Bugs, Blooms, Boo Boos and a Doodle Freebie

The cicadas are coming! The cicadas are coming!  

Oh! They are already here! Lol. 😉😁🪰🪰🪰 

Happy Thursday , Sweet Peas. 

Cicada 

Are the cicadas buzzing and humming along in your neck of the woods?

This one looks a little water logged after the rain.

  I can hear them up in the trees ; yesterday one flew down to greet me. I have to admit I enjoy the sound of the cicadas . Do you?

 

Because of last night's storms, school is starting late today. I hope that all of those in its path are safe and my heart goes out to those affected. 

I have been bustling about in the Wild and Woolly garden. This garden does not get much sun, but there are loads of lilies growing in it. 

I planted a hydrangea bush. I hope it will survive. We have very poor soil here- in the holler so my fingers are crossed. 

An Annabelle Hydrangea planted on May 6th. 

We also have a mosquito problem since we live close to the river. Have you ever grown mosquito plants? We bought 2 in hopes that they will give us some relief. 

Mosquito plants waiting to be repotted. 

On the chert hill behind the kiddos swing set is another garden in the works. Butterfly bushes are planted in memory of my sister. I planted those on Monday. 

 The beginnings of Amy's garden

Tomatoes and peppers are planted, but we do need to clean up around the plastic. 

The tomatoes are planted. The garden needs to be cleaned. 

Excuse me a moment while I do a Happy Dance!!!  

Woo Hoo!  I have a finish ! My sweet friend PJ gifted me the seasonal charts by Puntinipuntini . I finished Warm Spring, but Ooops I made a boo boo that I tend to always make.  

Yikes! I did not give myself enough room for framing on one of the edges so I sewed a little bit of fabric for stretching and just popped it into a frame . My sweet friend, Darlene, gave me the idea to add a print fabric to it. How brilliant! I have been auditioning some pink fabrics, or I may go with a buttercream.  But I just love it! Thank you so much, dear PJ  and thank you Darlene for the suggestion. 

Next up is "Hot Summer" by Puntinipuntini . 

This will be today's start. 

Did you see Vicki at Stitchy McFloss  sweet Mother's Day Freebie? It is as cute as a button and is a beautiful tribute to her mother . Here is my start. 

I am using different colors because I  could not wait for the floss colors to arrive. LOL. I have a couple of finishing ideas already swirling about in my mind. Thank you , sweet Vicki. You are amazing!🤗 

It's Embroidery Thursday! 

I finished my  Spring Checklist   which was embroidered on coffee dyed fabric. 

I embroidered  this piece using the backstitch with DMC 898. I simply quilted around the embroidery and along the seams.  If you would like the measurements for this quilt  click on the March 11,2024 post called A Tale and a Finish

May I interest you in Summer Checklist?  I will be stitching  "Summer Checklist " on a piece of 8 1/2" x 11 1/2" coffee dyed cotton fabric using DMC 898. 

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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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My doodles are hand drawn and are never perfect.  

OOOPS- I have a correction for The Bunny House.  If you printed the Instruction page before May 9,2024 there was a mistake in the Floss Symbols. DMC 926 should be the symbol "X". I apologize.  I have posted  the corrected Instruction page on that page. 

If you ever see any mistakes on my charts, please let me know. I truly appreciate it. ❤

Have a talked your ears off?   I sure hope not. Have a beautiful day, Sweeties.  Eeeh , the weekend is fast approaching!  

OH WAIT I DO NEED TO  TELL YOU THIS!  -  You are amazing! And I feel so very blessed by you; thank you so much for taking such precious time out of your day to spend it with me. Love ya'! 

As Always...

Happy quilting and stitching, y'all

Melisa

"Even the smallest one can change the world. "

Hugs and Stitches!!! 🤗❤🧵

Dedicated to my sweet baby sister, Amy. I love and miss you so much, Amo! 💗💗💗

Some sunny quilts waiting to be folded and placed into a Spring quilt stack. 

Other Posts That Might Strike Your Fancy!

🌞Parade of Homes- Early 2024 parade of home freebies.

🌞A Blooming Parade A Look at Spring and Easter Previous Freebies-   2024 Parade of Spring freebies

🌞Buzzin Bee Parade 2023-  An early 2023 bee freebie parade. 

🌞Messin and Gommin in the Kitchen -  2022 post on how I tea/ Coffee Dye my fabric. 

Wordless Wednesday Camping in the Woods

  Happy Happy Hump Day! It has been a blue moon since I have shared a Not So Wordless Wednesday post. This time I thought I would share a few photos from one of our favorite campsites in East Texas . It was at a very peaceful place called Neches Bluff Overlook near Weches , Texas.  It is part of the Davy Crockett National Forest.  I hope you enjoy! 

Our camp way back in the woods. We spent Easter here. 

Mayapples were in bloom. 

Brilliant Blue Sky and tall trees. 

This darling bird was near our entrance. 

Thank you for the sweet Wednesday visit. I hope you enjoy a day of peace and relaxation. 

As always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa

Thank you for the sweet visit. 

Peace is always beautiful.  Walt Whitman

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my baby sister, Amy.  The farm is not the same without you. Love and miss you, Amo 

                      Y'all come back now , ya' hear! 

Quilting , Cows and Tales

Well hello there!

Welcome sweet friends.  Please do come in . May I offer you  cup of coffee or tea? We do need a little pick me up before we head out the door. 

We will be heading out  to the farm to look at some quilt blocks and then take a  long stroll down memory lane with tales of friendship and childhood games.  Oh, Do you have your farm boots? If not, I do have some you can borrow for we will be heading out to the field as well.   We may even ride in the back of the truck on the tailgate!!!  We shall see! 😀❤🐮🐄 

Let's first take a moment to step into the Quilt Nest though. 

Melva at Melva Loves Scraps has been hosting a Quilt Along called Pieces of My Life.  She is sharing quilt blocks and has questions that you can answer to add to your quilt's history as you create it. I have been working on Blocks 2 & 3 .   A few fabrics were chosen to play with . 

My sewing machine has been humming  away  these last few days as I contemplated 2 of the questions that Melva asked which was about  friendship and games. 

  

Little HST are  in the works.  

We better get on the move if we are going on that stroll. 

Oh,  look there is the old tobacco barn. 

 Some of you may remember that I grew up on a tobacco farm and helped with the late summer harvest.  If you would like to read more about the tobacco farm   click the link , Tobacco Grower Quilt  and you will be taken back to that farm post. 

During the winter time, Mom and Dad would strip the tobacco  that had been staked on tobacco sticks.

 

Usually 5 -6 stalks of tobacco were on the stakes.

 Once the leaves were stripped ,  the stalks were thrown in the bed of the old  red farm truck. 

It  would not be long before there would be a truck load of stalks all ready to be disposed of. 

Melva's Block #2 was the Friendship Block.  I chose greens and pinks that reminded me of the colors  of Burley tobacco.  

Did you know that burley tobacco has a pretty pinkish flower? The bloom would have to be topped as soon as it began to appear in order to increase the yield and quality. That meant it had to be cut off along with any suckers. 

Now before we go on, I must beg oh , please , oh please do not think I have lost my gourds as I tell this  childhood tale . If you pull out a straight jacket, I am sure to run. 😂😂😀🤪😜🤣

As a child and as an adult, my best friends have always been my sisters. We did everything together including help out on the farm. Well one of the tasks was  riding on the  back of the tailgate of the truck and help dispose of those piled up  tobacco stalks.     Dad  would drive  the old truck to the pond behind the barn. Back then, this was a freshly dug pond and in order to reduce erosion the tobacco sticks would do just fine  . As soon as dad brought the truck to a rolling  stop, my sisters and I would jump  to the ground and with a pull and  a tug we would drag the stalks out of the truck bed  and onto the ground as dad inched forward. Once they were unloaded, we each grabbed an icky sticky tobacco stalk and hopped back onto the tailgate grinning ear to ear ; it was time to play a very special game. 

 

Melva's 3rd Block is the Pinwheel block! 

Soon the old farm truck was puttering down the hill toward the bottoms, which was the lower field where  Blackie, Molly, Ester Sue  and the other heifers were. 
"I got one, " I shouted. 

"Me too, "said Sis. 

"Me three," yelled my other sis. 

"1,2, 3, I  am going to win" 

POKE , POKE, POKE!!!!!

 I am almost embarrassed to tell you about the game, but remember we were farm kids. So please do not think we were too crazy!!! Hee! Hee!  😀

As we rode the bumpy trail up and down the hills, sisters and I with tobacco stalks in hand played Poke a Cow Patty!  It was a very simple game - just poke a dried cow patty with a tobacco stick as we rode. Whoever poked the  most won! LOL. I know . I know  Some of you may be rolling your eyes and saying .EEEEEW ! and  How dumb. LOL!  But we had a ball and remember we were farm kids living the simple life.  

Bow, Friendship Star and Pinwheel

Now speaking of cow patties and games.   Did you know that in Oklahoma there is a Cow Chip Competition that is held each year ?  Yep in Beaver Oklahoma.   I think this year it is August 19-24th. Hmmm maybe a camping trip is in order. Lol. 

Fabrics are cut for Blocks 4 & 5  for  Melva's QAL

Alrighty, Sweeties Now grab you a tobacco stalk and get on the back of the truck , we have a game to play. Heee! Heee! 

Thank you so much for dropping by and listening to my goofiness!  

As always...

Happy quilting and stitching, y'all

Melisa

"Live life like someone left the gate wide open! " 

Hugs and Stitches !!!🤗❤🧵

Dedicated to my dear loving sister Amy who love the farm so much  . I love and miss you, Amo

Did you know that Pioneers used Buffalo chips for fuel  If you would like to read more about Life on the Trail , click the colored text. 

Life is Better on a Farm    . It truly is !  Have an awesome day. 

If you have missed any of Melva's posts on the QAL please drop by her blog for a visit.  Melva's blocks and quilts are gorgeous and she has such heartwarming stories to accompany each of the blocks that she shares. Melva not only enjoys quilting but she enjoys camping adventures as well.  Thank you Melva for all that you do! ❤🤗

Introduction to Melva's QAL - March 1, 2024

Pieces of My Life Block 1- March 7, 2024

A Reveal of Melva's Finished Quilt- March 14, 2024

Pieces of My Life Blocks 2 and 3 - March 28, 2024

Pieces of My Life Blocks 4 and 5- April 11, 2024

Pieces of My Life in Purple Quilt- April 21, 2024

Pieces of My Life Block 6- May 2, 2024

Piecing Some of the Blocks Together-May 6, 2024

Whittling Away on Projects

May I say

That I like May? 

I wish every day

Was a May kind of day- 

With growing grass

And buzzing bees, 

With blowing breezes

And flowering trees. - Helen H. Moore

Lizzie Kate's  Flip It Bits- May

A berry beautiful Monday to you! Welcome, y'all.  Are you ready for an awesome day?  I sure am. We are expecting more rain this week including today, but that certainly will not put a damper on my day. I love rain! 

I have been pulling out some of my strawberry decor.  Little House Needleworks "Strawberries" looks so cute hanging from my hoosier. It is finished on a Dollar Tree unfinished plaque that I painted with chalkboard paint. 

When Mr. Pinker and I camped in Texas, we stopped at the sweetest antique store where I purchased 2 vintage aprons. This is the newest one.

For just $5,  I had to snatch this sweet apron up. 

 Aren't the colors so springy?   I tucked my Strawberry Saltbox  stitch into the pocket for safe keeping.  

 

So this brings me to the May Heart doodle. Of course , I  had to draw a berry patch since my family operated a berry farm for nigh 18 years or so. 

Lots of berries are ripe  for the picking. Would you like one? I believe these are the Sweet Charlie variety.  Oh, they are so yummy especially if they happen to produce a 2nd flush of berries.  

Did you notice that one of the blooms has a dark spot in the middle . Well it was hit by frost and will not produce a berry. But of course you do not have to stitch the dark X in the middle of that bloom. 

 On nights that frost was expected dad would stay awake all night monitoring the temperature. When it dropped to a certain point, the irrigation system was turned on and ice was placed on the berries to protect them from the frost, but every now and then some of the outer berry blooms would get nipped. 

Five blocks are completed. I have been mulling over the idea of creating some bonus blocks and perhaps make my quilt bigger.  We shall see. 

I am color tinting my blocks using a combination of Crayola crayons and colored pencils. The color is heat set with an iron. If you do this , be sure to cover with embroidery with a light towel to prevent any wax getting on your iron. 

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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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My doodles are hand drawn and are never perfect.  

If you have missed any of the other heart doodles, I do invite you to visit the previous posts by clicking the colored links. ❤

 Block 1 A Winter's Night, 

Block 2  Country Mail Delivery  

Block 3 A Country Spring Day

Block 4 Early Birds

I finished the embroidery and quilting of the Spring Checklist  that I shared earlier this year.  All of the quilting was completed while camping in Texas. I have to say that was a good trip in respect to getting a lot of little projects completed. I will be showing you more of them as I whittle away at adding binding to them. 

Anywhoo , Spring Checklist   was embroidered on coffee dyed fabric. I then embroidered it using the backstitch with DMC 898. I simply quilted around the embroidery and along the seams. It will receive its binding today.  Then perhaps I will pull my pen and paper out and work on a Summer Checklist. 

Alrighty, I am off to enjoy the rain, some puddles and perhaps a rainbow! I hope your day is filled with sunshine and perhaps a slice of strawberry cheesecake. Oh yum!!!!  

As always...

Happy quilting and stitching, ya'll

Melisa

"When life throws you a rainy day, play in the puddles. " - Winnie the Pooh. 

Hugs and Stitches and Warm Spring Wishes !!!🤗❤🧵

 A rose heart for my sis. 

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

Y'all come back now, ya hear !