Friday Happenings

It's Friday! It's Friday Yeee Haw! It's Friday!

 Good morning, Sweet friends . How are you on this lovely fall day? 

I have had a long week of cleaning and organizing in the quilt room. Slowly but surely, I am making progress, but I will spare you the photos of the room bulging of stacks of fabrics and UFO's galore. 

QUILT ALONG ALERT! QUILT ALONG ALERT!

Kathleen Tracy of Sentimental Stitcher is hosting a Scraps Stars QAL. She posted the introduction information and tips on making star points in her October, 2, 2026 post. 

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This week, I have been working on Little House Needlework's Sheep Virtues. A sweet gift from dear Donna.  ( Thank you Donna. I am loving every stitch. 🤗)

Sheep Trifle

Today , I will work on the sheep and the border.  I am stitching the Sheep Virtues as one large piece. There are 5 stitch spaces between each design. 

Time to move onto the sawtooth borders in "Oh My Stars and Pumpkins" , a sweet gift from Cheryle.💗 Thank you , Cheryle ; this is bringing me so much joy. 

 

A wavy line was handstitched in the tan border using an off white thread. 

Soon it will be time to turn down the black binding and whip it into place. 

Oooh Let me show you a couple of my thrifty finds from a couple of weeks ago. 

While in Texas, I picked up a vintage pottery pitcher from the 1990's and the darling crocheted pumpkin. 

The pitcher was made by Ellis Pottery from Marshall , Texas. The family began their business in the late 1800's.

Ok Sweeties, that is my update this week - cleaning, stitching and quilting. Now I best put on my apron and head back to that quilt room. There is more cleaning to be done. 

As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa 

"I can't get finished cleaning up my room because I get distracted by all of the cool stuff I find.  "- unknown

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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🌞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- 2026 A parade of sunflower freebies up to September 3, 2026

🌞Autumn Parade March- 2026 Fall Parade A parade of Fall themed stitches and doodles up to September 10, 2026.

🌞 A Stomping Stamp Parade 2026  A parade of stamp cross stitch design freebies up to June 2, 2026

🌞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. 

🌞Ghosts, Goblins and Jacks Galore - 2026 Halloween Parade - Halloween freebies up to September 16, 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. 

🌞A Christmas in July Parade of Past Freebies- 2026 A Parade of Christmas Freebies up to the date of July 6, 2026. 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

🌞Let's Dye Some Fabric- A tutorial on my process of dyeing Aida

🌞Color Tinting Embroidery Designs - Explanation on how I use crayons to color my designs for hand embroidery. - July 9, 2026

Tiny Pumpkin House - A Fall Freebie

Roll out the pumpkins and bring on the spice! Today is National Pumpkin Spice Day! 

Hmmm... I think I will celebrate with a dash of Pumpkin Spice in my black coffee , AND  ...

My daughter gifted me my newest coffee mug . A little pumpkin spice in my coffee will be perfect on this hot autumn day. 

 I do think the warm aroma of a pumpkin spice candle is in order for the day. 😀

The Walmart pumpkin Spice candle has a nice fragrance but not too overwhelming. 

AND... since I have an extra small quilt hoop open- why not start quilting on another project. 

This little four patch is going to be going into the hoop today. I think I will call it Pumpkin Spice- it looks spicy doesn't it. LOL. 

I pieced this little four patch quilt using leftover fabrics from The Autumn Sixteen Patch which I pieced last year. 

The little four patches include fabric from my Four and Twenty Blackbirds Quilt. 

And what a perfect day to roll out a new tiny house for the month! Little roly poly pumpkins are growing in the yard. 

May I introduce to you  the Tiny Pumpkin House . It was actually the first Tiny house I stitched and it started the whole series. So I do have a soft spot for it. 

"A Pumpkin and A Crow" ( an upcoming freebie), Tiny Pumpkin House and "Pumpkin Basket" ( Hmmm... I do not believe I have shared it yet. 🤔) 

If you decide to stitch any of my designs , feel free to choose your own floss colors. I always use whatever floss colors I have on hand at the time and what suits my home decor. ❤

    The following DMC floss colors were used in the making of Tiny Pumpkin House (aka Tiny Pumpkin Patch House):

🍂 301-  right/ left pumpkins

🍂 722-  middle pumpkin

🍂 729-  main house

🍂 732- grass

🍂782-  house additions

🍂898 border, pumpkin stems

🍂 3371 roof, windows, doorway 

 Tiny Pumpkin House was stitched on 14 count tea/ coffee dyed Aida.  I posted on how I dye my Aida in 2024  in my Time to Dye- post. 

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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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A finishing tutorial was shared in January 2026

Like all of my Tiny Houses, the Tiny Pumpkin House is finished in the same manner into a wee pin pillow with a bit of print fabric and lace. I shared the measurements in  my January 13, 2026 post along with the 1st house in the series, Tiny Winter's Day House. ( There will be 12 houses all together.)

If you have missed any of the other houses and are interested , just click on the colored links and you will be transported back to the post and the charts.

 

 Tiny Winter's Day House, Tiny Love House , Tiny March House , Tiny Tulip House ,

 Tiny Tomato House,   Tiny Butterfly House

Tiny Summer House,    Tiny House in the Beeyard,

 and Tiny Sunflower House

With Thy Needle and Thread's October Word Play

 Today, I hope to sit down to the sewing machine for a few "pieceful" hours but I also want to start pulling out my Halloween decor. - Mmmm decisions , decisions. 

Clipart from Vintage Fan girl blog 

So tell me . How are you  going to celebrate National Pumpkin Spice Day and the 1st of October? 

I sure hope you spend a few minutes of your day doing something that you love. 

As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa 

"Pumpkin spice makes everything nice!   "- 

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!

🌞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 Stomping Stamp Parade 2026  A parade of stamp cross stitch design freebies up to June 2, 2026

🌞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. 

🌞A Christmas in July Parade of Past Freebies- 2026 A Parade of Christmas Freebies up to the date of July 6, 2026. 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

🌞Let's Dye Some Fabric- A tutorial on my process of dyeing Aida 

If you have the chance , pop back in for an afternoon visit. I will be sharing the latest roundabout doodle around 1:00 p.m. CST. 

Bee Haven Cottage- A House Freebie

 A very lovely Tuesday morning to you, sweet friends.

Is your day off to a delightful start? I sure hope so. What do you have planned today? Anything fun or is it going to be one of those relaxing pj kinda day? Hee! Hee! 

I spent the day in my pjs yesterday sewing up a storm. Eeeh! It was wonderful!  It had been a little over a week since I had worked at my machine so I was excited as all get out. I will show you what I worked on in a later post. 

Thank you so much for all of the sweet well wishes. I have had two mishaps over the last few weeks which left me with broken ribs, but the last one was a fall down some slippery , wet camper steps after a rain. So do be careful when you go out on rainy days.  I think getting up and moving around is doing wonders. It is hard for me to sit and relax. I know some of you are the same way. 

The other day I picked up a "new to me" vintage cookbook published in 1979. Hmmm...🤔 When did 1979 become vintage? LOL. Is it? Maybe not.

 Anywhoo... the Joy with Honey cookbook is choked full of recipes that include honey. And it has the most adorable illustrations. 

The bee illustrations in the book were created by Vicki Dorsey

Speaking of honey... Let me show you my latest house finish. 

It is called Bee Haven Cottage. I finished stuffing it and stitching the seams closed last week. 

 I think it is sweet as ooey gooey , yummy to the tummy honey! 🍯Well maybe not that sweet, but sweet nonetheless. 😀

I think it is a perfect addition to my bee collection. What do you think? 

Bee Haven Cottage is surrounded by tall and small bee skeps and there is even one on the roof. 

But watch out for the ginormous bees! Yikes! I wouldn't want to be stung by one of those would you. 😀  Buzz! Buzz! 

 

Bee Haven Cottage was stitched using 12 DMC floss colors which includes: 

DMC 353, 414, 610, 730, 780, 781, 783, 844, 948, 3722, 3857, and 3859. 

I am sorry. I got snap happy on taking photos of Bee Haven Cottage. LOL

Since we are talking about colors , let me break down where the floss colors are located. 

🧵BORDER/ VINE: DMC colors 730, 353 and 3722

 🧵 GRASS: 730

🧵BEE SKEPS: 610 ( the bench) 780, 781, 783, and 844

🧵BRICKWORK: 3857, 3859

🧵WINDOWS: 948, 844

🧵DOOR: 948, 610

🧵ROOF: 414, 844

🧵BEES: 783, 844, 948

🧵FLOWERS: 948, 610

🧵PATHWAY: 414

Of course, you could use any colors that your sweet heart desires if you decided to stitch Bee Haven Cottage. 

Bee Haven Cottage was stitched on 14 count Coffee/ tea dyed Aida that I dyed myself. Using 14 count Aida, it measures around 5 1/8" x 5 5/8"  with a Design size of 71 x 78. 

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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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Another recipe from the Joy with Honey. I will be trying this Five Bean Salad recipe at our next get together. 

Now that Bee Haven Cottage is fully finished. I need to FFO Sunflower Haven that I showed sneak peeks of a few weeks ago. 

Sunflower Haven is being stitched on 14 count coffee/ tea dyed Aida. 

Plus I have started a new fall house.  It seems like I am slowly working through my lack of mojo. I guess it takes just a small spark to get the wheels turning again.  We shall see if this is it. 

I best get off here before I become a chatterbox. I know you have places to go and people to meet. So I wish you a BEEAUTIFUL DAY!  Love ya'! 

As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa 

"Be your own kind of beautiful.  "- 

Hugs and Stitches!!!!🤗🧵❤

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy 

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

🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

I hope to post a Bee Hutch Tour sometime this week. So I hope you will drop back by for a Country Clutter tour. 

Goings On

 Hmmm ... it has been a spell since our last visit . Hasn't it ?  I certainly did not mean to be away for so long. Ok. Ok. I know it was just a few days, but it seems like ages to me. Hee! Hee!

Sooo.... Let me tell ya' what's been going on in the holler! 

First, Mr. Pinker and I had a scare of our lifetime.

 During the grandsons' weekly sleepover, the Little One got choked on a marshmallow. His brother alerted Mr. Pinker who jumped into action and did the Heimlich on the little fella. At the time, the Little One could not talk or cough. He said that each time he tried to breathe the marshmallow felt like it was being pulled back further into his throat. Bless his little heart- he would not eat the rest of the evening and when he did eat the next day, I watched him like a hawk. 

 

Last week we had a few days where it rained cats and dogs here in the holler . I was one happy gal because it  alleviated the dreaded chore of watering the gardens. Everything is growing including the weeds.

 

It has been a blue spell since I have seen one of these. Yikes ! A hornet's nest.



Mr. Pinker spotted it on the eave of my sister's house the other day. ( This danger will be tackled later. )  

We are starting to get a few tomatoes. I see mater sandwiches in my future. 

  

The peppers are growing too! Eeeh!  Spicy! 

 

Hmmm... What else? Well Elmer has been moved to the other section of the farm in order to court Edna. 
The couple has been staying in the upper field so I haven't had the chance to get a photo of the two.  I guess they need their alone time. ❤🐴🐴Maybe they will come down the hill in a day or two. 

Edna looks awfully cute today! 

Now on to the quilting and stitching front! 

To be honest , I have been taking it slow and easy- hip hopping between stitching and quilting. 

Bent Creek's freebie Surrounded By Joy is fully finished. I simple used some cardboard covered with scraps from my stash. The jute string was from the Dollar Tree. It is all ready for the Christmas tree in a few short months. 

22 more weeks until Christmas! 



So let me show you my progress on The Gingerbread quilt which I am calling "Roll and Bake". 

The blocks are framed with 2" finished squares. 

After much debate, I decided to add 2 1/2" (unfinished) squares around each of the 4 embroidered blocks. 
I decided to go for the "country look" so I used lots of reds, greens, and tans . 
             Roll and Bake  and   A Bowl of Gingerbread

Hmmm... What to do next to Roll and Bake?  Well.... since it will probably be displayed in the kitchen , I am not going to make it too big. I will add a simple border in the next few days. I may add some four patches for the cornerstone blocks ( just brainstorming here). 

 A Plate of Gingers  and   Gingerbread and Marshmallows

I have lots of other projects in the works , but like I said I have been hip hopping  like a wild wily rabbit so I will show you some of those projects another time. 

Goodness, I don't want to chat your ears off. So I  will let you get back to what you were doing. Hmmm  .... I am curious.  What are you working on today? I bet it  is something lovely!  

As Always...

Happy  Stitching and Quilting, y'all

Melisa 

"Slow down and enjoy the simple beauty of each day.  "- Unknown

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!

🌞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 Stomping Stamp Parade 2026  A parade of stamp cross stitch design freebies up to June 2, 2026

🌞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. 

🌞A Christmas in July Parade of Past Freebies- 2026 A Parade of Christmas Freebies up to the date of July 6, 2026. 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

🌞Let's Dye Some Fabric- A tutorial on my process of dyeing Aida 

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. 

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 

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

Joy at Days Filled with Joy for Home Matters