Buzzing Bees and "1776" - A Patriotic Freebie

"Well that stitched up in 2 shakes of a lamb's tail," I said to Frat as I was sat on the porch.     

Frat just chirped an unhappy chirp. She was a little peeved and was in no mood to chirp sweetly. And... Yep, she had already built a nest in the 2nd fern before I could deter her.

Look at those delicate finch eggs. I was careful not to disturb them. She has already been back on her nest. 

A short while earlier , I brought my basket of stitching supplies and sat on the porch. 

The rain had gave way to sunny skies. I listened to Frit and Frat, the House Finches, and from a distance I could hear Mr. Pinker rumble and grumble. 

"What's going on I asked, Frit? " I then laid down my stitching and walked to the garage. 

As I approached, I could smell a sweet aroma drifting with the breeze.  Mr. Pinker had been to the bee yard at the farm and brought back some supers to extract the honey. Bees were buzzing all around . 

And the honey smelled delightful. 

The super with frames of honey. 

"Whatch' doing, Hon?"  I asked as Mr. Pinker picked up the hive tool to separate the frames. 

The J Hook Hive tool is used to open up the super, pry apart hive bodies and lift heavy frames. 

Mr. Pinker looked up as bees darted around his head. 

"Some of these supers are full. It is time to extract some honey , Honey,  "he replied with a smile.  

The  bees continued buzzing all about; they were none too happy on this muggy day. 🐝🐝🐝🐝

"It smells divine," I said as I touched the frame with my finger to gather a drip of honey for the tasting. "Tasty too. "

A frame of capped honey

 Mr. Pinker stood by his work table with the hooded veil covering his head  while I meandered from the frames to the extractor with not a care in the world that the bees were buzzing all about. 

"Buzz, Buzz, Buzz" went the bees. 🐝🐝🐝

Mr. Pinker soon went to work - uncapping the honey. 

 Cutting the caps off the combs to expose the honey. 

I watched curiously. " It smells so sweet! I think I could eat the whole bucket. " I said with a smile knowing good and well I could never do that. 

Glistening uncapped honey.

Mr. Pinker continued working . He was hot and the bees were still buzzing mad. "Will these bees find their way back to the barn?" I asked. 

"Yep, they will be fine." he replied.  He was doing the extracting at the house and not at the beeyard. So I was a bit worried that so many bees had rode along in the truck to the house . 

Once the a frame was uncapped , it went into the honey extractor. This is an old extractor given to us by my uncle many years ago. It is hand cranked and made in the good ole' US of A. 

Antique honey extractor

Soon Mr. Pinker had two frames in the extractor , and he began to hand crank and spin the honey out of the combs. 

Two frames are put in the extractor and then the honey is spun from the combs. 

CRANK ! CRANK! CRANK! RATTLE AND ROLL!

Once Mr. Pinker had extracted the honey from the frames, he would open up the valve and the honey would drain into the strainer and into the food grade bucket, but I did not stay to watch that process. 

The extracted honey will drain into the strainer and then into the food grade bucket until bottled. 

As Mr. Pinker cranked and cranked and cranked, the bees began to buzz by me. I turned and headed back up the hill intent on not getting stung. 

"Hey , where are you going? " asked Mr. Pinker. 

"It looks like you and the bees have  got it all under control , Hon. I have got stitching to tend to. " And with that I sprinted up the hill , up the steps, pass Frat the House Finch and into the sanctuary of a cool living room. 

It was not long before I had popped "1776" into a thrifted frame that my sweet baby sis gave me years ago. Because I gave myself little finishing room, I had to add a little bit of patriotic fabric to fill the frame. Hey at least it is a finish. Hee! Hee! 

This is a "Choose Your Own Color" chart. If you are interested , I used DMC floss colors-  Blanc, 815, 3750, and 3852. 

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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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Well Sweeties, that's what has been going on in the holler- Bees, birds and a little bit of stitching.  Hmmm, now what can I get into today? Hee! Hee! 

Have a bee-autiful day and thank you so much for dropping by for my Thursday tale. 

I am going to continue patriotic stitching all through the year.

 Are you ? 

My buffet is filled to the brim with patriotic goodies. In the background in the frame is Waxing Moon' Design's Patriotic Trio Houses- a favorite stitched years ago. 

As always,

Happy Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa

"A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey. " - Winnie the Pooh

Hugs and Stitches!!! 🤗

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy. I miss and love you so much.   ❤👼

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