Hive Sweet Hive- A Bee Freebie

Good morning, ya'll and Happy Saturday.  Looky at my new rolling pin!!! BUZZZZZ! It has bees imprinted all over it. Isn't it the Bee's Knees? 

Last weekend when Mr. Pinker and I went  on a Saturday drive, I stopped in a Dollar General where I found 2 of these cutie patootie rolling pins. I snatched them up like a bandit - one for me and one for mom.  The Bee Kind mug came from Dollar General as well. 

At the second Dollar General , I found these sweet as honey farm signs, and for a buck I could not pass them up. They even have jute hangers on them so they could be hung on a seasonal tree, from a hook or placed in a tiered tray. They are about 3 1/2" square - just the perfect size. 

I have been seeing a lot of bee stitching on IG especially on Tuesdays. I have been working on a few new bee stitches myself though I will not pull out all of my bee decor until after July 4th.  You know me; my house is  decked out in red, white, and blue right now. 

I do have a new bee design to share with you. "Hive Sweet Hive". This piece is dedicated to dear Deborah S.  for giving me the idea. Thank you so much, Deborah. My mind immediately started swirling with ideas as soon as I read your message and I knew I wanted it to have a " country feel " to it.  This was such a delight to create and stitch. 

I stitched mine on 14 count aida which I had tea/ coffee dyed . For a moment, I had considered stitching it on Rit dyed denim blue aida, but I changed my mind.  Wouldn't that be pretty though? 

 If ya'll stitch my designs, you probably can tell that I pretty much gravitate to the same ole' floss colors. But in this piece,  I did introduce a "new to me" color -  DMC 3777- Very Dark Terra Cotta.  Oh ,what a lovely color.   The other floss colors that I used were DMC blanc, 469, 3371, 780, 782, & 975. 

If you are interested , I invite you to check out the links below which will whisp you away to the jpgs. 

Many of you know , but I always like to leave this little disclaimer.  

I stitch my little designs for fun and to decorate my home. I feel very blessed by this community and love sharing my little charts, but I am not a professional designer. And I do not have professional software. Thank you for understanding that I  have to put each page on separate links because of the devices I use. I apologize for that.  These are images of the chart  or JPG s and not downloads.   I am always grateful for your kind encouragement , your visits, and for stitching my little designs. 

Click here for the Instruction page.

Click here for the Colored Chart. 

Click here for the Black / White Chart. 

I am all into refreshing drinks this summer. So I thought I would share this lemonade recipe. It is a lip smacker. 

                                                        Honey Lemonade 

YIELDS: 1. 5 quarts

INGREDIENTS

1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice ( about 6 lemons) 

1/2 cup of honey

5 cups of cold water

lemon slices to garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Squeeze lemons. 

2. Mix the lemon juice and honey together until thoroughly combined.

3. Add cold water and stir. 

4. Chill and serve over ice. Garnish with  a lemon slice. 

Well that is my Saturday ramblings.  I hope today will be a buzzzy day. I am going to head out early to see if I can spy any yard sales .  The rest of the day I will be in the quilt nest  until later in the evening and then back to the garden I will gleefully go.   I am going to remove suckers from the tomatoes and try to propogate them. Wish me luck. 

Have a beeautiful day, my friends and thank you for the sweet visit! As always....

Happy quilting and stitching, ya'll

Melisa

Kind words are like honey, sweet to the soul. 

Hugs and Stitches!!! 🤗❤🧵 

Dedicated to my sweet sister, Amy. I miss you buzzing about here and there and everywhere. You were our queen bee. I love ya!  Today is monument day. 💗👼

Summer Days - Thursday

Welcome, Sunshine. I failed to say Happy June to you yesterday. Are you ready for a spectacular month? I sure hope so. Bring on the sun, BBQs and the lazy days by the river!!! 

Yesterday I shared some of my recent photos to the Mennonite community. The quilt shop was closed, but I did enjoy browsing through the greenhouse. Memorial Day weekend was the last weekend it would be open I presume until fall . I purchased a number of  plants . They had a great deal - Buy one get one free! 

Well,  it is Embroidery Thursday. I am still working on my Summer Days Quilt. The last time  I shared, I had decided to set my embroidered blocks in red and blue Churn Dash blocks.

 Click here to visit the post and get the measurements if you are interested. 

 At this point the blocks were 12 1/2" unfinished. 

I was thinking about what to do with the blocks next, when I saw a photo of Missouri Star Quilt Company's Double Churn Dash . So I decided  to  double my churn dash blocks .

 I am alternating  the colors so the red churn dash blocks will have a blue outer Churn dash  and the blue will have red . Lol Does that make sense? I sure hope so. 

The final measurement of the blocks is 16 1/2" unfinished .  (16 " finished) . The half square triangles measure the same as the inner churn dash at 3" finished . Click here to see how I pieced 8 at one time using the Magic 8 method.  

To make the  "bars" of the outer churn dash , I cut 4 white strips ( 2"x 12 1/2" ) and 4 blue or red strips ( 2 " x 12 1/2" ) and then pieced them together. 

I am dreaming of another embroidered quilt , but right now it is just in the dream stage.

I was looking through a magazine yesterday  and found an interesting summer drink. I haven't tried it, but it does sound refreshing.  The ingredients are going on my shopping list. 

Watemelon Lemonade

INGREDIENTS: 

2  1/2 cups of  seedless watermelon cubed

2 scoops of lemonade powder mix

1 cup of ice. 

DIRECTIONS:

Blend together and enjoy! 

Thank you so much for the sweet Thursday visit. Have a very lovely day and as always...

Happy quilting and stitching, ya'll

Melisa

 If you have missed any of the previous blocks, check out the links below to go back to the previous posts for the jpgs. 

Previous blocks include:  Little Blue Birdie  ,Time to Plant  ,   A Bowl of Berries ,  A Basket of Blooms , Buzz Buzz  ,  Red , White, and Ewe , Summertime Treat  , Lemonade  , Sunflower Basket ,A Jar of Coneflowers  , Home Tweet Home  , Bowl of Tomatoes.

Summer means happy days and sunshine! 

Hugs and Stitches!!! 🤗❤🧵 

Dedicated to my sweet sister, Amy. I miss you more and more each day that passes. 

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. 

Pat at  Life in  the Scrapatch for Stitch , Sew and Show- Wednesday

Jennifer at Inquiring Quilter for Wednesday  Wait Loss- Wednesday

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

Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday- Thursday

Scissor Tail Designs " Rise and Shine " and My Betsy Ewe 

Wordless Wednesday- Mennonite Community

  Good morning and Happy Wednesday, ya'll. I thought I would share a wordless Wednesday post - well I will call it a "Limited Word Wednesday". Any whoo. I thought I would share photos from our latest Mennonite community visit. Just a few snaps as we were traveled down the road. Hope you enjoy. 

 

Thank you for the sweet visit, my dears and as always...

Happy quilting and stitching, ya'll

Melisa

Find happiness in simple things. 

Hugs and Stitches!!! 🤗❤🧵

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

Patriotic Jar- Mason Jar Series Freebie

Good afternoon, Sunshine! How was your Memorial Day weekend? I hope it was a relaxing one. 

We enjoyed the day at home with family. Mr. Pinker grilled hot dogs and hamburgers  with all of the fixins'.

             

 We even had our 1st watermelon of the season. Walmart had them for only $3.98 . It was yummmy! Afterwards the kiddos played in the pool.  Splishin' and splashin' all evening long. It was a good day.

          

 Later in the evening, I checked out the garden;  I believe we may have squash very soon. 

I am loving the longer days. I did not come into the house until after 8:30 pm.   

Are you interested in doing some canning? You do not need a water or pressure canner for this jar -just floss and fabric. 😀

The other day, the grandbabies and I were sitting on the patio when we saw two large birds soar above us. We quickly gathered 2 pairs of binoculars so we could see what they were. 

Eeeh! Eagles!!! We then heared their distinct call. They were no doubt heading to their nest near the river.  Later over the weekend, my nephews saw them as they were fishing.  With all of the eagle sightings ,  I thought it was time to work on a new stitch. 

This is Patriotic Jar- a mason jar filled with a bald eagle toting Old Glory. He is a cuutie!!! Well at least in my eyes. 

I finished this little jar just like the other mason jars in this series- a little pin pillow with twisted chenille trim. 

           

 I am a little disappointed in my finish though. I did not give myself a lot of extra fabric and when I went to finish , I did not refer back to my previous jars. Soooo this one is a little smaller in size in respect to the other jars. Oh, well. I will do better next time! 😀

If you would like to stitch this jar, I invite you to check out the links below where you will find the jpgs. 

Many of you know , but I always like to leave this little disclaimer.  

I stitch my little designs for fun and to decorate my home. I feel very blessed by this community and love sharing my little charts, but I am not a professional designer. And I do not have professional software. Thank you for understanding that I  have to put each page on separate links because of the devices I use. I apologize for that.  These are images of the chart  or JPG s and not downloads.   I am always grateful for your kind encouragement , your visits, and for stitching my little designs. 

Click here for the Instruction page.  

OOOPS : I failed to mention on the Instruction page that I used 1 strand of white to create a star in the flag. I made mine a little sideways. 

Click here for the Colored Chart. 

Click here for the Black/ White Chart. 

 If you missed any of the previous jars, just click on the names below, and you will magically be transported back to a previous post. 

Autumn Jar Pinkeep

Winter  Jar and  Winter 

Sheep Jar and A Basket for Ewe

Bunny Jar 

 Strawberry Jam Jar

The rest of the day I plan on working on some flag  quilt blocks and then my Truckin 'Tuesday cross stitch. Not a lot of excitement is going on in these neck of the woods, but a lot of fun of fun for me. 😀Thank you for stopping by for the sweet visit , my friends. As always...

Happy quilting and stitching, ya'll

Melisa

Life without liberty is like a body without spirit. 

Hugs and Stitches!!! 🤗❤🧵

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

Happy Memorial Day & Patriotic Bowl Filler Freebies

Good morning, my sweet friends and Happy Memorial Day. 

What a beautiful day it is!  

Please remember all of the brave men and women who have served in the armed forces and  made the ulitimate sacrifice so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we have in this great country. 

The National Moment of Rememberance takes place at 3:00 local time and that is when one is asked to pause for 1 minute to  remember those who have fallen during their service. 

 I was reflecting the other night about all of my family members that have participated in the armed forces dating back all the way back to the American Revolution.  The last family member that our family lost  in a war was a distant cousin who was killed in the Vietnam War. He was really just a child of 19 years of age when he entered the war and only lasted  a few short months in Vietnam. How brave he was. 

 All of my great uncles served in the Army or Navy during WWII. This is Uncle Buford who lost his life during this time.  ( You may remember I have some rabbit stitches named after him. I love naming my pieces after family members. )  

My great uncle who died while in service in 1943 .

Distant Cousin A. N. was a crewman aboard the U.S.S. Indianapolisis when it was torpedoed on July 30, 1945.

Three of my great great great grandfathers lost their lives during the Civil War.  I am sure that many of you have similar stories even if it is way down the family tree. 

 I also want to thank all of those who have served or who are currently serving in the military.  You are my heroes!!! 

What do you have planned for the day? A cookout or fun in the sun? Or just a nice quiet day relaxing at home?  We will be enjoying our usual family cookout and then a pool party. The kiddos are quite excited that school is out so they will particularly enjoy the day. 

Later in the evening, I hope to work on a few more flag blocks.

 I will also finish up this new cross stitch that I am working on. 

I have a couple of more Patriotic Wordie Bowl Fillers to work on too. These are simple super quick stitches.  I had these completed in two shakes of a lamb's tale. I bet you could too. 

If you are interested in stitching these quickies using scraps of fabric, please check out the jpgs below. I am so sorry that the images seem dark ( Fingers crossed my scanner is not going on the brink too. Yikes) 

Click here for Land of the Free jpg.

Click here for Home of the Brave jpg. 

I think I will be using DMC 823, 815, blanc and 930 for my stitches. 

Other Patriotic quickie bowl fillers that I have shared have been Freedom A Patriotic Wordie Bowl Filler

Freedom paired with one of Blackbird Design's Emily Strawberry. 

America ( photo coming soon) , Old Glory  , and Liberty

Since it is the beginning of the week, it is time to make those goal lists. Have you written yours out yet?  I hope you do not mind if I share my  list. 

Did I Get er' Done?   Well.... Last week's goals were: 

✅1. Work on my Summer Days quilt blocks. 

✅ 2. Continue working on Oh, Say Can You Sew Quilt Along. 

✅ 3. Truckin' Along Tuesday- New start. 

✅ 4. Work on a new Bee cross stitch. 

✅ 5. Work on Butterfly quilt

 Woo Hoo! I got er' done. I am doing the happy dance! 💃💃💃💃 Ok I have to admit it. This was my list from 2 weeks ago. I didn't post last week, but I still got er' done!!!

What's the Plans for the Week?  Well....

🌞 1. Begin putting boxes back into the attic. Yikes!!!

🌞 2. Continue working on Oh, Say Can You Sew Quilt Along. 15 more hour glass blocks to go. Then trimming is in my future.

🌞 3. Work on Truckin' Along Tuesday cross stitch. 

🌞 4. Begin a new Patriotic bowl filler cross stitch. 

🌞 5. Work on Butterfly quilt 

🌞 6. Quilt on Easter quilt

🌞 7. Make more flag blocks. 

🌞 8. Continue working on Summer Days blocks

That is my Monday Ramblings.  I hope your week is filled with many blessings and great joy. As always...

Happy quilting and stitching, ya'll

Melisa

The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must bear the deepest wounds and scares of the war. - Douglas MacArthur

Hugs and Stitches!!! 🤗❤🧵

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy. Love and miss you.  Our cookout is not the same without you! 

Dedicated to my sweet daughter who serves in the military herself. You are my hero!!!

 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.  

   Beth at Love Laugh Quilt  for Monday Making

Judy at Small Quilts Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday

Linda at Texas Quilt Gal for To Do List Tuesday - Tuesday