Porch Stitching Sunday

Happy Sunday, dear friends.  Please join me on the porch for a little chat and stitching. It is nice and warm outside ,and I have ice tea and sugar cookies to munch on. 

I have been enjoying this nice weather today . I planted a bit of lettuce in a small bed, and then strolled through the yard to look at my beds. 

The buttercups are blooming and more are peeking through the English Ivy. 

Afterwards, I decided to pull some projects out on the porch and stitch the evening away. 

 I haven't pulled the cushions out for the swings or chairs ,but I was comfy nonetheless. The main quilt project I am working on is my Easter Quilt .  The quilting looks so pretty playing off the sun and shadows.  

The Baptist Fan pattern is the design I am using.  I plan to work on this quilt more this week. 

Would you like to see my view as I stitch?

 We live in a holler in the woods so the view is mostly trees. The gardens need to be cleaned.

 I have several large walnut trees in the yard. I enjoy gathering walnuts to use for my dyeing. 

Earlier this week I found an unfinished small quilt  in the Quilt Nest. 

It was a quilted mat that I worked on in the early 2000's . All it needed was some binding which I completed. The only thing is there was a little stain so I have been working to get it out. 

A dear stitching friend sent me a number of charts the other day.  One of those that she sent was  Abby Rose Designs " A Joyful Heart". I dyed some fabric and immediately began it . 

This is going to be my "Hart to Hart" project.  (  I know you are saying " What does she mean?" Lol) Well I designate a certain project to a TV show that I watch daily and stitch on it during that time. I have a Days of Our Lives project too. I have found old episodes of Hart to Hart with Robert Wagner and Stephanie Powers on TV late at night. So I will be pulling this out during that time to work on.  I am so grateful to my sweet stitchy friend for sharing with me. Thank you, hun. 

I have completed a pretty good amount in a couple of days and even pulled it out for some porch stitching. 

My 2nd stitching project that I work on every Sunday and Monday is Tree of Life Samplings "Beauty and Grace'. I am still building on the house and yes I have made some mistakes, but I am going to roll with it. 

It has been a slow stitching Sunday , but I do have to say  it was quite relaxing. I am so happy that you joined me. It made the day even better. I hope you have a very blessed week  and as always...

Happy quilting and stitching, ya'll, 

Melisa

I am joining these lovely ladies in their link parties as they come available. I know they would love for you to visit. You will find lots of inspiration. 

Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday

Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap

Beth at Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making

Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday

Friends are the sunshine of life- john hay. 

 

A Little Applique Here and There

Happy , Happy Friday and welcome!  It has been a busy week, but I can not say I have a lot to show for it in respect to quilting. However , I wanted to pop in and give you a little quilty update.

The bee skeps are still being worked on using scraps of fabric gifted to me by a dear quilter. 

The chosen color by Angela of So Scrappy for the Month of March is green. So I have been pulling out scraps of green. When I went to look in the Quilt Nest , I  found I have very few greens to work with. I think I need to remedy that.  

After stewing over the idea of how was I going to use my greens, I decided I just need another applique project . Have I mentioned that I love needle turn applique?  "A Bowl of Berries" is my first block in my new quilt.   Have I got this quilt all planned out? Of course not, but it will come to me. 

Tonight's stitching project is Notforgotten Farm's new freebie "Shamrock Basket" which can be found on Lori's blog in the March 2, 2021 post. Lori  is so artistic and has the sweetest designs. I am pushing for a finish on this tonight. 

Well that is my Fun Friday update . Thank you so much  for the sweet visit and as always...

Happy quilting, ya'll

Melisa

 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. 

Angela of So Scrappy for Scrap Happy Saturday

Alycia of Alycia Quilts For Finished or Not Friday

Rebecca Grace of Rebecca Grace Quilting for TGIFF

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop

Michelle from Bolt to Beauty for Beauty Pageant 119

Kelly from My Quilt Infatuation 

"Gettin My Green On" and a St. Patty's Day Trifle

Hey ya'll . I am 'Gettin my Green " on . Are you? I thought I would share some of my St. Patrick's Day  decor. I just have a wee bit, but the collection is growing . I still hope to stitch one or more pieces before the 17th. I think I can do it. 

Are you ready to see my greens? Well let' get started ! First stop is my hutch.  

This hutch was built by my hubby years ago. Sometimes I have the urge to paint it white,but I am still mulling that over. 

Here are the 1st 2 shelves . Most of the stuff is gifted , thrifted or from the Dollar Tree or Dollar General. 

Bits of stitching are on the shelves along with thrifted plates. 

The long welcome shamrock sign was a Dollar Tree find. Our Dollar Tree did not have as much this year.

I have a basket of embroidered pansies that I found at the Goodwill taking center stage on the top shelf. Next to it are 2  sweet freebies both stitched with what floss I had on hand at the time. "March Squared" is a freebie by Linda Stolz of Erica Michaels ,and it is on Rainbow Gallery website in the 2003 Cross Stitcher's Surprise series. I love this little stitch. Did you notice it has sweet little sheep on it? You know how I am about sheep. I stitched this a couple of years ago and finished it as a flat ornament with ruffled fabric taken from old clothing. 

"Kiss Me" was a freebie by Nancy Bandzuch and is available on her blog Catholic Sprouts ; it was a super quick stitch.  I have it nestled in a little glass basket my sister gave me.  Those white boxes were Dollar General finds. 

The other corner of the top shelf is the "Lucky " corner with 2 sweet stitches. The little creamer was a gift and it is sitting on a soap dish. 

The little "Lucky" pillow was stitched a few years ago and I am pretty sure it was a freebie. Do you know who it was by? I can not remember at all. 

                        

 The little Lucky Stamp on the Dollar General stand is my little design. If you missed him, just click the name above to go back to that. post. I have seen him stitched up a lot on IG which tickles me green. 

Now on to the 2nd shelf which is all about lettuce. 

All the lettuce pieces are thrift store finds  for  $2.00 or less. The Irish Wishes sign is a 2021 Dollar Tree find.

A dear friend sent me The Trilogy's "Lucky Tree". I stitched it up  lickety split and finished it this weekend. I found a trivet that I had bought at a yard sale and placed it on it.

Hubby's old shirt came to the rescue in this finish. I cut it up to make some bows for the handle of the trivet and a little tie that I hot glued to the back of the mounted stitch. I just wrap it around the trivet and tie it off. I can remove it easily. ( I didn't have any magnets. )  The black and white fabric covers the tile of the trivet; I will leave that fabric  so I can add another stitch to it later. 

The bottom shelf has platters,plates and stitching on it. 

On the scale is a little bowl with "Got Luck?"  which is a freebie from Paulette Stewart of Plum Street Samplers .  It  is available on her blog in the March 7, 2011 post. 

I stitched this last year . I believe I used DMC 3347 and finished it with scraps of fabric and Dollar Tree jute twine. 

"A Slice of Blarney " was an old Erica Michaels freebie. I tried to find it on the internet but did not have luck. I stitched this last year and finished it on a candle holder with some ruffled fabric .

"You are My Lucky Charm" is one of my designs that stitched up in about 30 minutes. As many of you know, I can not bear to waste even the tiniest bit of fabric so I whipped up this little piece.   A Dollar Tree Irish cap sits behind it on a cup. Underneath Slice of Blarney is a crocheted pot holder I found at the thrift store. I like to use them like doilies.

Well that's my St. Patty's decor on the hutch. 

 Now let's move to what I call the "rooster table" . (It has rooster drawer pulls. Lol)

Lots of little stitching on this small table. The wool shamrock mug rug is a free design from Shabby Fabrics. There are all kinds of cute wool and quilt projects there. Hope you check them out.   Tucked in the Walmart tobacco basket is Hands on Design " A Year in Chalk - March". 

My scales holds a bowl of chicken and below it is a wool pillow with my grandson's handprint on it. 

The Shamrock word stitch is a freebie from Helen D  that she so generously shared on her Flosstube # 76

A dear friend sent me With Thy Needle and Thread's Holiday Hoopla St. Patrick's Day a couple of weeks ago. I finished it on a little candlestick.

                                 

 It turned out so cute. And yep even more sheep. 

Why there is "Erin Ewe"  in a little Irish cap .  It was one of my sheep designs. 

Well that is the end of my St. Patrick's Day decor tour. I think I did pretty good "Gettin my Green on. 

Oh I am so sorry, I forgot to offer you a cookie.  No shortbread cookies today, but I have a shamrock cookie called " St. Patty's trifle. It is a small quick stitch 

It only measures  1 1/4" x 1 3/8" if stitched on 14 count aida or 28 count evenweave. Three floss colors were used- DMC 3345, 782, and 938. 

Click here for the pdf. 

You can not just have one cookie . If you would like 2 cookies , I posted "Love Trifle "a couple of weeks ago. I have seen it finished into the cutest pillows and tucked in tiered trays on IG. I call these cookies because they look like a cookies but they can be used as ornaments or fobs. 

Oh, I think these look so cute with my little houses. Do you see another obsession developing with me? 😍😃

I want to thank you so much for visiting me today and hanging in as I rambled on about my St. Patty's decor. I sure do love the visits. I hope you will visit me again this weekend as I am planning on  a quilt and stitching update. 

Have a beautiful day and as always...

Happy stitching, ya'll 

Melisa

              

May the dreams you hold dearest always come true! 

Spring Green Saltbox Freebie

 Happy Tuesday, dear friends. Please come on in, and let's chat for awhile. Tea is brewing ,and I have some shortbread cookies for your munching pleasure. 

I was so touched by all of the IG love from my recent post of my basket of houses. My collection is slowly growing . I started working on another one last night, but that is for a future post. 

My newest house is called Spring Green Saltbox.  Big ole' flowers surround this home. Boy, have they been fertilized.  

When I was a child, we lived in a green painted house. It wasn't a pretty saltbox like this, but a  simple little split level with perfectly pruned boxwood hedges that lined the sidewalk. We did not live there long though  because our forever home was being built on the farm. 

Spring Green Saltbox is ready for my spring decor. 

Since I am on a sheep kick. I had to add 3 litlte ewes mulling around the house plus a number of birdies all resting comfortably on leaves and flower vines.  As I was stitching this piece, I was thinking this is just not working out, but it turned out pretty good in the end if I do say so. 

Spring Green Saltbox. measures 69 x 71 and on 14 count aida or 28 count evenweave it would  measure about 4 7/8" x 5 1/8". I stitched my saltbox on 14 count tea/coffee dyed aida. 

I used 9 DMC floss colors which included 782, 3347,3345, 3364, 221, 937, 898 blanc, 310.  I am just stitching from stash and  chose floss that I had already on hand, but I can envision this house in a variety of colors. 

Spring Green Saltbox with Dorothy Mae's Spring House- I think they are so cute together. 

If you would like to stitch Spring Green Saltbox, just click on the pdfs below. Most of you know that I am not able or maybe I should say capable yet of putting each page on one pdf dowload . So you have to download each page separately. I apologize for that. 

Click here for the instruction page. 

Click here for the colored chart. 

Click here for the black and white chart.

 Have you seen the other houses that I have stitched? 

I have stitched several little homes and posted them on my blog for freebies. If you haven't seen them, I invite you to check them out . They include   Crow Creek Saltbox, Ophelia Manor on Punkin Holler Lane ,  Willowisp Manor of Holler Lane  ,  Turkey Creek Manor ,  Winter Saltbox  , and Dorothy Mae's Spring House   . 

I am so happy you stopped by for a visit and thank you so much.  It is always a joy.  I think I am going to settle on the couch , watch  little Murder She Wrote or Andy Griffith and stitch the day away. Lol.  I hope you are going to go do something fun. 

Happy Stitching, ya'll

Melisa

It is such a delight to see your beautiful stitches and quilts. I would love to see what you are working on .You can always tag me and use #pinkernpunkinquilting or Direct Message me. 

May joy and peace surround you. 

A bit of March Rambling and OMG

 Hello, dear friends and Happy March! Can you believe it is already March? This year seems like it is flying by. Doesn't it?  

This stitch is a freebie called the "Lion and the Lamb"and was designed by Linda Stolz of Erica Michaels . It can be found on Rainbow Gallery's website. Click here  . 

Have you seen Helen D.'s sweet St. Patty's Day freebie that she so generously shared on her Flosstube # 76 ?  Hope you will pop over to see her lovely stitches and get this little freebie. Thank you, Helen. It was a delight to stitch.  I finished mine into a little pin pillow and added a ripped strip of gingham around the seam which I tied into a bow. I would like to add a little charm or button to the bow but will have to wait till I find the perfect piece. 

 I started my day off with a little quilting. I have been working on my bee skep blocks that I started last week.

 I plan to work more on those tonight. I just need to cut out  more skeps. 

What is this mess of scraps you ask? Well  a tray full of quilt block possibilities. I have a design drawn on paper, and so another applique project is going to be worked on to go along with  Angela's green challenge of So Scrappy. Hopefully, I can have some progress on that later this week.

For the last 2 months I have participated in Elm Street Quilts  One Monthly Goal quilt challenge. This is where you set one goal to complete during the month. It is a great motivator to get some things done that you might not have completed as quickly. Well this month I am going to work on hand quilting my Easter Quilt again. My goal is to get at least 1 quilt hoop completed. I am hand quilting it in the Baptist Fan pattern.

Quilts are being pulled out for spring decorating. The house is a mess as I pull out bins of spring. 

A bit of Spring has sprung on the buffet with Waxing Moon Designs "Easter Trio". 

So what is on my agenda for the rest of the evening? Well I have bee skeps to applique and a cross stitch house to start.  Hopefully, I can make some good progress and update you later this week. 

Before I leave, can I tell you how much you brighten my day with your visits ? You really do. I truly feel blessed. Have a beautiful first week of March and as always..

Happy Quilting and Stitching, ya'll

Melisa

I am joining these lovely ladies for their blog link ups . I sure hope you will check them out. 

Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for Design Wall Monday

Beth at Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making

I have enjoyed seeing so many wonderful quilting and stitching projects on IG and the blogs that I visit. I wish I could comment and tell you all how much joy it brings me. You bring me a lot of motivation to get into gear and be productive. Thank you so much.