Oh My Stars and Pumpkins

"Whatcha' working on? " asked Little Mrs. S., my youngest daughter.

"I am quilting up a storm, " I replied. 

Little Mrs. S. smiled and went back to work as I quilted away .

 Mr. Pinker and I  have been visiting Little Mrs. S. for the last few days, but after a long and delightful visit we have made our way home. 

Little Mrs. S. has decorated her side table with pumpkins for the fall season. 

" One row  quilted and two more to go!" I shouted as Little Mrs. S. retreated to her home office. She gave me a thumbs up and disappeared.

This  darling quilt  was sent to me from sweet Cheryle. Thank you , dear friend . I am enjoying it so much. ❤🤗

I think I will call it "Oh My Stars and Pumpkins!" 

I am quilting swirls in the pumpkins using a taupe thread.

 

Time to move the hoop and tackle another row. 

Autumn Patchwork  is all stitched up. I shared this little design a few weeks  ago inspired by the sweet quilt Cheryle sent me. 

Autumn Patchwork  was a CHOOSE YOUR OWN COLORS chart. If you are interested, here are the floss colors I used. 

FLOSS  : SYMBOL  MOTIF:

DMC 301 ( C) Rail Blocks

DMC 437 (W) Nine Patch blocks, Center block 

DMC 601( X) Pumpkin  Stem

DMC 730 ( V) Border

DMC 921(B) Corner blocks, Pumpkin

DMC 3371 ( • )  Border, Nine Patch blocks , Rail blocks

Pretty fabrics from Hobby Lobby. 

Little Mrs. S. and I spent a few days shopping. I picked up some yummy fabrics. 

And...

This fall plaque at Hobby Lobby which was 40 % off. 

 A small piece from Hobby Lobby . 

I thought the backside would make a good finishing piece for a small piece of cross stitch.

I may take the sticker off the backside and use it as a cross stitch finishing piece. 

AND...

I picked up a few skeins of floss. 

Alrighty, I still need to unpack and work on the dreaded laundry pile and then-- maybe then I can squeeze in some stitching  time. 😁

Have a wonderful evening. 

As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa 

"family where life begins and love never ends.  "- 

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy 

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

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

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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 needleworkers to meet. 

Jennifer at Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday  Wait Loss- Wednesday

Denise at For the Love of Geese for Put Your Foot Down- Thursday

Nina at Creations, Quilts, Art , Whatever by Nina for Off the Wall Friday

Alycia's of Alycia's Quilts for Finished of Not Friday

Michelle  at From Bolt to Beauty for Beauty Pageant - Friday

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 

Donna at Modern on Monticello- Home Matters

Blessings and Berries- Blooms of the Heart 2026 Berry Freebie

Hey, there Sunshine! How are you doing on this lovely Summer's Day?  I sure hope you are feeling as fit as a fiddle and as fine as dandy!

It has been a good week in the holler thus far. As my Nanny would say- "I've been keeping the roads hot "which means I have been out and about for the last few days.  Not doing anything special but visiting family and dipping in and out of thrift stores. So you know I am one happy gal! 😀

This bright sunshiny yellow afghan is my latest thrifty find for only $1.99. 😲 Eeeh what a steal! I have already draped it onto my stitching chair . It will be nice to throw over my legs during the chilly evenings. 

 I will show you some of my other  finds in the next coming days. 

Sweet Gail, sent me a Blessing Box with a couple of advertising tins to add to my collection. 💛💙

But wait. What makes them extra special is they were from her collection . AND...

They are musical tins. 😀 Just turn the little key and sweet melodies delight the ears. 

The Morton's Salt tin plays "Singin' in the Rain." If you would like to enjoy a little "ear worm" just click the colored link to listen to Gene Kelly singing "Singin' in the Rain" on Youtube. Such a delight. 

Right now I have the sweet musical tins sitting on my "mitten table" ( The table where I store the boy's winter mittens and tobaggans). But I am already dreaming of moving the Morton's Salt to the blue hutch and the Old Dutch Cleaner will be incorporated into my fall display with my brown crocks. 

Oh, what fun I will have weaving them in and out of displays throughout the year. Thank you so much, Gail for blessing me with your treasures and kindness. 🤗 You brought me such joy. 

Hmmm... what  else is going on?🤔 

Well, I have a special berry stitch to share with you. It is hot off the presses. In fact, I just finished it last night.  It is called "Blooms of the Heart" and is in memory of my sweet sis, Amy. ❤

Of course, if you decided to stitch this simple stitch, you do not have to finish it as a berry. You could finish it any way your sweet heart desires.  I just have an affection for berries. 

Blooms of the Heart was stitched on 14 count coffee/ tea dyed Aida. 

Have you ever made a berry? A couple of  years ago, I posted a Berry Making Tutorial. My advice when making a berry is to cut your fabrics large. You can trim down as you go if you decide the berry or cap needs to be smaller. 

The Berry Sampler (Amy's 2026 berry sampler) which I have not shared, Blooms of the Heart Berry and Berry Bouquet- A Sampler for Amy

Usually , I stuff my berries with a combination of polyfil and  sawdust from Mr. Pinker's workshop . But this year, I decided to fill it with something different- oodles and oodles of fabric scraps that I have collected.  I will show you the project that these scraps are from later this week. I simply cut the little scraps to wee pieces and stuffed them into the berry. 

Scraps from a quilting project were used to fill "Blooms of Heart" 

I made my berry oversized and stitched wonky "X's" along the seam line . I always do this on my berries. 

 Usually, I like to add bits of lace and all kinds of things to my strawberry caps. But I really did not frou-frou the strawberry cap up much this year; I just kept it simple. 

 I cut a strawberry cap from a gray wool skirt. I tacked it down over the top of the strawberry using blanket stitches. I then cut strips of silk from a jacket . I created loops from the strips and secured them with 2 overlapping buttons on top! Wahlah! My strawberry cap was complete! Easy Peasy! 

Amy's 2023 berry which I have not shared, In My Heart She Blooms 2024 berry, and Berries for Amy the 2025 berry

FLOSS  : SYMBOL  MOTIF:

       DMC 221 ( X) Flowers

DMC  223 ( C) Flowers

DMC 730 ( G) Stem , Leaves

DMC 830 ( • )  Date and center of flowers

DMC 869 ( V) Doohickeys and small heart

DMC 924 (H) Basket

DMC  926 ( U) Basket

The basket was stitched in blues . My sweet sis had beautiful gray blue eyes. 

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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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NOTE:The drawn berry outline on the chart is NOT a stitching or cutting line,but I used it as a reference line  to visualize the berry while stitching.

NOTE: I use the  berry template as a loose guideline for constructing my berry. I add a generous seam allowance . So my berry is a lot bigger than the template. If you find your berry is too big to your liking , you can always trim the fabric. 

It brings me so much comfort to create the little samplers and berries in memory of Amo. I think she would smile from ear to ear if she saw them. 

The Berry Sampler, Amy's Strawberry Basket Sampler, Berry Bouquet- A Sampler for Amy and Amy's Berry collection. 

Gosh, I do think I have talked your ears off.😁 

I do apologize for being so long winded today. Please, do forgive me. But I am ever so grateful that you joined me.

May your day be a filled with joy and...

As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa 

"Friendship is a blessing that warms the heart and soothes the soul.  "

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my dear sister  thrifting buddy, and best friend, Amy 

 I love and miss you even more with each passing day. You are my blessing.  Love you , Amo. 

🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓

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Please forgive me on being way behind on answering sweet messages and visiting. I am like a chicken with her head cut off right now. LOL. But I will get it together soon.  Do you ever feel like that? LOL  

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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A Patriot's Log Cabin- A Patriotic 250th Year Freebie

  Mr. Pinker and I are going out to eat today. It will be a nice treat as we wrap up a busy, busy  week. I have spent much of my days sitting outside  stitching, quilting and of course gardening. While Mr. Pinker has been hustling and bustling with doctor's appointments, yard work and cleaning the garage. So yep , I think I am ready to go out for a good lunch. No cooking for this old gal. NO SIREE! Hee! Hee!   

What's your lunch and dinner plans? Anything special? 

 Next week is  the last week of school for the grandkiddos. They are certainly excited for school to be out, and I bet the teachers are too. Hee! Hee! I am sure the grandsons will stay busy with all sorts of summer activities like ball , fishing and traipsing out in the woods. I am certainly looking forward to spending more time with them. 

But I guess I should get to some stitching . Shouldn't I? 

Today, I wanted to share with you a new house stitch. It is a simple house called  "250 Years - A Patriot's Log Cabin" or as I often call it the  "1776- 2026 House". 

As I stitched this house, I thought of my distant "several times great" grandfather  who  was an Irish born Revolutionary War soldier, Grandpa Higgins.

 With a fire in his belly and freedom in his heart and  mind, in  September of 1780, Grandpa Higgins enlisted in the Continental Army in Virginia.   He went on to fight bravely in at least 2 battles including the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina  in January of 1781 and the Battle of Guilford Courthouse near Greensboro, North Carolina. 

Mini Flag Sampler , A Patriot's Log Cabin, and  peek of Summer House 

Grandpa Higgins served our  country  proudly until  1783 when he was discharged . Afterwards he was given a grant of land in North Carolina for his service as many soldiers were given in payment of their service . 

Grandpa Higgins  lived a long happy life and instilled hard work, dedication,  and patriotism into the minds of  his large  family . In fact, many of his children and descendants have served in the military  during times of peace and times of unrest.   My daughter is just one of them. 

You know I am  one proud Mama! 🤗❤

The Marcher of the Flag a piece I stitched for my daughter. 

But Grandpa Higgins is not the only Revolutionary War hero that I am so fortunate to be descended from. There are many others that fought bravely for our great country . ( I have created other houses in memory of them. ) 

Are you a descendant from a Revolutionary War patriot?   Or have you or family members served to protect our great country?

 If so , I am deeply grateful. 

"250 Years - A Patriot's Log Cabin" , Mollie William's Homestead,  
Freedom Saltbox Lucinda Hawkins Liberty House,   and The Blue House

I stitched "A Patriot's Log Cabin" on 14 count Aida that I tea/ coffee dyed. 

Ten DMC floss colors were used in the making of "A Patriot's  Log Cabin" including:  DMC 353, 355, 356, 519, 610, 745, 930, 937,3799,  and 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. 

🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵🧵

Well Sweeties, that is just one of the patriotic houses that I have been working on this year. I am far behind on posting house stitches, but I have been working on them. I will trickle them out throughout the year.  

Thank you so much for dropping by for a Friday visit. Now let's all pile up in the car and go out to eat! Hee! Hee! My tummy is rumbling! 

As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting,

 y'all

Melisa 

"America is what she is because she is guided by all three - learning, faith and freedom. "-Ronald Reagan

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy    I love and miss you so much.. Love you , Amo. 

 🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷

 

Other Posts That Might Strike Your Fancy!

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"250 Years - A Patriot's Log Cabin" and Summer House