025. More Thanksgiving freebies followed  this date. 

🌞Ho! Ho! Ho! Christmas Parade Of Previous Freebies- 2025- A Parade of Christmas Freebies up to the date of November 15, 2025. More Christmas Freebies followed this date. 

🌞A Chilly Parade of Winter Stitches 2025- A parade of Winter themed freebies up to the date of Dec. 21, 2025

Summertime Treat Stamp - Summer Stamp SAL

 Rise and Shine, Sunshine!  Are you ready to hit the floor running? I sure am  though I am not sure what all I will get into today other than  continue working on the Summer Stamp SAL.

Today I am sharing Stamp 3 called " Summertime Treat". A sassy little crow is ready for a hot summer's day with a couple of fresh picked  juicy, ripe cherries and a big slice of watermelon.  Yum! Yum! 

Watermelon Stamp ,Summertime Treat Stamp, Summer Chicks

Summertime Treat was stitched with the following DMC colors: Blanc, 223, 310, 782, 815, 930, 3345, and 3346. 

 I used 1 strand of DMC 3346 to backstitch the cherry stem. 

 On the large sampler, I used 1 strand of DMC 223 to outline the tablecloth so that it would stand out on the  Rit Lemon Yellow  dyed Aida. 

I outlined my tablecloth on the Summertime Treat stamp with DMC 223 so it would stand out more. 

If you are interested in how I dyed my 14 count Aida, I shared the process in a post last week entitled Let's Dye Some Fabric

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If you are interested in stitching this piece,  just grab , the images. For printing tips, refer to the post Tips for Printing which has loads of tips from my sweet friends. 

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I will keep it short and sweet today. But I would like to leave you with a couple of older photos from 2022 from my Summer Days Embroidery SAL. I shared  an embroidery entitled "Summertime Treats " with 2 bluebirds. 

"Summertime Treats " embroidery design that I shared on March 24, 2022. 

In 2022,  I shared 12 hand embroidery designs  for the Summer Days Quilt which I completed by the end of that year.  It makes me one to start a new embroidery project. 🤗

Have a beautiful day and keep those needles threaded. 

If you missed any of the previous posts in respect to the Summer Stamp SAL , below is a schedule with links back to the appropriate posts.  

SUMMER STAMP SCHEDULE

April 2nd  Summer Stamp Introduction

April 7th  Stamp Stamp Border

April 14th Summer Stamp Header

April 21st  Summer Stamp 1 "And the Garden Grows" 

April 28th Summer Stamp 2 Summer Harvest

May 5th  Summer  Stamp 3 Summertime Treats

May 12th  Summer  Stamp 4

May 19th  Summer Stamp 5

May 26th Summer Stamp 6

June 2nd Summer Stamp 7

June 9th Summer Stamp 8

June 16th Summer Stamp  9 

June  23rd Bonus Summer Stamp 10

June 27th Final Reveal

As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting,  y'all

Melisa 

"When one has tasted watermelon, he knows what the angels eat."-  Mark Twain

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy who loved to work on the farm and loved being out in nature . I love and miss you so much.. Love you , Amo. 

  🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉

 Other Posts That Might Strike Your Fancy!

🌞Parade of Homes 2026- Early 2026 parade of home freebies.

🌞2026 Love Parade- A Parade of Previous Valentine Freebies- Valentine themed stitches up to Feb. 4, 2026.  

🌞 Root A Toot Toot Patriotic Parade Early 2024 patriotic freebies. 

🌞A Berry Nice Parade- A Look at Past Berry Freebies 2025- Early 2025 berry Freebies. 

🌞A Buzzy Bee Parade An early 2025 bee freebie parade.

🌞A Sunny Sunflower Parade for 2025 A parade of sunflower freebies up to July 24, 2025

🌞Pumpkin, Leaves and Autumn Please- A Fall Parade 2025 A parade of Fall themed stitches and doodles up to September 8, 2025.

🌞 A Parade of Stamps 2025  A parade of stamp cross stitch design freebies up to August 14, 2025

🌞Time to Dye-  2024 post on how I tea/ Coffee Dye my fabric. 

🌞Pin Pillow Tutorial - 2023 post on how I finish my pin pillows with chenille trim. 

🌞A Spooky Parade - Halloween freebies up to October  4, 2025. More Halloween pieces followed this date.

🌞Turkey Struttin' Thanksgiving Parade 2025- Thanksgiving freebies up to the date of November 3, 2025. More Thanksgiving freebies followed  this date. 

🌞Ho! Ho! Ho! Christmas Parade Of Previous Freebies- 2025- A Parade of Christmas Freebies up to the date of November 15, 2025. More Christmas Freebies followed this date. 

🌞A Chilly Parade of Winter Stitches 2025- A parade of Winter themed freebies up to the date of Dec. 21, 2025

🌞Let's Dye Some Fabric- A tutorial on my process of dyeing Aida using Rit dye. 

Quilting up a Flutter

I am all a Flutter! 🦋🦋🦋

 Welcome, Sweet Peas and Happy Monday . 

My heart is overflowing with love and happiness. 

"Why?" you ask.

 Well shucks, for all kinds of reasons, but I am bursting over this  gorgeous hand appliqued quilt top that was sent to me from dear Susan. ❤🤗

Aaw Swoon!!! Flutter ! Flutter!  

Is it not stunning?  It is composed of 20 butterfly blocks made from ladies handkerchiefs. 

Knowing how I have been working on butterfly quilts for the last 4 1/2 years in memory of my sister, sweet Susan gifted me this beauty. 

Would you like to take a look at some of the beautiful blocks ?

Each little butterfly is so unique . The handkerchiefs are so intricate and colorful and were carefully folded to create the most perfect butterflies. . 

This one reminds me of my Granny with the muted earth tone colors. 

Isn't this one striking? 

The original quiltmaker embroidered a little head and antennas on each butterfly using matching floss. 

This butterfly is a dazzling. 

Have you ever made a handkerchief butterfly block? 

Immediately when Susan sent me the quilt, I purchased the batting and found some backing fabric. Then I thought about how I wanted to quilt each block.  Well, I began the other day and may I say that I am in love!!!!!

The first butterfly is quilted. I am hand quilting a flower, vines, and leaves in each block.  I have high hopes to quilt at least 1 block a week. 

Sorry for the bad lighting on all of the photos. It gets dark early in the holler. 😏

The first block is hand quilted. 

When I quilt and stitch , I think of my family , friends and tales of long ago.  Do you do that? 

As I was quilting this butterfly block, I thought about my sister and how she and her friends loved the TV show "The Golden Girls".  I think they saw each and every episode more than once. My sister  and her crew each called one another the name of one of the characters based on their personality. This butterfly reminded me of my cousin who my sister  and their friend Miss C.  nicknamed  Rose.  This memory brought a smile to my day.

🌹  🦋   🌹  🦋

"Thank you for being a friend

Traveled down the road and back again

Your heart is true 

You're a pal and a confidant

And if you threw a party 

Invited everyone you knew

You would see the biggest gift would be from me

And the card attached would say

Thank you for being a friend. "

The Golden Girls theme song

🌹  🦋   🌹  🦋

Is that little diddy going to ring in your head all day? Hee! Hee! It will mine. 

Thank you so much, dear Susan for the most precious gift and for the warm memories that  this quilt is bringing back to me. You brought tears to my eyes  and filled my heart with more love and hope.

Yesterday I finished "Hot Cocoa" , a darling freebie from my sweet friend, Dianet at Parchesdeamor blogspot.

 The little marshmallow snowmen are the cutest!  I will stitch the next 2 in the series before I fully finish this one. Thank you so much, dear Dianet.  I will begin Ho Ho Ho  today. 

Today is errand day. That means going to get groceries and some soil for the garden  and just maybe , mind you ,  I will find myself at the thrift store. Hee! Hee!  Fingers crossed I can find some thrifty goodies. I am looking for cross stitch finishing pieces and vintage lace on this trip. 

Have a Marvelous Monday, Sweeties!

 As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa 

"Friendship is the golden thread that ties the heart of all the world.  "-John  Evelyn

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy who loved the farm so much.  

 I love and miss you so much.. Love you , Amo. 

🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓

Chalk art from my grandson

 Other Posts That Might Strike Your Fancy!

🌞Parade of Homes 2026- Early 2026 parade of home freebies.

🌞2026 Love Parade- A Parade of Previous Valentine Freebies- Valentine themed stitches up to Feb. 4, 2026.  

🌞 Root A Toot Toot Patriotic Parade Early 2024 patriotic freebies. 

🌞A Berry Nice Parade- A Look at Past Berry Freebies 2025- Early 2025 berry Freebies. 

🌞A Buzzy Bee Parade An early 2025 bee freebie parade.

🌞A Sunny Sunflower Parade for 2025 A parade of sunflower freebies up to July 24, 2025

🌞Pumpkin, Leaves and Autumn Please- A Fall Parade 2025 A parade of Fall themed stitches and doodles up to September 8, 2025.

🌞 A Parade of Stamps 2025  A parade of stamp cross stitch design freebies up to August 14, 2025

🌞Time to Dye-  2024 post on how I tea/ Coffee Dye my fabric. 

🌞Pin Pillow Tutorial - 2023 post on how I finish my pin pillows with chenille trim. 

🌞A Spooky Parade - Halloween freebies up to October  4, 2025. More Halloween pieces followed this date.

🌞Turkey Struttin' Thanksgiving Parade 2025- Thanksgiving freebies up to the date of November 3, 2025. More Thanksgiving freebies followed  this date. 

🌞Ho! Ho! Ho! Christmas Parade Of Previous Freebies- 2025- A Parade of Christmas Freebies up to the date of November 15, 2025. More Christmas Freebies followed this date. 

🌞A Chilly Parade of Winter Stitches 2025- A parade of Winter themed freebies up to the date of Dec. 21, 2025

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A Berry Slow Stitching Sunday and Berries - A Freebie

  These last couple of days the weather has dipped back down into the 60's. It has been nice, but a bit on the chilly side.

Welcome, Y'all and Happy Slow Stitching Sunday. Have you pulled out a project or two to work on today.  Well, how about joining me for a bit of chit chat as we work on our projects together. 

Like I said , the weather has been nice these last few days. I have been spending them outside when I can. Planting flowers and cleaning flower beds has kept me a busy bee. 

Mr. Pinker added some metal raised beds to the hillside behind the house. He has dug them in place in the poor chert soil. I have been filling them with broken limbs and small logs before we add the soil. 

Oh, excuse me . I forgot to show you what I am stitching on today. I am working on appliqueing a body for a butterfly block. 

I need to Embroider the antennas and finish appliqueing the blue butterfly. 

Berries and Butterflies is fluttering  right along.🦋🦋🦋

  I still have more strawberries and butterflies to applique though. 

Recently, dear Susan sent me a "Blessing box" . From that box, were 2  scrumptious fabrics that I will be including in "Berries and Butterflies". Aren't they so pretty? Thank you , sweet friend. 🤗

I was tickled pink when dear Melva at Melva Loves Scraps messaged me that I had won a fat quarter for participating in the Little House on the Prairie SAL. My heart fluttered when not only I saw the beautiful orange fabric , but when I saw the name of the fabric as well-  "Butterfly Sonata " by Connecting Threads . I knew that a piece of this will have to go in Berries and Butterflies. Thank you so much, sweet Melva . 🤗

Oooh ... What are you working on today? I know you are stitching on something that is fabulous. Will you be working on several projects today? 

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Yesterday, Mr. Pinker and I laid the plastic down in the garden. Soon we will be planting tomatoes , peppers, and mounding up small hills for cucumbers, squash and zucchini. 

We are getting the vegetable garden ready with plastic and irrigation. 

As Mr. Pinker stretched out the plastic , I sat down on the ground. A sweet butterfly fluttered to my side. " I love you" I whispered ; knowing that the orange butterfly would send the message to my sis. 

This butterfly stayed near me as we worked on the vegetable garden at my sister's house. 

Later I moseyed back home and dug up some of my hostas from the wild and woolly garden and transplanted them to the edge of the English Ivy garden.  Fingers crossed they will make it and the deer will let them be. 

I transplanted hostas in the garden. 

I am curious. What kind of shade plants do you like to grow? I am thinking of adding coral bells to this area too. 

 On the hill , we  have a good number of blueberry plants. They love the poor chert soil and do quite well here in the holler. 

The blueberry bushes are loaded with berries

The blueberry bushes are putting on the berries already. I say by next month we will be enjoying a  yummy blueberry pie. 

Speaking of berries. Yesterday , I posted my 1st country clutter hutch tour entitled Berries, Berries and More Berries  . My country hutch was filled to the brim with berry related knick knacks and stitched items. 

So today, I wanted to share a Berries  stitch that I created a couple of years ago. 

As I stitched Berries, I thought about strawberries, but really it could be any kind of berry- such as blueberries if stitched  in blues.  The berries are sort of nondescript in the basket.

I layered 2 ribbons on top of one another and embroidered x's on them along the seam. 

Berries sat in the "NEED TO BE FINISHED BASKET " for a couple of years. Last year, I finally finished it. I added a bit of fabric and then layered 2 Dollar tree ribbons along the seam and tacked the ribbons down with some wonky black X's.   Berries is now complete and on display for the 1st time. 

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If you are interested in stitching this piece,  just grab , the images. For printing tips, refer to the post Tips for Printing which has loads of tips from my sweet friends. 

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Later today I will be working on "Pieced Strawberry Pin Cushion" from Buttermilk Basin. This is a kit that I bought a few years ago. 

Then I will make my way back out to the garden. Unless.... I find myself stitching away on another berry related project.

And Where the Strawberries Grow is in the works. 

Alrighty, I better stop all of this yammering, and we get to work. Right? Let's get to stitchin' ! 

As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa 

"Life is what you make it. Make it sweet .  "

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy who loved the farm so much.  

 I love and miss you so much.. Love you , Amo. 

🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓

Is this a Lizzie Kate piece? My memory fails me. 

 Other Posts That Might Strike Your Fancy!

🌞Parade of Homes 2026- Early 2026 parade of home freebies.

🌞2026 Love Parade- A Parade of Previous Valentine Freebies- Valentine themed stitches up to Feb. 4, 2026.  

🌞 Root A Toot Toot Patriotic Parade Early 2024 patriotic freebies. 

🌞A Berry Nice Parade- A Look at Past Berry Freebies 2025- Early 2025 berry Freebies. 

🌞A Buzzy Bee Parade An early 2025 bee freebie parade.

🌞A Sunny Sunflower Parade for 2025 A parade of sunflower freebies up to July 24, 2025

🌞Pumpkin, Leaves and Autumn Please- A Fall Parade 2025 A parade of Fall themed stitches and doodles up to September 8, 2025.

🌞 A Parade of Stamps 2025  A parade of stamp cross stitch design freebies up to August 14, 2025

🌞Time to Dye-  2024 post on how I tea/ Coffee Dye my fabric. 

🌞Pin Pillow Tutorial - 2023 post on how I finish my pin pillows with chenille trim. 

🌞A Spooky Parade - Halloween freebies up to October  4, 2025. More Halloween pieces followed this date.

🌞Turkey Struttin' Thanksgiving Parade 2025- Thanksgiving freebies up to the date of November 3, 2025. More Thanksgiving freebies followed  this date. 

🌞Ho! Ho! Ho! Christmas Parade Of Previous Freebies- 2025- A Parade of Christmas Freebies up to the date of November 15, 2025. More Christmas Freebies followed this date. 

🌞A Chilly Parade of Winter Stitches 2025- A parade of Winter themed freebies up to the date of Dec. 21, 2025

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I am joining these lovely ladies' link parties. I hope you check them out; they always have so many wonderful projects going on and provide the opportunity for other needle workers to meet.

Frederique at   Quilting Patchwork Applique for Patchwork & Quilts - Saturday

Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday

Kate at Life in Pieces for  Stitching Stuff ( Sunday) 

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework for Oh Scrap - Sunday 

Melva at Melva Loves Scraps for Sew & Tell- Sunday

Brenda at Songbird Designs for Monday Musings

Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday

Carol at Quilt Schmilt  for To Do List Tuesday 

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If all goes well, I hope to post the following this week,

🌞A Garden tour

🌞 A new quilt in the hoop

🌞Summer Stamp SAL stitch 

🌞A new Salt Box House 

🌞 Stamp Parade

But we shall see. You know how life and chores sometimes get in the way of all of the fun. But I do hope you will drop by when you have the chance. You know how I love visitors.