Making Plans and Little Patriot- A Patriotic Freebie

Howdy do! And a very lovely Sunday to you! I hope your day is off to a delightful start. Do come in and sit for a spell. Bring some stitching to work on as we sit and chat.

 Can you believe that we are wrapping up May? Wheww ! Where did the month go?  

Goodbye May!          May Berry Basket 

The rains have continued throughout the week. Earlier this week the winds blew a few trees down and thus we were without electricity and cable for a few days, but all is well now , though the cable line is still laying on the ground.😕🙄

Rainy day on the farm. 

I have tried to keep busy . The strawberry decor has been gathered up and put away. I am still stitching berry related items though. 

Most of the strawberry decor was put away this week. 

Patriotic decor is slowly but surely coming out. I am a little late this year . 

I began decorating with patriotic quilts , stitching and lots of dishes. 

One of my favorite decorators on Youtube posted her kitchen patriotic tour the other day. Have you watched Jean E. ? Her video posts always bring a smile to my day.  This year's patriotic kitchen tour was a delight for the eyes.  So if you have a chance pop over to visit her.  Jean is precious.  😀

This week's finish was "Every Heart Beat True" from Annie Beez Folkart. This chart was a darling gift from my friend Robin. I began stitching it while in Quartzsite earlier this year. Lots of fond memories are wrapped up in this stitch. Thank you , sweet friend. 

With a finish under my belt, that means I want to start something new. Well to be honest, I am always ready for a new start. Hee! Hee!

 Anywhoo... These are the designs that I want to begin this week--  USA Banner Spool by Crafty Bluebonnet,  a gift from my sweet friend, PJ . We both love patriotic designs. The 2nd design I want to start is  Lizzie Kate's "Let Freedom Ring" a darling gift from dear Susan who is a prolific stitcher and loves all things vintage just like me. Thank you , sweet friends. 😘❤ I miss both of you on Instagram. I do need to visit IG more often. 

 

Now onto the plans for the week. 

Hmm.... What Should I do This Week? 

🌞1. Post new Summer Stamp

🌞2. Work on Bunny Harvest Roundabout

🌞3. Post update on new quilt project. 

🌞4. Continue working on my sweet friend,  Dianet's  beautiful Christmas design called"Ho Ho Ho" Photo coming soon. 

🌞5.Work on Strawberry Sampler

Hmmm... that's a good list for now 

Did I Get'r Done...Well Last Week's Goals were.. 

✅🌞1.Continue working in the gardens.  I did work on transplanting seedlings and pulling weeds. 

✅🌞2. Work on Bee Haven Cottage . I stitched the roof. I am nearing a finish. 

❌🌞3.  Work on stitching a new Strawberry Sampler

✅🌞4.  Piece more Four Patch Fun blocks. 

✅🌞5.  Whatever other mischief I can get into. The grandsons and I went shopping. We had a good day out and about.

I give myself a grade of an 80 on this week's accomplishments. Not too bad. 😁

Hand quilting Tumbleweeds. 

Alrighty, Sweeties, I guess better let you get back to stitching. I will continue working on my Tumbleweeds quilt until the grandchildren arrive.  

Ooops, I almost forgot. I have a little patriotic freebie to share with you. I haven't stitched it yet so I do need to put it on this week's To Do List. It is called "Little Patriot". It is a CHOOSE YOUR OWN COLORS chart. I  am not sure  what floss colors I will use, but I will certainly update this post as I work on it. 

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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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Have a beautiful day, Sweeties! 

As Always, 

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa

Thank you for the sweet visit. 

"Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life.    "- Mark Twain 

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my baby sister, Amy. Love and miss you, Amo. 

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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 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

A Little Bit of Junk and a Little Quilt

"Honey, now don't go all crazy on me, " said Mr. Pinker as he began to direct me down an aisle at the thrift store. " I want to show you something, but again don't go all crazy." 

Then Mr. Pinker pointed to a shelf filled to the brim with Sir Walter Raleigh tobacco tins.  "Eeeh" I squealed in glee as I began to spin around! "Jackpot" . I then looked at the price $1.00. " Wowzer! Double jackpot!  "   

Mr. Pinker smiled and walked away knowing that I would get a couple . Well I got more than a couple, but I left the majority of the tins there. When I got home, I began to decorate with them.

I have decorated with tobacco related items for years. Many of y'all may remember that I grew up and worked on a tobacco farm. My main job was planting and helping hang the tobacco. 

As a kid, I was a climber ( well, I still am) , but I would climb the poles of the barn . The staked burley tobacco would be handed up to me to hang on the poles for drying. This was usually done in August when it was hot and steamy. 

The top level of the tobacco barn . The poles are from the farm and were hand hewn by dad. 

I shared a tour of the tobacco barns and the story of the Tobacco Grower quilt in April of 2023. 

Over the years I have collected tobacco related tools from the farm and from the  warehouses where the tobacco was sold. 

This small collection of tobacco related items are pieces from my grandparents, like Papa's pipes, matches  and pipe cleaners. Little rusty treasures from my sister have also made it in the display along with our neighbor's pipe collection.  I think the Sir Walter Raleigh tins fit perfectly with the rusty crusties. 

 But the Sir Walter Raleigh tins were not my only thrift finds of the day. I came home with a few more treasures which I will show you in future posts. 

I also purchased a large wooden hutch and a wicker rocking chair which I will show later. 

Since I am on a tobacco related post, I am chomping at the bits to show you my latest little quilt finish called "Matchsticks" . 

Matchsticks is made up of lots of little strips and scraps that I have saved from previous projects. It was time to do something with them. 

"Matchsticks" is made up of 25 - 2 1/2" x 4 1/2"(unfinished)  scraps and 4 - 2 1/2" x 20 1/2" ( unfinished ) neutral strips.

I used many of these fabrics in Melva's Little House on the Prairie Sew Along. 

 

Matchsticks measures 18"x 20 "( finished) 

Doesn't Matchsticks pair perfectly with my vintage tobacco related collection? I know this junk is not for all, but it is just my style.  I like things old , rusty, crusty and filled with character. 

Sweeties, I guess I have jabbered enough today. Thank you so much for taking the time to see my clutter and my newest little quilt. Now I am ready to work on another.  I am going to try to be a good girl and avoid the thrift stores this weekend. Hee! Hee! 

As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa 

"A collector's heart is filled with many  fond memories .  "- unknown

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy  who was my thirfting buddy. I miss our chats and sharing our thirfty finds.

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

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🌞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

Rainshowers, Stitching and Pink Lemonade - A Summer Stamp Freebie

Good evening, sweet friends. I am sorry about missing my early morning post for the Summer Stamp SAL, but with the rains, we have had downed trees. But more on that later.

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You were right! You said that when I cleaned up the avalanche of fabric that came tumbling down last week that I would find some forgotten projects to work on. 

Late Sunday evening, I bustled into the quilt room determined to wrangle that "mess" into submission.

 Soon Mrs. M. ( my oldest daughter) peeked into the room. "Holy Cow what is going on here?" she said in dismay. 

"I escaped within an inch of my life as the fabric totes fell, " I laughed. 

Mrs. M. eyed the situation and shook her head.  It wasn't long after that  she and I retreated from the "avalanche room" to  visit with one another. 

Later, I returned and whipped the wild and woolly fabrics back into their totes. Several projects pranced forward  like little neighing fillies begging for my attention. I just scooped them aside and took them into the living room to study later. Two of which were Winter Checklist...

 and... low and behold , I found more wee four patches ripe for the picking and ready to be made into a teeny quilt. 

 A little stack of 4 patches ready to be made into a small quilt. 

On Monday, Mr. Pinker and I woke up early and began cooking for the Memorial Day cookout. Hamburgers, hot dogs , cornbread salad and all of the fixings . Yum Yum.😋 

By 12: 30 most of the family was here. "Where's everybody at? " I inquired. 

"Well you know, here and there and everywhere, " one family member sighed. 

"Busy, busy , busy, " I replied. Gone are the days of large family gatherings as everyone is pulled in one direction or the other, but that is alright we had a good gathering , we had loads of  fun and we stuffed ourselves full until we our bellies were as tight as ticks.

 

The boys went outside to play. Meanwhile the adults  sat back, watched TV and chatted until it was "nap time" . LOL.  Then slowly , the family sauntered home for their own recliners and couches. 😁

"I am going to go work in the garden, " I declared to Mr. Pinker after everyone left. 

"Whoa there, Nelly! " exclaimed Mr. Pinker. "Don't you hear that? The pitter patter of rain." 

I worked on Melva's Prairie Rose Block. 

"Aaw shucks, " I sighed "Well I am going to go sew. " And with that I headed to the sewing machine where I spent most of the afternoon. That is until the electricity went off. "Oh bother!  Grumble! Grumble! What am I to do now?" Well I sat and sat and sat.  With nothing else to do I  finally headed to bed for a restless night's sleep.

The electricity was off for hours. Trees had fallen in the holler knocking out power. When it did come on, we found out that we did not have cable/ Internet service either. Uggh ! Grumble! Grumble again! The cable line and box was smashed to smithereens from the fallen trees, and the cable line is currently lying in the road for all passersby to run over . Hopefully, the service will be returned tomorrow, but we shall see. 

By late night fall, Mr. Pinker figured out that I could use the Hot Spot on my phone and connect it to the computer, but only  for a limited time -just to post.  ( You know limited data and such) 

So here I am , better late than never. Right? Hee! Hee!   

But let's get to today's Summer Stamp SAL shall we. 

What do I like to drink come summertime?  Mmmm... A great big glass of freshly squeezed lemonade. But I opted for pink lemonade in my newest Summer Stamp . 

Of course, if you stitched it, you could make it plain lemonade or maybe a pitcher of  iced tea with lemons. Mmmmm- refreshing. 

Pink Lemonade Stamp was stitched on 14 count Aida. 

 Old Fashioned Pink Lemonade

Servings: 12

9 cups of water

2 cups of white sugar

2 cups of fresh lemon juice

1 cup of chilled cranberry juice

Combine  water ingredients in a large pitcher, stir until sugar dissolves. Serve in tall glasses over ice. 

Pink Lemonade Stamp was stitched with 10 DMC floss colors which includes: DMC 223, 725, 745, 815, 898, 926, 930, 3345, 3346, Blanc. 

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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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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.  

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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 Treat

May 12th  Summer  Stamp 4 Sunflower Strut

May 19th Summer Stamp 5 Summer Quilt Stamp

May 26th Summer Stamp 6 Pink Lemonade

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

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Alrighty, my sweet friends. I am off to sit in silence and sew. It has been a quiet and somewhat productive day here in the holler with no TV or Internet to lure me away. Hee! Hee! I hope you have had a lovely day as well.  Love ya! 😘

I have a post scheduled for Thursday, but hopefully, I will be back online if the Cable/ Internet is restored. 

As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa 

"Any day spent with you is my favorite day. So today is my new favorite day.  "- Winnie the Pooh

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy who loved  the family gatherings. Amy loved to cook, especially bake for the holidays. I can imagine her making patriotic cupcakes for all to enjoy 

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

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 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

I am making progress on Bunny Harvest Roundabout.