Spring Flutter Pinkeep- Spring Freebie

Good day,  Honey Pies. This is just a quick pop in to show you a new cross stitch  in the works. A new little pinkeep called "Spring Flutter" . The butterfly is stitched. Just a few more motifs, and then it will be finished.

 Since I have not finished mine, I am posting this as  a CHOOSE YOUR OWN COLORS chart.  I will update this post with the colors that I used when I finish mine just in case you are interested . 

UPDATE: March 1,  2025 Spring Flutter is completely stitched. I used the following DMC colors. 

SYMBOL     FLOSS COLOR

∆            924

U            433

H            504

G            3348

P            3721

L            451

O            356

•            3371

1            3821

X            754

Y            729

W            712

The stitching is complete on Spring Flutter. 

 

I stuffed Spring Flutter with snippets of fabrics left over from my quilting projects.

It is stuffed tight and is heavier than the polyfil pin cushions. I like the feel and plan on stuffing more like this. The trim is thrifted chenille that I twisted and whip stitched in place.

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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. 

🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵 🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵

I am off to finish my stitch. Stay bright and beautiful and...

 As Always, 

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa

Thank you for the sweet visit. 

"Live life freely!  " - unknown.

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my baby sister, Amy. Every time I see a butterfly I think of you.  Love and miss you, Amo. 

Piecing Snowmen

Happy Thursday, Sweetie Pies.  It is Embroidery Thursday, and I have the perfect project to work on until the little munchkins arrive after school- that is my Mr. Snow blocks. Last week after our brief snow shower, my Mr. Snow blocks politely said " Yoo Hoo, will you do something with us?" With their calling , I quickly pulled  out the embroidered blocks and studied as how to piece them together. 

Three of the 12 Mr. Snow blocks waiting to be sashed. 

If you do not remember,  Mr.Snow  was  a collection of 12 redwork  embroidered blocks that I shared in 2023 and 2024. They are still available on my blog sprinkled in previous posts.   Click here to visit a post with the links to all of the snowmen.  

EMBROIDERED BLOCK UNFINISHED SIZE: 7 1/2" x 10 1/2" 

Anywhoo since  these fellas were demanding my attention, I pulled out some red 2" strips and got to work. With a swish of my rotary cutter and a vroom vroom of my sewing machine, soon I had 2 blocks pieced.  I will piece 2 more today.  Did you notice how I alternated the the borders? That way I will not have to worry about matching seams as much when they are pieced together. 

Just in case you are interested here are the cutting measurements for each block. 

All of the blocks will measure:

UNFINISHED BLOCK SIZE: 10 1/2" x 13 1/2" 

FINISHED BLOCK SIZE: 10"x 13"

Block 1 sashing: 

                Cut 4 red scraps- 2" x 10 1/2"  

Block 2 sashing: Cut 2 red scraps- 2" x 7 1/2"

                Cut 2 red scraps- 2" x 13 1/2"

🧵Use 1/4" seam allowance. 

BLOCK 1 : Sew Right and Left Sashings ( 2" x 10 1/2" strips)  on each side of embroidered block.  Press toward red. 

Sew Top and Bottom Sashings ( 2"x 10 1/2") to embroidered block. Press. 

BLOCK 2: Sew Top and Bottom Sashings ( 2"x 7 1/2") to embroidered block. Press.

Sew Right and Left Sashings ( 2" x 13 1/2" strips)  on each side of the embroidered block.  Press toward red.

This is going to be a slow relaxing project to work on . I am in no hurry to finish it. I will give you more details on how I will finish this quilt  as I work on these blocks in the future. 

Well Sweeties , that is what is going on in the quilt room today. What are  you up to? 

 As Always, 

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa

Thank you for the sweet visit. 

"Take it one stitch at a time.  " - unknown.

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

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

Changing Out the Quilts

 It's that time! Time to change out the "junk" treasures.  Hee! Hee! Yep, I have been piddling around changing out the decor in the small foyer hall. 

First up - the quilts. I always start with the quilts. I have 3 shutters that I  have bought over the years at the thrift stores that are just perfect to drape quilts and quilt tops over. 

Do you want to see what I am displaying for March? 

Thrifted shutters used to display quilts. 

 The other day I dove into the "junk room" aka "storage room" to find the perfect quilts to display for March. I was thinking of soft hues and greens and such. You know- springy quilts.  Soon I emerged with 3 quilt tops that are just waiting for their turn in the quilt hoop. But until then they will be perfect to display.  The first quilt top was inspired by a Tula Pink quilt  called Beanstalk that I saw years ago. 

I pieced this quilt using lots of pretty greens and pinks  from my stash after seeing Tula Pink on Nancy Zieman's broadcast Sewing With Nancy .Tula's pattern is in the book Quilts from the House of  Tula.   Though there are pink buds extending from the stems in every direction, this design reminded me of burley tobacco that my family grew for over 20 years.  Burley tobacco has pink blooms at the top of the stalk that have to be topped as soon as they appear. 

The 2nd quilt top is a glorious vintage basket design. Don't you just love the jade green fabric? Do you think this quilt top looks like it was from the 1940's? The fabrics are just scrumptious. 

It is hand and machine pieced. The basket blocks are flanked by peach blocks. 

Oh, I do want to  hand quilt this in the near future. 

I guess I bought this top over 15 years ago. Lookie at the price! You cannot beat that with a stick!

  The 3rd quilt top was made as a table cloth . Lots of faded muted triangles pieced in this beauty. 

And at just $2.29-it was a steal. I bought this jewel last year.  

Soon the quilts were draped and displayed on the shutters - ready for the spring season. 

Since the quilts were up it was time to change out the vintage wooden shelf. Back to the "junk room" I went and within 2 shakes of a lamb's tail, I emerged with green pottery and St. Patrick's Day cross stitches. 

Have I talked your ear off? I do believe I have soooo....  I will show you the rest of the foyer in an upcoming post. 

I wish you a wonderful evening and...

 As Always, 

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa

Thank you for the sweet visit. 

"Our life is a patchwork of beautiful moments. " - unknown.

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 needleworkers to meet. 

Joy at Days Filled with Joy for Home Matters

Butterfly Stitches

    

Butterflies flutter

Butterflies fly,

They put a a sparkle

In your eye. 

Watch a butterfly 

And in a short while

It will give you

A butterfly smile! 

-  "Butterfly Smiles by Bruce Larkin

I'm still quilting butterflies!  And they are still bringing  a warm smile to my day! 

Quilting on Flaming Butterflies. 

Welcome y'all and a lovely day to you.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with my Flaming Butterflies quilt. I was hoping to make great progress on it while camping, but it was just too dusty to bring it out to quilt on during the day, and it was too big to take into the truck camper at night. Sooo here I am still quilting butterflies.  A bright yellow butterfly is quilted. 

Time to move on to the next one. Soon I will be quilting the border. I may quilt a cable design in the border. 

One more Pretty in Peach butterfly body is appliqued.  It still needs antennaes though. 

A new butterfly quilt is in the works. 

So today these butterfly projects will be bringing a sparkle to my eye. What are you working on?  

Now onto the plans for the week. 

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

✅🌞1. Work on Flaming Butterflies quilt

✅🌞2.Work on potato chip blocks

✅🌞3. Work on Photo albums. 

✅❌🌞4. Piece some bow tie blocks. I was  not able to piece any blocks, but I did order some fabric. 

✅🌞5. Work on Around in the Garden blocks. 

✅🌞6.  Unpack my cross stitch and begin working on a new project. 

Eeeh! I began and fully finished 

 Clover Basket Pinkeep into a small pin pillow.

🍀🍀🍀  I shared this design earlier this week in a previous post. 

Hmm.... What Should I do This Week? 

🌞1. Work on Flaming Butterflies quilt

🌞2.Work on potato chip blocks

🌞3. Work on Photo albums. 

🌞4. Piece some bow tie blocks

🌞5. Work on Around in the Garden blocks with the new color of the month.  

🌞6.  Finish my new house stitch . 

🌞7. Begin a new cross stitch. 

I spy a heart rock. 

A new house is in the works. I just need to add a few more  stitches.

A new house stitch in the works. 

 

This week's Sunday quilt stack is a "Teddy Bear's Picnic" Stack. No good teddy would have a picnic without a stack of quilts to sit on.

A teddy bear picnic Sunday quilt stack. 

 Have a "beary" beautiful day, Sweeties and thank you for dropping by. 😘🤗

 As Always, 

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa

Thank you for the sweet visit. 

"Life in a nutshell awaits the squirrel. " - unknown.

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

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

Double Stuff is one of my nephew's new kittens. It is supposed to be a barn cat, but it is not. LOL. 

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 

Quilting Blues

Can you believe this is the last Saturday in the month? Wheew  this month flew by!  

I have the quilting blues. No, I am not sad. I am just playing with blue fabrics. 

In January, I started a new quilt that I am calling "On the Positive Side".  Since we were camping at the time, I  only had a limited amount of pink fabrics, but I was able to piece some scrappy "Plus Blocks". 

I added four more blocks to mix- these are in blues for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

The blocks measure 10 1/2" x 10 1/2" unfinished and are made of 2 1/2" strips and blocks. 

I plan to make at least 42 blocks. Maybe more. 

 

I dug into my scrap bin and came up for breath with a handful of blue strings which I immediately sewed together.  

These are pieced in a willy nilly fashion.  I will use them for applique in a future project. 

Crumbs and strips sewn together. 

The snow is gone. The sun is shining , but it is still cold. Soon I will be cleaning out the gardens. 

 

A cold winter's day. 

Still dreaming of Spring. 🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷

Bunny House Saltbox

Dreaming of a house surrounded with flowers. 

I finished stitching Clover Basket Pinkeep.🍀🍀🍀 It is ready to be finished. That will be a task that I tackle today.  I will also post the floss colors I used in the previous post with the chart.   

Clover Basket is stitched and ready to be fully finished. 

Well Sweeties, I am off to the sewing machine! I hope you enjoy doing something you love today. 

As Always, 

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa

Thank you for the sweet visit. 

"Be bright . Be happy. Be you!  " - unknown.

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

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

I pulled out a piece of thrifted needlework to hang in the foyer. 

 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 needleworkers to meet. 

Angela of  So Scrappy  for Scrap Happy Saturday

Snow , Sheep and Clover Basket -A St. Patrick's Day Freebie

 What is it  Mark Twain said?  "Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it. " 

Well with that being said-  Brrrr. It is cold out there!  Hee! Hee! 🥶

Today is supposed to be the coldest day of the month in our neck of the woods dropping down to 19.   It is a perfect day to stay home in  my jammies and stitch the day away.   Now that sounds like a plan. Don't you agree? 

LET IT SNOW

We got about 2 inches of  snow yesterday.

  It began to melt by mid day, but soon the temps dropped.   There is no school today so the little munchkins will be here shortly then katy bar the door for they are sure to find something fun to get into - knowing them  they will probably go outside. Aaah to be young again when cold weather did not bother one so  much.😏

            

 Anywhooo,  it has been a spell since I have stitched one of my own designs.   I have a wee start on my Clover Basket Pinkeep which I have high hopes to finish by the weekend.

A wee start on Clover Basket with St. Patty's Day Trifle

 I hope you do not mind if I share the chart without it being stitched . Since I am still working on it, I have not listed the floss colors  so it is a "CHOOSE YOUR OWN COLORS" chart, but I will list the colors that I use when I finish this piece.  

                                

UPDATE:  FEB. 21, 2025- I finished "Clover Basket Pinkeep". In case you are interested: I used -- DMC floss colors which includes:

Symbol      Floss Color

U                DMC 3857

X                DMC 937

O                DMC 869

W                DMC Blanc

•                DMC 3371

Y                DMC 729

Clover Basket is stitched and ready to be fully finished. 

Clover Basket finished as a pin pillow with twisted yarn trim. 

🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵

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. 

🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵 🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵

With the snow looking so inviting yesterday,  I pulled out my Frosty McChill Quilt  so it could frolic in the snow. Frosty was quite happy.

 I then marched inside and  pulled out Mr. Snow  embroidered blocks which I shared in 2023-2024. Click here to visit a post with links to all 12 of the  Mr. Snow blocks.  

It is time to do something with these blocks before I move on to another embroidery project.  

Three of the 12 Mr. Snow blocks waiting to be sashed. 

The Mr. Snow blocks  are the same size as the Frosty McChill blocks .  I will be cutting fabric today and framing a couple of the blocks. 

Well , Sweeties I am going to cozy down on the couch, sip on a cup of coffee and stitch on a little basket.  I wish you a beautiful and blessed day. 

 As Always, 

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa

Thank you for the sweet visit. 

"Embrace the cozy season and stay inside where it is warm.  " - unknown.

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

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

Winter Stamp

Hey, Have I told  you that you are the bee's knees lately?!   You sure are!  Love ya'! ❤